Wanting nothing more than to do nothing for the next few days, I hopped on a boat leaving from Otres Beach for Koh Ta Kiev where I spent 4 nights and 4 days relaxing, eating, reading and exploring.
Wanting nothing more than to do nothing for the next few days, I hopped on a boat leaving from Otres Beach for Koh Ta Kiev. Koh Ta Kiev is 6.7 km² and currently has around 50 permanent inhabitants. The island is owned by the military but a 99-year lease was taken out by French company. Currently the island is mostly jungle with only 3 places to stay; Kactus, The Last Point and Ten103. This is all set to change in the future as the island is going to be developed by the French company. The time to visit is now!
The island is only accessible by boat and there is no infrastructure on the island meaning that there are only sand paths to get around. The Last Point and Ten103 are owned by the same person and once a day they send their boat -weather-permitting – to the mainland on Otres Beach to collect food, supplies and guests. There is no electricity on the island except for solar-power which powers the speakers throughout the day and 3 hours of generator power each night to turn on the bar lights and to charge electrical items. This means that 50kg of ice is brought to the island every day – 30kg for the bar and 20kg for the kitchen to keep the food cool.
I visited during quiet season. When I arrived there were already 7 guests there but 6 of them left the following day. No more guests arrived so my second night there it was just me, 3 members of staff, a couple that came on the boat with me and one guy who remained from the previous group. On the third day another group of 3 arrived so despite it being quiet season there were quite a few of us there.
The island has a fishing village that myself and a Dutch girl called Sharon explored one sunny day. It took us 45 minutes to walk each way. Once there we walked along the makeshift bridges to the floating pontoons and drank iced coffee whilst watching the locals go about their daily lives. Sharon even joined in with a game of volleyball!
The waters surrounding the island are home to bio-luminescent phytoplankton. On my second night we went skinny dipping with the plankton. I went swimming with them again on my third night and because the skies were completely overcast and the moonlight was gone the water completely lit up around you as you swam. It was the most incredible experience somewhat dampened by the fact that I got stung my a jellyfish.
We had bonfires at night and made banana splits in the fire and watched both sunrises and sunsets every day. Other than that I spent my time reading – I have now read 6 books since leaving for SE Asia – sleeping, snorkelling, writing my diary and just generally relaxing. I think this was exactly what I needed after not really stopping since my Easter.
I have returned from the island feeling rested and rejuvenated and ready to see what SE Asia will throw at me next! My next stop is Phnom Penh – the capital of Cambodia. Here I plan on visiting the Killing Fields and the S21 prison/museum. I imagine I will have a lot to say after visiting these places so be prepared for a long post next time.
I ended up staying a lot longer in Siem Reap than I had initially anticipated. The first couple of days I spent relaxing by pools and napping in air-conditioned dorm rooms while my body slowly became accustomed to the heat of Cambodia. I did manage to venture far enough out of my hostel to explore the many markets, both night and day, the ‘city’ had to offer. I also had some time to explore ‘Pub Street’ – famous for its 50c beers all day long. It’s not hard to see why it gets the reputation for a street in which you ‘dive in and crawl out’ – in fact there are bar crawls every evening.
My first night in Siem Reap I headed out to Pub Street with some boys from my dorm with the intention of having one or two beers. One or two beers turned into some cocktails, clubbing in ‘The Temple Club’, outdoor beer pong and me eating a spider much to the horror of the girls I was with!
The chosen spider
The streets surrounding Pub Street are filled with food and drink vendors who disappear for 10 minutes every night as the police arrive and who return as soon as the police have moved on. The street food is incredible (much tastier than the spider I ate) and extremely cheap. I even had some mango and passion fruit ice cream made for me right before my eyes. The streets are also lined with many of the fish food massages. Shirley, Raina and I had a go. At first we struggled to keep out feet in the water for more than 10 seconds at a time before the fish nibbling at our feet proved too ticklish. After we started competing with each other to see who could keep their feet in the longest time we ended up there for 40 minutes!
Of course the main reason that anyone visits Siem Reap is to go and see Angkor Wat and the rest of the UNESCO world heritage site. With so many different temples to explore I bought a 3-day pass but ended up only visiting on 2 days. The first day I got up at 4am to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to actually see the sun rise but being up this early meant that we had the morning to explore the temples before the heat became too unbearable.
Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia. Stretching over some 400 km2, including forested area, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century.
Angkor Archaeological Park Day 1 – The Small Ciruit
The first temple I saw was probably the most famous – Angkor Wat. The largest religious building in the world, Angkor Wat is a temple unlike any I have ever seen before. Spreading over 3 levels, at the top of which you get incredible views of the surrounding area. It was built in the early 12th century under the reign of King Suryavarman II as a capital city which was surrounded by a 2oom wide moat.
The next temple we visited was Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is the most recent capital of the Khmer empire built in the 13th century under the reign of King Jayavarman VII.
Our next stop was Bayon. The Bayon is decorated with 1.2km of bas-reliefs incorporating more than 11,000 figures. It was built as the state temple of King Jayavarman VII. Preah Ngok is one of the smallest temples I have seen. It is more a stone gazebo than a temple as it has no walls. It houses a 5m tall Buddha. I was blessed by a monk here and some old ladies also blessed me and gave me some bracelets to wear.
Baphuon was built under the reign of King Udayadityavarman II in the 11th century. This temple is still being restored after it was taken apart by archaeologists. The archaeologists had meticulously recorded every stone but unfortunately their records were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.
The Terrace of Elephants was built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII. It is 300m long and 3m high. This was one of my favourite sites – purely due to my love of elephants! There were also so many butterflies flying round making the whole place even more magical.
Ta Keo is a grand temple mountain built by King Jayavarman V in the 10th century.
Ta Nei is a rarely visited temple built by King Jayavarman VII in the 12th century. The main structure is partly intact and is broken down in some parts. Much like Ta Prohm the temple is surrounded by jungle which is slowly encroaching on the stone making you feel like Indiana Jones as you weaving your way through dangling branches and huge tree roots.
Ta Prohm is almost instantaneously recognisable from the Lara Croft film – Tomb Raider. Ta Prohm is a Buddhist monastery built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII in honour of his mother. This complex has been partially restored but huge strangler fig and silk cotton trees have been left behind.
Our last stop of the day was Banteay Kdei. It was also built in the 12th century and is very similar in style to Ta Prohm.
We returned to our hostel absolutely exhausted and ready for a dip in the pool and a well deserved nap.
Angkor Archaeological Park Day 2 – The Large Ciruit
Our second was a lot longer but we started much later. We visited 6 temples in total. We started at Preah Khan which is a huge Buddhist monastery complex which once housed 1000 monks. It was built in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII in honour of his father. It served as the temporary residence of the King whilst his royal palace was under construction at Angkor Thom.
Our next stop was Neak Pean which was built in the late 12th Century by Jayavarman VII. This is one of the most unique Buddhist temples in Angkor. It was originally located on an island in the middle of a great man-made baray (lake). The baray dried up a long time ago and is now just forest.
East Mebon was a temple mountain built in the late 10th Century by King Rajendravarman II, and dedicated to Shiva in honor of the king’s parents. Originally East Mebon sat on an island in the middle of the vast East Baray. The East Baray was an artificial lake/reservoir that measured 7km by 2km. In ancient times you would have used a boat to get out to the temple but now the Baray has dried up and is accessible by tuk tuk.
Ta Som is a relatively small monastic complex, a little like Ta Prohm. It has a simple design of three concentric enclosures, with the outer enclosure wall measuring 240 meters by 200 meters. Ta Som was built in the late 12th Century by King Jayavarman VII. Its original name when built was Gaurasrigajaratna, meaning “Jewel of the Propitious White Elephant”.
We actually visited Pre Rup twice in one day. We had a good look around the temple at about 1pm. We then headed to the furthest temple, had something to eat and came back to Pre Rup at 5.30pm for sun set. This massive temple-mountain was built in the late 10th Century by King Rajendravarman II to be his State temple. Although similar in style to East Mebon, Pre Rup is architecturally and artistically superior.
The last temple of the afternoon was Banteay Srei, the “Lady Temple” which was not commissioned by a king but by a Brahman in the late 10th century. Banteay Srei means ‘Citadel of the Women’ and is thought to have been built only by women as the carvings are thought to be too delicate to have been done by a man!
We then headed back to Pre Rup for sunset which was absolutely spectacular despite the vast numbers of people on the top level of the temple who had come to see it. This was actually my favourite moment of the day as as the sun set the stones of the temple lit up orange and looked absolutely incredible.
I have absolutely loved Siem Reap and exploring Angkor Wat. It has been a fantastic place to start exploring Cambodia. I am now headed to Sihanoukville – a city by the sea – on a night bus. Once there I’ll be picking an island to visit.
Having arrived safely, but exhausted, in Bangkok after a 7 hour layover in Amsterdam I was met by the sister of my good friend from university, Jazlina. Ironically Jaz actually left the UK before me but after many delayed flights and missed connections ended up arriving in Bangkok hours after me. After being dropped off at her apartment I ended up sleeping all day waking up to messages from Jaz asking if I was still alive. We rode the BTS (Bangkok Transport System) – Bangkok’s so called “Sky Train” – to dinner. The train is really quick and is air-conditioned which is so necessary in the heat – even in the evening. We went to one of Bangkok’s many incredible malls, Terminal 21. Each floor is themed a particular country with departure lounges leading to some of the longest escalators I’ve ever been on. Just as we finished our meal some of our other friends from university arrived to eat. They are going to be volunteering in Cambodia in a few weeks time but are taking the opportunity to travel around Thailand before they do so. We all ended up in a Cuban bar for a few drinks. The others headed to Bangkok’s infamous Kao San Road but Jaz and I headed back to her apartment in need of a good night’s sleep.
The next day I headed to one of Bangkok’s smaller floating markets – Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market (ตลาดน้ำคลองลัดมะยม) on the outskirts of central Bangkok. I loved the market, despite a huge surprise downpour, as I only saw one other tourist in the 2 1/2 hours I was there. Once upon a time Thailand relied on canals and wooden canoes to transport people and goods. Where people congregated to exchange these goods, floating markets were established. Today many of the original canals have been filled in and now roads are used for the majority of transportation.
The market was filled with locals all vying to grab a table by the water’s edge to devour a selection of the huge variety of food on offer. I sat down to eat and watched as the boats passed by me as they headed up and down the canal. Nearby two young boys enthusiastically fed the fish which seemed to fill up the whole of the width of the canal – a sight I won’t forget for some time. One side of the bridge is filled with food stalls serving up fresh fish and other delicacies. I’m still not sure what I ate when I was there as all the signs were in Thai but I can tell you that everything I tasted was delicious!. Feeling very full I headed back across the bridge to the other side of the market which is filled with cafes and clothes stalls. I had been wondering around for about a minute when the heavens opened up. Within about two minutes there was an inch of water on the ground. I decided to take my chances and hail a taxi down to take me back to the BTS. In the 5 meters between the shelter and the taxi I got thoroughly soaked.
A visit to Khao San Road
Jaz and I before heading out to Khao San Road
In the evening, Jaz and I headed to the infamous Khao San Road with some of her friends from home. We ended up going out in ‘The Club’ and met up with our uni friends again too. The street was filled with stalls selling a variety of insects on sticks – I couldn’t bring myself to eat any. Music boomed out of each bar and club. Jaz and I went back again the next day and found a really chilled out bar to relax in with live music. We then decided to go to a ‘Ping Pong Show.’ We knew what this would involve (please look it up if you don’t – except you Nana and Auntie Chris) but I have never felt so uncomfortable in my whole life. I had expected a proper show and the girls to look like they were enjoying themselves. In reality it felt like we had somehow ended up in a strip club. The girls performing looked miserable and Jaz and I left as soon as we could – not quickly enough though as a drunk guy sat next to be ended up stubbing his cigarette out on my leg!
Time for some history and culture
On my penultimate day in Bangkok Jaz and I headed to Wat Pho – a compound of Buddhist temples dating back to the rule of Rama I in the 16th century. One of the temples houses the city’s largest reclining Buddha which is 46m long and 15m high and is incredibly beautiful as the gold leaf shimmers in the sunlight. I can never get my head around how such magnificent and huge structures were built. Unfortunately the jade and mother-of-pearl soles of the feet were being repaired when we visited but I managed to sneak a peek at the monks repairing them through the scaffolding. We finished off our tour around the complex with a full body Thai massage – every bit as painful as you would expect. The temple has taught Thai massage and herbal medicine since Rama III and is known as the birth place of the traditional Thai massage. The temple was also the earliest centre for public education in Thailand and still houses the school of Thai medicine.
Time to pamper ourselves!
On my final day in Bangkok, Jaz and I decided to pamper ourselves. We each had a manicure and pedicure and I think this is the best my nails have ever looked since I was born! We finished the day by going to see Now You See Me 2 at the cinema. Jaz wanted to take me to show how before the film starts a video about the King is shown and you have to stand up and salute to him and sing a song. We ended up completely mixing up our times and went to the VIP viewing. This has completely ruined the UK cinema experience for me. We had a sofa to ourselves with dividers on either side, blankets, cushions, complimentary wine and nibbles. The screen was huge and the cinema had only 10 sofas in it. I dread going to the cinema back in the UK.
I would like to extend a massive thank you to Jaz and her family for being so welcoming. They introduced me to some amazing food of many different nationalities (including a Korean BBQ) and allowed me to stay in their apartment with them. I hope they know that they have a place to stay should they ever end up in Edinburgh!
First impressions
Bangkok seems to be a city of excess and poverty mixed together. The city centre is bustling with huge, incredibly beautiful shopping malls which are marvellous in their own right. The sky train is way ahead of anything we have in the UK! There were not as many beggars as I might have expected but out towards the outskirts of town by the floating market people were living a very different and much simpler life. I really enjoyed my visit but I’m looking forward to my next stop – Siem Reap in Cambodia (home to Angkor Wat).
I’ll write a new post once I have left Siem Reap. I hope you enjoyed this one and that I haven’t rambled too much!
