Storrie

Was taken to Maalula to see Mima's home village where her family spend the summer months. Its only a 40min drive from Damascus and Mima's dad drove us there as he had business to attend to in the area. Got to see her house and all the mess that she and her mum and sister will arrive to in the summer. Her dad and brother regurarly spend time there due to the close proximity to their work. They also have a farm that they grow fruit in which only 5km from the house set at the edge of the village. Maalula is the only place in the world that still speaks Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Was dropped at St. Sergius monastery which is a interesting but quick stop over point. There are a few things ... read more

After a very late night ....again(2am). Me and Mima got up to catch the 7am train to Aleppo. For the first time ever I travelled first class, though Mima was quick to tell me that its only Syrian first class. The train was scheduled to arrive after 4hours, but we had a 30min wait at Holms. When we arrived we headed to the Citadel by taxi. Mima had stayed in Aleppo with the rest of the GX volunteers for three months so she knows the city well enough. The taxi driver however still managed to find the long way there and get a few extra syrian pounds out of us. Once we arrived we waited for Mima's boyfriend to meet us. Mahir is a guitar teacher or the 'guitar man' as I decided to call him. ... read more

The jungle temple is north of Angkor Thom. It is a wonderful place to see and everyone should make the effort to see it. The temple has been left alone since it was found and there are no plans to restore it to its former glory as archeoligst plan to study it. You can get lost for hours here and my only regret about my trip was that I never went back to this place. The trees that are growing though the temple look good in the pictures, but 10times better in person. It puts into perspective that no matter how skilled man was or will become, nature takes control eventually. As usual around all the temples there are locals, especially small children trying to sell you anything they can. We did buy a few things ... read more

The landmine museum is 27km from Seim Reap. It is well worth the trip out to see it and Banteay Srei temple is just another 6km down the road. The musem is run by a local man called Aki Ra. This link describes the entire background to his life and his reasons for opening the museum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aki_Ra The Museum is a real eye opener. I think any decent human would find it hard not to feel ashamed about the destruction these mines cause and the total disregard we have shown in using them in so many conflicts through out the world. Inside you have a collection of the many different types of mines that have been deactivated over the years by Aki Ra and those he has helped train. The estimated figure is over 50,000 mines. ... read more

Our first temple was Angkor Thom. Most of the temples are close to each other and only a few miles north of the town of Siem Reap. On the way to this temple we drove past Angkor Watt and Bayon, which we were going to see another time. Angkor Thom and the Jungle temple were my favorite temples out of the many that we seen in our time here. As you can see with the pictures, A Thom is a celtic player. Sorry I meant the temple with the faces that are used in movies. Tomb Raider was filmed here, though i havent seen the movie. The best thing about Cambodia is that you can actually touch everything and you can climb up the stairs and walk around. However the temples are very steep and there ... read more