The beginning...

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Can't believe it's been a week already! I'm writing this laying on our bed that is costing lisa and I £1.62 a night it includes: double bed, fan and mosquito net. An absolute dream (apart from the 6am sweats when the electricity goes off). So the day had finally arrived I was all packed, Dad arrived as promptly as ever at 4am and I was good to go. We looked at the screen and my first flight to Dubai was delayed. Rubbish. I had a stroll around duty free and it resulted in me smelling very good thanks to the Chanel counter and my skin was sufficiently moisturised thanks to the Clinque lady!


Dubai was completely different to what I had expected, I am probably guilty of having a stereotype about how I thought I would be treated as a female in the Middle East. Completely unfounded. I found the people to be accommodating, pleasant and polite. The Atlantis WaterPark on the Palm was amazing, no steps just conveyor belts to get you to the top and then loads of slides to zoom down. Bloody hot at 39c with the water being like bath water which wasn't as relieving as the air conditioned toilets we escaped to when it got too much. Was lovely staying with Steph's friend Rachel who was the ultimate hostess and gave me a great whistle stop tour of Dubai in a night and day!

Next up was Bangkok, which after visiting Nepal two summers ago, seemed fast paced but very easy and modern in comparison. Best meal so far was from a Thai restaurant which was an all you can eat sushi and cook your own Thai food. Was in my element; me, sushi and daily mail online app. I flew to Phnom Penh mid week to meet my friend Lisa who I was going to be travelling with for a month. I arrived (after having to throw money at a taxi driver as I went to the wrong airport in Bangkok?!?) to a hostel lisa had sorted. Well a corner bath and kingsize bed wasn't quite what I expected...actually it was lisa who arranged it so I'm not THAT surprised! Lisa arrived shortly and after 3 hours of catching up and 2 bottles of wine we rolled into bed pretty smashed. Welcome to Cambodia! After waking up a little hungover we thought we had better be a little cultured and had our sights penciled in for what we wanted to see. The tuk tuk driver was ours for the day and got us around the city starting at The killing fields first. Unbelievably the atrocities that occurred at this site only stopped little over 30years ago, wiping out a generation of Cambodian people. Was an eye opening insight to the Pol Pot regime and raised a lot of questions for us such as 'how did this go on for almost 4 yrs without anyone doing anything?!' Anyway, not a political blog as I don't know enough but it did blow our mind at how kind and happy these people are considering their very recent and raw past. We then went onto visit a museum, the royal palace and a temple at the top of a hill in a pretty park. We had thought about leaving to visit some islands the next morning but decided to stay as Alex; the friend lisa knew who owned the hostel, invited us out to his friends dinner. We were meeting at 6pm for dinner but Alex was a little late so we had time to indulge in some beer pong against a local (overly confident) Cambodian bar man who challenged Lisa and I. Lets just say Lisa and I made very short work of him and he lost with our final go ending with us getting all 3 balls in the cups. Smug was not the word!! Had a lovely dinner with a mix of Americans, Cambodians and Scottish people with us taking full advantage of BOGOF cocktails?! The night ended with us in a bar, ironically named Slur, with a house DJ and my first sighting of a lady boy.

After 4 hours sleep we begun our bus ride to the ferry so we could visit the island of Koh Rong. Stunning. White beaches and clear water. On the very rocky boat journey over we made some friends, who we have hung out with a bit over the past day or so. Unbelievably, Mike (one of the guys) is from Melksham just up the road from school. Planning on a walk to the beaches on the back of the island tomorrow and some fishing/snorkelling in the afternoon. Lazy day in the sun has resulted in a burnt bottom and beaming head this evening?! Extra heat in our bed is not what we need. I've attached a few pictures as well of the various places I have mentioned above.

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Comments

[Melanie Baker]

Loved the blog
The adventure has begun..............Let the games commence.