We travel, you work

After Africa and all the run around Cambodia, we decided to get for Christmas few days of chill out at the beach. These few days will consist of farniente, and a couple of days on motorbike to visit around cascades, and others.
We will meet Mome, a 5 year old girl (what she says! She is definitely more 9 years old!) with whom we spent few funny moments, like our exchange of present for Christmas at the beach. We brought her an outfit that we spent a morning at the local market to find! And she actually came as well with presents for us. She found me a beautiful pair of hearings, and she brought Cyril a Teddy bear that when you touch, sing: "happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...!" Imagine all the locals starting to come to see what's happening as the Teddy bare would not stop singing! All the street kids coming running to see and touch the Teddy bare!! Which of course, would sing louder and louder, and locals starting to say happy birthday to Cyril!!!!



Anyway, it's now time to cross the border for Vietnam, bye-bye Cambodia, bye bye Tony and bye bye dear Mome.

Location:Phetsarat Rd,Luang Prabang,Laos

After a 7 hours bus with the locals (all of them singing thanks to the karaoke screen; and us both seated like sardines as their seats are designed for Asian body shape!! We fell so fat here!) we finally made it to Siem Reap; destination that we were so looking forwards.
At our arrival, like every time in Asia, we are greeted by 15 to 20 men that all scream louder than the other:"Tuk-tuk?? Tuk-tuk??" I promise you that as much as it's folkloric, sometimes you just want to scream back to them: "shut up, motherfuckers!!!" which just cross your mind a quarter of a second when you are exhausted!! Of course, you must not do it!!!!!
Well, we managed to find Tony, our tuk tuk driver for the next 4 days. We are very lucky, as Tony will be looking after us very well (buying us our breakfast: banana sticky rice, and our bottle of water at local price) and showing us around Ankor Wat and more.
When arriving at Angkor Wat on 1st day, we are surprise by the number of tourist everywhere. I know, we are a little bit simple minded! I had these taught that we would be trekking on the jungle and that after a 2 hours walk we would be acceding to our 1st temple!!! Like in Tomb rider!! Forget about it! Temples are cleared, roads build everywhere, no birds anywhere apart of in cages, and as much tourist as you can imagine (like Disneyland!!) That what make it so fun when taking pictures... You must try to have the best shot, of the best corner, without no one crossing at these precise second!! Wahou... Pretty intense! And we managed to take more than 200!!






Very honestly we taught that visiting these temples would be so spiritual, but we didn't connect that much. It was definitely a must see, but just bare in mind that you are surrounded by so many tourist, and that hundred of locals run after you at the end of each temple, or sometimes in the temple to sell you anything possible.
The good part, was the visit of the floating village Tonle Sap ( few kilometres away) and floating forest. We didn't see any tourist , as no one want to pay $40 to go and visit a village. Again we are the silly one!! But it was worst it!




We are now approaching Chrismas, and we decide to head to Sihanoukville for a week.

After a short flight from Singapore we arrive in the Cambodian capital. We did not plan to stay long there as we are mostly interested by Angkor Wat of course. But now we start to feel that we are in South-East Asia... As we pass the border and pay for the visa the guard do not want to give my change back, stating that, the money I gave him was the full price of the visa. But what he forget is that a big sign with the prices was on the wall just behind him, so I showed him and...
he gave me back the change...!
As we arrived at the hotel we were incredibly surprised as it was nice and the people very helpful and kind ( yes surprised as we red some reviews from French people stating that the place was a rat hole, as the Brit say's "don't trust the French")
It's an interesting city with palaces and temples to visit, as well as the atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer rouges. We were moved while visiting Robeen Island, but there we were shaken, even shattered I will say.

Location:Phetsarat Rd,Luang Prabang,Laos

Amis Francais, utiliser Google translation oú installer le navigateur Google chrome pour la traduction.

It's hot, and humidity is incredibly high. We just landed in Singapore, after a 14hrs flight, going east, meaning we will need to stay awake for 48 hours. From the first hour we know that it will take us some time to adjust to the climate and culture.
We very easily find a cab but at our surprise not easily find our accommodation! The driver never heard of it (not a good sign!). After a fair amount of search we finally found our hostel, a little house, not that bad from outside. We are welcome by the manager which is as well cleaner/cook/receptionist! She give us a tour of our room and the facilities. The room is just big enough for a double mattress (not a double bed! Welcome to Asia!) and our bags; of course no windows and the walls looks and sound like cardboard! The kitchen area and showers are one room (??!!) And we get introduce to the 2 big cats mentioned in the hotel description; they just forgot to mention that their poo boxes are there as well... and it stink! The first thing we did? We checked out first thing on the morning and looked for another accommodation!
The town is surprisingly chilled out but not chilly for sure!... on the first day we are sweating like pigs while visiting. The architecture is not that great apart of some areas and some very specific buildings, but the mix of cultures is brilliant, you can find all kind of temples, religions and communities.



We are staying now in Little India, as the name says it's the Indian area, there is a great vibe, and we are close from everything: Chinatown, the Arab quarter, the colonial quarter with the exquisite Raffles Hotel where, of course, we went for an expensive Singapore Sling! It took out a big part of our daily budget, but we Had to try it!
We loved the food markets, such a good vibe and more importantly good food for cheap! You just need to do a bit of digging to find a decent place: just look for the longest queue of local people!
On the west side of the town centre you can find Orchard road and the luxury shops. There we will meet Mariona for lunch. It's such a different side from our hotel area, everything look so sharp. Near by there is the Botanical gardens, a fantastic and very expensive area to live in. I made Cyril promise to live there if we had to come to Singapore!! But he cannot stop speaking about this Bateman building; I have to say that look just like it!
We will be back to Singapore! But now, we are heading to Cambodia...

Location:Phetsarat Rd,Luang Prabang,Laos