When I first fell in love with Cambodia

Awww Cambodia! The place that I will forever consider my home! Because Cambodia is such a big part of my life I'm going to write about it in a few different blogs. To start, let's go back to the very beginning, as Maria says ‘it's a very good place to start.’

Being my first time in Asia and traveling solo I mainly joined group tours for most of the countries I visited. Like I’ve touched on before there are Pro’s and Con’s to this but my Cambodia tour was full of Pro’s. I was lucky enough to travel with an amazing group of people (no ‘tourists’), my baby brother and 2 incredible guides (1 of which I had the pleasure of teaming up and working with on my return) Although the tour could of, and was, improved to include better locations and activities, these 3 weeks were still some of the best weeks of my life and if it wasn’t for this trip I wouldn’t of fallen in love with Cambodia like I did!

The first time I went to Cambodia was during my 6 month travels around SE Asia. My brother and I travelled here straight from Thailand. If you read my last blog you will remember we didn't have the best time there, Thailand was beautiful but unfortunately the group we travelled with were not and the bad news we received in Thailand was just days before moving onto Cambodia, so we were traveling on a bit of a low.

But OH MY GOD did that mood change when we reached Cambodia. We landed in Phnom Penh and I actually looked at my brother and said ‘this is the place I’m meant to be’ with that stupid ‘coat hanger in the mouth’ smile I mentioned in my first blog! I hadn't even stepped out of the airport at this point! Unless you’ve had that feeling before you won’t understand, it's like this wave that comes over you that just makes you take a deep breath, smile and think everything will be ok! Five years later and that same feeling still hits me every-time I land.

Now remember, I'm a country girl, brought up in a tiny little village surrounded by more villages and smaller towns not really experiencing cities other than visits with family during school holidays, so I wasn't used to city life and after Thailand I wasn't a fan, even now I feel on edge when wondering around them even in the UK but Phnom Penh gives me a whole different feeling. I feel safe! Day or night, with groups of people or alone I feel safe each time I visit. It quickly became one of my favorite cities in the world.

When we first arrived we were greeted by one of the most loveliest men I have ever met (who soon became my driver for the next two years) we were taken to our hotel and left to explore! Phnom Penh is hectic! Traffic is crazy, there are no rules on the road, cars beeping non stop, people all over the place weaving through the sea of tuk tuks, dodging the motorbikes as they cross (walk with confidence is the key, I learnt that one in India remember!) People fill the streets selling food, toys and books. Children out trying to make a few dollars just to help their family eat that evening and rubbish..... Rubbish (garbage for my American friends) piled up on the side of most streets (industrial bins are few and far between). Although obviously not nice, I will give them their due, it's there late in the evening and gone by the morning and if you learn to take a deep breath and hold your nose when you walk past, you soon stop noticing it!

Phnom Penh, the capital city, isn’t just full of delicious restaurants, laid back bars, happening clubs and relaxing massage parlours, it is also full of history! The most harrowing but interesting place of all is the S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and The Killing Fields. Here you take a step back in time to the dark days of the late 70’s when Cambodia went through one of the worst genocides in history losing ⅔ of the population to the hands of the Khmer Rouge. A war that you don’t really hear of unless you visit Cambodia and one I believe everyone should learn about to really appreciate this unbelievable country. Although a hard place to visit it is well worth it to see how Cambodia has grown into one of the kindest, most beautiful countries in the world today.

Besides S21 and The Killing Fields there are plenty of monuments dotted around the city each with their own story, markets to get lost in whilst searching for some right bargains and The Royal Palace to explore which is beautiful by day or night. (The king still lives here with his mother at the good old age of 67 by the way, and people think I’m bad living back home at 33!) The palace is set along the riverside, a place I loved going for walks before grabbing a bite to eat in one of the many restaurants overlooking the Mekong Delta. Local’s flock to the riverside every evening to enjoy picnics with their families, to play games with friends or just to work out, but no matter what they are doing they always have massive smiles on their faces that make you smile along with them.

After spending a few days exploring the capital and learning about the history we made our way up to Siem Reap, a city that people struggle to leave once they’ve arrived! Recently Siem Reap has become one of the most popular cities visited in SouthEast Asia not only because it is the gateway to the ruins of Angkor but for the beautiful countryside and infamous Pub Street full of restaurants, bar and clubs where we spent most evening, until I sprained my ankle and was bed bound anyway. FYI if you’re dancing on a stage in a club be careful not to get too close to the edge, you can easily fall off no matter how stable you usually are on your feet!

Everyone that visits Siem Reap goes primarily to see the largest religious monument in the world , Angkor Wat! It is one of the most incredibly breathtaking sights on earth, especially at sunrise, (but it does get extremely busy.) This may be beautiful but personally I think Bayon Temple tops it! Known as the temple of faces set in the capital city of the old Khmer Empire, Angkor Thom, it really is stunning, you can get lost among the faces for hours! As well as Angkor Wat and Bayon Temple there are hundreds of other temples to explore including Ta Prohm, the temple where Tomb raider was filmed! You really can spend days getting lost in this complex! Between each temple I love to just sit back and relax in a tuk tuk as you drive along the dusty roads with temple ruins all around you, watching the world go by.

After a day of temple hopping Pub Street has it all! Restaurants and bars line the streets offering every cuisine you could imagine, Khmer to Mexican, BBQ to pizza, literally everything you could ask for within walking distance! Once dinner is done there are plenty of relaxing bars to sit and enjoy a chilled beer, night clubs that spill out onto the street to create one big dance floor and I can’t forget the tuk tuk bars that come out after the sun goes down and line the streets to make one big street party (sadly there isn’t as many tuk tuk bars as there used to be) on top of all of these there are the massage parlours that stay open late for those that prefer a relaxing evening to escape the madness.

Although Siem Reap has so much to see and do, we took a few days out sightseeing to give back to the local community. We visited an NGO (non-government organisation) where we were lucky enough to help out in a school teaching English and got our hands dirty building two houses for families in the surrounding village. Khmer people are some of the friendliest people in the world but when you are in the village they go above and beyond to make you feel welcome! You have to remember Cambodia is still classed as a third world country and the majority of people have an extremely basic living situation but they are still the most generous and happiest people around. Being in these villages not only make you appreciate what you have back home but makes you realise what is really important, you don’t need the latest IPhone, the biggest house or thousands of likes on instagram, as long as you have a roof over your head, you’re able to eat daily and have friends and family around you, you are the luckiest person in the world. All of your problems disappear as soon as you enter the villages, they are so peaceful and they make you feel like you never want to leave! Khmer people's smiles are also infectious and each day spent with the locals is a day to cherish!

Once our time in Siem Reap was over we headed onto Battambong, not my favourite place it was a little like a ghost town but as it was around Khmer New Year I think we were just unlucky, I know a lot of people that have visited since and loved it. We only spent one night here, enough time to ride the Bamboo Train, a must if you're in the area and explored the killing caves, another place the Khmer Rouge took people to tourture and kill (more history to learn) but the most crazy thing we saw, apart from the tourture cave, was the bats! At 6pm every evening people gather at the bottom of the mountain to watch millions of bats fly from the caves covering the skies, it is so surreal!

Last stop of the tour and at the time my favorite place in Cambodia was the beautiful beach town, Sihanoukville! Sadly this picturesque, fun and exciting town has been ruined over the past few years by Chinese developers but during this visit it was awesome! Days spent lazing on the white sandy beaches, swimming in the crystal waters or out on a boat island hopping and snorkeling whilst the evenings were full of fresh seafood, dancing in the sand and Khmer whiskey! (you don’t know until you’ve tried it) not forgetting the friendliest and most beautiful Khmer people and mesmerising fire shows! All of this and the fact it was Khmer New Year made this one big incredible party! I fell even more in love with Cambodia whilst we were here and made some of the best friends that still treat me like one of the family today.

Finishing this tour was one of the hardest tours to finish, not only had we all become such good friends but I was leaving a place that I truly felt at home. I still had 3 months left of my travels but I knew this was the place I wanted to be and I knew I would be back to live my dream soon…...