Fake designer bags, Vibrators and indoor theme park...Oh yes KL!

Hi All,

We are still in Kuala Lumpur as we are lazy bums...

And still staying in china town. (Right next to the market...so is good for shopping)...I have been taking full advantage of the free wifi and downloaded lots of books on my i touch! I can not remember what order we have done things or all of everything we have done so here goes...

Me, Kayleigh (a friend from home we met up with) and Sas ventured to one of the many malls near the golden triangle, every shop you pass, people are trying to sell the latest fake handbags or fake raybans (seen everywhere). I am easily sucked into shops and decided I was going to go in to this gadget shop dragging Kayleigh and Saskia with me. It was full of many massaging gadgets...one of which was a vibrator which they were trying to palm of as a face massager and put near my face to demonstrate. My instant reaction was "put that anywhere near me and I wont be happy". Me, Kayleigh and Saskia were in fits of laughter as they tried to get all three of us to try it. Hahaha, maybe they are more innocent than us in the UK?

We are loving the copycat fakes and have found it amusing how they even sell fakes in big department stores for about 10 times the price you will find in the market. I have bagged myself a pair of beautiful Dior sunnies! 2 pounds cant go wrong! And Saskia got a nice pair of D&G's.

Yesterday we went to a indoor theme park (Cosmo world) , it was fun but made us feel a bit sick and dizzy after a few rides. In the UK you usually have to queue up but here the queues were so short or non existent we ended up going on ride after ride so nearlly threw up by the end of it all.
It was very cool as the theme park is in a shopping center (Time square) which is hugeee and has a cinema, bowling and archery center within it.

People here make weird kissing noises when they are trying to get you attention here, freaked me out at first but now I am starting to get use to it.

Also KL is so multicultural me and Sas cannot figure out what the Malaysian people actually look like?

We have found a few yummy veggie places and also ate a a weird vegan place where I had spinach and passion fruit juice which was delicious. Me and Saskia did not dare try the desserts was some wierd mung bean pudding?! Sounded gross!!

This afternoon and last night in true backpacker style we went to reggae bar which was super cool and got some good home food and chilled to Bob Marley.

Rambutan is a cool fruit we had in Thailand (the landlady in our guesthouse gave us some) and when we got to KL we made Kayleigh try it too, you all should try...it is a bit like lychees but not as slimey and really nice. Durian fruit is one we dare not try as it is banned from most hotels and guesthouses as smells that bad. When we walk pass the stand that sell it I actually gag!

We also did a bus tour of KL...a hop on hop off tour which takes you around the whole city...to be honest I was soo tired I fell asleep for some of it...I know it is a shame but it was a really good nap!

Tonight me and Sas are meeting our friends Vish and Dipan for some drinks at Sky bar and some dinner and night market shopping in china town...

...and we had a lovely meal see above.

Hope you all are sparkly and well...

Poonam and Saskia...

p.s :( Only a month to go till we see all you beautiful people.

Over 24hrs of travel later...

...and we are in Kuala Lumpur! We both said that weirdly it feels a bit like home, they drive on the left here so maybe that's got something to do with it, or maybe we are getting to feel like Asia is home I don't know.

My new favorite thing is guava fruit, they prepare it in this weird stuff and soak it overnight, tastes like really fresh apples. Well to be honest I only had it once when a women I was sitting with on the bus to KL was eating it and asked me to try it but it was awesome and I am totally buying more :)

I love the way there is fruit everywhere on the streets, they have little plastic bags of all the different fruits freshly cut and for cheap, the street food looks so nice but there is nothing for veges so me and Poonam spent a fortune on food from expensive places today (well expensive for our budget not for UK) We also managed to find the only nice place in China town that is affordable (affordable to us is about 10pounds each a night), we know because we went all down the street asking about prices and rooms, the ones we went to out of lonely planet were proper dives...one looked like something I had seen in a Victorian horror film! Swear it! Poonam now thinks lonely planet is a FAIL! The bed had iron bars round it which reached to the ceiling, so weird! Also the drinks they sell on the street are often from the glass bottles they recycle so they put the drink in a plastic bag with a straw to drink from which amused me.

Anyway our journey to KL was epic! First we took a taxi then a boat from the Island, then 2 buses, then a tuk tuk ride where we met a mini van and got transferred to another 2 other mini vans then we grabbed an overnight sleeper train which reached KL at about 7am and grabbed a taxi to Jln Sultan Road (basically right in China Town.

Anyway in the afternoon we went for some impromptu shopping and spend loads of money but it was fun :)



Bye from Saskia and Poonam xx

Lots of Buckets.... Full moon Party!!

Hi All,

Me and Sas keep remembering we are missing so much of these blogs, we have done so much it is often difficult to remember or fit it all in a short blog.

For any of you that want to visit the orphanage in Cambodia it is called COFCO - Siam Reap.

So our last couple of days in Bangkok we relaxed and did not do much, for cheapness we ate our fave Falafel ladies stall, street food is cheaper and yummy but is rare to find veggie food!! Although I have indulged in pancakes and Falafel.

We also went to the cinema. It was crazy, like entering some luxury club with big leather seats and even couples seats at the back with big luxury sofas. Everyone really dresses up so me and Sas looked a bit skanky in our shorts and tee look. Oh well!

After the trailers, everyone started standing up...me and Saskia were well confused and then realised it was for the national anthem...You would not see it happening in the UK so found it very different. Through our trip we have realised every other nation seems to be more nation proud and we should be too. Many people at the full moon party were proudly decorated with the flag of their country. The only Brits who seemed to have our flag were the drunken idiots....ha-ha!!

We are currently in Koh Phanghang and got here after a long 20 hr journey. We have now recovered from the lead up to the full moon party on the beach...it was crazy and definitely one for the boys...all the women here are slim and beautiful, you don't see any ugly people?! Crazy!!! And drinks super cheap!! Me and Saskia adorned each other in florescent paint, full moon party tops and joined in with the fun. Fire throwers and slides were many of the crazy things we saw. They even had a mushroom mountain which we stayed well away from as you can imagine why it was named that.

To our amusement the next morning we woke up sleeping in a bed full of sand! It clicked in to us why there was a broom in our room, this must happen a lot, so Saskia had fun brushing up the sand on our bed and floor.

Today has been a lazy day chilling by the pool and sunbathing. I got teased by friends we made as I have my surname on my backpack...ha-ha!! It is cool to be geeky and plus people don't want to sell on or steal a bag with someones name on it! Clever I think!!

Next stop Malaysia, if we have time we may squeeze in another island visit in Thailand.


xxx Hugs and Love... Poonam and Sas

p.s I accidentally deleted my photos from past 5 days but I am in the process of recovering them after 4 hours of trying and think I have them back!! Woooo!!! So will update last few blogs with pics soon!

Lazy bums...

Well this is our third day in Bangkok and we have been shopping and that is about it! Brought some pretty things to wear though, my holey trousers were getting a bit of a joke! And we got some bargin Birkenstocks for about 5pounds each. We also went to the cinema to watch 'Something Borrowed' A rom com that we really enjoyed and yes the film was in English :P It had Thai subtittles.

We also decided to save some money by taking a tuk tuk across town for only 10baht (about 22p) but the 1 stop that he took us on....I should explain here that if you take a tuk tuk for cheap they always insist on taking a stop at a shop, you have to spend 10 minutes there and then the driver gets a petrol stamp and you don't have to buy anything. But anyway we stopped at 2 tailors because the first taylors kicked us out!! Because we said we just wanted to see designs and they said "Designs not important, cost important" To which I replied, "actualy thats the most important thing to a women!" Then he got really angry when we said his stuff was expensive. The next shop was even worse...

Poonam pretended she wanted to buy some dresses and wanted to see material and designs. He said "First you say you buy and then we talk about the dress" Which we though was odd. Then when we asked if he had anymore material or designs it was a flat no, he was so rude we couldnt believe it, kept trying to make us come back later and it seemed like he really didn't want our business. Anyway we managed to stay in the shop for 10 minutes so we got our stamp. He ended the consultation by calling Poonam a "Stupid girl!" Very strange people...the only unfriendly people we have met in Thailand.

On a lighter note we are now chilling waiting for 4 o'clock when we are heading to the train station to catch the overnight train then bus then boat to the full moon party woop! We wern't planning to go but then we were in Thailand at the perfect time to go and it seemed like fate. Managed to get the last two train tickets although we are not together, but we will mostly be sleeping anyway. I am not entirely sure what to expect at the party, I know from what other travelers have said that its on a beach and very messy!

We had an epic time booking the tickets, all the agencies said there are no train tickets left, and no sleeper bus tickets left (A bus with  beds essentially) so we took it upon ourselves to go to the train station and get them and hurah we got some tickets! We also saved loads on the fare as the tuk tuks wanted 200baht and the taxi charged about 60baht. It pays to know the general costs of things.

We still love Thailand and our looking forward to seeing another part of it, we would also love to go visit the North but there is not enough time unfortunately. Oh yes a little random fact for you I forgot to write in before...kind of gross but whatever! The toilets on the trains...Poonam was pretty surprised to find that when looking down the toilet she could see the train tracks, people literally wee right onto the track!! I have seen it in old films but I didn't think they actualy still did that, its very weird, especially with the window open to watch the view as you go lol! Not so good if you pull into a station though!

Lots of love Saskia and Poonam xx

Back in Bangkok

Hi all,

Arrived in Bangkok today and we are staying at Cafe Samsun again...feels like home :)

Anyway back to Cambodia...quad biking was loads of fun, they gave us a little practice run and then let us loose on roads and dirt tracks, dodging children and animals as we went! Poonam almost killed a chicken, swerved out of the way and into the path of a man on his bike then back again to the other side...it was so funny to watch. I almost killed some ladies dog, everyone screamed and I breaked in time to not squash it phew!! We went at sunset and watched the sun set a little bit then decided it was too scary to drive home in the dark so made our leader take us back before it set. The views were amazing, rice fields and real countryside houses and people.










In the evening we went into town and tried the fish massages. You probably know what I mean, when the fishes suck the dead skin from your feet, kind of grose really! It was so tickily, Poonam lastest all of 10 seconds with the women holding her feet in the water! She freaked out at the fish big time, I thought it was weird but worth the 1 dollar we payed for it for the experience.

The next day (yesterday) we did nothing, we got up at midday and layed by the pool all afternoon...I worked on my tan and its gotten a little better but its still laughable...incidently Poonams auntie is laughing at my none tan now over skype...I am so getting a spray tan!!

That evening Poonam and I were missing Indian food so we went to a restaurant and had a really nice food, the waitress was really sweet and when we asked for tissue they didn't have any so she went out and brought some for us!

I think the thing I will most remember about Cambodians is there sense of humour, everyone is a joker, always teasing and messing around...we don't always get it and that makes then laugh even more. It was really hard to leave Okay Villa in Siem Reap, the loveliest staff ever, so friendly and funny...I had great fun watching the boys teasing the cleaner and making her jump poor women, she thought it was funny too though.

Anyway I only have 2 minutes left of internet time so that is all for now! The rest of the update to come soon

Lots of love Saskia and Poonam x

The shocking past of Cambodia

Images below are disturbing so don't read look on past Love Saskia and Poonam if you can't bare to see.

Unfortunately Poonam forgot to put our day out to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields up so I am going to write it. It's not nice but I think needs to be told. We were really sad that day...

First we visited the Tuol Sleng Museum which used to be a school but was converted by the Khmer Rouge in 1976 into a torture, interrogation and execution center. It was pretty horrifying to see. They have kept the place pretty much as it was in 1977. The bottom floor rooms had just a bed in them, and some had photographs of the prisoners laying dead on their beds or on the floor as they were found by two Vietnamese photojournalists who first discovered S-21 in January of 1979.

There were also pictures of all the new prisoners in other parts of the building, some of them were smiling because they did not realise what was going to happen to them. The people who were kidnapped were accused of crimes against the regime, they were tourted in all manner of ways I won't go into because its pretty disturbing. There were also really small cells which were created inside the old classrooms with a bed and bucket and thats it. They put glass in the windows to minamise the screeming people could hear on the outside when they were tourturing people.

Well as you can imagine it wasn't a happy trip and walking around that place I felt really upset and emotional., it really brings it home standing in the same place as so many people were treated so terribly. I couldn't see it all, there was a film and another part of the building but it got to a point where I just wanted to leave so I sat outside on a bench for a while and waited for Poonam (we lost each other so saw most of it by ourselves)

I told you it's not nice! Anyway the second part was visiting the killing fields which is where they brought a lot of the prisoners to be killed and burried. There were about 20,000 mass graves with hundrads of people in each grave. The people in the graves were male and female, children, adults, high and low class. There was a video and a little museum with loads of information about S-21.

There was also a memorial to the dead, a building with all the bones which were found in the mass graves, in the buddhest tradition it is respectful to put the dead somewhere nice to be rested. It is on display to remind people of what happened and to have somewhere to pay their respects to the dead...it was not so long ago so many people have known someone to die in that time.

We were personaly shocked because to be honest we knew nothing aboout what happened until we came to Cambodia, and it was such recent history. It should not be forgotten so that it never ever happens again.

Love Saskia and Poonam

The sunshine is starting to affect our brain cells...Cambodia we have arrived!

Hi All,

Today is going to be spent organising myself and putting up some pics for you all on the blog. I really should download them all of my camera, have been very lazy! (Herb your comment has given me the drive to get sorted)

We are now in Cambodia and love it, the people are lovely and it is a beautiful country with so much to see, plus we can get to most places for under 1 USA dollar so me and Saskia are happy as means more money to spend.

When we first arrived I was a bit offended at a man calling me a preshy girl, I thought he was calling me a freshy...later I realised Preshy means beautiful in Cambodian, this made me love the Cambodian people even more, haha!

There is too much to tell in one post so I will try and remember all the highlights so far...as the title suggests the sunshine is starting to affect mine and Saskia's brain...
Examples include:
* Me saying to Saskia ''we wont need to put our mosquito nets up soon as we are going to be in richer countries so they probably wont have mosquito's''...after 5 mins realising what I had said started to laugh uncontrollably at the stupidity of my comment.
* Saskia spelling her name wrong, me saying "Sas you have spelt your name wrong", her saying "no I have not'' then realising she had and laughing!
Ooops....plus my sun hat broke...so sunstroke is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

We are over being homesick and not missing you all so much now, hehe.

Yesterday for me had to be one of the highlights of the whole trip.. Waking up at 3.30am was not as bad as I thought it would be...we got up super early to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, it was beautiful and definitely worth it. (Look at the beautiful pic we captured)...



In the evening we went to a local orphanage which was truly humbling, the kids basic needs were met and they were so happy. The children performed a show for us and a few other guests, it was amazing: something you would see in a theatre-true dancers and actors not in the making but already made!! Once the show was over we got to play and dance with the kids, they were all so loving and most just wanted hugs! Me and Saskia donated a small amount for food and to maintain the basic needs of the orphanage. The kids in the orphanage sleep 4 to a bed and the kitchen is nothing but a hut with a box with ice they call there fridge. On the way back to our Villa me and Saskia felt so touched we felt we wanted to do more and an evening spent with these kids was not enough, although all there basic needs were met we felt these kids deserved more.



We ventured into town shattered and picked up glitter pens, skipping ropes, balls, stationary and balloons...Tomorrow we are going to spend a day with the kids and donate some bad sweet treats and food. If anyone ever gets the chance to visit Siem Reap please spend an evening at the orphanage, they will entertain you and provide you with a lovely meal. You do not have to donate and you will not be pressured into giving anything but once you have seen the talent of the children I am sure you would want to.

Tonight we are going to let our adventurous side out and do some quad biking...I am really excited, hopefully will be lots of fun!

The night market of pub street is a great place for catching a bargain, but you have to haggle...if you pay anything over 40% of what they say then you payed too much. The atmosphere and Cambodian people make it even better.

Also tuc tucs are everywhere! It can be slightly overwhelming when 6 tuc tuc drivers approach you when you want to go home. In the end we could not decide who to go with so settled it with the lowest price and a game of rock, paper scissors between the two left at the end battling for our custom. The people are happy to play along and very carefree.

I have just seen the time and am going to have a dip in the pool and shower up before quad biking this evening. I will update the blog with a few pics tonight.

Hope you all are well and not working to hard.

We love hearing from you all and is nice to know you are all thinking of us, hope this blog gives you a feel of what we are doing.

Hugs and Sunshine.

Poonam and Saskia

xXx

Vietnam

We arrived in Hanoi at night, looking out of the airoplane window we could see a mass of lights and sky rise buildings...a big change from the tiny little 'cities' of Laos, I use the term city very lightly! We negociated a fair and had a rather smart sporty car take us into the main city to meet Dan (our mutual friend from uni) who is living in Hanoi at the moment. He took us to his house which is typical Vietnamese, long thin and many stories high.

We rested at Dans for a few days as I was recovering from food poisning, I won't go into too much detail but I got ill the night before we were due to fly out and then the next day it took all the energy and will power I had left to get on the flight! (which got delayed 5 hours!) Luckily I had Poonam and our friends Gemma and Max to help me carry my bag and keep us company while we waited (they were getting the same flight).

So anyway we didnt do much for a couple of days except sleep and venture out to order food but not actually eat it! (Poonam wasn't feeling too well either) but worry not we are well now and back on the greedy sized portions! We have visited the Ethnology museum here and done some shopping and been to a few bars.

We also took a trip with Dan up to Ha Long Bay which is very beautiful. It was a two day boat trip and we saw the caves there which were pretty impressive but complete with steps carved into the rocks for us and STOP signs! We also tried out kayaking, me and Poonam were awesome, first time ever and we went all over the bay...okay we nearly got run over by a boat but apart from that we were wikid! Although Poonam doen't understand which way to paddle to go back or forward so there was a bit of shouting from me!




Dan tried diving off the boat but failed epically, he belly flopped in the water and we got a hilarious picture of him, he was red all over his face and body! We also shared a room with Dan because it was cheaper, he really tried to make up for being just one guy, boys from uni you would be proud!

The boat was luxary and didn't even break our budget, the views from the boat of the islands were pretty spectacular, it was very peaceful and the lights from the other boats threw reflections over the water, we sat on the top deck watching the sun set.

In the evening there was karaoke...Dan the dark horse is a really good singer! Well good at Oasis anyway :P While me and Poonam were shocking, I mean shocking! We couldnt even sing together because when one sung the other one peed there pants laughing! It was really fun though.

There were loads of people on the trip with us, we made friends with a couple from Sheffield, a couple from France, an American girl and a women from France who was great fun and she went in Dans kyak.

We are back in Hanoi now and have booked plane tickets to Cambodia, we have not warmed to the Vietamese people very much, or the place, so we decided to go straight to Cambodia and then try and spend a bit more time in Thailand if we can as we really loved it there.

Peace out Saskia and Poonam xx