Engaged!!!!!!

This morning Mark proposed to me!! :) :) I'd like to say that i kept him guessing but im not very good at that sort of thing and said yes immediately!! hehe
I want to tell Mum before she reads this so if i cant get through then please dont tell her first! We are going on a overnight bus and then a ferry to Koh Phangan and i cant wait until i get there to tell eveybody! xxx

Comments

I think i have finally sorted out the settings for comments so let me know if you have any problems! Its always lovely to hear you are keeping up to date with us and our trip :) xxxx

Siem Reap

hello everyone! we are now back in Bangkok and have met up with Mark and Ricky. We had quite a long stressful 11hr journey here from Siem Reap, they made us wait around pointlessly for ages over and over again and then shoved us on a bus with useless air con for 4 hours..it was so so hot! First day here and we got soaked through to the bone by a storm, as much as i prefer the temperature like this i really hope it doesnt follow us to the islands.

Here are some pictures from our time in Siem Reap, there are so many i just couldnt be selective! sorry if you dont like pictures of ruins..haha.

When asked what the strangest thing we'd eaten was we were ashamed to admit the unidentified meats on the market was as far as we'd gone..so we decided to try the Cambodian BBQ. We had a mixture of meats, the usual chicken and beef but also some crocodile, snake and squid! We both managed to eat everything, the crocodile was lovely - i'd definately eat it again..the snake was ok but i wasnt that keen! We had to cook it all ourselves too...The chicken on our bbq with all the veggies in the "moat"...i really want one of these! :)The squid tentacles that i couldnt bring myself to eat but Liz managed fine!

We bought some local fruit to try (i forgot to photograph the other ones we've tried along the way). We found out that this is the fruit from a lotus, we had to break it to get the fruit out and then pop them out of their skins. Kind of tasted like bland fresh peas, not amazing but pretty inoffensive.

"Bayon" at Angkor Wat

The Elephant Terrace

Me and some random ruins

An interesting temple that had been restored, very weird to see the old worn stones next to the new bright and sharp ones..very much a contradiction!

One of the many temples we didnt quite make it to the top of...too hot for too much climbing!

My favourite..Ta Phrom, I absolutely loved this temple and was so excited to go. The beautiful trees growing up through the buildings, even on top of them, were such a reminder of the fight between nature and man.

The huge stones look like they were pushed aside with so little effort!

Me and a monkey outside Angkor..admittedly i could've got closer but he looked a bit cheeky and i've heard stories that some are trained to pickpocket!!

Carvings inside Angkor

Angkor Vat at sunrise. We had to get up at 4am..ugh..
I'm not sure if this is right but i think Angkor Wat is the name for the whole area and Angkor Vat for this main temple. Please correct me if i'm wrong!

Sunset at Bakeng..was actually really far from Angkor Vat and very busy but a nice atmosphere.

In the distance...my camera doesnt really do zoom very well!

The Cambodian tuk tuks

Phnom Penh

These pictures arefrom the Museum in Phnom Penh: The barbed wire that stopped prisoners from jumping out and committing suicide Tiny wooden cells

Concrete cells where the classrooms used to be

So so so many faces..

The torture and interrogation rooms

All the pictures below are from the Killing Fields

Clothes left"piled up beside one of the "graves..most remains had been removed

Memorial Stupa that also preserves many remains and clothing (below)

The wasp that stung Liz while wandering around the Stupa at the Killing Fields..

We had to take our shoes off to walk around and Liz got stung right on the sole of her foot..she was in a lot of agony but after it had lessened a bit i took a photo and went to ask if it was anything we needed to worry about. In my haste i slipped majorly on the wet concrete floor and went flying!!! i'd like to thank the other tourists for just staring at us while i was curled up on the floor in shock and Liz hobbled over in pain! we have no luck!

Vietnam

More pictures...a bit delayed and i have more to come, just not enough time!

We are loving the coconuts, a nice change from water and they look great! We are also loving the cocktails at the moment but they are not much cheaper than in the UK!

There are so many workshops for art students in Vietnam, tonnes of them! they all paint replicas in amazing detail rather than their own pictures. it was amazing to see the dedication.

Fish Market

A sample of the many currencies i'm carrying around

We visited the war remnants museum in Saigon, it was very hard hitting, lots of photos and personal stories. We were almost in tears most of the time! Brilliant museum..definitely recommended

im sure Tony can tell us all what kind of tank this is...

These guys hanging around sleeping and hassling us are considered "employed"

Stunning post office building

Nadia, Leigh and Liz..was great to meet up with the girls we met in Chaing Mai..we had so much fun that we decided to stay another day! Thanks for a lovely few days in Saigon :)

Nha Trang

Seafood corner restaurant in Nha Trang..cant believe i ate these as im so fussy about fish. they looked like little snails..eughh! but tasted nice once i got past that!

Beautiful Nha Trang beach..although Hoi An was probably a bit better :-o

We did an Easy rider tour, we went out to some of the villages and saw some of the crafts. It was a really fun afternoon..we are making beach mats in this pic, surprised they let us help for so long as we were very slow!!
My driver
hehe
making noodles
famous Vietnamese hats
My delicious "make your own" spring roll..i was stuffed on these and they were so so cheap!
A woman making the rice paper that we used to make our spring rolls