Siem Reap, Cambodia _ 29 March - 3 April 2014

Siem Reap is the kind of place that reminds you why you go backpacking; to see the world. It is not nearly as developed as chaotic Kuala Lumpur or touristy like the backpacker party epicenters of Thailand. It is simply just Siem Reap, home to the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. The pace here is slow (probably due to the 38 C/104 F weather) and everything seems to just be a little behind.

super sweaty from hiking around in the heat !

The sunsets and the sunrises at the famous Angkor Wat are truly inspiring with the colors of reds and oranges. I was fortunate enough to spend my 26^th birthday in Siem Reap. We woke up at 4am to head to Angkor Wat and watch the sunrise. It was so beautiful. This temple is thousands of years old and to be there in 2014 on my 26^th birthday made me realize how lucky I was. I couldn't ask for a better present to myself than to just be there. The Angkor Wat temples are a UNESCO world heritage site and were constructed between the 9^th and 15^th centuries. The famous ones are Bayon and also Ta Prohm, where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed.

celebrating my birthday watching the sunrise over Angkor Wat

What really stood out to me was the spirit and kindness of the Khmer people. It was not too long ago that war ravaged the country under the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It wasn't until the late 1990s that the country was able to start to rebuild from the destruction of the wars. However, even though the war is over and Cambodia can start to flourish, the people are effected everyday by old landmines and UXO’s.

Children who are not even old enough to remember the war are still injured due to the undetected landmines. It truly is so sad. Yet, Khmer hospitality and kindness is mind blowing. Most people in the country are old enough to remember the war, but still have such an unbreakable spirit.

Meas and I ! Meas took us everywhere in his Tuk Tuk

We went to the landmine museum, which also is a home to children who were injured due to landmines or UXO’s & it is an NGO. We learned so much on how this is still affecting the country. (Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos still are facing this problem). The head of the Landmine Museum and School, Aki Ra, was a child soldier himself. Now his goal is to clear Cambodia of all remaining landmines. In 2010 he was named as a CNN hero for his work and was awarded in the top 10. He and his team have estimated that they have cleared 50,000 mines or so, but the government still believes that there are still 3 million to 5 million mines still undiscovered. That is how severe this problem is.

It is truly inspiring to know what the people have gone through, yet they are so welcoming. Just walking down Pub Street or the Night Markets, everyone is smiling and saying hello wanting to practice their English or sell you something. It was an eye opening experience. Siem Reap was a cute little town filled with history. I couldn't ask for a more inspirational place to be during my birthday and to remind me why I travel.

sunset at Angkor Wat

night market

The Amazing Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei

The Ulu Temburong National Park is a part of the Borneo rain forest and is truly quite incredible. The experiences we've had here are probably one of the best travelling experiences I have had in my life. To get here you need to take a 45 minute boat ride in what the locals call a “floating coffin”, then you get picked up in a van and are driven about 20 minutes down the road to a different part of the river/stream. Here is where you ride in a traditional style boat that is maneuvered by a man who is part of the indigenous tribe of the area. This traditional style boat only seats 6 to 8 depending on the length. The driver literally takes you up stream over rapids (due to it being dry the rapids were only level 1, but still rather impressive!). This trip only took about 30ish minutes or so. Depending on the water conditions, you’re looking at about a 2 hour trip just to reach the national forest and the only resort in or around the national park.

the floating coffin

It is so secluded that while travelling upstream, the sounds of the forest really hit you. The water, the birds, the bugs, the wind, and that’s it. Nothing else. No other boats or people were around to disturb the peace; it was great. When we got to the resort, our guide informed us that we were actually the only people who booked to stay that evening. So, not only were we the only ones at the resort, we were the only people within this national forest (other than about 10 staff members) that were inside the national park, in the middle of the Borneo rain forest, crazy remote! We obviously got upgraded due to the availability, amazing! The resort was so peaceful, you can read my husband’s review here: whenitraveltheworld.com

over rapids on the traditional boat !

After the long journey we stuffed our faces to a delicious meal of foods we had not had before, which was fun. Once it got dark we headed off for our night walk in the jungle. Not going to lie, this was pretty scary. We headed down the river in the middle of the night in the traditional boat. All we had were our flash lights. Then, we get dropped off and were expected to start wading through water towards the rain forest. We were told to watch where we step due to snakes, to say I was creeped out is an understatement!  Well we saw many frogs including the Borneo Horned Toad and our scary list goes like this: scorpions, HUGE spiders, gargantuan ants the size of my thumbs, and of course a snake, swimming the water! I was ready to cut our “sightseeing” short to head back to the resort, but I toughed it out… rather bravely! In my opinion, we actually saw the best animals at the resort. We saw a porcupine chase after a civet cat! Then we also saw the civet cat by our room climbing in the trees. The Civet cat is the cat that eats the coffee beans, then poops them out and its really expensive coffee called kopi luwak. Any who, that was way more exciting and non-scary. We saw an owl and a few bats, which also were not scary after the jungle hike in the safe vicinity of our room.

on our night jungle hike

We then went to bed as we had to get up at 4:30 am to climb to the canopy’s to see the sunrise. This, hands down was the best thing we've done thus far on our trip. I think it is going to be nearly impossible to beat. Once you've watched the sunrise in the Borneo rain forest on top of the trees, I don’t think any other jungle or rain forest experience will ever top that. We were awoken promptly at 4:30 am and were on the traditional boat by 5 am to start out journey. We climbed, in the dark, over 800 steps to get to the canopy. Then we climbed 50 meters up scaffolding to get to the top that overlooked the trees. IT WAS EXHAUSTING, but we did do it as fast as we could to get up there before the sun rose.

getting ready to climb up the scaffolding, in the dark!

looking pretty tired after climbing the scaffolding

We made it to the top before hand and waited. The sound of the forest waking up was so beautiful and peaceful. Different birds waking up and singing their morning songs. The wind bristling in the trees. The sun light slowly rising over the horizon warming the forest. It truly was an amazing experience. Words cannot fully describe how I felt. It was like we were one with nature, truly appreciating mother nature in her full beauty. We were the only ones there, watching the sunrise, waking up the forest. The sound, the smell, the sight of it was just one of a kind. I will always remember it. This is why people go to Brunei, to come experience the sun rising over the Ulu Temburong National Park. We stayed up there taking it in for about an hour or so, we didn't want to leave.

our amazing sunrise

When we finally made our way down, our legs and back were definitely a lot sorer than before! Trekking up as fast as we could probably wasn't the best idea, but well worth it. When we got back we ate some breakfast and relaxed for a bit. Then we decided to go kayaking down those rapids! They looked too fun not to! Being in the canopy was an enlightening experience, but kayaking down the river was just plain fun! We went down a ways then jumped in the water for a swim before going to the “fish spa”. It was a pool filled with little fish that ate your dead skin when you walked in. I hated it, it tickled and felt weird and they were pretty aggressive. It was a laugh, but I didn't last long.

looking down on part of the scaffolding we climbed

slowly making our way down

kayaking!

before taking a dip in front of our room =)

We eventually had to get back to the resort to clean up and pack. We needed to make our 2 hour journey back to BSB. We sat in front of our room just listening to the river and the rain forest, taking it all in before we had to say goodbye. It was a great way to end our day, reflecting on how lucky we were to have been a part of this once in a lifetime experience. 

thanks Ulu Ulu for the AWESOME experience !

enjoying a coconut on our flight leaving Brunei.... goodbye Brunei, it's been great!