Vesak celebrations in Hikkaduwa. Very loud! Not sure all appropriate health and safety checks were conducted prior to this spectacle! I spent my last day in Cambodia pottering around Phnom Penh and exploring the back streets and markets. That evening I jumped on the back of a bike and headed to street where, a well-travelled food blogger I met on Koh Tah Kiev told me, there were some great restaurants. Unfortunately, due to the fact that it was Khmer New Year everything was closed, it however did result in a rather fun ride through the city awash with lights to celebrate the New Year.
That night I took the subway to the Petronas Towers which was okay-la! After a week on the beaches and islands I traveled back to Phnom Penh where I was to spend my last couple of days in Cambodia. Choeung Ek is located 11 miles south of Phnom Penh and is the best-known of the killing fields of which there are many across the country.
Victims included anyone remotely connected to the prior government, intellectuals and professionals however erroneously defined and various ethnic groups. It is thought that over 17, people were executed at Choeung Ek which is now the site of the national memorial for victims of the genocide.
The Buddhist memorial stupa that houses the skulls and bones of victims from Choeung Ek. Skulls from victims in the Buddhist memorial stupa at Choeung Ek. I took the accompanying audio tour which provided details of how prisoners were processed and executed as well as first-hand accounts from prison guards and prisoners.
The main excavation of the site was conducted in the s with memorials placed around key communal graves however the bones and clothes of victims continue to be unearthed over time. View across the lake at Choeung Ek which was an orchard prior to being used as a killing field.
Bracelets and other memorials placed on communal graves. Fragments of the bones and clothes of victims unearthed on the pathways. It is believed that between and over 17, people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng. Prisoners endured on-going torture to force them to name family members or other associates, who were then subsequently arrested and tortured.
Following torture, if the prisoner survived, they would be transported to Choeung Ek for execution. Of the 17, prisoners at S there were only 12 known survivors. The notorious Tuol Sleng prison and interrogation centre known as S Room where interrogation and torture was conducted at Tuol Sleng. Can such atrocities be understood or processed in a few hours of one sunny morning or by reading an account by a survivor?
The next day Ro and I headed down south to the beach village of Otres 1 whilst Sarah and Dan made their way separately to Kep. It was a hectic couple of days relaxing on the beach, drinking iced-coffees, swimming and doing a few yoga classes.
Ro left the next afternoon for the island of Koh Rong whilst I stayed another night to wait for Sarah to arrive. The island and Ten was a 45 min boat ride away and had no running water, limited electricity, no WiFi and a fair number of bugs. We were met off the boat by some of the team who ran the place, a very fun and friendly bunch of people. The only drawback to this idyllic and isolated location was that it was about a 4 minute walk from the main bar area and the loos.
We however quickly got used to the little trek back and forth along the jungle tracks and our fear of encountering any snakes eased with each trip. Crab Shack nestled between the beach and the jungle.
Crab Shack — Our beach side bungalow at Ten Sunset from the beach just outside our bungalow. We spent the days lying on the beach, swimming, going for walks, getting lost on walks and snoozing on the deck. Evenings were spent chatting to other guests, eating great food and sinking a few beers. One night we went for a swim to see the phosphorous plankton — it was a magical experience, the water glowing and sparkling around me with every movement.
On our final night we visited the local absinthe distillery on the island…our stumble through the jungle back to our bungalow was pretty amusing that night. After four nights however I have to say I was ready to head back to the mainland. Sarah had to get back to Phnom Penh to start her journey home while I had two further nights at the beach at Otres 2. We said our goodbyes and promised to meet up in London.
Next stop was Kampot a riverside town about a 30 minute drive west from Kep. Boker Hill Station was built but French colonial settlers who wanted to escape the heat and intensity of Phnom Penh. The French abandoned Boker in the s, during the first Indochina War and then permanently in during the Rouge regime. The hill station is a gloriously atmospheric and eerie place primarily due to waves of mist that envelope the abandoned buildings and surrounding rainforest. We also scrambled over and up some rocks for an amazing view across the park.
The government have been developing the hill station and have built a massive and rather ugly casino together with a new hotel and golf course.
Catholic church at Boker Hill Station. Now you see it…. Mist rolls in across the rain forest at Boker Hill Station.
Amy looking effortlessly glam on her motorbike riding back from Boker Hill Station. The next day Sarah and I headed out with Kampot based Climbodia, a rock climbing and caving outfit run by a guy from Belgium called David. We were picked up by remorke at 8am and stopped on the way to pick up Dan, an English guy from Southampton. The final member of our climbing team, Ro from Dublin, joined us as the climb site.
Dan, Sarah and I, all kitted up and ready to go! Our initial climb was an easy 40 meter scramble up the rock to our initial rest point. We then traversed via ferrata steel cables fixed to the rock face to our abseiling point down into the caves below.
We then spent a good hour exploring and climbing between the different chambers of the caves. Checking out the stalactites and mites inside the cave. My arms were shot, shaking and weak.
I asked one of the guides to demonstrate so I could try and mimic his handholds. Easy right! I tried again, failed again and admitted defeat. I was sweaty, dusty, bruised, a little bit bloody but very happy! Sarah and Ro get started. The route on the right is the one that defeated me in the end. It looks pretty easy from afar! That night, with new friends made, we celebrated with a few beers recounting stories of our victories and heroics on the rock face.
I left Phnom Penh early for the seaside town of Kep a small town on the south coast of Cambodia with a pretty beach, fabulous sunsets and a famous crab market.
I decided to treat myself and stayed in a wonderful guesthouse called Bacoma where the accommodation consists of cute little stone yurts with thatched roofs set among beautifully lush gardens.
The owner, a Swiss chap, was a bit of a film buff and had built a very cool open air cinema in the gardens, he was also an Arsenal fan and we spent one very fun evening watching the mighty Arsenal thrash Liverpool ! The morning after I arrived I hired a remorke with driver and went to visit some local sights.
We started at the salt fields, one of only three places in Cambodia where the combination of climate and geography result in optimum conditions for salt farming. It was early morning and the light and reflections off the fields made for some great photo opportunities, although not sure I realized any of them however! Through my remorke driver, Nik, I spent some time chatting to the workers about the process and the conditions working in the fields.
It certainly sounded like hard back breaking work in very hot and humid conditions. After a quick stop at a local village where we saw fisherman carrying out their daily routines of net mending and boat repairs we drove on to the temple caves. I was joined initially by two, then three, local kids who for a few dollars act as guides to the tourists through the caves. Locals playing volleyball at the fishing village.
Our final destination was at a local pepper farm where the famous organic Kampot Pepper is grown. The farm was owned and managed by a German gentleman who had been living in Cambodia for over 20 years.
He described the harvesting process and the differences in the process, smell and taste of black, red and white peppercorns. Only farms that meet stringent regulations including origin of seedlings and organic farming process can receive the official certification and brand their products as Kampot Pepper. Even at 3pm the day was still very hot and some parts of the track quite challenging, however it was a great way to experience the beautiful local flora and fauna.
On my way however I did have a rather unsettling experience involving a dog. I was passing a temple about 15 minutes away from my final destination when a dog came running out from the temple grounds towards me barking aggressively.
He continued to bark, growl and bare his teeth. I kept walking, looking straight ahead and trying to keep calm as he weaved backwards and forwards across the path at my feet. Finally after about 30 meters, which I tell you felt more like meters, he stopped following me and trotted back into the temple.
I thought for a Buddhist dog — my assumption as he had an orange scarf tied around his neck and came from the temple — he was pretty aggressive! With my heart still pounding I continued along the path to Sunset Rock. It was about pm now and the sun was getting low in the sky. My next dilemma; the path to Sunset Rock was becoming increasingly difficult and narrow.
So after spending two hours walking to the rock I spent less than two minutes there, took a couple of snaps and headed back. Temple dog greeted me again with the same amount of aggressive enthusiasm as before but again was all bark and fortunately no bite! The rest of my days were spent swimming, eating crab and cycling around the town checking out all the old colonial buildings that were abandoned by the French during the Rouge Regime.
Gates and ruins from French colonial houses abandoned during the Rouge regime. A quick note on the crab. One night I had the Khmer stir fried crab with green peppercorns.
I got very messy eating this and took delight in sucking every morsel of crab out of even the tiniest bits of shell I could find. I needed to be hosed down afterwards, but it was worth it! One other night I had the plain boiled crab which comes with a black pepper and lime dipping sauce. I ordered the small size but realized my mistake when I was presented with two rather small crabs. The meat was delicious, sweet and tender but wow did I have to work at it!
Fried crab with green peppercorns. Messy but worth it! Boiled crab with black pepper and lime dipping sauce. Dinner with a view at the crab markets in Kep. Adventures in life, travel and teaching. Skip to content. Home About. Reflections on the end of an adventure… Posted on August 16, by racheldennisotr. What an amazing set of memories made, what fun times had and what a beautiful country. Thank you Mum and Dad for being truly wonderful people and great travel companions.
Camper van selfies! Inside Banteay Kdei. Friends from the Foundation of Goodness. Blogging in Bangkok at Shanti Lodge. Lunch at Rock Ferry Wines. Placement objectives: Create a unified English language function within the foundation. Introduce latest teaching methodologies through monthly teacher training. Create succession plan to enable future local leadership of English language function.
Develop volunteer guidelines and requirements. Implement measurement and success metrics to monitor performance of function. Implement bi-monthly reporting to sponsors, founder, board and other key stakeholders. Mendis working on the whiteboard. Salin, Mendis and a happy teacher! The Foundation of Goodness Posted on July 2, by racheldennisotr. The sustainable income programs include Dive Tourism.
At our dive shop Dive Seenigama, Dive Lanka which provides diving and water sports for tourists. Gourmet Goodness. A range of spice blends in partnership with UK supermarket Tesco Plates of Goodness that provides Sri Lankan cooking classes for tourists. Business Processing Outsourcing or BPO — which provides outsourcing services to business including data entry and back office processes. The playground at the pre-school. Shy smiles after class. English class in progress. The cricket pavilion at the Sports Academy.
The cricket grounds at the Sports Academy. Some more cricket memorabilia. Sunset at Seenigama beach. Serendipity Posted on July 2, by racheldennisotr. A Vesak panal in Colombo. Vesak lights around the lake in Colombo. Offerings in the temple. The view from the train on the way to Kandy. The best way to travel!
The view towards Kandy across the lake. Kandy market. Rice and spices on sale at Kandy market. Inside the main temple in Hikkaduwa. Phnom Penh streets. Cyclo stand in Phnom Penh. Local market in Phnom Penh.
The Royal Palace, Phnom Penh. Bird seller, Phnom Penh market. Khmer New Year celebrations in lights. Phnom Penh by bike. Back of a bike selfie! The Petronas Towers at night. Nevertheless, Davis' solo is a strident mix of punches and runs, with Jarrett echoing him on the left after each phrase. Jarrett had already lit the fire under the track during his lengthy intro solo-- in fact, he was given a very long leash during these dates, frequently being allotted complete freedom to bring in tracks with unaccompanied performances.
The band closes shop with the funked-out "Inamorata" and Davis' screaming melody. We're just getting started. The second disc, from the next night, begins with DeJohnette's deft pulse on "What I Say", Henderson hitting the downbeats like a rock. Jarrett again begins things with a flighty, short-breathed solo on electric piano before Davis comes in with the piercing "melody" which is mostly more high-note jabs that I imagine took out the eyes of the first row of club patrons.
Bartz takes off after a particularly agitated Davis solo, and the tune seems to jump into another gear altogether-- and the audience responds in kind with the first of many animated reactions to his solos. On "Honky Tonk", something of a gospel blues vamp, the band brings everything way down, as Henderson plays the main riff under Jarrett's shimmering piano asides. Davis' solo afterwards sounds almost suffocated by the dirge of a pulse, but given that remainder of the band's set featured blow-outs like "It's About That Time" here, with an unbelievably funky coda and "Inamorata", he may just have been venting his anticipation.
Friday night's shows are spread over discs 3 and 4, the first of which contains epic versions of "What I Say", "Directions", and "Honky Tonk". I should note that the band never sounds out of breath in the slightest. Moreira's cuica squeak is all over the intro, as if chomping at the bit to let the floodgates open; Davis comes in about three minutes into the tune, nailing a wailing pitch into his solo and taking flight with a runs as if this was the first shot he'd ever gotten to play this stuff.
Davis crawls out from between the twin locomotives of DeJohnnette and Henderson with a wah-wah'd solo, and it's obvious they probably could have gone on for hours. The Saturday night shows on discs 5 and 6, and the introduction of guitarist McLaughlin whose late flight only allowed him to make the tail end of their gigs , brings home an abundantly clear point: This period was apex for Davis and his band.
Reissue co-producer Adam Holzman makes the point that this music was a sort of end-game for Davis' Bitches Brew ideas, before leaping off into the funky underworlds of On the Corner and the hazy, quasi-psychedelic shows of his touring band from McLaughlin's jaw-dropping solo on "Directions" from the last disc serves notice to anyone who forgot that Davis really did want to play rock music, but with the intelligence and technique of jazz.
It's tough to find very many examples on record of people playing with as much intensity or inspiration. Funny enough, some of the guys mention in the box's notes that they weren't quite sure what to expect with McLaughlin's arrival.
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