Travel Times

Visiting the Killing Fields was without a doubt one of the hardest experiences on the trip. I absolutely had to go because I knew it was important that  I get an understanding of Cambodia's history and the horrendous events it has overcome, but the Killing Fields is just one of those things you can never prepare for.

The Killing Fields is basically one of the many sites where Cambodian people of all ages were murdered and tortured in the most awful ways, and then thrown into mass graves.

When visiting, you are given a personal audio tour - you are able to walk around listening to the audio with headphones. It leaves for deadly silence at the Killing Fields, with tear filled and grim faced tourists walking among the graves still surfacing bones and clothing fragments as the weather changes and the soil shifts.

One of the bizarre things was that even though you knew the atrocities that had occurred on the very place you were walking, you couldn't help but notice how peaceful and beautiful it was. It was just not right...

At the end you stand by a stupa (shown below) filled to the top with skulls, ranging from babies to 90 year old men.

If you ever visit Cambodia, this is an experience that I consider to be the most important thing to do. It is shocking, you will be disgusted by what you hear, it will make you angry and feel hopeless, but it is so important to be educated and have an understanding of how incredible the country is for having overcome it.

Bones that had resurfaced due to rains and shifting soil over the years

Stupa full of skulls

Travel Times 7

 Welcome to Spidertown! We travelled from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, a direct route diagonally through the country. Our single stop was at 'Spidertown' where we stepped off the bus to be greeted by what seemed like millions of children all carrying...tarantulas.

Fortunately for me, I am quite a fan of holding bunny rabbit sized spiders, but for others this was a nightmare come true. For those unlike myself who weren't so keen on playing with them (seriously, they are so big they become less scary, more like they are fluffy little animals!) there were opportunities to eat them too (after they had been deep fried of course!).

In the photographs you can see a lovely display of crickets, cockroaches, tarantulas and small birds.Yum!

Spidertown was probably one of my millions of highlights, although I do appreciate that for others it may not be quite so enjoyable...

Would you be brave enough to visit Spidertown?

Travel Times 6

Royal Palace

Today's photos are from the National Museum in Phnom Penh and the Royal Palace, both of which we visited. For someone who has no appreciation or understanding of architecture whatsoever (like myself) I was still completely mindblown by how elaborate and over the top everything was. Admittedly, it was a little difficult to get used to after having spent a week building simple brick homes for those who had none but nevertheless, I wouldn't mind being back here again!

The Cambodian culture was so evident in all of their buildings.

Royal Palace

National Museum

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

Travel Times 5

When I was in Cambodia we were able to take a little boat ride down the Tonle Sap River to see all of the floating villages. There are literally floating villages aligning each side of the river and those living there rely on the river for a living. I was astounded by their way of life, and I only saw the tiniest glimpse of it! We passed a floating school, church, restaurant, supermarket, timber yard and apparently there was even a floating pig farm! 

Floating supermarket

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Travel Times 4

Ta Prohm

I would do just about anything to be back at the Temples of Angkor exploring all the incredible temples and their secrets! The photo above was in my favourite temple, Ta Prohm - which coincidentally was the one where the film Tomb Raider was shot...a film I have not seen. It was stunning - all the trees had taken over the stone and it looked so unreal and magnificent.

The Bayon temple was another cool one, full of carved faces of the King. Lastly was Ankor Wat, the largest and most famous...home of the steepest set of stairs I have ever seen too!

Angkor Wat

Bayon Temple

Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom

Travel Times 3

I've really hit that point where I am just desperate to return to Cambodia. I'm three weeks into school and it feels like I've been there for months. I look back on all my photos and just long to be back!

I miss all the food - the incredible meals, fruit drinks and flowers that came with all the food that you could put in your hair. It feels so strange in Australia where there is no 'life' on the streets, no crazy power lines to admire, no beeping and Tuk Tuk drivers approaching you every couple of steps! I would also love to go back to those markets - not to purchase anything but to simply be a part of the incredible, although rather claustrophobic type space.

Travel Times 2

A little street near Angkor Wat

One of the things I miss most about Cambodia is the life and atmosphere on the streets. In Siem Reap it was very much a tourist focused town, so the streets were lined with massage opportunities and tanks of fish that would nibble on your toes, the highly popular "fish foot massages." Phnom Penh was very different yet still teeming with culture and life, all of which I soaked up and now miss very much! Since returning to Australia I have noticed how quiet and dull it can be!

Anyone up for a fish foot massage?

Streets of Phnom Penh

$1 foot massage in Siem Reap

Travel Times 1

This is a photo of the sunrise over Angkor Wat. We woke up at 4am to see this, and though it certainly wasn't the most spectacular sunrise I had ever seen, it was truly magical sitting amongst the oldest, largest temples in Cambodia with dragonflies and water lilies all around as the sun crept up over the land.

Travel Times!

As you may know, I recently went on a trip to Cambodia. It was without a doubt the best thing I have ever done in my (short) life, and I have come back quite a different person. I don't think this is surprising, especially considering the nature of the trip where we went to poorer communities to fund and contribute to the building of houses of those suffering from HIV/Aids. As you can imagine, returning to Australia has been quite difficult.

I have also had trouble coming to terms with my blog in fact, struggling with the fact that all that I used to post about seems so excessive and unnecessary. Don't worry, I am certainly not going to give it up because blogging has helped me in so many ways in my life, and beauty is still a hobby of mine, but I certainly have had a big think about everything and for the time being, purchasing cosmetics just isn't all that appealing. I doubt very much that this feeling will last forever, but this blog might be a little strange for the time being as I reevaluate it all and come to terms with how much I have in comparison to how little everyone had over in Cambodia, and attempt to justify my interest in makeup and beauty related things. If anyone has ever experienced this, I would love to hear your thoughts and how you feel about it all.

Anyway! Instead of one huge great post I wanted to space it out a little and post a picture or two from my trip every week for however long I feel compelled to! I thought you might appreciate that a little more than a gazillion word post overloaded with thousands of pictures! I shall call it 'Travel times!'

For this first post is the series photo above, a picture from the temple Ta Prohm at the Temples of Angkor that we visited, where the movie Tomb Raider was shot. I felt like I was in some kind of magical land at this temple, it was just so beautiful.

Keep an eye out every Monday for a photo and short explanation from my travels. Thank you all for continuing to support my blog while I was away too, I really appreciate the comments you left!

Behind the Blog - YouReview

What? How could it be? Yes, for this Friday's Behind the Blog I am going to share a little about myself! Compared to many other bloggers I don't really share that much about myself so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do so while I am away and unable to organise one with another blogger.

I have really enjoyed getting the opportunity to interview other bloggers for this series, and as far as I am aware, many of you have enjoyed being able to find more out about some of the people behind the blogs you read regularly, as well as discovering new bloggers to follow. Hopefully you enjoy finding out a little more about me!

What is the significance of your blog name?
To be really honest with you, I don't know what possessed me to call my blog YouReview, especially because I never really even liked it from the beginning! I think I was just so excited to start up my blog that I rushed through the trickiest (and most important part) in an effort to start posting what I thought were wonderful posts but looking back were absolutely shocking! Oh how far I have come! Many times I have considered renaming my blog but now that it is quite established and has been linked on other blogs etc, I don't think it would be worth it.

Is beauty your only obsession?
Not at all, in fact it is almost a very secret obsession because few people realise I am so into makeup and beauty related things! I love science, though I don't think I know enough and dedicate enough time to it to call it an obsession, rather more of a strong interest...books! That's my other obsession, I love books.

What makes your blog different from others?
I think something that distinguishes this blog from others is my photographs - at least the fact that I take them outside among the greenery isn't something I have seen on too many other blogs. I was always very jealous of those who had fancy lighting set ups and incredible cameras (my camera cost $70 and is pretty rubbish!) who took stunning photos on white backgrounds. I could never achieve that so I decided to do a style of my own...photos outside. It's now become my 'thing' and I feel like I get better and better at it!

What is your dream career?
Early last year I did work experience for a week with 5 Speech Pathologists and since then I have completely latched on to the idea of becoming one. I have completed 3 work exp. placements with Speech Pathologists and am entirely sure that is what I want to do so I am really excited about eventually going to university to study that! For anyone who is at high school and thinking about work experience, I cannot recommend it enough!

Funnily enough, I really couldn't imagine working in the beauty industry because I am just so interested in health science/biological sciences. Beauty blogging is such an awesome hobby but something I don't consider as being a good career for me!

If you could feature on any TV show what would you pick?
The only TV shows that I watch are Big Bang Theory and an ABC series that isn't on at the moment called 'Call the Midwife.' I would totally feature on Big Bang Theory if I could!

What are your favourite books and movies?
As I mentioned, books are just about one of my favourite things in the world so it is ridiculously difficult to choose a favourite, but To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and Looking for Alaska by John Green are probably in my top 10 however there are so many more I could ramble on about.
As for movies, I really don't get into them as much and cannot think of any that I absolutely love, though surely there must be a couple...

Though it was so strange being on this side of the Behind the Blog post, I really enjoyed it and hopefully you got to know me and my blog a little better!

If you would like to nominate a blogger to be featured, please don't hesitate to let me know by emailing me at candiceyoureview@yahoo.com

Behind the Blog - Reverie Belle

It's Friday, and of course time for another Behind the Blog. At this point in time there is a fair chance I am out building a brick house in rural Cambodia - crazy right?

But, never fear, I was super organised and managed to prepare a post with the lovely Karen from Reverie Belle Beauty Blog.

Karen's blog has the most beautiful, clear pictures that basically make me want every single product she posts about (whether she gives it a positive review or not!). I love her honest, detailed reviews - they are so helpful and enjoyable to read.

I asked Karen about her dream job, $250 winnings and being happy.

Why did you start blogging?
A friend of mine linked me her blog and after trawling through all her posts, I was inspired to start my own! I loved the thought of putting my own opinions in a blog post with people reading them too.

What is your dream career/job?
A dream job would be doing something where I can travel the world, have free food, be pampered and trial beauty and skincare products! Haha I wish. At the moment I am studying pharmacy which leads me to become a pharmacist.  I would love to work in a hospital setting, however I’m really keen to own my own café or something to do with hotel management! I am a person of many ambitions…

What is the best thing you have ever won?
The best thing I’ve ever won was a $250 Visa card! It was a nice surprise and I happily spent it all.

If you were to start your blog again, what would you do differently?
I would probably take more time to take better photos- I think the quality of photos in blogs are really the deal breaker for me! When I first started my blog, I really didn’t take much attention to how well my photos looked and if I could start it again, I would make sure they look amazing!

What are some things that never fail to make you happy?
Being with friends, enjoying good food (I love to eat!) and snuggling in bed with a cup of tea and a magazine to read.

Do you have any secret hobbies?
Secret hobbies… I like to collect labels and tags from nice clothes and accessories  I have bought, I don’t know why! They are just too pretty to throw away :P

Thank you Karen - I personally think your blog photos are brilliant!

If you would like to nominate a blogger to be featured, please don't hesitate to let me know by emailing me at candiceyoureview@yahoo.com.