A few hours in Bath

As you might have guessed from my previous gift posts, I love Jane Austen.

So when my cousin wanted to go to the University of Bath open day, I jumped at the chance to spend a day in the city!

Bath has been around since Roman times, and since then has been famous for its waters that were meant to be good for the health. Its popularity as a spa town meant that Bath became one of the most fashionable society places in Georgian times, hosting events much like the balls and gatherings in Jane Austen's books.

I had a maximum of about 4 hours to spend in this city, on a Saturday. So as you can imagine, there wasn't much time to queue for the big tourist hot spots, but I hope to give you a bit of a flavour!

Excitingly, we stumbled from the famous Royal Crescent into what turned out to be a record breaking event...

The annual Jane Austen festival!

The people of Bath take this tradition very seriously, and people from the whole county will join in the walk around the city in period dress. The costumes were out of this world!

Bikes and prams were even in keeping with the event:

My favourite? The military outfits.
I do love a man in uniform...

The streets of Bath themselves were so pretty and all made out of the same Bath stone.

The previous history of the buildings is proudly displayed for all to see.

As well as little markets tucked away in corners...

...and wide open squares full of bustling crowds.

The one place I really wanted to see was the old Roman baths. It used to be a public bathing house and over the years some amazing things have been found there. But as you can imagine, on a Saturday during the Jane Austen festival, it was a no-go zone! Instead I took a picture of the outside, as well as the Pump Room restaurant that is right next door:

Finally, as the clock was ticking on, we made our way to Bath Abbey.

I am such a fan of massive cathedrals/abbeys/minsters. They are always full of beauty and have a real sense of peace. Often photos are banned and it can cost money to enter, but thankfully Bath Abbey was neither!

On the way back to the Crescent, I took a quick snap of the Museum at the end of the row as a reminder to visit it next time.

So, who's up for visiting the festival and Bath with me next year?!

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Cambodia 2: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Angkor Wat

The second and final post on Cambodia features temples, temples and more temples! Seriously, they were everywhere. These were all near the city of Siem Reap, in the north.

The temples we saw had an incredible charm as they had been abandoned for many years before opening to the public. This lead many to end up like this...

This beauty was used in the Tomb Raider film. You can see why!

The most famous temple in Cambodia (so famous it is on their flag) is Angkor Wat, meaning 'City of Temples'. Currently the largest religious monument in the world, this temple was a Hindu one and later changed to Buddhist. We had the 'privilege' of seeing it at 4.30 in the morning...

But as the sun came up, it was the perfect place to get a photo of the reflection pool.

Ankor Wat is a marvel, and has been heralded by Cambodians as a key part of their culture and history. The temple is a complex of buildings, all intricately carved with Hindu and Buddhist imagery:

The temple complex began in the 12th Century, which is hard to believe when you look at the design:

The next temple? Bayon, complete with serene looking faces guarding the towers:

I tried to join in, with great success:

Bayon was by far my favourite! The evening was followed by some traditional Cambodian dancing, very similar to Thai dance:

Our next stop was the best part of my whole three-week trip. Just outside of Siem Reap there is a little village where poverty is very rife, but a wonderful project is taking place to provide free medical care and education; New Hope.

The project recently built a new surgery, school and training restaurant, but the old school building is now used as housing for local families. The kids there were so happy, it made you forget all worries from back home about silly things:

The new surgery, funded by donations and companies like Gadventures:

One of our party even did her ice bucket challenge during assembly!

Sot Kemsour, the founder of New Hope on the right!

The project takes on volunteers from all around the world, and the money goes directly to the Cambodian school rather than admin or UK staff wages.  I definitely want to come back here!

So, as you can imagine I was sad to leave Cambodia as it was incredible. I cannot recommend visiting it enough!

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