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6pm on Wednesday 24th we all met in the lobby of the new world hotel Bangkok. We were introduced to our intrepid group and guide whose name is Borna who is a 30 year old Cambodian guy. We all went out for dinner and a few drinks that night to break the ice and get to know the other group members. There are 15 of us in total and almost the same ratio boys to girls which is really cool. We have 6 australians, 4 canadians, 2 from Glasgow, 1 from south hampton UK and us kiwis. The next morning we met in the lobby at 630am to catch a shuttle bus to the Thailand border. The bus trip took about 4 hours from Bangkok. We stopped on the way at a seven eleven to fill out our visa and departure forms. The border crossing didn't take too long since we were with our guide and group making things a lot easier and less stressful for us all. It was about another 4 hours by bus to Siem Reap. We stopped at a silk factory and had a tour of how the silk is made and saw all the factory workers in action. Amazing how old the machinery is but still producing beautiful silk products. We stayed in a small guest house which was very close to down town Siem reap. It was 33 degrees when we arrived late afternoon. It is a lot hotter here than thailand and we found that hot!! Borna took us to a Cambodian restaurant for dinner where we had rice paper spring rolls, amok fish and chicken curry. Delicious. Also 0.50c beer and $1.50 g&ts!! Although no activities were included in our tour our group all wanted to check out the temples at Angkor Wat. It was a long day looking around 5 different ones including one where we watched the sun set over the temple. Lovely colours of the stone. In the evening we went to another place for a meal with the entire group which was great fun as we all know each other well now. The next day all but two wanted to check out the floating villages and the lake. Two boys wanted to go horse riding so they did that while the rest of us with our guide got a boat up to the villages. Amazing hut like houses on stilts. Even pigs and chickens were in small floating houses. We were taken for a canoe around the village in a traditional canoe with a Cambodian lady rowing us. The children were all playing in the water and would yell hello and wave at us. Very very cute. We took a boat to see the lake where we were allowed to swim but no one did as the water was dirty!! In the afternoon we had free time so Greg and I went for a walk along the river and sat in the shade. As temperature was around 35 degrees. At 6.45 pm we all met again in the lobby and got a tuk tuk to one of the children's hospital for a free cello concert and talk by the man who started building the 6 hospitals around Cambodia giving the children free hospital care. It went for way longer than we thought and felt like the man was far too repetitive. We went to a restaurant for dinner which had western food on the menu. Borna our guide always orders western and we order Cambodian. Down town was pumping since it was Saturday night. Lots if people were dressed in Halloween costumes. We all headed home to pack up for the early start the next day. We met in the lobby at 7am and got a public bus to Kompong Cham. After a 5 hour bus trip we arrived at Mekong hotel which is right beside the Mekong river. We had a late lunch at a place down the road. At 3.30pm we all met and hired bikes for 1.50 each. We biked down and caught the ferry across to the island on the Mekong river for a bike ride around the villages. We saw so many cute kids running up to us saying hello hello and high fiving us as we biked passed. Amazing to see how they farm and live day to day. Lots of cattle, chickens and dogs on the island. We got the ferry back as the sun was setting. Next stop tomorrow Phnom Penh for one night and then homestay. Ill try add Facebook photos but hard since we are on the move every day at the moment.
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