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Lets take this gig global!!
Yodondo folks!
Well our Cambodia adventure continues and this place still keeps managing to me amaze me in so many ways.
After the slightly 'heavy', Dawson Creekness of the last update I'll try and keep this one a little lighter!! So dont fall asleep just yet!
Steve and I were chatting last night and even tho the past few days have been pretty intense they have also been complete comedy aswell! Think Paul can take some plaudits for that too as it was pure banter in Siem Reap for two days;
- Teasing the local 'pimps' on the way back from bars after they persist in asking you "you want lady? My Friend?"
- Quizzing the kids about their (pretty impressive) knowledge of Capital cities- think they'd even give our resident Fleet Oracle, John, a run for his money!!
-Choosing the worst Tuk Tuk driver for our first day of Angkor. Not speaking a word of English or from what we could tell not understanding a word of Cambodian either. He kept taking us to the wrong places! Its just lucky we had time on our hands. We couldnt understand what his name was so we just called him Colin or 'big C'.
-On the second day we had a guy with good English but his name was Preuk and pronounced like.......well, you know...... lets just say that you can imagine where the banter came from that morning!
- The crazy steep steps of each temple, Angkor wat in particular. Its more like rock climbing without a harness at times and with my ridiculous fear of heights I couldnt even make it up the biggest set and bottled it half way! Might have been the best decision tho as later we found out that someone had actually fallen and died two days before we were there!! I dont think Heath and safety has quite hit Cambodia yet! ha.
- Me going off into the jungle on David Attenborough style mini adventures to catch the wildlife which domintaes the temple environments. I was successful more often than not tho! The funnel web spider (or one very similar) and an army of red ants were the best finds of the day! I probably shouldnt play this up too much tho as my mum is no doubt reading this!!
Anyways, dissapointed in not finding Angelina, yesterday it was time to move on. It was another early start tho as the minibus came to pick us up at 6:35am (supposed to be 6 but was predictably late!). We met a couple of Aussie girls on the bus who were slightly worse for wear after hitting the town the night before and not knowing exactly what time they got in! My guess is that it was pretty late!! They were cool tho and we may well meet up with them in melbourne for a tour of their home city/ (or more likely)nightlife!
The port or 'swamp' as it more commonly looked like was heaving with crowds and fishermen and was right out in the sticks down the bumpiest road we have encountered...EVER!!
After walking a wonky plank to get on (seriously dodgy if you were a fatty!) the boat was old and rickety but fairly comfortable to be fair. It was a small group too and we all got on well enough and sat on the roof most of the time. Only ducking down under to get a few minutes out of the roasting heat. Half way tho we had to change boats (to a much smaller one) and this was a lot more cramped especially after picking up random locals who surprise surprise, were paying about 5% of the price we were!! We did have a pimp daddy of a driver tho, you will have to wait to see the photos to see what I mean!
The trip took 8 hours in the end but it was quality all the way and the best journey I have been on for as long as I can remember. You are 100% in Cambodia passing floating markets, floating villages and untold fishermen in what seems like (and probably is) a million miles from any urban civilisation. Its real Michael Palin-esque and reminded me alot of the boat trip he did down the Amazon. Its the best insight into Cambodian life and hilarious waving to the kids playing in the river. They wave like crazy and then once you've passed go mental and try to show off by doing back flips and spinning around in the waves created by the boat's wake. Comedy! The only downside is the frequent stench of dead rotting fish which often fills the air! Mmm....nice!!
So a quality day and got to top up the UVs along the way too. We got a moto to our hotel and were given a spacious double...... but with a 'fan of death' revolving above us!! The ceilings not particularly low but the fan hangs down and is about 4 inches above our heads!! Doesnt bother me as much but with Steve being about 6ft4 it cracks me up as he has to walk around the room like a hunch back!! haha. It is seriously dangerous tho and we are having to get dressed in the bathroom so as not to catch it with trailing arms and limbs!! But at $2.50 each a night you cant really complain.
It was fairly late when we arrived so took it easy yesterday and Steve has gone off on a tour of the Battambang countryside today with an American girl we met in Siem. But I wasnt too fussed and pretty tired so just having a chilled one. Had a much needed lie-in and gonna wander round town after this, maybe catch some munch on the riverfront and then have got the task of booking our bus to Bangkok (hopefully tomorrow).
So better get moving! Hopefully I will be in the Asian 'city of angels' when you next hear from me.
Until then....peace.
Dan
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