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Day 23: 1/7/13
We had to leave at 6:45 this morning, so we were up bright and early! I hadn't slept much last night either for some reason, I think I was over tired!
We got two mini-buses to the Cambodian border- eight people in each. Myself and Ann-Marie were just chatting most of the time we were travelling. We stopped around 8am to fill out the forms for the visas and sort out the money. It cost 1000 baht for the Cambodian visa which is about $30 US. We had forms to fill out and the drivers that were with us took the passport, money and forms to sort it out. It was roasting where we stopped. I hadn't expected it to be this hot really- it's well over 30 degrees but with the humidity it feels like 40.
We stopped a second time at an official building a few minutes away from the border where the drivers went in and got all our visas. We got our passport back then with the visa stuck into it. We had time to go to the bathroom there. The guide calls the bathroom Happy Room because people are happy when they get a toilet and grumpy when they don't! The toilets at the first stop were actually squat toilets- a hole in the ground with a toilet seat look about it that you squat over. There's a bin for te toilet paper and a tank of water with a saucepan type scoop. When you're finished you have to scoop water out and wash it down the squat toilet. It makes the whole floor wet, so when you go in it's hard to tell what kind of liquid is on the ground!
We got to the border then. Channa, the guide, had told us that we could be three hours waiting. First we had to go through the Thailand side and get our passport stamped and they took the departure card that we had filled out when we arrived. We walked across the border then and pose for photos under the 'Welcome to Cambodia' sign. Then on the Cambodian side we had to get our passports checked and stamped again. During all that time we only had our hand luggage. Channa had hired people to carry our main luggage and we had to pay a dollar for it. They had carts and they put all the bags in it and they pulled the bar at the front no bother at all! They were walking quicker than we were in the heat! The whole border crossing only took about an hour. There was a shuttle then that brought us to a bus that was just for us. That one brought us all the way to Siem Reap which was about three hours.
On the way the guide told us a little of the Cambodian history. It was hard to understand her as I wasn't used to her accent yet. The gist of it seemed to be turmoil anyway! From the 9th to 12th century seemed to be a good time for them- that's when a lot of the famous temples were built. The Cambodian kingdom covered a lot of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. At times they were invaded by Vietnam. The Cambodian people are called Khmer, sounds like kamai. more recently there was a group called the Khmer Rouge which killed a lot of people. I think about 1.7 million people were killed. I think the French came to help them then and ended up colonising the place. Now they have independence but the country is not really thriving and there's lots of corruption. A lot of that could be wrong as it was hard to know what she was saying!
She played a game with us too. She said her aunt had a club and if you were a member of this club you could have anything you wanted. It was a very elite club so not everyone could get in. You had to answer three questions correctly to get in to the club. You had to say what she likes and what she doesn't like. The clues were:
She likes a spoon but she doesn't like a fork. She likes the moon but she doesn't like the stars. She likes trees but she didn't like leaves. It took me a while to get it but I did when she said that she likes yellow and she doesn't like black, she likes green but she doesn't like brown. Which of ye can get in the club?
The view was cool along the way- really green trees and grass with people working in the fields and working in the rice fields. I got an odd good photo of people working.
We got to Siem Reap around 4 and we were meeting at 6 to go for an orientation walk and have dinner. So we went for a little nap. Before we went I was putting things in my bag and the camera fell off the bed. It was in the cover but when I'd try to turn it on it just made a buzzing noise and the lens went out and in again. If you held it, it would stay out but the picture wouldn't take and the lens seemed to be mostly black. So, whatever about recovering on Fraser Island I think this time it isn't recoverable! It's not too bad because Ann-Marie will have the photos and I have the iPhone, but still, I want to be able to take my own photos!
The guide brought us around the town then and showed us the main streets, the ATM, where you can change your money, etc. I had no money to change and I noticed a camera shop across the road so I went over for a look. They pulled out half the shop for me of course. I asked for a cheap one but then I could see they only had 4 or 5 zoom. I think mine was 10 or 12 so I wanted one that was better than that. They showed me a Fujifilm one with 8 zoom and that seemed okay. She said it was 140 dollars. I intended to come back after dinner to get it and not hold everyone up, but as soon as I said I'd come back later she kept puttin down the price. She put it down to 129 eventually with a 2G memory card and I convinced her to give me an 8G memory card. That's about 99 euro, so I thought that was okay. I don't think it's as good as the one I had but its better than no camera.
The city of Siem Reap is nice enough. There's lots of concrete buildings and stalls outside them. There are tuc-tucs and motorbikes everywhere and you just have to run across the road when you get a chance! There was a pub and restaurant section called pub street that was all lit up and seemed to be the place to go!
On the way to the restaurant the guide stopped at a stall and bought a bag of crickets for us all to try! They were cooked obviously, but they were still while with their legs and everything. I couldn't believe I was going to put an insect into my mouth but I did! It tasted good actually. It was really crispy an wasn't gooey or chewy or anything. It was like burnt meat really- like if you burn a pizza or something and the bits of meat just taste crispy and burnt rather than any particular taste.
We went for dinner then in a restaurant and I tried a Cambodian curry which was lovely. It felt like we were there for hours. I like to have a chat but, from eating on my own a lot I think I've gotten used to eating and going! Two of the group have been to China so they were telling us what it's like there and what a Chinese wedding is like which seemed really interesting!
We all went home afterwards as we have to be up at 4am to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. It's already almost midnight so we'll be wrecked!
This morning I noticed a few bites on my legs and by the end of the day I had seven! I must have gotten them yesterday at some stage! I had insect repellent on and everything so it looks like I may be bitten alive over the next few weeks!!
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