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Day 7-9: Sihanoukville
Standard three days on the beach. One day we went on another rickety old boat in the pouring rain to a little island where we attempted snorkeling (there were no fish). It was humorous in the fact it was that bad - but we had a good laugh playing sport on the rainy beach - its true Aussies take competition very very seriously! Anyway it was the three day Cambodian New Year, so the beach parties were mental - a secret blog may appear for some of you lucky enough to hear about the particularly naughty things that happened - the rest of you know that it was 3 amazing days.
Day 10
Got a public bus to Phnom Penh. Very gentlemanly I let everyone on first which led to the last pick of seat - another six hours next to the proverbial Hephalump, yes my favorite Heather from Eastenders.Phnom Penh can only be described in two words. Absolute s***hole! It was dirty, dingy and charmless. The people were rude and obnoxious, a complete paradox to the Cambodian people I had met before. I guess Phnom Penh suffers from 'Capital City' syndrome in the same way that London or Sydney are said not to be good ambassadors for the nations they represent. That night we went to a Pizza Parlor run by orphans - finally had some proper cheese which really hit the spot!
Day 11
We went to S-21 and the Killing fields. Relics of Cambodia's tragic and recent past - the genocide of the Pol Pot regime. It was very harrowing and graphic, yet moving and necessary. It made me understand the Cambodian people better and respect their energy, enthusiasm and life considering a war that only stopped 10 years ago. A board explained how its estimated that 70% of the population now are mentally ill in the form of Depression of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, whilst most of the current adults were separated from their family or made orphans when growing up. In fact it explained why I had seen no middle aged Cambodians, why over 50% of the population is under 18. Even Lonk, a real 'Jack The lad', confident, energetic man in his 20's had grown up away from his family, having to cope with little education, food or government. If only we'd gone here first I think I would have not taken for granted the hospitality we received and my experience in Cambodia would have been somewhat enhanced.
After lunch me and my 60 year old proper English Lady Jenny went in traditional English fashion to find the post office. After asking every single person in Phonon Penh and walking almost through its entirety, we stumbled upon a road where everything was named 'Post...'. Opposite us was the most ENORMOUS building: imperial French architecture. We thought 'surely this couldn't be it....if this was it surely someone would of known where this was!?'. Indead it was the post office, the people we asked must have been blind! After posting a few postcards the two of us headed for the national museum, not bad, still smaller than the bloody post office though!
For dinner we had a traditional Oriental meal sitting down - very relaxing!
Day 12 - Off to Nam
Up early for a public bus to Saigon - on time and no problems - I'm becoming boring! Well no. At the Vietnamese border crossing something funny did happen. We had already got off the bus (and on again) for a preliminary passport check, passing on the passport to the bus driver. When arrived and queuing at the border I though I'd just give my pouch a quick tap to check my passport was in there. Realizing it wasn't I impulsively slung off my pack and ran after the already moving bus to retrieve my passport. After screaming stop to no prevail I eventually flung myself in front of the ten ton beast and gesticulated frantically to the driver enjoying a quick fag. As the bus came closer towards me without stopping I begun to panic and at the last moment managed to move out the way and punch the door to alert the inattentive driver. Opening the door I went mental saying how he almost run me over and how he should pay attention whilst frantically screeching 'passport passport!!'. After a few minutes of this peril the driver calmly said: 'Passport...leader'. Needless to say, I felt like a mug. I am a mug. He definately knew what he was doing though.
Arriving in Saigon was amazing. The endless streams of motorbikes and buzzing roads, markets and shops gave a great energy and charm about the former capital of the south; a complete antithesis to Phnom Penh and Cambodia. After checking in we went to an amazing market - fakes of absolutely any brand you can imagine - heaven. I bought some 'real' Ralph Lauren shorts and a traditional oriental top for a grand total of about 5 dollars - good business. On the way back I ditched the group to go into a little music shop. After 2 hours of me shamelessly playing the piano and singing (really loud - as i'm sure you can imagine) the young worker asked if I fancied a jam. Moving on to the guitar, with him on the electric drums, we busted some classics including 'Live Forever' 'Otherside' and one of my songs which I kept reminding him - in true David Brent style - that I had written it myself. Since the shop was situated right next to a set of traffic lights on the busiest intersection in town, a mass audience would assemble and listen (quite clearly since the door was open and that we were facing the window) to us jamming. Was really quite amazing - should have charged though, they charge for everything.
For our goodbye dinner - since this is the Vietnam leg, the group and group leader changed - we went to a quality Mexican restaurant. After busting it to an air conditioned bar (a heavenly entity) I said my incredibly sad goodbyes to Lonk. I'm really gonna miss the fella - brought to life the whole trip with his lad like charm and cheeky grin- I like to think of him as my Cambodian counterpart - my Diamond Geezer as he used to say. In the word of a somewhat awkward freind - Legend.
For my clip this time I'm giving you my favorite scene from the office - the one i mentioned above.....racial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JitDWQI9qc
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