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Day 57 23rd Jan
We leave our hotel door and our Tuk Tuk driver is ready and waiting... These guys are keen....
We jump in the back, ready to enjoy the ride.... We leave town again following the riverside road, but this time in the opposite direction... Its 40km to Oudong Mountain which is our destination.... The roads in Cambodia are largely much better than Vietnams, with the exception of some short sections which a horrendous....
The Cambodians, like the Vietnamese rely heavily on small engined motorbikes for transport and adapt them for many jobs.... Our Tuk Tuk, like many in Cambodia is just a fancy trailer behind a 125cc Honda moped which will carry around 8 people at a push... The bikes are so underpowered and work so hard that the owners of the Tuk Tuks have all rigged up makeshift water tanks on there bikes to drip a steady supply of water onto the engine as the bikes go down the road in an attempt to try keep it cool... The trailer resembles an old fashioned chariot with lots of spiralled wood and fancy arm rests... There's a canvas structure above your head that's large.... It covers the whole of the rear seating area and also extends far enough forward to cover the riders head too. On our journey we pass the outskirts of Phnom Penh and into a smaller neighbouring village where the bike powered Tuk Tuk idea has been taken to another level... Here we witness bikes pulling huge trailers... There used like buses and can carry 25 people easily.... The bikes are a little bigger, maybe 150cc instead, but still hugely under powered.... The bike trailers don't have any brakes... Wether caring bricks, coal, logs or people it makes no difference... so the brakes on the bike have to cope with a lot....
The spokes in the trailers wheels are often replaced by thick metal rods that are welded into place to add strength to the tired, buckled old wheels in an attempt to prolong there life....
It's an enjoyable ride, the road is better than yesterday's, and the fresh air is nice.... We pass many tiny roadside shacks selling freshly harvested fruit and veg and large open rice paddy fields...
We arrive at Oudong Mountain and out Tuk Tuk pulls up in a dusty carpark... Three kids appear from know here and start to ask you the usual stuff.... Where we from, where we staying, how long we been her......
As we walk in the direction indicated by our Now horizontal Tuk Tuk driver they follow us, each of them in turn asking pretty much the same questions... All we really want to do is shake them off, so when we pass an old monument we leave the path, and our three shadows..... But not for long..... We take all of two steps off the main path and there back with us again... There actually very well informed on the areas historic buildings and can speak really good English which is amazing considering we are in the middle of know here in some remote province in Cambodia...
The Oudong Mountain is a small mountain that has a large ancient cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments on its peak of former Cambodian royalty.
The three kids inform us that the monument that we are currently stood in, pondering why it's such a mess was attached by the Khmer Rouge and has never been restored... We leave and continue are climb... I mention to one of the three that although there company is greatly appreciated, we don't actually have any money for them....
They continue anyway, climbing the steps to the top.... Once at the top you meet a T junction.... Turn left and you go to a newer building / monument that's currently getting overhauled.... For the third time....
The three kids inform us that it was first destroyed by the French, then the Americans in the Vietnam war, then finally by the Khemr Rouge..... We turn right at the T junction and climb a little higher to a number of very old "Kings" monuments.... There 50 or 60 foot high and 40 foot square on the bottom... They are made of a concrete type material and decorated in ceramics and glass.... They hold the body of the king inside, with the queen in another.... This area came under attach from the Khmer Rouge because there are also Buddhist temples here too.....
The view is fantastic.... With exception of the small mountain on which we are stood the ground is flat for as far as you can see... The three kids point out there school, two factories run by the Chinese that employ 1500 people making work uniforms and a zoo, which was once a local killing field where 200 people were buried. It's a clear day so we spend a while just staring into the distance before we start our decent on a different, newer set if steps... In these steps we pass two large rectangle ponds covered in lotus flower.... There's slight movement from a number of fish on our arrival..... I guess they think we are there to feed them... Apparently the local monkeys use these ponds to cool off in when it gets to hit for them.... The two ponds are there for the "Kings & Queens who have a pond each...
We've been speaking to the three kids all the way around and thought they were great.... We didn't ask for them, but we were glad they were so Shiree puts some much needed money in the hand before we climb aboard our Tuk Tuk for the return journey.
On our arrival back at our hotel we decide to grab a drink and then just walk.... We had passed loads of building when we were leaving Phoen penh yesterday so we now go off on four to take a closer look.... We walk for miles just following the riverside road, we pass the royal palace again venturing much further along the river bank before turning away from the river and heading inland.... We pass many monuments and equally impressive buildings but the most memorable sight of this walk would be a large lizard around a foot long that was about ten four up a tree with a mouse in its mouth... We guess the mouse is dead is it does not move at all.... The two small animals attract quite an audience until the lizard, still caring its mouse disappears from view.
We return to the bar and grill restaurant for food before calling it a day.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g293940-i36118901-Phnom_Penh.html
http://www.tourismcambodia.org/provincial_guide/index.php?view=attdetail&prv=16&att=124&
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