SIEM REAP AND PHNOM PENN

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WEEK 3 - Jeez it's flying by!

We left Koh Chang on a bad note after the woman at our guest house had said we were 'the worst brits I have meet - meet no one else like you'. Well biatch if we pay top dollar for hot showers we expect hot showers! Anyway, poor hostess' aside, we hopped on the bus to Poipet, a border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia. Don't worry, it wasn't the crossing that has seen about 20 fatalities last week and some serious gunfire, we made sure we steered clear of that. After the 9 hour odd journey through some once again beautiful countryside we arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia's second largest city. We were lead to a number of poor guesthouses by our Tuk-Tuk driver 'Lucky'' so we decided to go with our original accommodation (which we had asked for throughout the whole drive). Nice and tidy room - saweeet. We headed out to see what the nightlife had to offer. We stumbled upon a sidewalk restaurant which served huge and tasty dishes for $1! No prizes for guessing that we ate there most nights.

The next day consisted of us having a gwarn around the old market. It was a huge place all under one roof, selling everything from Khmer silk scarves to chopped fish heads with flies all over. Yum yum. After practicing our haggling skills and me leaving with a tee, we had some lunch. Begging seems to be a more prominent problem in Cambodia, more so than Thailand, and after Ryan got cut up by some toddler ($1 for a postcard, you usually get 10!) we got changed for a big night out.

We were spruced up like Bruce and looking good. We bought a few drinks at 'Ángkor What?' and were approached by what can only be described as two very hot danish girls. They were also travelling, currently working at an orphanage down the road ('Oh really? We were thinking of doing that.') We were in, and after a few pitchers of vodka redbull (you can see where this is going) we headed over to Temple bar. I started busting some dance moves while Ryan got more drinks in, and I was on for what I thought was my first win of the trip. More drink, more dance moves, a sloppy kiss and I was on top form. I headed to the toilet, and once I sat down I knew I had had one Vodka redbull too many. I stumbled out and saw Ryan sat down with yet MORE danish girls ( I wasn't seeing double, there were actually 4 of them now). He looked like he was holding it together. God knows how because I was pissed. Very pissed. I saw that two spare seats had opened up and thought it best that I lay down. Next thing I remember is being propped up by Ryan getting some water smashed down my throat. Good lad. After what seemed like 2 minutes (probably half hour minimum) Ryan comes over and says it best that we shoot off. With no resistance from me we move outside. I take one last look back to see if I can see that fit danish bird I was going for, and with no luck we got into a Tuk-Tuk. With my head leaning out of the side, the Siem Reap streets whizzed by, followed by a hefty amount of vomit.

We wake up late the next day, hungover. ('Oh mate I totally fucked it with that girl...Nooooooo...she was so fit!) We wanted to do something constructive with our day, so we decided to help out at the local orphanage, COFCO. After a few phone calls and a lift from one of the volunteers, we arrived. As soon as I pushed the gates open a young lad came over, took my hand and lead me into the classroom. Our arrival caused quite a stir and soon all 35 of the children were huddled around us. It was special.

And would you believe it???? The danish girls were there!!! Never! What fucking luck 😉 We chilled there with the kids all day. I somehow kept it together, even though we met one lad, Nippol, who was found in a dustbin by a tuk-tuk driver at the age of two, whose eyesight has deteriorated to the point that he is almost blind now. They live in squalor these kids, 4 to a room (hardly a room, bamboo sticks with bedsheets tied around), no fans in 30 degrees heat, no mosquito nets and a toilet with cockroaches as big as my fist. Yet somehow, these kids are happy. Saying that, I'm sure these are better conditions than being totally alone on the streets of Siem Reap like they were before. There were some talented kids there too. 'Happy man' as he liked to call himself was quite the artist and Patricia and LeeLee spoke brilliant English for uneducated 9 year olds. After saying our goodbyes and making a dinner date with the Danes we headed off, not before giving away our mosquito nets (do we really need them? Do we bollocks).

Lets not talk about the evening too much. It was a good night, with some saucy 'I have never' questions arising and a lot of blushing, but lets just say it wasn't as successful as we had hoped. C'est la vié.

Angkor Temples! Bangers! We hired some bikes with very uncomfortable seats and rode on down. We knew we were in for a long one, so we stocked up with one large bottle of water (just one - fucking bananas) and started the Tour De Angkor. We started off with Angkor Wat, a huge and spectacular temple. Ta Phrom, Banteay Srei were also fantastic but didn't match up to Angkor. It was perfect down to the last detail (except the green bloody scaffolding). Midway through we ran out of water, and Cambodian currency. Good one lads. After finding some lovely lady who would take our 4 pound sterling for 3 measly 500ml's we watched the sunset on top of Golden Mountain, us and a sea of Chinese people. We rode back, and realised we must have done 35km of riding that day. So with some very sore arse's (the bike seats you cheeky!) we went back and crashed out after another $1 meal. Also, try the banana pancakes if you are ever in Siem Reap, spot on.

The next day was another lazy one, made even more lazy by the happy pizza we ate at 'ecstatic pizza'. We laid out in the park all day, staring up at literally THOUSANDS of bats, also sleeping. That evening it was a night bus to Phnom Penn.

Phnom Penn is Cambodia's capital city. Its bigger than Siem Reap but doesn't contain the skyscrapers that you would find in Bangkok. We learned that James and Audrey (the Americans from Koh Mak) were also here, so we decided to spend the next day with them. We met them at 10am, via Tuk-Tuk, and headed to The Killing Fields - 15km outside of Phnom Penn. It was great to see them, but our happy faces didnt stay on for long once we arrived at the Choeng-Ek Genocidal Centre. We had a rough idea of what it was about, Pol Pots macabre mass graves of some of the 20,000 people massacred here in Phnom Penn between 1975-79. We hadnt really prepared ourselves for the Stupa, a tall glass monument containing 8,000 skulls and bones of some of the victim. As we walked around, we learned more about it. Because a river backs up onto the graves, each year when it floods during the wet season, more bones and clothes are pushed up to the surface. We ourselves saw pieces of clothing, bones and even teeth on the ground. It was to say the least a very grounding experience. After this we moved onto S-21 museum in the centre of the city. S-21 was the prison in which prisoners were held and tortured before being moved on to Choeng-Ek. We saw gruesome photos, walked in the cells and were once again moved by it all.

After a what had been a very long and strenuous day, we headed back to freshen up for dinner with the yanks. It was quite an experience. We dined on Pad Thai, Cows tongue and, wait for it, cows intestines. 2 were nice. One was not. The tongue I could honestly eat everyday, but the intestines tasted like cow shit. Literally. We moved on for drinks and pool. We did the brits proud, winning the Ryder Cup of Pool and taking home the cup. Booootiful. We moved on to Heart of Darkness, the first asian club we have been to since we started. I, for some reason, am quite the piece of candy for Cambodian homosexuals and after batting them away we headed home.

James had told us about this gym he had been going to for the last couple of days. The deal is $5 for gym access, sauna, hot tub, cold tub, steam room AND full body massage! We went down and he wasnt lying. We literally spent 4, maybe 5 hours there and got a lovely massage from number 26 and number 12 respectively. We are there again tomorrow 😊

We got our Laos visa's sorted today and we leave on Wednesday, off to Four thousand Islands for a nice chill out on the Mekong. Catch you all next Monday my lovers! x

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Comments

[Tom Edgar]

My mondays now complete
Hi matey You really make my Mondays with ya blogs, staring at the lovely people of Herne Bay its good to know that theres a big wide world out there, Full of all the twists and turns that life brings. Peace in outta here! x