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Published: July 11th 2010
From Laos we crossed the border with not a penny to our name as there were no cash points on the islands. As we had to pay for the Cambodian Visa we had to borrow money from our coach driver with a $10 charge! The border crossing was a cheeky affair as you had to pay for everything. $1 for the stamp out and then in, $1 for a health check etc. We then had a pretty long bus journey to our first stop: Siam Reap. After leaving our cell at around 8am we arrived in Siam Reap at mid-night. We were exhausted and so went to bed for an early night and a lie in. We spent the following day looking around the city which was pretty small and relatively quiet. There was a river running through it and on either side of the river the roads were tree-lined. There was an amazing market there with anything you could possibly want...it's a shame we had to either post home any purchases or carry them around for another 2 and a half months, although maybe it was a hidden god send as it restricted our spending!! That evening England was playing Algeria. In Cambodia it was 1.30am when the match started so we had a nap and then went out to the only bar that we'd found showing it! As we walked up the street we could already hear the chants of Eng-er-land! We were offered a go at a bet on the score and we pulled 0-0 out of the hat so were thinking we didn't have much chance, to our surprise though the 90 mins were up and neither team had scored so we walked home with $10 leaving the depressed men behind!
The next day we went to see some floating villages on a nearby lake. The village was amazing with boats and houses anchored in place providing houses, schools and shops. People would float to the next building in their little boats to buy their shopping or go to school. That evening we had booked onto a Khmer (Cambodian) cookery course and in a group of about 10 people we learnt how to make spring rolls, pumpkin soup, Khmer curry, Chicken Amok (a local dish) and Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango (amazingly yummy!) The following day we got up early to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. It was beautiful to see the sky turn pink, orange and yellow over the top of the old temple which in itself was really interesting. The walls still had the traditional carvings on them and not much of it was crumbling!!
We left Siam Reap in good spirits, we loved it there! The boat to our next stop - Battam Bang was supposedly a Cambodian Highlight and not to be missed. We got there early and left about an hour late (Cambodian time...similar to Laos time we have found...always late!) The boat took forever, about 9 hours and was a pretty small vessel. There were around 30-40 people on a boat that was around 4ft wide and 15ft long...but on the positive side the views were amazing as we travelled through more little villages, floating and regular and we had a nice chat to a lovely couple from Quebec who had already been to Southern Cambodia which was where we were heading! On the journey we stopped for a quick break and toilet stop...the toilet was a hut floating on the water with a hole in the bottom that went straight into the lake...nice!! We finally got to Battam Bang and had some much needed food, I had a tasty Cambodian dish called Beef Lok Lak, a saucy beef dish served with rice. Battam Bang was a fairly busy town and had much more of a city feel to it than Siam Reap had.
On our only day here we went on a tour around the local area which took in a ride on the Bamboo Railway. This was a really fun trip as you basically sat on a raft on Bamboo on two axles with a motor engine attached to the back. You zoomed off down the track through lush fields and greenery. You picked up a fair speed which was quite scary as you thought you'd fall off pretty easily! When you met someone coming the other way the 'train' that had the least people on had to get off and dismantle their 'train' and remove it from the track to let the other past! The first people we met were the couple from Quebec so as the 'trains' were being moved we organised to have dinner together that evening! After the railway, (we never dismantled ours!!) we went to one of the Killing Caves. This was a cave where the soldiers of the Khmer Rouge (the Communist Regime under Pol Pot) murdered intellectuals and other enemies of the regime. It was pretty gruesome and sad to stand at the bottom of the drop that people fell after they'd been knocked out. On the same day we also visited a temple that was older than (but very similar to) Angkor Wat. It's said to be the inspiration for the famous Temple. After a long day doing the sights we had a break in the hotel where I watched the only thing in English on our TV (a flim called 'Obsessed' starring Beyonce! It was strangely addictive!!) whilst Steph slept. We then went to meet the Quebec couple and were also joined by a pair from Germany so had a lovely meal swapping stories about our worst bus rides etc!
The next morning we left for Phnom Penh on a bus that showed a pretty horrible Ninja film!!.....More soon!!
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Debra Sprague
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lovely to hear from you
Thank you both for these - you have amazing patience recoding what you have done and seen in so much detail. We think of you often. Stay safe and keep enjoying yourselves! Mike and Debra xx