Cambodia part 1

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16/02/12 - Cambodia - The crossing

Up much earlier than my body appreciated but today we travel 12 hours to the South coast of Cambodia.

The bus was prompt at 6:15am and as we picked up others heading our way we passed a park where lots of locals were taking early morning exercise and either playing badminton or doing yoga. Infact the whole city was up and very much awake.

It took 3 hours to get to the boarder and around 30 minutes to cross as we let our bus driver sort our visas for us (at a cost of $5 each). A quick break and already we were surrounded by beggars, supposedly they are everywhere here so we'll have to get used to it.

Farewell Vietnam.

Another 3 hours to get to the capital of Phnom Penh to swap busses with 2 minutes to spare. This bus had a tv but it wasn't long before I got a headache from Asian karaoke.

Arrived in Sihanoukville at around 8pm and found that many hotels were full. We ended up staying in a French hotel/restaurant where we have to walk through the kitchen to get to our room.

We had a drink in our hotel and played some card games until we were attacked by mosquitoes. Time for bed.



17/02/12 - Sihanoukville - A beach day

A walk in the sunshine along the beach front and we stopped for lunch in one of the many restaurants here. The family serving us were very friendly. The food was really good and huge portion sizes.

While we ate we talked about Bobby's new idea for a travel website and what would be our perfect ideas on a helpful guide.

The black clouds started rolling over and the booming thunder could be heard for miles, then the rain came.

We booked a future bus to Kamport and met Joe from Cantebury who came travelling to Asia and now set up a business in town as a travel agent. He only came for a holiday and has now been here 2 months.

As it was wet anyway we decided to go swimming in the sea in the rain. The sea was very warm which is fantastic for a whimp like me.

After a while a crowd gathered on the beach and we assumed that something had been washed up but a few minutes later a child was raised above the crowd and pulled off the beach, I have no idea what happened or if he was even alive.

We left the beach in a sombre mood.

After some dinner we watched the storm from a bar on the seafront. The lightening was striking every 10 seconds or quicker but there was no thunder. What the storm lacked in thunder it more than made up for in warm rain.

We finished the evening by playing fuseball and chess in our hotel.

Quote of the day from Emi 'that cat just came passed again, it's the matrix cat'.



18/02/12 - Sihanoukville - Island tour

Just 4 of us were booked onto a tour of an island close by, us and 2 brothers from Sweeden.

Not long after our boat set sail the rain started, then continued, then got really heavy. The captain on board gave me a waterproof jacket, unlucky boys.

It took over an hour to reach the almost deserted island where we had to wait out the storm. We had a breakfast of mango and banana by which time the storm cleared to leave a cloudy warm day.

Back to the boat and over to a shallow reef for Snorkelling. The visability was as far as a meter but I could still make out fish and lots of sea urchins which seemed to have eyes looking at me. These black spikey urchins pack a punch if you stand on them as the barbs will puncture your foot and stay there, very painful.

Next up was fishing. It was really good fun and every time I cast my line I would have fish biting immediately. In the end I caught 5 groupers and a parrot fish which I hooked through the eye lid, woops.

The boat took us to the island again and we had a sea food lunch on the beach.

It was up to us what to do for the afternoon and we decided on walking through the jungle to the other side of the island and ended up at a mango plantation run by a family who live there.

Our day trip was over so it was back to the mainland for a shower and dinner at the same family run restaurant as yesterday. They were very thankful for us coming in as they didn't get much business this end if the beach.

Bobby considered buying more technology but thankfully the shop was closing.

Quote of the day from Bobby 'when I was a kid I was walking with my mum and closed my eyes and asked her to guide me, well she must not have heard me as I walked into a wall'.



19/02/12 - Kampot - The wrong side of the tracks

Today I have been travelling for a month and it has flown by.

After a lazy morning we caught a bus to Kampot, just a couple of hours from Sihanoukville.

It was late in the afternoon and our guest house had free bikes to borrow. We went for a cycle ride to a small temple then along river. As we came to a crossroads Bobby decided to head straight over and on to a wide dirt road. The road was very dusty and orange and looked as if we were far out of town. The local children waved and said hello as we passed.

The road came to some train tracks which we cycled over while checking for trains. The road after the train tracks was much narrower and houses turned to fields all around. I was just beginning to think that we probably shouldn't be here when a sign appeared for a guest house. We went there for a drink as it was very hot today and found it to be run by a Cambodian family who speak fluent French and English. The hotel was on the river and we sat with our drinks in a stilt hut over the river watching some children rope swing into the water.

We came back to our hotel and after a shower enjoyed dinner which was soon shared with mosquitoes. Then
a walk for icecream, perfect.

Quote of the day from Bobby 'I was mincing my way over there'.



20/02/12 - Kampot - Bokor hill station

A mini bus picked us up for a tour of the derelict Bokor hill station which is a group of buildings built by the French up a mountain.

There was a stop at an ostrich farm run by a local family, the animals didn't look very healthy.

On the bus we met an English couple (Mat and Sarah) who are doing our trip in reverse and have come from Angkor Wat in the north. We swapped travel stories and tips while the bus drove us up the mountain to the hill station.

The first building we stopped at was the small palace of King Sihanouk which had long been abandoned to the howling winds. The palace had scenic views of Kamport below.

Near by was a separate building which had been the kitchen to the palace which also had fantastic views.

Opposite to the palace was a giant female Buddha statue which was under construction.

Back on the bus to a waterfall but sadly being the dry season and lacking rain the waterfall was more a watertrickle.

Next up was the casino. I was surprised that there was a casino built here in the early to mid 1900s, mostly because Cambodia isn't a wealthy country but also this whole site seemed to be in the middle of nowhere and used to be accessed only by trekking uphill. Clearly the French really liked to gamble.

Driving to the pagoda on the mountain we passed a new casino which is being built up here and it was enormous! I'm sure Vegas would be impressed.

The English translation of the pagoda we visited was five boats pagoda due to five rocks near by that looked like boats... if you squinted and kept one eye closed.

After a good look inside the colourful interior of the pagoda I sat in the shade and watched a monk demolish a separate temple with a sledge hammer which was somehow satisfying.

A quick stop at an eco village for a drink. The village consisted of some wooden huts that people could stay in but we weren't told how they are so eco friendly.

The final leg of the tour was a sunset boat trip along the river. The boat rocked dangerously from side to side if anyone so much as sneezed. The boat trip lasted two hours and on board was a French family, the boy of which was around 4 years and very well behaved. His mum was the spitting image of someone I worked with (Lucy) and had a baby in her lap, it's just a sh

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