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Published: November 13th 2007
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Ok, not Doom...!
We are back in Bangkok now after what were possibly the 3 most tiring days of our whole adventure...but most definitely the our favourite days in Asia (so far).
So, where did we leave you - at the Thai border? What an absolute mission of a day it was (it's a very good job Cambodia was so amazing!) After queuing up to leave Thailand, which to be honest took longer than getting in did, we were officially in no-man’s land. This would have been fine if a - it wasn’t so hot b - we didn’t have to wait for a good hour and a half, and c - if there wasn’t twenty or so bedraggled children carrying their even younger siblings whilst grabbing at you and your bags and begging for money. I know that may sound heartless, but there is only so much you can put up with. It’s horrible watching a 4 year old child carrying around their 10 month old brother or sister, all the while crying “One dollar mister?” or pointing at your plastic bag saying “yum yum” because they can see a packet of crisps. It makes you feel terrible to
ignore their pleas but as passersby we both knew that we could not cloth, feed and help them all.
Once our entire group had passed through Thai immigration, it was a 5 minute walk to the Cambodian check point (Poi Pet), which was littered with Casinos - gambling is illegal in both countries so the casinos have set themselves up in no-man’s land, very crafty! It’s very strange seeing the grand structures of the casinos with stark poverty as the backdrop, there are even enclosed bridge walk ways between hotels and casinos, presumably so the patrons don’t have to live without air-conditioning for a second. It took us forty-five hot and sweaty minutes to get our visa’s stamped and then we were off, or so we thought, we climbed aboard an air conditioned bus and drove two minutes into town before being ejected outside a very random bus station and waited a further half-hour. So far so good! Our final mode of transport finally arrived at 3.45, a bus which looked as if it was on its last legs, no air conditioning and complete with a driver who stalled no less than three times when reversing onto the
main street.
And then the real fun started, the road was in actual fact still under construction (due for completion in 2009 if anyone fancies it?) and consisted of a very bumpy pot-holed dirt track, with steep banks on either side, dropping into rank water and rice paddies. The bridges were either very rickety one way affairs with steep slopes making it impossible to see if there is any oncoming traffic or they were still under-construction with great big detour signs pointing the way down onto mud bank bridges. It was quite possibly the most head banging and bone shaking ride of our lives. Eight o’clock arrives and we are herded like cattle off the bus and into someone’s father’s/mother’s/ uncle’s restaurant for food, refreshments and the usage of the hole in the ground! A word to the wise... in the middle of Cambodia, pork, chicken and beef all look, smell and taste the same. Gemma ordered chicken and Craig had the beef but when the food arrived it was exactly the same! As Gemma is curled up in bed with an upset stomach whilst we write this blog entry, we both can’t help but hope that the food
was actually one of the animals mentioned above and not something else.
We eventually arrived in Siam Reap only to be conveniently dropped off outside someone’s father’s/mother’s/ uncle’s (you must be the drift by now!) guesthouse, seven hours after leaving the boarder. That’s seven hours to travel 139Km... Madness!
As you can imagine we were both exceptionally tired and Craig had lost the ability to be polite and promptly shouted at everyone that spoke to him including poor Gemma! Thankfully all is forgiven and we are now both happy campers!
The guest house was really comfortable. It was run by an English couple, Sharon and Ozzy! That’s not their real names but he was always wasted and she was short and fat! Anyway, the food was really good and the best part about it was that they had Heinz baked beans, real bacon and HP Sauce! Yum Yum! The traditional food was also really good too.
The difficult part about this blog is how we go about explaining how amazing the Temple ruins are. The structures themselves are remarkable, some built as early as 9AD. What’s also astonishing is the amount of dedication and the level of perseverance
of the restoration work. All the temples are world heritage sites and are being or have been reconstructed to their original glory using the original materials. It is absolutely an amazing sight.
We spent an incredible three days exploring the ins and outs of the Temples, rummaging around like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft! We had our own personal chauffeur (tuk-tuk driver named Thang) who drove us around the temples and within Siam Reap. Gemma even managed to get Craig out of bed at 4:30 AM to watch the sun rise oven Angkor Wat (The most significant and famous temple).
Once again we only wish our photos could relay the magnificence of what we saw and experienced in Siam Reap, which happens to be an extraordinary place filled with lovely people. We had noticed the amount of construction that was going on in order to sustain the influx of tourists from around world and now with daily direct flights from Bangkok, we hope Cambodia is able to retain its ethnicity.
Our journey back was not as bad but still very long. We left at around 8 AM and got back to Bangkok at 6:30 PM. As Gemma is not
feeling all that well, we have had a relaxing time in our wonderfully air-conditioned room and successfully avoided all the rattle of the city streets below us.
Tomorrow promises to be another long day as we set off to Phuket in search of a beautiful stretch of beach to see in the slowly creeping end of our adventures. Sixteen hours on an overnight bus... happy days!!
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