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Published: February 18th 2008
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The toilet on the boat
mmm, avoid drinking for 6 hours!! We took the bus back from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh with the aim of getting from there to Siem Reap by boat on the Mekong river. It was much cheaper on the bus but we both wanted to experience the river trip as it is famous for it's size and local river villages. As the boats only leave every morning we bought our tickets and stayed a further night in Phnom Penh. The following morning we checked out at 6.30am (having to wake the night porter up to let us out!) and walked the short distance to the jetty. The boat was not what we expected as it was more of a large enclosed speed boat than an ambling old river boat. No matter we were booked and going!! Our backpacks were loaded onto the top of the boat, we were both a little concerned to begin with but they are secured and covered in a taupaulin. Much to Tims annoyance I always insist we get there way too early whatever the transport (we havent missed anything yet!!!) so we had a good 30 minutes kicking our feet around on the jetty but we did get to see the sunrise which
was lovely.
Once on the boat we settled into our seats number 61 and 62. As the boat started to fill up there was a bit of confusion over seats with two young American girls and some latin american older women. The young girl then gestured to Tim that he was in her seat. It was at this point that we realised they both had the same seat number. After much nastiness from the latin ladies and scorn at the poor american girls one of the girls moved further back. To be fair to Tim we were not going to move as that would have left him without a seat and the boat staff were no where to be found. After it all semi settled down another woman approached Tim and asked him to move as well. She had also been given seat 61 so once again there was someone else looking at us like we had run off with their kids!!!!! The girls got seated in the end but it was a very uncomfortbale atmosphere for a good 20 minutes. The boat set off past the river communities of Phnom penh city which was very interesting. As you
get to the city outskirts many families live on stilted houses right by the river bank. The smell is not so nice in places and the riverbank is littered with rubbish.
About 30 minutes into the 6 hour journey we noticed people kept disappearing from their seats. After dozing for about an hour we realised that alot of people had not come back. We decided to go take a look at where everyone had gone and found that the roof of the boat was littered with bodies soaking up the sun. After a precarious climb up we also sat there for a couple of hours passing little villages, waving children and communities who obviously got around to different areas on little river boats. Men were laying fishing nets, woman washing clothes - although how they get it so clean is unbelievable as it is very murky and brown. It is strange to see a young girl in school uniform out and about in her boat on her own, pristine white shirt and smiling happily. The top of the boat was very very windy and we couldn't really hear each other for the noise but it was better than being
below deck as we had to close the windows due to the spray. I have to say though after a couple of hours sitting on a steel roof your backside is rather numb so we headed off downstairs for a bit. We had a mid river stop at one point where another much smaller boat came to our side and more passengers got on with their luggage. This was unusual to say the least!
The journey was long and after you get past the villages there is absolutely nothing to see. The river opens out into a very large lake. It feels like your in the middle of the ocean as you cannot see land and this was the bit that got quite boring after the initial amazements at it's size and wonder of what happens if the boat sinks!!!. With nothing to look at and still around 2 and a half hours to go the novelty begins to wear off. Finally we saw land on the horizon (we were back up on the roof by this point) and knew it could not be much longer to the jetty. We were due to be met by a guy from
our hotel so everything was planned to go smoothly. Once land got pretty clear we went downstairs and back to our seats.
Pulling into the harbour/jetty area there was a floating restaurant, market and village which was quite peculiar. I'm sure that they have always been there but now they are directed at tours for tourists. The harbour area smelt a little bad and was quite dirty but it was okay. When the boat finally stopped you realise there is no proper landing area like in Phnom Penh and you and your very heavy luggage have to dismount down a rather flimsy looking plank of wood - oh goody!! The other problem is actually getting to your luggage - the staff just desert you. You have to walk around the boat side which is around 6" wide cetainly not enough widht to put both feet side by side. Then you have to pick your luggage up from the back of the boat where everyone else (about 100 people) are trying to do the same and getting in each others way - it was pandamonium. What made it worse was people who hadnt the sense to realise that you walked
all the way round the boat to get off. They were walking down the side of the boat to the back and then trying to walk back the same way and almost knocking poeple off in the process. I got stuck half way down and realised that even if I got my back pack I was not going to be able to put it on my back as there was nowhere I could balance it first. In the end Tim to the rescue!! He got on the roof took my back pack and walked over the roof back to the front which he then returned to get his. I by then had managed to get off the side of the boat and was on my way back down the otherside to get off. Tim gave me both sets of hand luggage and he took both back packs - god love him I have no idea how he managed to balance with them both but to my relief on my way down the plank there was a guy with a placard for us. He took my bags and we went straight to the tuk tuk. Rather stressful but we laugh about
it now. There is no way I would have got off the boat with my back pack on!!!!
The ride out of the harbour was rather upsetting. After the initial free for all at the harbour side where people are trying to sell you tuk tuk's, hotels and tours you open out onto a rough road. At the side of these roads are very small and in alot of places very run down shelters/huts. The smell of rotten fish is foul so bad that I was actually heaving and was immediately transported back to Mumbai railway station. The people are very poor with no sanitation, the kids are naked, the mothers look malnurished and tired and in general it was a poor sight. Further along we started to see wells with fresh water pumps. These have been sponsored by foreign visitors to give the people the sanitation they so desperately need. The areas which have pumps we could see kids washing clothes or collecting water into a plastic cannister to take home. We though this was a very worthwhile cause.
The jetty is about 8 km from the city of Siem Reap so we settled back in our tuk tuk and enjoyed the view. We were both quite tired when we got to the hotel and arranged to visit the temples of Angkor the following day with the same tuk tuk driver. So we headed into town to update the blog and enjoy another khmer curry.............
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laura
non-member comment
eww..
oh my god! that toilet is awful!!