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Published: August 31st 2008
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So we survived the train. It actually really wasnt that bad...although were a little dirty afterwards and also slightly disturbed having to twice wait for trains while stood on the tracks. It was non stop in the carriages with people marching back and forth selling all sorts of strange creations. We arrived at Pak Chong, where we wanted to organise our tour...It turns out it is an absolute hole...With nothing for tourists in the town. We luckily managed to find a dodgey hotel with the hardest mattress in the world and leather pillows. Very odd! We explored what we could before being caught in the biggest thunder storm yet, we found some shelter and had to sit it out for atleast an hour before grabbing some food, whilst being stared at like aliens at the night market. Via the most random phone call ever at the hotel we managed to organise a trekking trip the following day with a local company who picked us up the following day for our one and a half days of adventure. The Half day consisted of a dip in some mineral springs, a look at a underground cave temple and finally a grand finale of
watching over a million bats swarm out of a cave at dusk in a stream motion snaking across the sky. A golem look-a-like Thai guide managed to find a HUGE millipede while we were here which managed to crawl its way all over Marks bald head...we have pictures. The following day we set off early into thew national park where elephants and tigers naturally exist...We were very excited. On our journey through the park we saw gibbons, monkeys, giant squirrels, a monitor...but no tigers!!! We had a trek for three hours that was very beautiful, yet the leaches were out in force, thankfully we had special leach socks to protect us and to make them easy to spot, we were litterally picking them off each other left right and centre. Following the trek we had lunch and then went to 'the waterfall' again from the movie the beach. We were not allowed to swim as someone had died in the water two days ago and they were not sure how, yet Mark still had lots of fun jumping on the surrounding rocks. We then drove to one of the highest points in the park under thick cloud to a cliff
with an amazing view. At first it was a wall of white yet within 10 minutes it cleared, and we sat having tea (Sam not Mark) admiring the view. The tour concluded with a long drive to the salt licks where wild elephants are often seen yet sadly we were not lucky enough to see them. It was still an amazing day. That night we took a bus to Korat to set us up for a day of travel to Cambodia the next day.
It took us 9 hours to get to where we wanted in Cambodia. The Thai busses did the usual procratination and stopping at every town. The border itself wasnt too bad ut we were passed from person to person 'trying' to help us. The last cheeky Cambodian tried to fob us off on some transport scam however we teamed up with some other people also getting really frustrated with the hassling and got a shared taxi. The drive was crazy as the guy seemed to be in a bit of a rush and we almost hit 5 dogs, 2 cows and a small child as we bounced along the on off tarmac/dirt road. The drive
itself was interesting, we were taken aback by how flat it was, how flooded the rice paddies were and found the people fascinating, it was a stark contract with Thailand.
Thankfully once arrived in Siem Reap we found a nice guest house and treated ourselves to a meal at a restaurant that actually had a table cloth! We also organised a tuk-tuk to take us around all the temples today, and were brave, deciding to watch sun-rise over them. We were waiting outside the hostel this morning at the agreed time of 5am and the little bugger didnt show up. The hotel receptionist then called his friend how rushed over as fast as he could, shirt still in hand, and got us to Angkor Wat mid sunrise and it was beautiful. We have had a really packed day...11 hours of hitting the Angkor complex but it was definately worth it. We actually saw all we wanted to and more and didnt feel rushed as we had been warned we would not be able to achieve what we wanted to in one day. The temples were unbelieveable, and varied widely which kept us interested... It was also a real treat
to be able to wander freely and do as you please in such an amazing place, where ordinarily you would be roped off to the edge. The temples were full of young children desperately trying to sell on their goods, and we were incredibly impressed by their english and world knowledge. Sam even had a mini converation with an 8 year old in Spanish. However whilst sat having our lunch we chatted to one little girl about her school and the various things and were given an interesting insight into the corruption. Turns out this child had to pay the policeman 20 US dollars a month in order to sell her little bracelets. It appears most people must bribe someone to carryout their daily work, even our tuk-tuk driver. Not only did we visit the temples but we also stopped by the land mine museaum which was set up by an ex child soldier for the Khmer Rouge and of the Vietnamese army who hah been forced to plant thousands of mines in Cambodia. He was now on a life mission to demine the country which is still estimated to have between 2-6 million land mines still active. He also
had set up a small school for mine victims. It was an eye opening trip. We finally got home exhausted but plan to have a relaxing evening with another posh meal (set to cost all of 4 pounds) and going to test out a reflexology massage. We hope tomorrow to travel to Battambang on boat yet may have another day here as we like it so much.
Hope all is well, will try and put up more photos when we have more time.
x x x
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Little sis
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Looks like you guys are having an awesome time... i liked Siem Reap! Lucky you got to Angkor Wat on time. Make the most of Cambodia and keep us updated. Lots of love, Kim xxxxxxx