Over the Border

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Early start again this morning, set the alarm for 6.20am (Need not have bothered due to the roosters being as reliable as ever and waking us up with plenty of time to spare)

Got a quick boat ride back to mainland Laos, and set off in a truck with a few other tourists to the border. Firstly we had to "Depart" Laos, which incurred a $2 administration fee (Aka paying for the border workers beer Laos tonight), after that we headed to the Cambodian border and passed through without any problems.

When we were in Cambodia we decided it would be best to get a minibus to Kratie, and from there hopefully head for the capital, Phnom Penh tommorrow. The minibus journey was another experience, the "roads" in Cambodia were dirt tracks at best, apparently the road we were mainly on will be finished by 2008. The cars kick up so much dust when they go past that a lot of the time it seemed we were just driving through smoke. Our driver was absolutely ripping the roads apart, taking no prisoners. He was using his horn frequently whenever some cyclists ran the risk of collding with us, he had to stop at one part of the journey though so a Yak sould cross the bridge before us.

We arrived in Kratie ahead of schedule and booked straight into a nice hostel, our rooms even got a tv. Me and Will had a quick look through the market: flies were all over the raw meat and fish, it wasn't the prettiest picture. I noticed a customer pointing at this biggish live fish that was in a bowl, the "fishmonger" proceeded to pick it up, whack it with the wooden end of her knife until it was dazed, then use the sharp end of her knife to cut it in half and give it to the woman in a bag: As appealing as the "Fresh" fish looked, i thought i'd give it a miss.

We're heading to the Capital Phnom Penh in a bus tommorrow, should take 6 hours: I'm getting quite used to these early starts.

Til next time

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Photos

Jonny crossing the border
Big mistake Cambodia! (Notice the local pulling a funny face in the background)

Comments

[Bill Anderson]

Photographs
Keep the pictures coming. Really find them interesting. Bill

[Tubs]

Writing to reach you
What can i say boys. Your exploits so far have left me gob smacked. In fact i've been so impressed that i'm coming out to experience this wild adventure for myself (if you'll have me of course). Just the small matter of some crappy exams in may/june then i'll see you in Aussie somewhere. Six weeks of adventure and fun (it's not 10 months but it'll do). Picked up some brochures on the land of Oz today! Everyone good back here. Me and Gaz doin Flares tonite. The Cookemeister and BB are "re-establishing connections". Keep up the banter and i'll see you in summer (or winter as it is over there... brrr pack up your jumpers).