Blogs from East, Cambodia, Asia - page 8

The bus ride up to Kratie is apparently meant to take around 6 hours, ours took 7.5 hours unfortunately due to an elderly woman throwing up (at least I hope that's what it was) in the isle of the bus as the bus pulled out of the Phnom Penh bus station. May I just say it was one of the most putrid smells I've ever been around and unfortunately hung around for the 45 minutes til we made it to a depot thing towards the outskirts of Phnom Penh where they washed out the isle. I pity the poor guy who had to clean up the mess. The good news about the bus ride to Kratie was that the 'smooth as silk' road that Lonely Planet talked about was still mostly in tact. The route did ... read more

I meant to blog about my week in Mondulkiri last year (February 2010), but I've been too busy to get around to it. I arrived from Ban Lung via the old oxcart "jungle trail" with the help of a hired motorbike driver named John. I head this road was treacherous, and while there were certainly enough sand pits to get stuck in (we dumped it once, and after that I just hopped off and jogged alongside the bike whenever we approached a stretch of sand), it wasn't as bad as it was hyped. I hear path has been paved into a road (it became a legitimate road after the town of Kaoh Nhek) and that it's actually drivable now. That's pretty amazing if it's true, but I'm not sure how they're getting large vehicles across the ... read more

Joff - Having spent a marvelous day at Angkor Wat the previous day we woke early for the 7.15am bus to Kratie. Having been advised by the lady in our hostel that she could not tell us what type of transport would take us there we waited for our pickup with some trepidation. After some wait a bus arrived which took us to the central bus station. We were very quick to note on boarding our bus that we were the only white people on the bus save one other and as is customary there can be up to 5 people sitting on any 2 seats. Fortunately we had booked and so our seats were free. The bus was cool and clean to begin with but behind us we had a serial smoker who was clearly ... read more

Hello everyone To start, an apology – I've been incredibly slack on the blogging this past week, forgive me please! So to make up what follows is a bumper update....hold onto your hats.... So, last time we spoke I was finishing my Placement Visit Week, having sorted a house/bank account/meet and greet and was about to head out to Siem Reap. So, some breaking news that's over a week old, I made it safely and soundly to Siem Reap! After a 1hr bus journey - very short by Cambodian standards - I met up with Louise in Siem Reap at our guesthouse, where we both had every intention of having an awesome night! The day before was her birthday, and the day I arrived was St Patrick's day....Louise being from Cork and my Ma being being ... read more

Hello everyone So with Sunday being our only day off from language training, we arranged with some local Tuk Tuk drivers to go on a small trip around the Kompang Cham province yesterday (Sunday 27/02/2011) - we were all eager to get out of the town, which is fairly touristy and see some real villages and jungle/forest. So, at 8:30 we congregated in the lobby and boarded our steeds! We headed out of town along Kizuna Bridge (a big concrete monstrosity that spans the Mekong built in honour of Japanese industrialist) and into the Province in our Tuk Tuk convey, dodging lorries, SUV's and cyclists...I have to admit, the early morning breeze was helping my Saturday night hangover! Our lead Tuk Tuk driver, Gideon, had planned an awesome route that took us around villages, rural ... read more