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Published: January 18th 2007
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Koh Samet - Thailand
Making a wish with on New Years Eve on the beach at Koh Samet. The sky was full of these beautiful laterns every night. After spending Christmas with Garry's brother Carl and family in Perth, we caught our flight to Bangkok where we spent one night before catching a bus and boat to join Big Al, our friend from Arsenal, on the island of Koh Samet to celebrate New Year. We initially went for three nights but found ourselves there five nights later, broken people. I had been in my element as there loads of lady-boys from Bangkok had come to the island for the weekend so I had plenty of dance partners while Garry & Al propped up the bar trying to figure out the girls from the guys. The New Year came in with a bang in more ways than one as the police came to break up a disturbance with gun fire which completely drove us all to drink!
After leaving Big Al with yet another big hangover, we travelled down the coast to Hat Lek, and crossed the border into Cambodia. The poverty was immediately obvious and during the hellish five hour drive on a road 'under-construction' to a coastal village, Sihanoukville, we passed through many settlements that were trying to earn a crust by selling anything from boiled eggs
Sen Monoram
Children playing near their village in the hills of Sen Monorom. to full chicken dinners to anyone passing by.
Sihanoukville is where the wealthier Cambodians spend their holidays and we found the beach to be quite crowded. Instead we headed to Ream National Park and took a boat along the river which terminated at a beach. We were lucky enough to see monkeys playing on the rocks from a distance. We then followed our guide into the dense jungle, which was a complete paranoia trip for me as I am afraid of snakes, and every single twig and branch began hissing at me. However, the walk was worth it as once we made it to the clearing, we found ourselves in amongst a small community living in bamboo houses on the beach. Their existence is an extremely simple one - they basically survive on fish and anything they can grow themselves. A school was recently built for the local children although there is no money for stationary or a professional teacher. If anybody would like to send them some basic supplies, please drop me an email as I am going to arrange a parcel on my return.
The following day we took the bus to Phnom Penh, the capital
Sen Monorom
Casa Tarb - my highlight of our day was being invited in to Tarb's family home. city, where we negotiated with our lives every time we crossed the road. We were fortunate enough to meet a kind tuk-tuk driver who spoke good English and drove us around town for a days site seeing, which included the main temple Wat Phnom with its grounds overrun with monkeys and the stunning Royal Palace with its solid silver flooring and diamond studded Buddha statue (Dad - you would have dribbled with delight and yes, it was very well guarded!). However, as a reminder of the harsh past of this country, we spent some time walking around the Toul Sleng Museum, a high school which was taken over by the Khmer Rouge during their reign of terror. The school was turned into a prison where they interrogated and tortured over 17,000 people, resulting in all of their deaths bar only 14. The barbarism that took place is documented and displayed in photographs and looks like something from the Middle Ages when in fact this took place during the late 1970's. Our tuk-tuk driver later told us about his childhood during this period which brought the whole frightening saga to life.
Since arriving in Cambodia we have been eating at
Ta Som Temple
The temple ruins are not just a playgound for local children, it's where they earn a living. the food stalls with the locals which is hilarious because we have no idea what we are going we are being served (yes, we have considered it might be dog but it tastes so good!). As long as it's not still howling and there is no hair attached, we will eat it. The international language of pointing and thumbs up has worked a treat although I have personally found it quite debilitating as this Asia is the first continent we have visited where we cannot speak the lingo! However we have drawn a line at the fried spiders although they do appear to ahve more meat on them than the average chicken nugget from McDonalds!
We decided to head out to Cambodia's wild east, the mountain province of Moldukiri. After a ten hour bus trip we finally arrived at Sen Monorom, a village nestled among rolling green hills. Finally we were able to breath in some fresh air after the smog and pollution of the capital city. Our main objective of the trip to this area was to visit the minority tribes who have settled in these hills so we went along with a local guide who promptly left
Bayon Temple
One of the 54 beautifully carved faces at Bayon. Each face is believed to have represented a province of ancient Cambodia. us with one of the tribe who obviously couldn't speak English and our Cambodian is still sketchy to say the least. The village was made up of around 14 bamboo huts built next to a stream which the tribe used for everything from bathing to cooking. Chickens, pigs and cows roamed freely under the intense sun while the tribal children, dressed in rags, played happily in the fields and swam in the nearby rivers. The guide, Tarb (anyone from Mr Ben's era will know why I found his name pretty funny) took us for a walk down into the valley, through long undergrowth and down steep hills until we reached a waterfall where we were able to swim in the crystal clear water. We returned to the village and as we were early for our taxi (motorbikes which wedge three people on them) Tarb took us into his hut. It was quite fascinating - they had built an upstairs out of bamboo with a ladder where I believe the children slept while Tarb and his wife slept in a 'bedroom' they was partitioned off with a piece of wood and curtain. We sat down on a bamboo wooden platform and
Angkor Wat
The mother of all temples which was 'lost'in the dense jungle for many hundreds of years! by our feet was a smouldering fire on the mud floor where they cooked. Although I didn't have the cheek to ask to take photos I will never forget that experience as I was quite blown away with being invited in to one of the tribe's homes.
We left Sen Monorom a day later although in true Cambodia style the bus broke down just 20 minutes in to the journey. We were then made to wait on the dirt track road for a couple of hours before being herded in to the back of pick-up trucks, and driven at speed over potholes for several hours while being covered from head to toe in thick brown dust. We were then left in a rough town and told to wait for a bus which three hours later we realized was not coming. So in the back of another pick-up truck we went and endured yet another five hours of bumps and bruises until we finally reached the capital of Phnom Penh some fourteen hours after we had set off!
From the capital we headed north to Siem Reap, the town that is home to the famous and awe-inspiring temples of
Ta Prohmn
Ta Prohmn - I didn't like to tell Gaz that Angelina Jolie had long gone. He's still there waiting Angie! Angkor Wat, an incredible 1000 temples, some dating back as far as 900 AD. We took three days to cruise around them , the most outstanding being Bayon with 54 serene faces glaring down at you from every angle and the Ta Phromn, a temple which has become overgrown with huge trees adding immensely to the atmosphere of this site which I is why they chose to film where Tomb Raider here. Angkor Wat itself is one beast of a temple with a set of the steepest steps that you must climb in order to reach the central tower. Coming down was quite terrifying and I don't think I will ever fully recover from the ordeal. The stone carvings in the temples were full of the most intricate details, depicting historical facts as well as legends, and almost every wall is adorned with beautiful Asparas, the mythical heavenly female dancers. We even made it to Angkor Wat for sunrise one morning and watched the temple light up under the fierce Cambodian sunshine.
Cambodia was a shock to the system - the poverty and conditions are pretty hardcore and although it's not the first time we have travelled in a
Temple Dancers at Angkor Wat
A heavenly mythical dancer and an Apsara... third world country, it still hits hard to see children rummaging around bins, eating our leftovers while their amputee parents, innocent victims to the land mines left behind as a vicious reminder of the civil war, sit begging by the roadside. Yet the Cambodians still remain friendly and welcoming and above all positive. After all they have been through, the future can only get better.
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sasa
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bula.
very nice,i hope you have good time. see you sasa