carefree in cambodia

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hello all
glad to hear somebody is reading this! pleas ignore the spellings, its just my relaxed attitude ! not but havn't figured the spell check, and i wont waste time reading over stuff - will be nicer to read at a later date.
so since my last blog i have left the island! the day after that lovely trip i worte about we just took it easy on the beach, well the shade for me - dam sunburn! im half way through my bottle of factor 40 and still red - but fine, bites improving too.
that night we watched the fire pois. they were just fantastic! 3 guys juggling sticks and balls on chain. was deadly, id love to learn, but i had no camera for a pic, so must try see it again. they everything you could imagine, while we sipped (maybe even gulped) our cocktails sittiing on a mat on the sand. next day - i wasnt exactly the may west after the curry, chocolate pudding and cocktails but we headed off from Koh Chang to Cambodia. this involved taxi (basically in back of pick up truck with a kinda roof) then boat, a van then a bus leading to an overnight syay in chanthaburi, which was an experience. not exactly a touristy town, the locals were laughing and smilling and stareing, seriously. the city centre was a little crazy just cars, mopeds and people everywhere, we were like to lost puppys on the side of the road. all the attention from the locals was kinda scary! but thankfully one guy helped us - cos we could not figure out where we were on the map, and pounted us to a cheap hotel place, about 2 euro for out bed for the night. we wandered around town, cris felt like a celebrity! i couldnt stop laughing. next day a taxi then bus - which took us al over the place we nearly got off a few times but the bus driver/helper just laughed and told us to wait. was amusing, bloody hot too and of course, it broke down, so nearly all the thai guys o nthe bus had to get out and push! we managed to arrive near the border and tool a tuk-tuk to the crossing and got totally scamed! we did stick out i suppose. anyway, paid some guy who looked kinda official and of course did exactly what the guide book didnt reccommend and paid the border police a few euro to get through the border quickly for the remaining seats on a v.i.p bus apparently! and paid way to much for the tickets for the 5 hour journey to Siem Reap. well this was the highlight of my travels nearly.a bus you wouldnt put animals on! which holds bout 15 people - two of which were cris and i sitting on those pull down seats in the middle of bus. it was such fun, throug to its description the road was a dirt track, the 5 hour journey because you couldnt pass 15 mph if you wanted to keep the bus in one piece. people drive like crazy all over the road - and our bus was a left had drive on the right side of the road, such fun, when i could see more than the driver! it was deadly though, one gut said its the same as africa - dirt roads, the fog dust got so we had to stop a few times. holes in the road were like creators , unreal! and it seemed to go on forever. we stopped half way for food - were betting we had crow or somthing, maybe dog, no matter what meat people order, black, burnt really boney stuff appeared. like the ribs of somthing. we continued on and really had such a laugh, looking at the shacks of houses, burnt fields, holes in the road and good chat with a few people - including one of the scammers which was a tuk-tuk driver. there was somthing so mad about it, totally the back of beyond, not for the faint hearted, we have the bruises to prove it.! so as part of the scam thingy we were landed at a guest house on the perfectly tarmaced streets of Siem Reap. its fine, $5 per night with, wait for it; a flushing toilet! was excellent. really! Siem Reap is interesting. everyone seem happy smiley, but its strange. you cant help feeling guilty for being able to afford to do this traveling thing. its strange, you arrive from somthing which you could only describe as a dirt track for motocross and see the largest most sophisticated and expensive hotels ever!fabulous buldings - got to do with the whole colonisation by the french - 80 hotels in all, i dont know where they get the people to fill them , or if they feel as guilty as us, its hard to explain but its just too extreme. a poor local population, most of which have probably went no further than the boarder, and all the giganntic hotels for the 'rich people' . the town does look lovely, jewelery and scarves dangling off every street corner, so hard to keep my money in pocket but things are more expensive than thailand so it must be done. everything is in US dollars and sometimes local money - reil 4,000 reil = $1. otherwise they take any curreny in a lot of places, for a lower exchange rate - because there are no coins - just notes.
tomorrow Angkor Wat, lots of fantastic temples, an the place to got to watch the sunrise/sunset, we havn't decided which yet. we must plan more - not sure what we do from here. but lack of planning led to the afore mentioned taxie-bus-tuk-tuk-boat...bus.... etc ride so maybe its all for the best. we've seen the city today so perhaps day after tomorrow to Phnom Penh - the capital. then who Knows where. the heat and humidity is extreme, were always like damp sponges, and dust everywhere, so one is generally kinda pasty orange and damp. all our cloths have changed colour. Ill be bringing home earth from each country in my hair! when driving mopeds or on our air conditioned bus (i.e. all the windows and the door were opened) everybody werear towels/scarves etc covering most of their faces. i think, perhaps, we wont spend the bulk of our time in Cambodia or Laos, the whole malaria thing is a little concerning, as there is many many moseys and its more difficult to go of the beaten track which is towns and cites, and with them comes that feeling of guilt - althoug we are here as tourists which is what they want, but still, it would't be comfortable for a long period of time.
Begora I've gone on, and on and on, hope its not too boring, but its no fun trying to edit to make it a better read!

so hoe you all are good - hi to granny (thanks for comment) and to the girlies at the equine- don't work too hard - although things maybe quicker without my chatting!
byt.gracie

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Comments

[cindy kingston]

Chris's lovely cousin !!!!!!!
great to hear the goss on the travels... even though it's past my bedtime and i'm not making sense of half of it. Sounds alot like Guatemala with the dirt roads/scamers/poverty etc. Will be checking out your blog again or you can add me to your mailing list. [e-mail] Thanks, .Big hug to my cous, Chris. Cindy x

[paul]

really enjoying your entries,glad you're having a good time and lot's of mermorable experiences.i'm actually in hawaii for a week,had to get away from the f-n cold in va.need anything,let me know. paul.

[paul]

you should write a book,or books,graces planet.