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Published: August 5th 2006
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After 2 busy and tiring days around the temples we have decided to give ourselves a rest day. It will be more like 2 as we are waiting until Monday to go to an orphanage.
So we had a lazy morning walking around the town we went to a couple of markets.
Of course it poured with rain. At one point I had a little girl of about 5 holding my hand and refusing to let go for about 10 minutes! So cute. (But she had been sent by her mum for money) We played pool in our guest house with a couple of the guys who work there.
On Sunday we went fishing in the river, Andy caught a small fish. Lots of locals stopped to watch and smile and point.
On Monday we bought some things for the orphanage and then headed down there. A man showed us around and told us lots of information. This orphanage is so much better off than the lighthouse in Phnom Penh. It gets lots of donations from forgeiners (or the rich man as he referred to) as it is in such a touristy town. Some of the kids do still
sleep on the floor and it does soley rely on donations, but they have their own computer room!
We saw the nursery, where there were 3 babies and they were in there on their own with the door locked! They were sat in their own mess, which was sad. One of them may be HIV positive, they are not sure yet, so that's really sad.
After the orphanage we went round the markets to haggle and buy some stuff! We both got what we wanted. By now it was raining and we had to buy our bus ticket to Bangkok or Phnom Penh. Our plan originally was to go to Vietnam from Cambodia then back to Thailand to see some more places before flying to Hong Kong. However we decided we wouldn't now have enough time to go to Vietnam and do the places in Thailand so we spent a good hour standing in the rain painfully trying to decide what to do next. After trying to phone home to get another perspective (they weren't in) we decided to go back to Thailand, mainly because it would be easier than starting another country which we have heard not such
good things about anyway.
So tomorrow we would be back on our way to Bangkok on the famous 'Boulavard of Broken backsides road'. The road from Siem Reap to the border town of Poipet. Again like most things, we had heard so much about this dreaded road, but was it all true?
01.08.06
We were up and waiting for our 7am bus at 6.50am. At 8.20am we were finally on the bus and on the way. Like we said this bus journey from Siem Reap to Poipet (the border) is supossed to be horendous due to the condition of the road or lackof it. But we know everyone exagerates, but we were still not really looking forward to it. To the border it was supposed to be 5 hours or less. When we hit the dirt road we could not believe it was going to be this bad for the next 4 hours! Surely enough it was.
I had read on someones blog that it was like sitting on top of a phnuematic drill for 5 hours and it really was. It was terrible. There was no road it was just pot holes and because it had rained for
2 days it made it 10 times worse! (IF THERE WERE A ROAD TO HELL, THIS WOULD BE IT!!)
Along the way a truck had broken down on a bridge so we were stuck there for about an hour whilst they all stood around and looked and discussed until another truck came and pulled it over. Next on our little story the window wiper fell off, which we thought was really funny the driver didn't look amused, so we had to go and find that and try to re-attach it.
Anyway 7 hours later we arrived at what we thought was the border. No, change buses to take us 5 minutes to the border. So all our bags off this one and on the next one, then off this one, walk across the border and then wait an hour for our bus to Bangkok.
Surprisingly we were still in good spirits after what had already been a long and very uncomfortable journey.
SO WE LEFT CAMBODIA!!! WE HAVE HAD SUCH A NICE TIME HERE AND IN LAOS, SUCH A DIFFERENT LIFESTYLE TO WHAT WE GET BACK HOME IN GOOD OWD BLIGHTY.
When our lush. lovely VIP bus turned
Monks
I (melissa) am a great monk spotter! up for Bangkok it was all good. It felt like we were back in the real world. Electric pylons, tarmac roads, traffic lights and the 7-11 mini-mart.
From here it only took us 3 1/2 hours. We were in Bangkok for 9.30pm, so much for being there at 5pm as we were told! It was a long day. We got the last room in the hotel where we had stayed before. We only came back here because it has a pool even though we said we wouldn't go back there as the staff are so rude and unfriendly! That's the Rambuttri Village Inn, DON"T STAY THERE!
At about 10.30pm, after trying to get the tv that we were paying for fixed, unsucessfully (A guy came in to fix it, obviously couldn't, so he just waved at us and left. We didn't know if he was coming back or not?? We later saw him stood in the reception. THANX!!!) We went out for some dinner. Poor ANDY came over feeling unwell so he went back to our room, followed by me. At the restaurant where we had been on our last visit, we were met by Chris, the campest guy in
Look at that dad!!!!
All them years of training and I catch this!!!! the world and with all the people he must see coming and going. He actually remembered us and gave us both a hug and asked where our playing cards were. We only met him a few times. MAYBE ONE OF THE FEW GENUINE PEOPLE WE HAVE MET SO FAR?
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Dad and Anna
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Pitiful in the Rain
Hi you two, you do look a pitiful pair in your rain capes, I still haven't quite got over my latest stroke seeing you two in the balloon, one broken rope would have seen you orbiting the earth for days. I have to say the Watts look fantastic and as Andy said ' nice carvings'. Look forward to talking to you soon and seeing you at the airport. Love Dad and Anna