Puddles in Phnom Penh

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Well, you'll probably have realised by now that all of our trip entries so far have been lost due to problems with travelblog. We have decided to stay with travelblog because the setup until now has been superb so we hope that all will be well in future (and will back up a little more often in case!) We had backed up the majority of entries and have managed to recover most of what is left but probably won't get around to rebuilding past entries fo a while.

We also lost many of the entries that we had saved but not yet not published. The internet connections in Cambodia and Laos have been really slow and we therefore havent been able to upload pictures, planning to wait until we could do this before publishing all the entries - so for those of you who wondered why we hadn't put an entry up for a while there's your reason. We have now been able to save some of them but are still unable to upload pictures so for the moment we will send through what we have been doing in our ever so elequant prose and follow it up with pictures as soon as possible. Sorry we know its booring without the pictures!

Day 105

When we started the trip we were fairly (welll as much as the two of us can be) organised about making plans for a basic schedule for a country. We have got more and more lax as the trip has continued and found ourselves waking on our first full day in Cambodia with no set itinerary. After a couple of hours we had sorted this out and set out to explore the capital city. Feeling lazy after having been near enough escorted everywhere for the past few days we set out for a welcome bit of Shanks' pony!

We first visited the Independence Monument and Wat Lanka enjoying the fantastic architectural styles here in Cambodia before heading towards the riverside for a stroll along the river. On the way we passed the impressive Buddhist Institute but found, when we reached the river, that some building work was going on and we got a bit stuck in a dead end. Finding our back into town through a strange fairground/market area we had a bit of lunch before going to visit the Royal Palace.

We arrived to find that Chrissie would not be allowed in as her shoulders were showing. Thankfully she was able to hire a rather fetching T-shirt for the afternoon. We wandered round the complex visiting the throne room and the Silver Pagoda before a huge rainstorm settled in. Taking cover we waited for it to pass over and were hugely entertained by a couple of small local children who were having enormous fun splashing in the puddles and playing in the rain.

The rain abated slightly so we continued our visit without getting too wet. As we left the front gate though we were in for a surprise. The heavy rain had created a flood on the roads around a foot deep. The locals didn't seem to bat an eyelid, cycling, moto-ing and walking thorugh the puddles so we assumed this must be a regular occurance in the wet season. Glad we were wearing flip-flops we waded through streets and streets in a similar state to get back to our hotel for a welcome warm shower.

We spent the evening watching Federer winning another Wimbledon title - a fantastic match which finished around midnight our time.

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Comments

[Simon P.R.B]

hi you guys!
Hi guys! What a shame to hear about the site 'going down' on you :-) I'm glad that you've managed to back up your files. It's so interesting to see what you fitties have been up to, so i'm glad you have some reference for the future. It was SO good to speak to you the other week, sorry it cut out - but I guess thats what happens when your thousands of miles away! I'm in Portsmouth (oo-ahh-faaarrrmer!) with t'show. Weather is suprisingly nice. I've just got back from Valencia where I was visiting Matt and Alex Baker (they used to live opposite the Molnar lol!) totally got sun burn....result! Am going to join facebook book this week so will come hunt you down...! Love you both loads, keep having fun. Si xx

[yum yum]

The Rain in Spain...
Why Hi Fittness!!!!! I can't believe the problems with the blog, I was gutted for you, but glad you are kinda back up and running. Working from home today to able to catch up properly with the blog! So your no too far from home with the rain then!!! Although we can't complain , we have had near enough 1 week of sunshine, might even take advantage of the ole wireless and sit outside today! Missing your famous anus's here in sunny manchester.. can't wait to our visit. Did you get my mail about it being feb cause of money?? Hope that is still ok?? Going to see if the phino is still coming out too then! Yeah... willy waging galore! Keep smilling chickens love you long time you sexy beasts.... keep smoking those chips xxx

[mouton]

the amazing shrinking chrissie
Mark, my daughter is shrinking ! She's obviously been out in the rain too long, seriously though you both look amazing and its great to have the blog back. loadsa love mouton rev and beebee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx