Rainbow lodge, killing fields, and vietnam!

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Captain's log stargate 21340978-210
No wait.

So we went off to rainbow lodge in the middle of the Cardamom ranges, a large jungle-covered mountain range in the West of Cambodia. Our instructions were to call when we got to the third bridge, and a boat would get sent to pick us up from the riverside on the 4th bridge. Great plan until we couldn't get signal! We were faced with the prospect of either continuing on to the main town and trying to contact them from there or get off in the middle of nowhere and hope they'd randomly send a boat in case... Fortunately one hill later we passed a ruddy great big transmission mast and got through.

The small boat picked us up as promised and took us into the jungle via river, there's no road access to this eco-lodge! Having settled in to our hut in the middle of the scrub (think mozzies), we discovered the electricity was having to be run on generator because the solar-power panels got hit by lightening... (THEY"RE TRYING TO HELP, MOTHER NATURE!) So electricity supply was limited to peak hours and the fans wouldn't work at night. Ah well we thought, we're right next to a river, we can always jump in if it gets too hot. Which it did shortly after that thought, so we went down to the riverbank and dived in. Now. We were warned that the water was warm. What they'd failed to mention is they're actually suspecting thermal activity under the riverbed, because this water was HOT. Not just warm, we're talking bathtime with hot water "A La Cat". So there went that plan to cool off.

Plan 2 to cool off was to walk into the jungle itself. We undertook this the following day to reach a mystical lake the other side of the mountain, about 2 hours of jumping and ducking away. We were certainly cooler in the undergrowth, thanks to the protection of the beautiful bamboo and the layer of sweat constantly produced from the walk. The walk also took a slightly medieval feel to it, with a good old fashioned health treatment of a few dozen leeches attached strategically at various holistic points (Cat's was mostly heels. My therapy was a little more extensive, with lancing points directed down my legs, around my waist, and one under my right nipple. If any holistic healers can tell me what that one was trying to cure it might make me feel better about the pain it caused)
Having found the lake thanks to our guide Mr Lei and his intrepid helper Sunny, the rusty dog that ran off after the wild pigs when we encountered them (well, at least we think that's where she went. Never actually saw a pig.) We jumped in and managed to cool off finally. I went down the rapids on my backside, which ended up quite painful experience. Things you learn.
As we left the lake to our next destination our guide found a small snake in the path in front of us, it ran off pretty quickly, we thought that was pretty cool thing to see.
Then. We ran straight into his dad. Or the big testosterone-laden dude that dad knows that everyone's scared of and won't look straight into his eyes. The guide stopped dead (not literally) and pointed at the ground, where lay a HUGE green snake sunning himself peacefully on the path. We couldn't actually see his head at this point. Then our guide, a former ranger with 10-20 years experience in the jungle, sees the head, judges the size of the snake, takes about 5 steps back and keeps saying Oh That's Huge! Oh That's Huge! Very confidence-building.

So we took 6 steps back.

This lazy snake didn't seem too bothered about the smell of our urinating ourselves, and lay there watching us with a big frown. Now I need to point out that at this moment we're over 2 hours from anyone, and the jungle is too thick on either sides to be able to go round this big snake. And knowing that some green snakes in the jungle can kill you in a few minutes, none of us were too keen on volunteering to give it a hug. So in the end we started throwing sticks at it, and I found a 4-5M bamboo stick and we managed to chase it enough off the path to walk past and run in the other direction. As it turns out it was likely only a red-tailed ratsnake, but I'm sure he wasn't up for close-ups.

At 3am with the fan off, I climbed out of the mozzie net to go to the toilet. I may still have been asleep, because the next thing I know my forehead is bleeding from a big cut from me headbutting the bathroom wall. Again, don;t know exactly how it happened, but in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere with no power to see what I;'d done to myself, it was difficult to remain calm. Apparently these are not times when you wake your wife up and say you've brained yourself, as she wakes up in a panic imagining a literal event. As it turns out my first aid kit included a good bandage and the wound's healing without stitches. Well, it also turns out to be a lot smaller than what I thought... As someone called it, a Man Scar.

So then we went over to Phnom Penh, a busy city in comparison to most places we've been to.
In Phnom Penh we followed a more cultural route again, visiting the killing fields, S-21, and museum/palaces. Plus a market or two to keep Cat happy and me grumpy.
The s-21 and killing fields are the museums dedicated to the genocide that occurred under the Khmer Rouge in the mid 70s. Having come to power by force, they then set up a information-gathering prison (ie a torture facility) in Phnom Penh where they systematically tortured and killed 20000 people in the 3 years or so it was running. Only 7 prisoners lived to tell the tale. The condemned, after months of torture to procure a confession that they'd sign to stop further torture and fitted with the leader's suspicions nicely, were then taken to the killing fields and "destroyed" in mass graves. Usually the whole family were killed to avoid revenge attacks. Both facilities are quite mind-numbing, the only way I had to cope with the information provided. Walls of photos of the prisoners stare at you from the grave, and evidence of torture methods and living conditions make you feel pretty sorry for Homo sapiens. I thought the sign forbidding laughing were bizarre at first, but then realised that some people would probably laugh as a coping mechanism for the information presented, it really is difficult to take. Our guide lost her brother and mother in the genocide and was sent to work in the fields for 14 hours a day. Kinda sobering, and made us realise that really everyone around us of that age and above had been involved in one way or another.

On the brighter note, we visited the silver pagoda at the royal palace, beautiful area with ancient relics, mostly Buddhas of various shape and sizes. Whilst it is similar to a lot of the temples etc that you visit elsewhere, the sheer size and beauty of the place captivates you.

There's a huge amount of street vendors and beggers in Phnom Penh, and copyright law is not a big thing. Picked up a few photocopied books to read on the next leg of the trip, some of them have annotations from when the original owner read them! I learned not to mess with the little kids too, as when you end up not buying their things they're pretty quick with other english words they know, telling you where to go. And then telling you again as they walk past you several times each night...

Oh, and I also learned not to steal WIFI from the irish pub next door. Well, not to be so blatant as to use the PSP right in front of the door. I ran off when they started circling me with their security detail, only to get locked out on the balcony of the first floor of the hotel where I was trying to resume the signal. Having to wave down people on the street to let me back into the hotel was quite amusing to a lot of passer-bys.

And this morning we left. We arrived in Viet Nam, Saigon, for the next leg of our trip. I threatened a taxi driver after working out he'd scammed me out of $5 by asking for money to get out of the airport toll booth and paying about 30c once there. Got $3 back in the end after much negotiating and me writing his license plate number down...
We've only been out in the local area, but already I've a good feeling for the place. Helped that we got a free upgrade for the night at the hotel!
The weirdest experience so far is going to the ATM and having to choose between 1000000 or 2000000. There's just something unsettling about asking for 2 million out of an ATM.

Anyways, I've run out of steam. Hope all the faithful readers are well, looks like Facebook is banned here so communications may have to rely on the more traditional e-mail. Send us one so we know what you guys are up to!
P.S. Will, didn't find the pizza shop, but did in fact have an Angelina cocktail at the red piano.

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