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Published: January 7th 2011
Running the Mekong, well once we get there....
On to Hong Kong....
4 hours of sleep off the bat and then well, movies, music and what ever else. I mean what are we supposed to do at 35,000 feet in a metal cigar tube? According to the Entertainment Center, there are over 100 movies, 350 TV shows, 888 CDs, 22 radio channels and over 70 video games!
So, first movie watched, Takers, then a play list made for the i-pod and plenty of time to think about the coming 48 hours. No sense of thinking any further, even though I (Jeff) have gone there often. Looking at the route and the map (we've been told by some to get a better map because our route does not show on any maps till day 5 or 6)...would anyone expect something different?
Honestly, just looking forward to arriving, getting our gear settled and then heading north to the border and start running. That's why we are here (well based on time check, some time in the next like 15 hours), anyway, we are excited and very fortunate. All of you have supported us and One Filter One Family in
a manner or another, so thank you for giving us this opportunity!
Being all about the daily mileage, we have agreed to take at least the first 4 days or so as they come and go...we will be in a remote (so says the map) area and are hoping to take some time and enjoy the journey each day. Once we leave Kratie, we will be heading directly into the major populations and town areas. Better to enjoy countryside and quiet while we can right?
Apologies, side seat movie distraction. Nathalie is watching Eat Love Pray, but she won't admit it! LOL! SHHHHH
Time to attempt another hour or more of sleep.......J
We managed a couple more hours of sleep and two more movies, have to save some for the way home....arrival in Hong Kong is still a few hours away but all in not a bad flight at all....
Hong Kong arrival and terminal experience was as expected, noodles and a beer for the meal and a bit of email and internet to get caught up on. Almost there, just two more hours.....
January 6th!
Arrival in Phnom Penh and it feels
like coming home, hmm, what to make of that? Bunna collected us and all of our gear, piling it into what will be our chase truck for the adventure. Much nicer than trying to manage the ride to the Eureka Villa in a tuk-tuk!
The sights and sounds of Phnom Penh have not changed since we were here last January. A few more buildings but that is all. Some things don't change and it's a bit refreshing.....
The Eureka Villas are just as the pictures. Sophea's touch is everywhere, very nice and tastefully done! Situated just at the back of the Royal Palace, we are within walking distance to all that we could want. Dropping the gear in the room we settle in next to the pool to talk with Bunna about 'run logistics'. Everything has been mapped out from O'svay to Phnom Penh and we don't make any real changes. We all agree that flexibility will be key and that taking each day as it comes is best...The excitement of it all is starting to settle in and we joke about wanting to start right now!
Deciding that sitting poolside is not the best idea,an idea we
might come to revisit with some longing regret over the next few days, we head to the river front for a walk....
Wandering along, looking for our favorite cookie shop and restaurants, we find a small, very cool, bead shop. Beads, well those of you who know us, know that we just cannot pass this one by and besides, we made a promise to a some special kids that we would keep and eye out for beads while we were here.
Like all sharp travelers we check the prices before we do anything and are told that any of the bead are US$ 0.25 per gram. Freaking CHEAP rings off in my brain (yes that would be Jeff) and straight to the bowls we go. First we start hand picking beads but really, for that cheap, handfuls follow. We pick from almost every color and type/size and finally we have enough.
Off to the cash we go, digging in our pockets for small bills as the weigh and price the small bag of assorted beads. Expecting him to announce the total some where around $5, he informs us we owe just short of US $60! Stunned and
certainly showing a look of shock, err um, 'that's more than we wanted to spend, can we have the bag back and remove some of the 'bigger' beads...' Well, we do just that and are certain we've done a good job but knowing, what ever the next price is, that we will somewhat be honor bound (ok shamed) to pay. Some would question it, some would call us foolish or just laugh. Some would put the beads down and say sorry, walking out and not turning back. In the end, we have once again learned a lesson and have the most amazing US$35 bag of rocks and glass......shaking our heads and laughing at the simple rule we forgot and paid for we wandered down to Camory cookie shop to pay US$6 for two very small bags of amazing cookies.....don't ask and no we won't be saving them to bring back. They are though one of those things that must be tasted in Phnom Penh, besides, they are friends of friends, that's reason enough to buy them right....
Eventually the flying and travel catches up with us and now at just about 7pm, sleep is the only option we have.....more
tomorrow, J/N
January 7...
FREAKING EARLY! Ok so a bed time of 7pm is crazy but waking up at 3am is plain stupid! Ugh! Sleep is not going to come back so it's instant Nescafe and time to sort out the bins and read until somewhere near a normal time of day....finally figured out how to get Twitter working on our cell phone, that took a fat hour, so we can blah blah blah as we wander down the Mekong and really any other time that seems appropriate. Be ready for lots of random Facebook updates/tweets!
Mid day, time is really relevant at this stage. Finally the sun came up and just in time, we were out of instant coffee! Off to breakfast and then final shopping for the remaining gear we need. The really exciting things like a big bucket to soak our soon to be mangled feet, mat to sleep on mid day and the all important mossy net to keep the little vampires away! Two cases of Anchor beer to rehydrate and carbo load at the end of the day, some snacks for the road and a tour of the market snapping shots of
the pig snouts, fish on sticks and live seafood just off the boats....noodle soup and coffee, the morning is complete!
Can we start running yet? Seriously! What are we supposed to be doing? Relaxing? Yeah , NOT! Jeff finally settled down enough to get to the interview with the Phnom Penh Post, thought I'd have to push him into the pool and hold his head underwater!
The two PPP reporters, Manju and Teth we very kind to the three of us (we did not give Bunna an option and made him come with us)..They asked us of course why this, why Cambodia, how do we train in the cold for the heat and who inspires us...many more questions and a review of the route. We agree to send them pics at the end of the day on the 9th and the story will run on Monday here in Cambodia in English and Khmer. You can find the paper online at www.phnompenhpost.com
Manju asked that we send them any interesting, strange, weird sort of experiences over the course of the days before we reach Phnom Penh and call them the day before we arrive in the city...such a
surreal sort of experience, wow this is really going to happen....way too excited, so of course like the mature adults we are, upon leaving the paper's offices we challenge Bunna to a race down the 7 floors, he in the elevator and we run the stair. Of course he's in the parking lot at the car well before we come careening out the front door of the office building, everyone laughing at us...
So here we are, on last sleep and then it's off to Stung Treng at 8am tomorrow. Just north of O'svay in the early AM of the 9th and we begin.....thanks for putting up with us over the last year, continually surprising and supporting us. We would not be here without that. J/N
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Kim
non-member comment
WTF is right!!!!
Ok I never thought of becoming a vegetarian until picture 14. Like really!! Other then that the place looks amazing!!! I am proudly supporting by OFOF t-shirt to the gym today and am excited for the coming days as the adventure begins!!!! The amazing race has nothing on you two! Take Care! K