Beach Cambodian style

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After I last wrote I had one of the best nights of my life! Our guide, Yong, took us to his family's home for a birthday dinner. All his brothers and sisters, cousins, neices and nephews were there. At first they were shy of us and then they all started practising their English! We attempted some traditional Cambodian dancing and the night ended with a massive food fight with the birthday cake, it was so much fun and the kids loved it! Yong has never taken his group home before so we were very priveleged.

We left Siem Reap and took a public bus to Kampong Cham, I was expecting the bus to be a nightmare, chickens, no air con etc but it was actually very nice! Apart from the woman sitting across the aisle from me who gobbed on the floor every few minutes.

Kampong Cham was a million miles from Siem Reap. It's a small town, very quiet with few tourists at all. It's right on the banks of the Mekong and the first bridge across was built here by the Japanese. Most of the infrastructure of the coutry has been built by other countries.

The plan for Kampong Cham was to go for a bike ride across the mekong and visit some villages but the wet season meant that the mekong had risen and the bamboo bridge had been dismantled so we went to explore some temples around the town. We were very lucky to happen upon a display of local dancing by some children from the town's orphanage. The Khmer Rouge killed so many people, anyone who was considered 'intellectual' (this included wearing glasses) and traditional practices such as dancing have became rare as many dancers were killed. The local monks give the orphans free lessons so the dances will stay a tradition in the future. We then visited a school run by the monks and helped with an impromtu English lesson! The monks are so friendly but we have to be very careful as they are not allowed to touch women!

From Kampong Cham we headed to a community, 2 hours from the nearest sealed road and in the jungle. It was called Chambok and it was our homestay. The community has become an eco-tourism site and you can stay in a house with the family. When I say house mean a wooden structure built on stilts and you sleep on the floor. It was an amazing experience. We were only the 3rd group to have been so the villagers are very shy but also inquisitive as many have not seen westerners before. The sleeping arrangements were intersting and the chickens, cows, cockerels, pigs, buffalo outside meant we didn't sleep much but it was great. In the morning we went for a bike ride and hike in the crazy heat and humidity and jungle to a waterfall where we could swim, I've never been so happy to get into cold water in my life! Which reminds me, I haven't had a hot shower since I left Bangkok, no hot water in Cambodia so far!

Yesterday we caught another local bus to Sihanoukville which is where I am now. Sihanoukville is a beach resort with lots of bars along the beach and small hotels up the hill. Yesterday was yet another birthday in our group so we headed out to sample the nightlife. It was a very entertaining evening! We had all the staff in the restaurant dancing, went to a nightclub where we were the only westerners and had a boogie there and ended up in a bar by the beach. Most of us ended up in the sea fully dressed as it was hot and seemed like a good idea! Four of us ended the evening with a few games of pool (which lasted for hours as we couldn't see straight) and collapsed into bed! Speaking of beds, there is an uneven number of guys and girls on our trip snd so far a guy called Kane and I have had a room each while everyone else has to share! I hope it stays that way, it's quite nice to be able to get alone time!

Today I went to the beach but the constant hassle to buy things was so difficult to deal with. I bought a scarf, a bracelet and some fruit that I didn't want but I did have a fantastic full body massage!

Wow I've written a lot, sorry! Tomorrow we head to the capital city of Phnon Phen for a couple days before we head to Vietnam.

TTFN x x x

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