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Published: July 10th 2009
Kelly at Anantara
check out the guy in the background handing out cool towelsSo it has been a while since we managed to write a substantial entry so we're gonna try and do one now! We don't have too long though and we have borrowed a camera wire off one of our newfound friends.
We arrived in Bangkok and as we put in the last blog we had an absolutely CRAZY taxi driver from the airport to our hotel, I actually feared for my life and he didn't seem to know the concept of 'overtaking' ... preffering to weave in and out of traffic like a crazed madman!
Our guesthouse in Bangkok was close to the Khao San Road (infamous backpacker ghetto)and we went there, bought some bracelets and got harrassed by lots of people selling those wooden frogs that make a noise when you scrape their back...Alex already has one so we ran away from the people. They seemed to take a liking to him though and stalked him all the way up and down the road! All in all was rather amusing.
We also went to ..shock horror.. STARBUCKS while in Bangkok although it was with an Asian twist as we both had iced coffee with "Jelly" inside which was pretty
interesting....
We had our first group meeting and met the rest of our travelling companions who in fact, are mostly Australian! Quel Surprise! There are a few other Brits, a Dane and some Flemish girls and everyone is really lovely. They're all cool and we have been having fun together in the various restaurants not really knowing what we're ordering but enjoying it all the same! Our tour leader is a man called Kakada, he told us to call him "Kaka" for short, much to Alex's infinite amusement.
He's an amazing guy, a Khmer who grew up in a village as a 'cowboy', or thats what he calls it! looking after his father's cattle. He learnt English from a book and struggled as a moto driver in the capital to get enough money for university... Now he's got a bit more money working for Intrepid Tours he has set up his own school in the village to teach his fellow villagers English, they pay on a sliding scale and the poorest pay nothing... Truly an inspiration!! He's also the nicest guy in the world and his favorite phrase is "Let's rock and roll!" .. he also says "that's bloody awesome" which is hilarious.
Our first day was a bus ride crossing the border. The bus drivers are perfectly safe and IMHO drive very well considering the sometimes bumpy roads!
Our first meal in Cambodia was at a crazy restaurant called "Dead Fish" which is in what seemed like an old barn - it was actually a farm, with crocodiles - hence wy the crocodiles are still there. The owners wanted to keep them because otherwise they would be sold for food! So it was quite sweet really. Also a bit unnerving!!!
That was also the night when Kakada gave Alex a frog's leg to try.... Alex says: "tastes like chicken"
Haha. He was also having fun making the little leg bounce up and down....
THE TEMPLES OF ANGKOR
The next day we got up at the LOVELY time of 3:45 AM in order to get a one day temple pass to the Angkor complex (20 USD) We got our photos taken at the ticket booths at about 4:30 so as you can imagine we look thoroughly dishevelled in the passes....
We got to Angkor Wat in time to watch a BEAUTIFUL sunrise which changed colour every few minutes...
(NB there are some adorable little cambodian kids having a great time playing an online video game next to us... so sweet)
The sunrise was just incredible. Hopefully photos will follow.
We had a LONG, LONG day visiting
Angkor Wat (Hindu, the really famous one)
Ta Phrom (the jungle temple)
Bantay Srei (the 'women's temple')
Angkor Thom (the walled city)
and the Bayon (an incredible buddhist temple with buddha faces carved all over.
Some interesting facts... Bantay Srei is known as the temple of women because the carvings are so beautiful and detailed the people who found it thought that only women could have carved it! Obviously!
Alex: I was however surprised that there were no kitchens/cleaning materials for the women in this temple. Seems rather odd. hehe
kelly:
The Bayon was the most interesting culturally as it depicted the everyday life of the ancient Khmer people, right down to the hilarious details! Therewas a carving of a man with a turtle and the turtle is biting the man's bottom when he was looking away! There was also a woman who fell asleep whilst selling things and while she was sleeping her wares are being stolen by thieves. Such incredible detail... it was crazy!
We also saw FAT and BABY monkeys!! So cute!!!
THE FLOATING VILLAGE
Today we drove way into the country for an hour and a half to see a traditional village on stilts up to 10 meters high! It wasn't tourist-y at all and along with the houses on stilts there were floating houses as well. We took a long boat trip along the river,where we could see the Camodians going about their day-to-day chores. All the kids seemed to love us as everytime we went past them they waved and jumped about. The adults however weren't as amused at us taking photos of them cleaning in the river.
We went all the way out to where the river joined into a massive lake (Tonle Sap)-one that grows to 13,500sq.km in the wet season (the weather has been amazing here btw). The lake looked like an ocean it was weird!!
I wasn't so sure how the Cambodians felt about us coming through their village and would have liked to stop and talk some more (or do charades... due to the language barrier), the kids here are just so adorable and I seem to be getting a bit of an Angelina Jolie complex as I really want to take them all home :s They have an innocence that western kids seem to lose on a diet of mtv and video games!
Alex: i think it might be quite handy-I don't have anybody to do my laundry :8
We are going to post this and try and add some pictures now.. We are having an amazing time and can't wait to tell you about our next exploits. (One of our group members is actually inhospital but it's okay, she just had infected mosquitobites and we are wearing lots of DEET!
btw dad (Kelly's dad) I bought you some ray bans... Genuine fake! 😉
I'm on the hunt for pressies for everyone else too.
On a side not we also went to "Artisans D'Angkor" to see how the local people make beautiful handmade silk and stone carvings, we think all the mum's reading will love the silk so google the name as they have an online shop!
Lots of love
K&A
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Sophie Tuppen
non-member comment
:O
Wow >.< I'm so jealous. The photos are cool, good to see you managed to get hold of a camera wire thing. It looks and sounds amazing. Have fun. Don't get diseased. and keep my backpack safe. ( and yourselves of course) P.S. If you can't find a miniature buddha statue, you could always get me harem pants :) missing you