Volunteered to collect waste along the Airport's shoreline. This ment getting a chance to work on the far side of the runway, ride a hover craft, explore restricted shoreline, do good for the environment (specifically marine life) and enjoy a BBQ with friends afterwards (while playing with the firetruck and plane spotting). If you get a chance to do this I recommend it.... read more

Started the day feeding the munks... an interesting experience, but now so commercialised I'd never do it again. The morning started by getting ripped off by a street vendor selling rice balls and plastic wrapped crackers (Agreed once price, she acted dumb and demanded more... in the grand scheme of things it was $1 and it was pitch black 4:30am in the morning so let it go, but started the day off bad). The monks in orange start making their way through town and eventually got to my mat. I got through my rations after about 10 minutes and watched for another 10 or so. I noted that eventually the monks, who I later learned wouldn't eat theplastic wrapped crackers, gave the wrapped crackers to poor looking street kids. Where did the street kids go... right ... read more

The late afternoon bus on up north to Luang Prabang was equally packed and hot. We climbed into the mountains on twisting and turning roads and had a couple stops of respite. The journey is nearing its end. The road was interesting because we got out of tourist villages and the road side communities showed day to day life of common people - hard.... read more

2 Jan: I don’t know if it was general tiredness from the lack of sleep over the last few action packed days or if it was an actual illness, but I woke up feeling queasy, tired and sore. Unfortunately I had an early morning flight to Vientiane that I had to make if I was going to keep to schedule. I struggled to keep away during the flight and started taking antibiotics as I figured they couldn’t hurt. I arrived in Vientiane with a bit of a fever and hot/cold sweets. I arrived at my accommodation and just crashed, waking up a few hours later that afternoon. While I didn’t feel any better I thought it might do me good to get out – I hoped to find an air conditioned cinema or mall where I ... read more

31 Dec: New Year’s Eve Day I woke up looking forward to taking a break from temple ruins and instead spent the day exploring present day Siem Reap. As the tourists, tuk tuk drivers and tour busses flowed out of town for a day of heat, dust and perspiration I meandered through the backstreets and narrow lanes from my accommodation to Pub Street and the central part of town. By morning Seim Reap central is unlike any other small town centre I’ve been to. Prior to 12noon there are only a few locals about and even fewer tourist faces to be seen. The Pub street and Market precinct is setup to cater to the tourist trying to escape the midday heat and sun (or rain in the rainy season) and later indulge in assorted pleasures at ... read more