shells

I am not a morning person. Not at all. But somehow I am ready at 5am when Etienne arrives in a minivan to pick me utp for the photo tour. It's last he's running for the year so it's a pretty big group, but everyone seems friendly. This is going to be fun. The plan is to head out to a fishing village. We take a boat across the river and then we'll be able to see the fishing boast coming in and practice some of the things Etienne has been telling us. First though, we sit in a local cafe (think of a shack, but with one wall left open) and sip the strongest coffees I've had in a long time while we wait for the boat. And then, we hear it. A little bit ... read more

Day 03 - 26 December Today starts early for Craig and I. Very early. By the time the sun is trying to break through the light blanket of pollution shrouding Ho Chi Minh City we have already negotiated rates with a cab driver (ensuring we paid twice the metered fare) and arrived at Notre Dame Cathedral to put our photographic equipment to good use. A friendly cyclo driver, seemingly amused by our activities strikes up a conversation with Craig and soon we are embarking on our own private pedal powered photo tour of the city. He introduces himself as Tahn, and chats and laughs with us as we stop to take some photos in a nearby park. A cyclo driver friend of his happens to bump into us while we're at the park, and in the ... read more

After finishing a rather late night, four intrepid travelers arose before the crack of dawn (literally) for our first adventure of the day. Cantering through the Cambodian countryside, the wind in our hair, music playing as we rode toward the sunrise in slow motion. Ok. Really it was more like walking and trotting, although there was the occasional unintentional canter. Due to cloud cover there wasn't an explicit sunrise as such, more a gradual lightening of the world. But it was still an amazing experience. I had been a bit worried that perhaps being so early we might not see any of the local people, but my fears were unfounded. The world was jut beginning to awake as we slipped through villages and along the trails, so we passed plenty of people, just heading out to ... read more

This evening, I had dinner planned with Adono and Rika, before Rika flys back to Indonesia tomorrow. The destination - Jars of Clay Cafe (where else?). Jars of Clay really not too far from my house. Probably less than a kilometre. Up till now I would have walked there since it was still daylight, and get a moto or tuk tuk home rather than walk in the dark. Today however, as I walked out the front door, a thought occurred to me. "the kong!" (yes, my thought was half in Khmer). The bike! Maybe I should ride. I stood there for a good few moments pondering this option. At 5.55pm it was still the peak hour. And I would need to cross one busy intersection, and make a left turn onto another busy road just to ... read more

So it's Friday night after a long day at the office. The question is, do I go home, relax and bum around on the internet, or do I motivate myself to go out and do something? In the end, I opted for a combination of both. My back and neck have been aching lately so I decided that tonight I would check out a spa / massage place called Bodhi Spa that seems to get constantly great reviews on the various tourist guide style websites. So after stopping in at home to drop off my laptop and take a shower I wandered toward the Russian market in search of a tuk tuk. After some brief negotiation around the price and walking away twice I was soon en route for the Riverside area of Phnom Penh. Arriving ... read more