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Published: November 17th 2010
Sua s'dei!
So, Post Killing Fields and S-21, we headed to Southern Cambodge to the beach! The morning before we left, our "friiiiennnddss", Kate, Laura, Dan and Seb contacted us to let us know they had found paradise on Otres Beach. We'd all said our (2nd) goodbyes in Vietnam, so we were happy to be reunited once more! However, it didn't quite go to plan. We arrived in Sihanoukville and headed to the main beach, Serendipity, just to check it out. It wasn't much to write home about, so we set out to find Otres Beach. We were unaware that the main road to Otres was closed, which meant that we had to take a different route. This different route was through deserted land and completely unlit along bumpy dirt tracks. After 5 minutes of being thrown about in a Tuk Tuk in pitch black, heading in to what could have been anything, I really began to panic. Mat kept reassuring me, but I was sure that at any minute we would be surrounded by men on motorbikes demanding all of our belongings. I have never been so scared - And Mats hand has never been squeezed as hard! The
Tuk Tuk drivers way of reassuring us was to inform us that he knew the way and not to worry because he "wasn't going to kill us". Great. After about 10 minutes, I made him take us back to Serendipity Beach. Traumatised, Mat and I proceeded to get very drunk (on 25 cents Angkor Beer) at a club called Utopia. We also had a dorm there, so we didn't have far to crawl home! The next morning, in daylight, we headed to Otres Beach.
And it was worth the wait. We had bungalows on the beach, 20 metres from the sea. It was absolutely beautiful. We spent 3 days sunbathing, indulging in amazing food and drinking Vino Rouge with brilliant company. Over the course of the 3 days, I had a manicure, pedicure and body massage. And Mat, true to form, had beer. My masseuse was lovely, and took a real shine to me. We also got the hang of devouring the fresh Langoustine that the locals served (see photo). Staying on the topic of food, we absolutely LOVE Cambodian food. Amok Curries are traditional Khmer food, and it's gorgeous. However, Mat's stomach of steel has finally caved in,
and after 2 months, he's got the squirts! Welcome to MY world! Back to Otres Beach, the family who own the bungalows were such lovely people. There was a beautiful 3 month old baby who I was dying to hold, but they were very protective over her. She had a full head of hair that stuck up in all directions, and was uber chubby - Probably because one of the family was always holding her! I wouldn't want to mess with this family though; A group of Russians who were using their sunbeds (but not buying any food or drink) met their match. One guy in particular became very confrontational, and threatened to kill the guy in charge. So, he walked over to a cupboard, and pulled out an AK-47, and aimed at this guys head. How we missed it all I don't know because we were only 20 metres away on the beach, but Seb saw it all and truly believed he was about to witness a murder. Mat and I were a bit sceptical until we saw the AK-47 being carried out in a bag to be hidden.
I have come to the conclusion that we are
in fact not experiencing a "clusterfuck" as such, but this just
is traveling. We are bound to experience the unknown, feel emotions that we haven't felt and end up in some tricky situations. The morning we left Otres, AK-47 guy and his mate took us on the back of their mopeds to the Bus Station. Mat, once again, nearly stacked it - But this time it wasn't his fault! Luckily, instinct came to his rescue and the 2 of them managed to keep the moped upright, but he was covered in orange clay (the type of soil here). Now tell me, whilst in such beautiful surroundings, how can we possibly have had the scariest experience of our lives, nearly been involved in a potential murder and Mat nearly doing some serious damage on the back of a bike? This just IS traveling!
So, i'm writing this blog from Siem Reap, and we have spent the last 2 days visiting the Temples of Angkor. There are 72 major temples within a vast 1000 sq km spread. Just to give you an idea of the importance of the temples, the main temple Angkor Wat is the building featured on the Cambodian
Flag. We got a one-day ticket which allowed us to see a sunset and a sunrise. So yesterday, we made our way to Angkor to Phnom Bakheng Temple to see the sunset over Angkor Wat. It was one of the best sunsets we've seen so far. We had to walk 20 minutes uphill to reach the temple, and just as we got to the top it started to rain lightly. We saw a rainbow that had formed over the temple, and then we watched the sun go down. We didn't get to see the sun set completely, because it began chucking it down. Mat and I were soaked through, but it didn't dampen our spirits (Mats joke!) and we had a good laarrrffff. It was crazy - One second we were watching the sunset, the next everyone scarpered from the temple. The hostel we are staying in has hot water so I wasn't too fussed about getting wet! Can I just add that it's the first hot shower that i've had in 2 months!
Today we awoke at 4.30am, and headed to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise - Our first sunrise yet (I won't include the one from
the desert, we were nackered from the frog incident and konked out during sunrise!). After the sunrise, we looked around Angkor Wat. Mat commented that "It's a mess, it's on its arse". You see what i'm contending with here? But in his defence, my breath wasn't taken away either. I think we have the part missing in our brains that appreciates manmade beauty, i'm working on it! We spent 5 hours visiting 11 temples, some of which were quite beautiful. I have spent most of the day napping and tonight we plan to have a few beverages. Tomorrow morning, we head back in to Thailand to head down to Koh Phangan island. We very excite!
Mat and I absolutely love Cambodge, and wish we could spend more time here. This is where we were meant to be volunteering in an orphanage, but because of the kerfuffle in Vietnam, we just don't have enough time. If there's one nation that we've visited that we would want to return to to offer our help in some way, this would be it. Hopefully one day in the future we can make that happen.
Lots of love from Cambodge,
Amber and
Mat
xXx
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Daz
non-member comment
awww...looking good peeps ;) x