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Published: August 1st 2006
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Cambodian Greetings, From Phnom Penh
We left you in Koh Tao where in the end we spent a total of 8 nights and proceeded to head North. So with a combination of Trains (12 hours), Boats (2 hours), Automobile (15 mins+ 20 mins), Bus (7 hours) (just needed the plane for the set) and "Waiting around Thai style" - i.e. not having a clue what's going on (a long time); eventually after 31 hours travelling we reached Chiang Mai. Not much to report, expect the possiblilty of breaking the land speed record for somebody asleep on the bus, yours truly getting in a strop on the train about losing Monopoly - the game's definately fixed - and a fantastic sunset as the train meandered (and I mean meandered) through the Northern hills.
The plan was to crash out and then head on to Pai the next day. So we arrived at a guest house, checked the room looked ok, and headed down to check in. Upon getting back in the room I spied a "roach d'cock" in the bathroom - "i wouldn't come in here for a minute" I said as I spied another. Then an ear splitting "oh
Hope you've packed your trunks
My posterior is still aching from this... my god" and there was a little get on Sarah's bag on the bed as well. Apparently deodorant kills them, however I think i just improved their hygiene as it certainly didn't seem to stop them. So a bit of Jackie Chan later and one went flying across the room (still didn't die, the little bugger) - anyway it was clear we weren't going to be staying in this room tonight. So change of rooms and a thorough MI5 style "bug-hunt" by 00Milsted and we crashed out.
So on to Pai. But not before a quick breakfast of noodles in a very dodgy little shop (as I watched raw meat, cooked meat, chicken, beef etc. etc. all get chopped on the same board with the same unwashed kinfe - (think my Basic food Hygiene certificate at home has probably fallen off the wall in disgust) About a three hour bus ride (although probably 20mins as the crow flies) through the hills and we reached this small town nestling in a stunning valley. A real hippy come traveller town with loads of guest houses etc. all built around the river Pai. We opted for the Golden Hut (no gold but
5* - Lahu hill-tribe style
Our accomodation/menagerie plenty of hut) and found a nice little wooden room/ treehouse. The next couple of days we entertained ourselves with an Elephant Ride (damn painful on the backside), hiring a moped (EasyRider I was not) - taking off to a waterfall and then to watch a sunset over a canyon and the hills - and then White Water Rafting down the river Pai. The rafting was all full day and a lot of fun. The morning was quite calm as we meandered through down the jungle river (beautiful scenery), bar the occasional spider that fell in the boat and Sarah's obvious response. In the afternoon some good rapids, but not before our guide had tried to kill us by getting us to swim across a rapid and grab a lone, sticking out branch to see a waterfall - just as well we were all competent swimmers or we may have been floating face down in the Gulf of Thailand by now. Great fun though, especially with our Thai "driver" whose English consisted of Paddle (obvious instruction), Paddle Paddle (i.e. paddle faster as we're about to hit something (which we invariably did anyway)) and Thankyou (Stop).
The next two days
were taken up with a trek to see the hill tribes. Hard work actually as we spent about 5 hours both days walking though some very unflat forest, in 32c heat and humidity approaching a Turkish Bath. We passed through a few villages, consisting of a few huts and plenty of chickens, dogs and pigs. And then the not so fitting solar panels and satellite dishes - an apparent government provision to stop the production of Opium! We stayed the night in a family's farm. Although a wooden shed on stilts would be my way of describing this. After a "shower" in the river, a couple of blankets was all we required and off we went to sleep. Unlike the pigs who lived underneath said farm (literally 4 feet under where we slept) with the chickens (and cockerels), who clearly didn't share our enthusiasm for sleep - I now know why they sleep so much in the day! Having said all that, really nice hospitality and so interesting to see how these people lived - these guys had no electricity and went hunting and farming all day everyday (see the picture). However I thought the weird, environmentalist, vegan American on
our trek was a bit more difficult to understand.
Back to Pai and the next day we headed back to Chiang Mai where we had a wander (temples galore if you like that sort of thing) and then a Thai Massage. I have no idea what my masseuse (although she didn't look like the sort of masseuse i've always had in my mind) has against men but after an hour I felt like i'd been through a mangle. After we'd picked ourselves off the floor, we realised nothing was broken and the massage had actually been good. We visited the Night Market, where we haggled and Sarah purchased (she's good at that) and then a couple of drinks on the riverside. Chiang Mai seemed nice but with our limited time, we needed to move on again. Another 12 hour train ride back to Bangkok next day was only briefly interrupted by hitting a car (no one was injured - although the car looked a mess - and for once i was glad their trains went so slowly) and we were back in Bangkok again.
Our final trip to Bangkok was accompanied by Sarah getting and passing her exam
results and a celebratory trip to PatPong. Very lively area (sure a few of you have been ;-)) and a great way to view the combination of fat-old-white-guy and young-Thai-girl in its element. And how many of you can say you've celebrated success by watching ping pongs being expelled from a Thai lady - very very funny although smoking from unsaid areas is surely not good for a lady's health.
After 3 hours sleep, we got up for our next country - Cambodia. We'd chosen to go our own way and not take the organised trips, so after a 5 hour bus journey we got to the border. We actually passed with little problem. The guards didn't look too happy with the fact we only had $20 dollars for the visa and not the new scam of asking for 1000b (about $24 equivalent) but they stamped the passport in an impressive 10 minutes. From here we got a shared taxi along the road (come dirt track, come surface of the moon) to Siem Reap. Feeling like Shaking Stephens after three hours in a blender we wobbled to a guest house. Already we could see Cambodia as a poorer neighbour to Thailand, there were a few beggars (particuarly children and land mine victims) about and some of housing on the way was very primitive.
The next day we headed to Angkor Wat and the other Temples at Angkor (the only reason Siem Reap seems to exist) with the hundreds of other tourists with our Tuk Tuk driver "Martin". Impressive structures and amazing carvings and decorations still exist after 1000 years - it would have been amazing to see these things as new. Not to mention the hundreds of children/families trying to sell us sovenirs / cold drinks etc - by the end of the day we thought we'd been renamed Pineapple Lady and Mister Mister Bracelet-Postcard. Despite the rainy season ensuring no decent sunset we had a good day and we managed to dodge the Japanese tourists long enough (it seemed like Tokyo must have empty) to get back. A nice dinner and a few drinks later and that was it for Siem Reap.
This morning, after buying a Cambodian history book (Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot period) from a land mine victim (it's already amazing to see how some people in this country have struggled through adversity) we got the bus to Phnom Penh where you find us now (we did stop en route, where i tried fried Cricket (they are cooked whole) which wasn't bad actually so i bought a handful!) We're off to the Killing Fields and the museum tomorrow - i'm sure this will be a sombre day - and then who knows.
I hope all are well at home - enjoying your messages so keep them up!
Thanks and best wishes,
Jonny and Sarah.
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Anthony
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Congrats!!
Sarah, congrats on the exams!! Becks passed hers as well. You guys are making me so jealous with this blog. It certainly makes the thought of travellling more appealing, particularly when sitting in the office at 9:15pm. Now if I could just tear myself away from my home comforts.....