Long ride to Myanmar (almost)

After a night full of tiger dreams, we packed up our gear yesterday morning, used the internet for a while, then took a bus back to Bangkok. We wanted to head into northern Thailand, and unfortunately, the best was was via Bangkok. We were dropped off near Khao San road, and went into about 5 different travel offices before finding one able to book a bus where we wanted to go. It has been surprising to us that, as well-travelled as Thailand is, it sure is hard to get off of the typical tourist route! We were happy we persued our cause though, and got some overnight bus tickets to Mae Sot, leaving that night. We left our bags, got some street Pad Thai, and ran into William, a Scotsman whom we had met in Kanchanaburi. We had a few drinks with him (he was flying back to the UK that night) before catchin a minivan to the bus station. The cost to get to the northern bus station was included in what we paid for our tickets to Mae Sot...unfortunately, we did not know they they would drop us off at the station around 7:00 pm and our bus did not leave until 9:40 pm! We claimed a piece of floor in the station, had Dunkin' Doughnuts for dessert, and took turns wandering about while we waited. Our bus was late arriving, and we finally took off around 10:00 p.m. The ride to Mae Sot was not too bad, but those overnight buses always suck.

We arrived in Mae Sot this morning around 5:45 am. There was a tuk tuk driver there, but he wanted a ridiculous amount to take us not very far to a hotel. So we walked, got a bit lost, then walked some more. The first place we checked out was pretty gross, so we went for place number 2, a guesthouse in an old 2-storey teak house. Our room was just that: a room with a mat on the floor under a huge mossie net and nothing else. We did not mind, and went straight to sleep in the cool morning.

It was nearly noon when we woke up (birds chirping, breeze blowing in through the windows). We had a much-needed shower, organised a 4-day trek, and had some lunch. We then caught a local sawngthaew (pick-up truck with two benches in the back for seats) to the Thai-Myanmar border about 6 km away. We spent the afternoon wandering around the border markets, selling mostly Burmese teak wood crafts and gorgeous gems and stones of any kind. A lot of illegal trading between the two countries goes on at the Mae Sot border, mainly teak logs brought into Thailand from Myanmar (Burma). But Mae Sot is an interesting town full of Burmese, Indo-Burmese, Chinese, Thai and Laotian ethnicities and minorities. Border skirmishes between Myanmar's government and the Karen and Kayah insurgencies are not uncommon here in Mae Sot. Evidence to this can be seen in the refugee camps outside town.

We caught a sawngthaew back into town, and are now headed to dinner before getting ready to leave tomorrow on a 4-day trek through the jungles south of here.

Nice kitty...

In need of some rest, we had a lazy start to the day. We had a late breakfast and spent some time on the internet. We then hired a motorbike for the afternoon and drove about 40 kms out of Kanchanaburi to Wat Seua. This is an active Buddhist temple in the jungle. A monk here once accepted two tiger cubs that were saved from being stuffed and mounted (it is common practice for monasteries to take in rescued animals). Then another cub arrived, then a few more and now they have about 8 of them: 2 cubs and about 6 adults. The monks allow people to visit the tigers, and actually pet them too! We arrived in the afternoon, paid our donation, and walked through the jungle property to a small un-manned booth. We turned the corner, walked down a dirt trail into a rock quarry type cavern and came across a beautiful site: all 8 tigers lounging around in the shade, two monks in saffron-coloured robes quietly watching, and a few hired hands playing with the cubs. We walked down and sat on a bench about 10 feet away from the nearest tiger, quietly watching them in their laziness. It was absolutely surreal. None of them were tied up at all, save for one big guy in the back. After sitting for a few moments, we were led to the tigers (one at a time) by one of the hired boys (or they could be volunteers I guess) to have our first encounter. Nigel went first, and I didn't really find the humour in his comment "Bye Kel, I love you." He walked around to the back of the two largest tigers, who were lounging on the sand. He squatted behind them, touched them to let them know of his presence, then was able to pat them for a few minutes while one of the boys took some photos with our camera. He was then led to one of the cubs (which are actually about Kel's size). He was sitting on a rock knawing on a very large bone. Nige sat next to him and got to pat him for a while too. Nige thought he'd be shit scared, but was actually really calm and happy in with the tigers. He also thought they would be a lot softer as well (they were quite sandy though). It didn't feel too far off from petting a dog, except that these were very large wild animals!

Next it was Kel's turn. As I went to pat one of the big guys, the other big guy right next to it decided to get up and wander away. So there I am squatting next to a huge beast with the other one towering over me. I was a bit nervous, but not scared at all. He wasn't really interested in me at all. It's just strange to be right next to such huge, beautiful animals when you know they could kill you with one big swipe of their paws. I also got to pat one of the cubs after the big guys. I sat next to him on his rock while he chewed his bone. I thought I would be scared as well, but not at all. They are just so beautiful, especially up close. They all have such different personalities, and their intelligence just seeps from their eyes.

We sat there for the next few hours just watching the tigers (only about 10-20 feet from us the whole time). The little guys were anxious to play, so two of the Thai guys ran around with them, played hide-and-seek behind a big boulder with them, and even wrestled with one of them. The cubs tried more than once to engage one of the bigger boys in a game of tag, but they wouldn't have any of it. After all of the other tourists came and went (luckily, there were not many at all), Nige and I were left there with only a few others. When it came time to close up, we were led to one of the far rock walls while the big guy who had been chained up the entire time was led away on a leash, a far from us as they could get him. But all of the others were led right past us while being taken to their homes for the night. The cubs acted just like small children and refused to be taken home. They wanted to stay and play some more, so they threw themselves on the ground and refused to move. We were beckoned to follow one of the monks up the hill as he led 2 of the tigers himself. He allowed Nige and I to walk right next to the tiger, petting him as we walked. And this was the one tiger that was not on a leash! It was so massive, and so beautiful walking along. We could feel its muscles beneath its fur as he wandered up the slope. The 2 cubs were still lagging behind, and at one point they had to be carried until the guys got too tired and had to put them down (it took two of the guys to carry one cub).

What a fantastic experience...we did not want to leave! But the tigers had to go to bed. So Nige and I closed the place down and were the last ones to leave. We rode back to town as the sun was setting, and nearly were blown off the road by the breeze. We had some delicious dinner, a cold shower and then treated ourselves to another Thai massage before heading to bed. One of our favourite days yet.

A little piece of paradise

We forced ourselves out of bed this morning, had a quick banana pancake for breakfast, then headed out on a day trip with 6 others. Our first stop was Erawan National Park, about 45 minutes outside of Kanchanaburi. There are 7 levels of waterfalls here, gorgeous now in the dry season, so we can only imagine how powerful they are during the wet season. We were happy to see that there is a 10 baht charge for every water bottle you want to bring with you into the park. Once you come back down and show them your bottle, they give you the 10 baht back. It was the cleanest national park we've seen yet. It was nice 2 km hike up to the top of the 7th level of falls. The jungle trail followed the water, and we passed several smaller falls and pools full of crystal clear water. We were smart in heading straight to the top, as we were virtually the only tourists along the trail. Most others stopped to swim in in the various pools along the way. When we got to the top, we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful sites: a waterfall streaming off of ivory-coloured limestone stalagtites into a crystal clear pool. If I had seen a photo of this beforehand, I would have sworn it was a photo of a water park as the pool looked like a plastered pool full of chlorinated water. We quickly changed into our bathers and dove into the refreshingly cool water. There was a small group of locals here as well, but that was it. In the pool were tons of fish swimming around. They were not timid at all and had a great time kissing our legs and feet. We swam under the waterfall and sat on a rock ledge in the shade of a small cave behind it. It was truly one of the world's most peaceful spots. We paddled around for a while and got out just as the pool was getting crowded. Erawan National Park seems to be quite popular with locals, out for a swim on a hot day. We hiked in our bathers back down to the first pool we passed, at the 2nd level of falls. The pool here is larger and much deeper. It is still clear but is a darker blue/green colour. We swam around here and floated on the surface while we watched a group of monkeys swinging around on the tree branches directly above us. The fish here seemed to be a bit more aggressive (Kel did not like them attacking here), and larger.

We all gathered back up and had a nice Thai lunch in the park. Fried rice or noodles and fresh fruit. We then piled back into the van and drove to Hellfire Pass. This was one of the most dangerous stretches of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, and the largest of the mountain cuttings along the line. It is 110 metres cut out of solid rock, finished in just 12 weeks by POWs working around the clock. Officially called the Konyu Cutting, the POWs named it 'Hellfire Pass' because of the way the emaciated prisoners and rock looked at night in the firelight of the bamboo torches. 1,000 Australian and British POWs worked here, and by the time it was finished, 70% of them had died. There is a small museum here as well, where we read about daily life on the railway and watched a short film with commentary from survivors of Hellfire Pass.

From here we drove to catch a ride on the Death Railway train itself back into Kanchanaburi. Only a small portion of the railway is in use today, as most of it was pulled apart after the Japanese surrendered. There has supposedly been some talk of restoring the railway, but most people are against it, thinking it would be an offense to those who died during the original construction.

The train ride was about 1.5 hours through dry farmland. We entertained ourselves by having a few cold beers on board. The train arrived at the Bridge On the River Kwai, where our driver picked us up and returned us to our hotel. Still in our bathers, we decided to have a cool dip in the river. We jumped off of the deck from the hotel rooms furthest upstream and floated down to the ladder just outside our own room. The river is quite swift but fun to float down. We walked back to the deck furthest upstream for another go before having a shower and heading out to dinner. We both had a delicious curry and relaxed a bit before heading to bed.

Bridge on the River Kwai

Ready to leave Bangkok, we got up this morning, picked up our laundry, and caught a bus west to Kanchanaburi. We arrived 2 hours later to weather a bit cooler. Kanchanaburi is a small town of about 60,000 and lies right on the Mae Nam Khwae Yai (River Kwai). We checked into a hotel, our room floating right on the cool, clear river itself, and had some lunch. We then hired some bicyles and rode to the Jeath War Museum. The museum is a replica of the bamboo 'attap' huts that housed Allied POWs by the Japanese during WWII. Most of the camps were work camps, and the POWs were forced to build a railway (the 'Dealth Railway') connecting Thanbyuzayat, Myanmar (Burma) to Nong Pladuk, Thailand. The Japanese had gained control of Rangoon, Myanmar and this railway would allow them to ship supplies for their further conquests of other Asian countries. 'Jeath' is an acronym for Japan, England, Australia/America, Thailand and Holland, the nationalities of those involved in the railway construction. There is a lot of Aussie press clippings about the camps survivors and especially Weary Dunlop.

Next we rode to the Allied War Cemetery where the remains of Allied POWs who died during captivity are buried (except for the 356 Americans; they're buried in the U.S.). This is a beautiful cemetery, very green with colourful flowers planted between each gravestone. The POWs were under constant abuse and torture by the Japanese army. They worked 12-18 hour shifts and had few rest days. Their only food was a small ration of rice per day. They were paid a little bit and managed to use the money to trade with local Thai people to supplement their diets with a few eggs or salt, as well as medicine when it was available. An estimated 16,000 POWs died while building the railway, and another 90,000-100,000 Asian labourers from various nearby contries. They died of cholera, dysentery, starvation, beri beri, malaria, and in construction accidents.

Outside of the cemetery, we were approached by a group of Thai (we think) girls wanting to take a photo with us. We felt like we were in China again as we posed with the girls while each one took a picture with their individual cameras. I found it so ironic as they were such cute girls, and I looked shocking, hot and sweaty with my hair stuffed into a baseball hat, yet they still wanted my photo. We then pedalled ourselves to the Saphan Mae Nam Khwae, the so-called infamous 'Bridge On the River Kwai.' We wandered around a WWII museum, a dodgy rip-off of the Jeath War Museum we had just been to (but a lot more obscure), then walked across the bridge just in time for a beautiful sunset. On the other side, we watched a family of elephants having a nice cool bath in the river. There was a small baby elephant having a swim. He kept diving down, his tail and back legs kicking up out of the surface, then surfacing again. He was having a blast. We headed back to our hotel for a cold shower, had a great Thai dinner, then went to bed on the River Kwai.

Travelling Buddha

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning, went to breakfast, then headed out. We walked through Sanam Luang, or Royal Field, a park once used for royal cremations and ceremonies. It is now just a park, but today is a holiday in Thailand: Magha Puja (see previous day's entry for details). There were tons of stalls set up selling Buddhist books, as well as lectures and talks by various monks and other people. It also happens to be election day, presumably for the House of Representatives and the prime minister (Thailand is a constitutional monarchy). It was fun to see all of the locals out enjoying the religious holiday, and there were heaps of school kids flying kites in the park.

We then went to the Grand Palace. The King no longer lives here but uses it for special ceremonies. The Palace is made up of many buildings, temples, chedi (stupas), pillars, and halls. After Kel borrowed a sarong (I had 3/4 length pants on, a no-no for the G.P.), we headed straight to Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is a gorgeous building covered in gold foil tiles and colourful mirrored mosaics. Inside there is a Buddha statue made of jasper quartz or nephrite jade. The statue has 3 golden robes, which are changed by the King himself 3 times a year as the weather changes. There is one for the dry season, one for the wet season, and one for the cool season. And this Buddha has been around. It was made some time before the 15th century and is first recorded as being in Chiang Rai, Thailand. It then appeared in Lampang where it stayed for 32 years before being brought to Chiang Mai. In the mid-16th century, the Laotian invaders took it to Luang Prabang, Laos, then shifted it to Vientiane, Laos. 200 years later, Thailand declared war on Laos and the Buddha was taken back to Thonburi, then moved to its home in Bangkok. It is only about 70 centimetres high, but is a beautiful shiny green, sitting high up among heaps of gold stuff. There were many Thais here praying.

We then spent the afternoon wandering among the other buildings within the Grand Palace walls, enjoying the different architecture and elaborately decorated buildings. Starving, we had a very unsuccessful attempt at lunch at a popular place along the river. After waiting for about 10 minutes for a table, then another 10 minutes to order, we finally left as they did not have anything off of the menu we wanted. We managed to find a nice, quiet cafe near our hotel, where Nigel ate his first 'real food' in a few days and Kel didn't end up eating as they stuffed up her order 2 times. She ended up getting a pita sandwich from a street stall (v. good). Nigel took an afternoon nap, and Kel tried to catch up on some emails etc. In the early evening, we caught the ferry to Chinatown. In all, Bangkok's Chinatown sucks and there was nothing happening at night. But we did happen upon a busy temple in time to see many monks and people praying by walking around the temple with candles, incense and flowers (marking the end of the Magha Puja holiday). We tried to find some good Chinese food for dinner, but couldn't find anything worth eating, so we went back to Khao San Road for a good meal. We then treated ourselves to our first traditional Thai massage. Thai massage combines characteristics from massage (kneading muscles), chiropractics (manipulating skeletal parts) and acupressure (applying pressure to specific parts of the body) in an attempt to balance the functions of the four body elements (thaat thang sii). These four body elements are earth (din, solid parts of the body like bones, muscles, ligaments etc), water (nam, blood and fluids), fire (fai, digestion and metabolism), and air (lom, respiration and circulation). It was much needed and we felt fantastic afterwards, exactly what we needed after a long day.

The Tuk Tuk Fuk Wit

This morning Nigel slept in a bit and I went out to get some breakfast and wander around a bit. I peeked into Starbuck's out of curiosity, and ended up having an entire breakfast elsewhere for the same price as a tall iced coffee. As I was browsing at the street stalls, I passed a guy who looked familiar. Looking back, I was sure that it was one of Nigel's lacrosse mates, Mark Norton. But I wasn't entirely sure since I was in Bangkok, not Adelaide! After thinking about it for a few minutes, I remembered Nigel saying that he would be in Thailand shortly before we were, so then I knew it was him and didn't feel stupid approaching him (he had recognized me as well, but wasn't entirely sure at first either). I went and got Nige and we had a beer with Mark before he headed off to the airport to catch his flight home. It was great seeing him and getting some ideas on where to go around the country.

We then took a tuk tuk around some sights of Bangkok. These tuk tuks are actually called saamlaws by the Thais, which means 'three wheels.' They're 3-wheeled vehicles powered by a noisy two-stroke engine. They go way faster than any of the tuk tuks or motos we've taken so far. First stop was Wat Intharawihan, a temple with a huge golden Buddha 32 metres high. They were getting ready for Magha Puja holiday. It celebrates Buddha preaching to 1250 enlightened monks who came to hear him without prior summons.

Next we went to the 'Lucky Buddha' temple where locals come to pray for good luck. As we were wandering around, a man came up to us for a chat. He lives in Bangkok and had come to pray, as he had the afternoon off work. Unfortunately, the Lucky Buddha was closed, as they were preparing for a funeral. There were many flower wreaths on stands, each with a person's name (in Thai) on a sash across the centre. We asked the gentleman, and he said they were all victims of the tsunami. He gave us some good advice on beaches/islands to go to in the south since he takes his family on vacation down there every year or so.

Next we were taken to a tailor so our tuk tuk driver could get a coupon for a free meal. We sat in there for about 10 minutes, then told the guy we were not interested in buying any clothes, and left. Then we were taken to the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) office to supposedly get some information on places we'd like to go to in Thailand. But it was obvious what kind of people they are used to catering to because they had no information on places we'd like to visit 'off the beaten track' and actually discouraged us from going. All in all it was a waste of time. Our tuk tuk driver then tried to convince us to visit another shop, this time a gem place, so that he could get 2 more food coupons. We were adamant that we did not want to go, it is a waste of our time, and please just take us to the next temple. After sitting there for a good 5 minutes while he tried to implore us to go, I finally relented as I could see us just wasting more time. We arrived at the gem place, looked around for a bit, then proceeded to a room where they sell 'cheaper' souveniers. We said "No thank you, we're not interested" and the woman rudely replied "There is the door." We were more than happy to leave. We went straight to our tuk tuk, and our driver tried to make us visit another tailor across the street. We'd had enough of his antics and flatly refused. He wasn't happy about this. We headed to the next stop, the Grand Palace, but on the way there, I read in the book that things close up around 3:30. It was 2:30 this time, so we had our driver take us back to Khao San Road instead. After all the time we wasted with his visits to places we clearly did not want to go to, he had the nerve to charge us double what we had agreed upon. Nigel was stuffed by this time and had no energy to argue, so he just paid the guy to make him go away. We don't think the TAT would appreciate such behaviour by their staff, so we'll ring the number they have to report dodgy drivers.

We got some lunch then had a rest in our room for a while and then took the ferry to Bangkok's Thanon Silom area, the heart of the financial district. There are many upmarket hotels, restaurants and shops in this area. We had some dinner and wandered around the Phat Pong night markets selling Rolex watches, Louis Vitton bags, and heaps of other name-brand knock-offs. We saw a dance show--all we have to say about that is 'When in Bangkok...' We took a tuk tuk back to Khao San Road, wandered around a bit more (they close the street off to vehicle traffic at night so it's fun to walk amongst all the people, shops and bars) and headed to bed.

One night in Bangkok

We got a tuk tuk to the Phnom Penh airport this morning after checking out of our hotel. We were sad to leave Cambodia, but excited for another country and another culture. Outside of the airport was very busy with lots of locals dropping people off and picking people up. But once inside (I think you need to be a travelling passenger to even get inside the airport) it was cool and quiet. We had no problems checking into our short Thai Airways flight to Bangkok, and were quite impressed with the level of security at the Cambodian airport. We were relieved to note that all bags are weighed, scanned, and marked as scanned by airport security before being loaded onto the airplane. We didn't expect any dramas but we couldn't help but think of the young Aussie girl, Chantelle, who was recently busted in Bangkok for bringing in a large amount of marijuana (which she swears is not hers) and who is now in a Thai prison for life and is facing the death penalty. We didn't expect the $25US each airport charge that we had to pay before going through customs, but we had just enough cash to pay for it and we knew there would be some ATM's in the Bangkok airport.

We arrived in Bangkok around 11:30 a.m., less than an hour after take-off. We got through immigration quickly and walked right through customs. We tried to save some money by catching a bus into the city, but having failed that, we went to catch a train. As the train was another 1.5 hours from departing (our book said they leave frequently), we tooke the whimpy way out and caught a taxi (it was incredibly hot walking around for over an hour with our packs too). We decided to stay on Khao San road since it's our first time in Bangkok and thought we should experience the backpacker ghetto. We headed straight to a hotel that was highly recommended by more than one person we had asked over the last few weeks, D&D Hotel. It was extremely nice for this area, and extremely out of our price range. After wandering up and down the street, we soon found out that Bangkok is more expensive than we had anticipated. We settled on a clean(ish) place with a fan--no windows, no air-con. We grabbed some lunch, wandered around a bit then got a tuk tuk to the Siam Square area of the city. Since it had been a long day, it was really hot, and Nige had a funny tummy (thanks to some bad prawns), we decided to relax for the evening and saw a movie. We settled on 'Finding Neverland' which was really good. We then had a quick dinner and headed back to our hotel.

It was a long night in our little hot box room, but not as bad as the place in Siem Reap.

Phnom Penh again again

We caught the 7:00 am bus back to Phnom Penh this morning, enjoying our karaoke along the way. We're so thankful to have our iPod.

We checked back into the Okay Guesthouse (after a failed attempt at trying a different place) and went to lunch at the Jars of Clay cafe we had been to before (all of their profits go towards helping young Cambodian girls have better lives off the streets). We had a fantastic lunch, complete with awesome frappuccinos, and wandered around the Russian markets. We had a nap then headed out for a few drinks and some dinner. On the way to dinner, we were followed by 2 boys and a girl. At first they wanted to sell us books or get money from us, but after Nige bought them all an ice cream, they kept following us (probably in the hope that we'd buy them dinner as well). We ate entirely too much for dinner (but it was good) then took a cyclo back to the hotel where we went quickly to sleep.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Last night Kel woke up to the sound of someone trying to get into our hotel room. Not the most pleasant sound to wake up to in the middle of the night. The person/people rattled the door and kept trying for a good 3 or 4 minutes. I woke Nigel up and said "Nige, someone is trying to get into our room!" He said "Hmmm" and rolled over. I don't think I was successful in waking him up, but perhaps they heard me as they stopped rattling the door and went away.

Mmmmmmmmm, peanut butter and our usual iced coffee for breakfast.

We don't normally drink a lot of coffee but in both Cambodia and Vietnam they use sweetened condensed milk and it rocks.

At 8:30 we piled in the back of another pick-up truck for our trip out to Bokor National Park. This is the place we skipped after Sihanoukville because Kel hurt her foot (thank you all for your emails of concern). The park is about 7kms out of Kampot and the road inside the park is very bumpy. The tour provided some old cushions for our comfort which we appreciated but still ended up a little bruised. The view from the back was great as we drove up the steep hill through the dense jungle to the top of the mountain. At the top we stopped at a couple of abandoned buildings that were once a restaurant and dining building. We walked around looking at the graffiti on the walls and enjoying the views out to the ocean. We then took a 2 hour hike through the jungle and met our guide on the other end where we had the vegetable curry lunch the tour provided. From here we walked to the Popokvil Falls which would be very spectacular in the wet season but all we saw was a lot of rocks and a few puddles.

After another short drive we went to the deserted Bokor Palace Hotel. It is a huge building on top of a cliff overlooking the jungle and the ocean. It is said to be haunted as the Khmer Rouge executed about 200 people (hotel guests and staff) here in the 1970s. Nearby are the remains of a Catholic Church, a wat, a casino (once inside the hotel itself but eventually moved), a post office, a water tower that looks like a UFO, and a few other buildings. At one time it was like a small resort/vacation village on top of the mountain but now there isn't much left. It was really eerie and creepy walking around inside the old hotel, as it's still pretty much intact. The red fungus growing on the inside tiles looks like blood splatters. More than one image from 'The Shining' went through our minds! We checked out the casino and the inside of the church. The church actually looks like it could still be used after a bit of cleaning up. During one battle between the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge guerrillas in 1979, the Vietnamese were holed up in the church and the KR were in the old hotel, shooting at each other only 500 metres apart. During a walk up a hill near the church, Kel and one of the English girls ran into a snake on the path. Luckily they had been chatting and it crept off into the weeds before they got too close. Nigel immediately climbed to the highest point he could find.

We bumped our way back into Kampot, had a cold shower, and headed out for a few cold beers. We met up with the other 8 people from the day for dinner at a streetside restaurant. It was good, cheap food and good company as well. We had us two, five English, 2 Belgian guys (they were hot) and an older Austrian guy. We enjoyed their company, and it actually made the day a bit more interesting. We checked out the lively street entertainment happening in Kampot and then headed to bed.

Green Eggs and Ham

We had a nice sleep in this morning and booked the bus to Kampot. Kampot is about 150kms southwest of Phnom Penh. It was a long bus ride along an undulating highway for the first half and then dirt roads with constant stops for the second half. We were entertained by the usual karaoke and are actually singing along now to a few of our favorites. Five hours later in Kampot we found a hotel and went for dinner as we were starving. Kampot is full of decaying french style buildings and their restaurant selection sucks. We ended up at a Sri Lankan/Indian place. Over an hour later we were about to leave when we finally got our meals. The food was just OK but by this time we would have almost eaten anything. Fed we went to bed.

Kratie to Phnom Penh

Not much happened today. We caught the bus from Kratie to Phnom Penh, checked into the Okay guesthouse, went to our favourite place for dinner (Frizz) and had an early night.

Irrawaddy Dolphins

The boat to Kratie was our first express boat. We had booked them before but they were never express. This even looked like the boat on the ticket. The ride was fast, smooth and relaxing.

At Kratie we were immediately hassled by hotel staff, before we were off of the boat. They were relentless and all had the same spiel. Kel almost lost it as they were physically pulling her arm to get her attention. We looked at a couple and then decided on the blsadcnafcb hotel (we still don't know the name). We had some lunch and then bargained with some moto drivers to take us 15kms up the Mekong river to see the Irrawaddy dolphins. It was a nice ride out there following the river and riding through villages and farmland.

A guide greeted us and led us to the desk where we filled out our names and country in their record book. He tried to sell his services as a guide. He said the money goes towards cleaning up the area and educating the locals about the conservation of the dolphins but we still didn't need to pay for him to point out dolphins. We went down to the boat and met the captain who was about 13. We had the boat to ourselves and motored about 50 meters to the middle of the river where there is a sectioned off area to protect the dolphins. We dropped anchor and floated around for 40 minutes. The dolphins are an endangered fresh water species found in small numbers along the Mekong in maybe 4 countries. They look like small Pilot Whales with a rounded head and a small dorsal fin and are grey in colour. We watched a few small groups of Dolphins swim back and forth across the river about 30 metres from our boat. One or two were flipping fish around with their tails but they were pretty docile most of the time. One group of about 4 looked to have a baby amongst them. Another boat pulled up next to us and the even younger captain tied his boat to ours and the captains chatted for a bit. We watched in horror as the young captain cleaned his boat and threw a few plastic water bottles into the river. I said to them to get the bottles, they said no and signalled that the river will wash them away. We were mad but the blame could only be extended so far because this is what they know. Heading back to shore we had our closest encounter with a dolphin that was about 10 metres away. We mentioned to the guide that he needs to start with the boat drivers to clean up the area. We were disappointed that he just laughed and we were glad that we hadn't paid him any money.

After a few beers back in Kratie we showered, and had some more beer watching a beautiful sunset over the river. We had some dinner and went to bed for an early start in the morning to catch the bus to Phnom Penh.

Valentine's Love for Sale

We arrived at the share taxi station at about 8:30 looking for a ride to Kompong Cham. A share taxi is a shared car that will go pretty much wherever you want to go. If you want to leave immediately you can pay for the 5 seats yourself and leave. If you only want to pay for a seat you wait until the taxi is full and then leave. The problem is that you can end up waiting for days I guess until someone wants to go where you want to go. Kompong Thom to Kompong Cham is fairly well travelled and we didn't have to wait long. Our moto driver told us it was only 3 dollars per person but the driver wanted us to buy out the full car so we could go, but we were quite happy to wait. Another person arrived and us being the rich westerners were offered to buy out the remaining seats to leave but we still waited. In the end a young guy was buying a ticket for his Mum and asked us to pay for the remaining seat (not that it was a seat just a position between the driver and the front passenger) but we didn't think this was fair and in the end we only paid $1 extra. The share taxi was a Toyota Camry, just like ours back home. The driver thought he was Mario Andretti (or Brocky for the Aussies) but the trip was a comfortable air-conditioned 2 hours.

We were dropped off somewhere in Kompong Cham and needed the bank so we set out in a direction. We did find the bank and went looking for the boat to Kratie (Krah-Che). It seems in the last 2 years since the Lonely Planet was published the roads and bus service in Cambodia have greatly improved doing away with the need for boats. We were looking for the 1pm boat to Kratie but this service had been reduced to 1 trip per day, at 7:30 a.m. (Kel found this out after a 1 hour trek while being hounded by a moto driver constantly). This meant a night in 'gorgeous' Kompong Cham. Cambodia's third largest city after 'gorgeous' Battambang. So we found a room in the Mekong hotel overlooking you guessed it the Mekong River. The river is huge and as long as you are on the bank looking out, Kompong Cham looks great.

We set out to find some lunch and went to the Hao An restaurant. We ordered beef and green peppers, which has proven to be pretty safe previously. The meat arrived a bit bloody (still mooing) so we sent it back. Once all of the kitchen staff started leaving we thought they may have forgotten about us. As she was leaving the waitress that served us saw us and then ran back into the kitchen probably to find out what happened to our food. She came out and we asked for our bill. We did eat some steamed rice. After doing nothing for a few hours we sat at a street stall and had a beer and toasted to a wonderful Valentine's Day. Our lunch disaster was all but forgotten after we had some fantastic cheeseburgers for dinner.

At the hotel reception we asked if there was a good place to get a massage in town, and the clerk said that we could get one in our room in 5 minutes for $5/hour. We went upstairs, tidied a bit and waited. The clerk knocked on the door and I opened it to 2 girls with heavy make-up and wearing acid washed denim. They came in and sat down. Kel and I laughed and made it very clear we only wanted a massage. We lay down and we all laughed some more and got our massage. One girl was 18 and the other was older and looked a bit more experienced at massage that is. The young girl didn't look that happy or enthusiastic, maybe because she really was only getting 5 dollars for a massage. The older girl looked quite relieved to be giving only a massage. In the end the massage was OK and they left. Looking back we would have thought a married couple asking for a massage in the most expensive hotel in town would not have hookers delivered to their room but we weren't surprised. I guess anything goes on Valentine's Day in Kompong Cham.

Ruins before Angkor

We headed out early this morning on two motorbikes to Sambor Prei Kuk, a group of pre-Angkorian monuments and some of the oldest structures in the country. There are more than 100 small temples scattered throughout a forest, build in the early 7th century. It was a beautiful morning, nice and cool and lots of people out starting their days. Riding on the back of a motorbike through the countryside is definitely the best way to get an overview of Cambodian life. Most Cambodian homes are build on raised wood pilings and have thatched roofs, walls made of palm leaves and floors of woven bamboo. The space underneath the house seems to be used more than the inside during the dry season, as it is shady and cool. Nearly every home has a hammock or two underneath, as well as their kitchen gear, kids' toys, dogs, puppies, pigs, chickens, and just about anything else.

We arrived at Sambor Prei Kuk to a crowd of children trying to sell us scarves and jewelry. We spent a few hours wandering around the forest and enjoying the ruins, as they are quite different from Angkor, but with several similarities. We could see how the architecture evolved from here on to the Angkor temples. We were followed by a group of 4 girls, about 10 years old. They spoke no English but were able to tell us which temple was which (they're not marked at all, and the only map we had was not very detailed) and led us around the forest paths. It was nice to have some locals to follow because there are certainly still land mines in this area. They also pointed out old bomb craters (probably from the US bombings in the late 70s) and where some of the temples were chipped away by bombing and gun fire. Most of the temples are dedicated to Shiva, one of the Hindu Gods. Despite the ruinous state of them, there were still some excellent, detailed carvings to be seen. And seeing them half covered over by the forest really makes one realise how old they really are. On our way back to the motorbikes, we bought a few scarves from the girls (at an inflated price I'm sure). They were happy to have walked around with us and we were more than happy to give them a few dollars.

We had an enjoyable ride back to Kompong Thom, where we went straight to the shower at our hotel. We scrubbed off the thick layer of dirt covering us, and headed to the one decent restaurant in town for some lunch--the usual, fried noodle with beef for Nigel, fried rice with vegetables for Kel. We spent a few hours relaxing in our air-conditioned room watching some television and reading, then headed back out on the motorbikes around 3:30 to Phnom Suntok, a mountain with an active Buddhist wat on top. It is the most important holy mountain in this region. We climbed halfway up the stairs and were stopped by a monk resting on the steps. He chatted to us for a few minutes, then asked us if we would read a newspaper article he had so that he may hear the English words spoken as practice for learning the language. Instead, we had him read the words and corrected him if he was wrong. It was an extremely boring article, and we weren't sure how to politely stop his reading so that we could be on our way to the top of the mountain. But halfway through the article, he did us the favour. We reached the top, wandered around the colourful temple and sat and watched a bunch of monkeys climbing around the rocks. It was good that they were cautious of people and did not approach us (in fact, they ran from any person trying to come near them).

We expected a magnificant view to watch the sunset; however, not finding this view due to the trees, we decided to skip the sunset and went back down. At the bottom of this mountain is a small village, and we noticed an unusually large amount of trash around (which means A LOT of trash, as most places definitely have their fair share). Funnily enough, there was a huge 'garbage bin' enclosed by a bamboo fence, probably 6 feet square. We couldn't help but notice this was empty, and all of the trash was scattered around it instead.

Just on the outskirts of town, we saw a huge stream of thick black smoke rising into the air. Nigel's motorbike driver turned off of the main road, and we arrived at a house that was on fire. Tons of people from around town were streaming in to catch all of the action. The home was already completely destroyed, and the fire was spreading to surrounding coconut trees, bushes, and fences. The neighbours were hastily tossing buckets of water on top of their thatched roofs in a feeble attempt to keep the fire away. The families were running in and out of their homes, bringing out all of their belongings. It was very sad to see this, as these people don't have much at all, but the fire was threatening to destroy the little that they do have. We watched (helplessly) as the home burned down and some people brought a few buckets of water around to try and put the flames out. Eventually the 'fire truck' did arrive. Luckily, the fire looked to be diminishing as we left. We hope that the one house was the only one lost. Later that evening, walking back from dinner, we wondered what that family was doing, where they were sleeping, what clothes they would put on in the morning, and if they would just rebuild their home in the same place once the ashes cool.

Breakfast Fun

This morning we slept in a bit and headed out for breakfast. While we were looking around for a place a couple of street kids started following us and asking for money and food. We don't like to give out money so we decided to take them to breakfast with us at the Red Piano. At first they were very apprehensive and didn't want to cross the ropes into the seating area as a waiter was watching them. I signalled to him that they were with us and it was OK. As soon as they sat down they started smiling and laughing. There was one boy who was 10 and had only one leg due to a land mine accident when he was 2, and a girl that was 11. We had a small tourist booklet with us and they were reading it and laughing and telling us the Khmer words for some of the pictures. The boy spoke very little english and the girl spoke none. Despite this it was so much fun laughing and talking. They ordered some fried rice to share (huge portion anyway) and some drinks. They taught us a hand clapping game, the type when you lose you get a slap on the hand and a tickle. I still don't know how it was won or lost but it was fun. They then persueded us to buy them an icecream across the road. I had to lift the boy up over the ropes to leave and from then on he got 'stuck' a lot as I had to lift him over pebbles and any other obstacle he could position himself behind. We took some photos and said goodbye and waited for the bus to pick us up to go to Kompong Thom. It was a fun morning and it felt good to spend only a couple of dollars to make the kids' day and let them eat some good food.

The bus to Kompong Thom took about 3 hours, which was comfortable and not too long. We checked into a hotel overlooking the river and went out to get a late lunch. We had a lazy afternoon and booked our moto drivers for a tour for tomorrow.

The Temples of Angkor

3 days at the Temples of Angkor

February 9th-11th were 3 full days visiting the temples of Angkor (pronounced on-core)around Siem Reap. They were built between the 9th and 14th centuries by the Khmer civilization. This area was the centre of the Khmer empire and the temples are its remains. The stone structures were reserved for the Gods and places of worship; all other structures were made of wood and have since decayed.

On the first day (after changing hotels), we were picked up at 7:30 by our driver, Vannay and his tuk tuk (motorbike with carriage attached). We made a quick stop for a smoothie breakfast, and were on our way to the temples. Our first stop was the ticket centre, where we bought a 3-day pass, complete with photo. Unfortunately, most of our entrance fee (US$40 each) goes to Sokimex, a local petroleum company that 'owns' the Angkor temples, rather than to the upkeep and preservation of the temples. As tragic as this is, we either had to miss out on seeing the temples, or support the oil company. We're hopeful that the Cambodian government will wake up shortly and change this.

In general, the temples are made of sandstone and/or laterite. Most are designed where the temple in the centre represents a mountain (mostly Mt. Meru, a mythical Hindu mountain). The centre temple is usually a blunt-topped tower mounted on a tiered base. The sumit was the central sanctuary with an open door to the east and 3 false doors opening in the other directions (except Angkor Wat, which opens to the west. The west was the direction of death, leading experts to believe Angkor Wat was used as a tomb or mausoleum). Over time, this central tower was usually surrounded by more buildings, towers, sculptures and more elaborate works. Most of these places still have extremely elaborate and beautiful carvings in the sandstone. We learned a lot about Hinduism and mythological figures and stories, represented in these carvings and bas-reliefs. Most of these temples are still in various stages of repair, but some are still as the French found them in the 1860s, hidden in the jungle.

We won't bore you with the details of each temple we saw, as they really must be seen to be appreciated. We really enjoyed every one we saw, but our favourites were Banteay Srei, Ta Prohm and the East Gate. Of course Angkor Wat, the most famous and the largest temple (depicted on the Cambodian flag), was stunning as well. It was particularly beautiful at sunrise.

Our 3 days at the temples were long and full, and we could have stayed a bit longer. We had a few meals in the evenings with some people we met way back in Battambang in the back of the truck and on the boat: Jarrod (Melbourne via Hong Kong), Tim & Barry (Ireland) and June (China). We very much enjoyed their company and hope to meet up with Jarrod in Hong Kong and Tim and Barry in South America. Of course we also treated ourselves to a massage on two of the nights. We ate really well in Siem Reap, although it's expensive. When we can find a place to upload photos, we'll be sure to put a few from Angkor, but they will not even be close to actually being there and seeing them, despite our stellar photography skills.

Adventure to Siem Reap-off

It was an early start this morning for our journey from Battambang to Siem Reap. We decided to take a boat instead of the bus. More expensive, but supposedly more comfortable. We were picked up at our hotel by a minibus, and the driver explained that since the river level is a bit low, we had a short drive to the boat. Okay, great. We did have a short drive, but it was only to be dropped off at a pick-up truck (4WD ute), not a boat. Apparently the drive was a little longer than previously described. There were already 4 whities in the truck, plus the driver, so we hopped in the back of the truck with the other 2 remaining whities. All of our luggage was piled onto the truck's lowered tailgate and precariously tied down with some rope. Two locals hopped into the back with us just before we drove off, making it extremely cosy. We all started off sitting on the sides of the bed of the truck, but quickly learned that this was definitely NOT the way to be doing it. The road was so bumpy that we were nearly tossed right out more than a few times. Ohhh, so THAT'S why we changed from the minibus to the truck! After about 20 minutes on the 'road' (if it can be called that), we turned off into farmland so the driver could test out the full capabilities of our vehicle. Actually, perhaps part of the road was washed out or something, but it was hard to imagine that it would have been worse than the route we took through the farmland. We traversed through dry creek beds with 2-4 foot deep ruts, up and down steep embankments (requiring us to get out of the vehicle so it would make it up the hill), dense jungle where we were whipped and slashed by foliage, and along single tracks designed for dirtbikes. It was a neverending trampoline ride in the back, except that the trampoline part happened to be steel. Nige doesn't quite know what everyone was on about as he was quite comfortable sitting on his backpack on the floor of the bed. The first 30 minutes of this found us all laughing and making jokes, but after about 40 minutes it got a bit tiring to say the least. We were happy when we finally arrived at the 'dock' and cheered when we saw the boat. Kel thinks her body is still in shock from it all, but it was great fun.

The boat was docked in the middle of nowhere at the home of a family along the river. The toilet was the bushes, and there were not a lot of bushes for Kel to hide behind. We got our bags out of the truck. Well, at least we think they were our bags, as we couldn't tell who's bag belonged to whom as they all had a 1-inch thick layer of dust and mud caked onto them...except for Nigel's as his was safely tucked under his bum the whole ride. HE, however, had the 1-inch thick layer of dirt and mud on him, as did all of those lucky enough to have the airy seats in the back of the truck. The first boat trip was noisy and a bit slow, but quite enjoyable. There were only us 9 whities, the 2 locals, and 2 drivers, so there was plenty of room aboard. We cruised for about 2 hours or so. Along the banks there is farmland, fishermen, bamboo-hut homes, and small villages. These people are extremely poor, their homes being little more than a wooden platform with some palm branch walls and roof. But most of the children we passed waved excitedly to us, shouting 'Hello!!' over and over until we were out of sight. That was the best part of it all.

The boat stopped at a floating store/restaurant and the locals and drivers got off the boat. Us whities sat and waited, for what we did not know. Nige thinks it's so that we would sit and sweat on the boat so we were forced to get off and buy their expensive beer (which we did). After about 15 minutes, we heard the karaoke start up, and we realized the Cambodians were all having lunch. We continued drinking our beer, and another, larger boat pulled up about 40 minutes later. It started to make sense to us now: we were waiting for this boat to take us to Siem Reap, and the people from the larger boat would take our boat to Battambang. Sure enough, that is what happened. So we all swapped backpacks and luggage and switched boats. The 9 of us had this huge boat to ourselves, and the 25+ others crammed onto our small boat. They looked really hot, tired, and squashed in the boat, and we weren't sure if we should spoil the surprise and tell them about the truck ride that awaited them. In the end I think someone mentioned it. We cruised for another 2 hours or so and arrived in Siem Reap around 4:30 pm.

We got off the boat and had to catch a moto into town. We were supposed to get a free ride from a hotel picking us up, so when we saw our names, we piled into the moto. Just before we started off, the driver said that the hotel he was supposed to take us to was full, but he'd gladly take us elsewhere for $4. We laughed at this and quickly got out of his moto. We got a motorbike each for $1 and were dropped off at the markets in town (the drivers did not speak English, but they understood markets). Hot, dirty and tired, we proceeded to find a place for the night. Well, Kel did. Nige sat at the pub drinking beer. About 30 minutes later, we still did not have a place for the night. The cheaper places were full and the other places were pretty expensive. Nige went and checked a few more places with no luck. We finally found a place in an alley we were cutting through. We couldn't afford the air-conditioned room, so we took a room with a fan (by this time it was at least 6:00 and it didn't feel too hot). Big mistake.

We dropped our stuff and had some dinner at the Easy Speaking Pub, or something like that. We quickly realized that Siem Reap is expensive. After a few well-deserved beers and a good meal, we headed back to our room as we had an early start the next morning. Well, 'room' would have been a luxury. This was more of a sauna/hot box. The room was within a building, no windows, and no airflow. It got hotter and hotter, the mossie net (much needed!) not helping anything. And it kept falling down because we had to tape it to the ceiling as there was nothing to tie it to. At one point Nige did ask if we could move to another room, but the sleeping security guard just grunted and went back to sleep. Desperate, Nige woke him again, only to be told that there were no more rooms. So, we suffered through a hot night. First thing in the morning, we packed up and moved to a different hotel, with real windows and air-conditioning. It was cooler outside than it had been in our room.

Fake tanning the Cambodian way

This morning we started early to try and beat the heat out to Phnom Sampeau, just outside of Battambang. It is a wat (a what?) on a hill. The motorbike ride out was nice, except for the fact that the roads are not sealed and we arrived at Phnom Sampeau with self-tans no amount of money could replicate. At least it was on the front anyway. Also on the mountain are a few caves where hundreds of skulls and bones were found. The area was used as a killing field by the Khmer Rouge. They killed mainly intellectuals and children at this site, tossing their bodies down into the caves. The temple at the top is in the process of being renovated and expanded. They had to paint the walls and floors inside because of all the blood stains from when it was used as a prison (and where they killed people). We had a local 18 year old as our guide, who helped explain what we were seeing. The views of the surrounding countryside are beautiful. We are surprised at how flat a lot of Cambodia is. We could see another small mountain a few miles away called Crocodile Mountain, once an important place for Khmer Rouge officials. At the bottom of this mountain, they are currently carving a huge Buddha into the mountainside. The bamboo scaffolding constructed for this purpose would not pass a retrofitting inspection. In fact, we were nervous that a breeze from a passing bird would send the whole contraption tumbling down.

We hopped back onto the motorbikes and went to Wat Banan, ruins of a temple built in the 11th century. We hiked up the many stairs to the top and had the whole place to ourselves. Again, good views of the countryside, but stinking hot. We rode back to Battambang, tried to find a pub, found it but it was closed, then tried to find a recommended restaurant and finally settled on a random place after walking around in the dark for 45 minutes. We walked through the ghetto of Battambang, a neighbourhood of REALLY small, poor homes and received quite a few curious looks.

That's all we really need to say about Cambodia's second largest city.

Batta-bing, Battambang

Today we caught the bus from Phnom Penh to Battambang (pronounced 'Bat-am-bong), Cambodia's second largest city. By 'city' they really mean country town. There is not much to say about Battambang, it was not too exciting. Just a town on the river with a market. And a statue of farmers. We walked to dinner 'way out' of town at a place that was supposedly the best in Battambang (according to the numerous moto drivers who receive a commission for taking tourists there). Again, nothing too exciting. It kind of reminded us of a fancy truck stop.

Phnom Penh Again

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUBY GRACE!!

This morning we wanted to go to Bokor National Park, but the only way we could find to get there was in the back of a truck. We've seen these pick-ups before, and they're loaded down with so many passengers that there is standing room only. Besides, Kel's foot was in no condition to go hiking, so we shook the sand out of our clothes, packed up and headed to the Starfish Bakery for breakfast. It is a delicious cafe, and 100% of proceeds go to assist disadvantaged Cambodians. We had a great breakfast of freshly baked scones and relaxed for a while in the garden. We then got the bus back to Phnom Penh and had dinner at our new hangout, Frizz. We were happy that they recognized us, and that they had noticed we were gone for a few nights. We'll have an early night as it is a long bus ride to Battambang tomorrow.

Where is Chief Brody when you need him?

Our trip to the islands off the coast of Sihanoukville began around 8a.m.. We had a quick breakfast of bread and jam and waited and then waded to board our boat. The first attempt failed as the boat drifted out too far so the captain turned it around and approached the beach again. All 4 of us on the tour cruised out to the first of 3 islands. It was a bit choppy and one of the English girls with a hangover wasn't travelling too well. She made good company for our guide who had also had a big night. We dropped anchor just off shore where we went snorkeling. The visibility was crappy but the water was perfect, we were just in our bathing suits unlike in Vietnam where we had full length wetties and still froze. We did see a few spiny sea urchins and a few fish but it really wasn't that great. The murky depths did nothing for our fear of sharks. We got back on the boat and headed to Bamboo Island. Here there are a few huts you can rent and stay the night sharing the beach with the few locals that live there. When we arrived we were the only tour boat there. We had four hours to kill so we proceeded to do nothing. The beach was beautiful, the water is warm and clear. Our guide started on our lunch of BBQ Barracuda and salad. Slowly other boats of tourist arrived and took their place along the beach. We had our delicious lunch and then proceeded to do more nothing. The serenity was briefly disrupted when the party boat arrived blasting the Black Eyed Peas (before they went pop) with drunk hoochies and tools dancing and whooping. They came to pick up a couple that had spent the night on the island only to leave one of their hoochies on shore. Fortunately they came back and got her. Ahhh how's the serenity.

At 3p.m. we got back on our boat and went to another island. It was a bit calmer now and the water was clearer. Kel went for another snorkel and saw some colourful coral, lots of little fish, and more sea urchins. We made it back to the beach conveniently just in time for the sunset and beer o'clock. While we were eating dinner our three girlfriends from the night before found us and Kel got suckered in to a pedicure and manicure for $3. We sat around some more, had a drink and the girls hung around with us all night. They were good fun entertaining us with their command of english-isms, like 'Oh my gosh!' and 'In your dreams!'
While we were slowly making our way down the beach to our hotel Kel was horrified to find out that they hadn't eaten dinner yet. It was 9p.m. So she bought them a round of ice-creams. It was fun to see them sit back and be themselves. They got into a fit of non-stop giggling barely managing to get words out. They were very happy to have an ice cream treat because all of the money they make goes towards school and their families. We wanted to get their addresses to send them a photo, but they just didn't understand the concept of mail. The closest we could get was their first names and they said 'send it to Occheuteal Beach.' They wrestled Kel for a while and when it was time for us to go they were sad. We will miss our beach buddies.

After a day at the beach swimming and snorkeling, we arrived back to our guesthouse in time to watch Jaws 2.

Nige vs Mighty Man

Today was spent in Ream National Park, just outside of Sihanoukville. After breakfast and a short bus ride, we srapped on our hiking boots expecting a day of wandering around the park. Our blessedly small group (only 7 of us) arrived at a dock of the estuary and boarded a small boat. Ream National Park is made of a large estuary, mangrove swamps, forests, and untouched beaches (except for the trash that washes up at high tide). We cruised for about an hour towards the sea and saw some sea eagles, egrets, storks, and herons as well as locals fishing, clamming, crabbing and eeling (yes, they do let people live inside the National Park). On the boat was a local guy catching a lift to his home in the park. We started chatting to him (he had limited English) and relized he was drunk...it was only 9:30 a.m. He offered us some of his alcohol of choice, a scary looking bottle full of dark black liquid and labelled 'Mighty Man.' On the label is a cartoon drawing of a huge white guy in speedos, flexing all of his muscles. We did try it when offered, and it wasn't too bad, although a few minutes later Nige looked at me and said "Has your throat gone numb?" to which I laughed and said "Oh good, I thought it was just me..." We arrived at a secluded beach, accessible only by boat. To get to shore, we had to get out of the boat in waist-deep water and wade in. Too bad we didn't know this beforehand, or we would have worn our bathers. But the water was incredibly warm (just like at the Sihanoukville beaches), clear, and with soft sand underfoot. We were told we'd be at this beach for about 3 hours...again, wishing we had our bathing suits. We walked along the beach, checking out the beautiful shells and trying to catch some speedy crabs. Lunch was deliciously fresh barracuda barbequed right on the beach by our guide and boat captain, as well as salad and cold soda in a bottle. We wandered down the beach the other way, then we all packed up and entered the jungle to hike across the peninsula. The jungle is very green and lush, and we enjoyed hearing all of the different bird sounds, even if we didn't see them. On the way we passed the Jesus School, a new bamboo building used as a school for all of the local children. We peeked inside (there are no doors) and saw all of the children at their desks, quietly copying some text from the board and mumbling to themselves. The children were a variety of ages, Little House on the Prarie style. Unfortunately, we completely disrupted their lessons as they were so cute that we had to take photos, which they loved. But their teacher was nice and didn't mind our curiosity. Given the name of the school, and the fact that it was recently 'donated' it was probably built by some missionaries or something. We arrived at a 'village' of about 4 bamboo houses. Much to our pleasure, one of these homes belongs to our friend, Mr. Mighty Man. He was pleased to see us and said to Nigel "Hello my friend. Welcome to my home." Then he got out his machete and chopped open a fresh coconut for us all to share. Seeing the empty bottle of Mighty Man on the ground nearby, we stood WAY back from the swinging machete. After a bit of coconut juice, he brought out a nice cold Angkor beer for Nige and I to share. He wouldn't take any money for it, as it was important for him to offer it as a gift...and it was damn good.

We then had to wade back out to our boat among shallow water covered in millions of tiny sea snail shells. Kel stepped on something big and hard, and looked down to see a large rock. Not thinking anything of it, she got back into the boat, only to realize she had sliced open the bottom of her foot, right down the centre. Ouch. We cruised back to the dock, ending our day of 'hiking' in Ream National Park. We arrived back in Sihanoukville just in time for another beer and another sunset. While we were eating dinner, a group of 3 girls of about 10 years old approached us and asked if we'd like them to make us some bracelets. We said no thank you, to which we received a chorus of "You buy my fruit then? It very good for you. Why you buy her fruit and not mine? Be fair mister. You got a brother? You got a sister? You buy bracelet for them!" These girls were so cute that we had to buy a bracelet, and of course we had to buy one from each of them. They sat down in the sand and started to weave the bracelets with the colours of our choice. Since it took them over an hour, we chatted to them and found that they are quite smart and very funny. They cracked us up the entire time. One of their mums came by and waited for them, so it was good to know that they had someone looking out for them. I kept asking when they go home to bed (it was quite late by this time) and they don't go to bed until about 11:00, only to get up for school, which goes from 7am to 11am. After school they take a motorbike straight to the beach, where they spend the rest of the day selling bracelets, fruit and manicures to all of the beachgoers. We tried to get them to go home to bed, but they wouldn't leave us. It was the perfect entertainment for the evening.

Seashells by the Sihanoukville Seashore

Today we headed to the river for a late breakfast at a cafe, then caught the 4 hour bus southwest to Sihanoukville (as in King Sihanouk) on Cambodia's southern coast. It's a small beach town and also Cambodia's only port. We arrived just in time for a beer and the sunset on the beach. All along the beach is a series of small bamboo huts serving as bars/restaurants, each having lounge chairs and umbrellas facing the water. They all look exactly the same and serve exactly the same food. We later learned that the land is leased from the government, who in turn regulates the size and space of each place. We enjoyed another great meal by candlelight on the sand, under the stars with the waves softly crashing on the shore. Ooohh, romantic.

Holiday in Cambodia

Our motorbike was delivered to the hotel at about 8am. It was a 110cc 4 stroke Honda Wave in royal blue. Sweet.

We had a good breakfast and got on our way for our self guided motorbike tour. We first went to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This is the site of the Khmer Rouge prison called S-21. The Khmer Rouge turn this High School into a prison where they tortured and executed approximately 10,500 prisoners plus an estimated 2000 children. Prisoners were civilians, intellectuals, farmers, and even Khmer Rouge members. Today the museum is basically how it was when the Khmer Rouge fell. The first building we entered had a series of rooms on the ground level that were used as interrogation rooms. They are the size of a small bedroom with a single bed in the room. There are photos on the walls showing the tortured bodies that were found in each particular room. The beds in the rooms are the actual beds in the photos which makes it all the more shocking. At 10am we went to a video room to watch an informative video. Well it was meant to be an informative video, but we left 10 minutes into it as the sound was so distorted we couldn't hear anything. We entered a room of phots of people that were members of the Khmer Rouge. They were not leaders but army members that were carrying out orders. There are recent photos of people living their current lives, and their record photos at the time they joined. Another series of rooms have photos of some of the victims. It was overwhelming seeing face after face of people who were killed here. Alsao along the walls are some paintings reflecting the various torture techniques used in the prison. They were painted by one of only 7 survivors of S-21. The next building contained all of the classrooms converted into 0.8 by 2 metre cells using dodgy brickwork. Prisoners were taken from here to the killing fields at Choeung Ek, at up to 100 people per night.

Our next stop was to go to the killing fields themselves. It is about 15 kms out of Phnom Penh but we managed to add about 10kms to that distance. Once you leave PP the roads are 90% dirt, and the bit of bitumen is full of pot holes. The dirt road is like a black diamond ski run, Kel was nearly launched off the seat a few times. After asking directions a couple of times we found a sign and we knew we were on the right track. The string of whities in Tuk Tuks also gave it away. We arrived covered in dirt, as red as Australia's outback. There is a monument type building, containing only the skulls of over 8,000 people who have been exhumed here, stacked up in a wooden tower and diveded by estimated age. This is only one of many such sites scattered around the country. Less than 50 of the more than 150 mass graves have been exhumed, the others still untouched. It was almost numbing to walk around these holes in the ground, less than 6 feet deep, knowing how many bodies were thrown in and carelessly barely covered with soil. Walking on the dirt separating each grave there are bits of clothing, human bones and even teeth protruding from the ground, partially unearthed by weather (and tourists walking around). We literally dug one of the Khmer Rouge victims' molars out of the ground and quietly placed it on a stack of bones collected by others. We also found a few bones just lying around and retrieved those as well. It was heartbreaking to see the site in an unpreserved way, but it also has a much bigger impact as well. And all this happened in OUR lifetime, which makes it even more sickening to us.

Holding back some tears, Kel needed a bit of humour, so she tried her skills at driving the motorbike, which was more like motocross on the bumpy dirt roads. Nige gave her a quick run through on the controls, and we were off (slightly faster than a turtle). It was fun, and our concentration got our mind off of the horrific place we'd just been to. There were no incidents to report as Kel did pretty well.

We had lunch at a cafe, Jars of Clay, that supports disadvantaged Cambodian girls, where we had an awesome shake and great sandwiches. We did a bit of shopping at the Psar Tuol Tom Pong markets, a huge building full of stall after stall after stall of anything you can think of (just like most of the other markets we've been to). Kel bought some 'Gap' T-shirts and some pants (her clothes are proving to be a bit too warm for this weather). We could have easily bought heaps more 'designer' clothing but no room in the packs.

We had dinner at our favourite Phnom Penh restaurant, Frizz, for some more traditional Cambodian cuisine. A delicious meal yet again to end another day in Phnom Penh.