Angkor Wat?

Chum reap sua!

That was Greetings, Cambodian style (I didn't actually remember that this time either, I have a book to cheat from).

What a fabulous 48 hours I've had! We got to Bogie and Bacall's on Street No. 136 nice and early to help load the truck with supplies for the Dump Run. There was quite a good turn out, an Australian couple who didn't say much (the woman looked like she was a Bretheren, so here on in they shall be known as "The Bretheren Couple"), a young couple, Matt from Caaaaalifoooooooooornia (that was my attempt at his long drawn out accent, being Californian he was so darn relaxed) with a girl from Canada who had a cherry blossom tree tattooed on her shoulder (I forget her name, lets call her Tattoo, like from Fantasy Island except from Canada in Cambodia). There was an American man and his family (he actually donated $150 for the entire trip and provided some basic medical supplies, because of this donation, I thought he was a doctor, he's not, but we'lll call him The Doctor. Not at all as funny as Triple J's The Doctor). Then there was Niomi, the "Photo Journalist", I put this in quotations marks to point out the legitimacy of this job title is questionable. My main reason for questioning her is because she was rude and she pissed me off, that's really all the evidence I have for questioning her though. I'm sure it would stand up in court somewhere...

So our rag tag bunch of volunteers were accompanied by David (the owner of Bogie and Bacall's and founder of the dump runs), Richard, a pommy expat with many a story to tell and a local police officer. We all jumped in the back of a truck with the equipment. This was an AWESOME way to travel around Phnom Penh, except when there were low hanging branches. The first stop was to the markets to purchase 400 loaves of bread, crabapples, bannana's, apples and cordial, all of this came to around $148.00 - very cheap considering it was to feed an entire village.

As we pulled into the dump, my heart broke. Hundreds of little kids rushed out of the school and down the piles of rubbish to chase after the truck. The dump has been set on fire in parts and the whole place has an eerie, smoky cloud hanging over it. We stopped the truck and all the kids made 2 lines, a girls line and a boys line. We all scrambled out of the back of the truck pushing through the kids who were trying to get as close as possible to the front.

John and Richard's job was crowd control (like security at the fenceline of a moshpit, they make sure no one is getting squished). My job was to stop line jumping and pushing. I hated this job, the poor hungry little faces would try and cut in with their friends and I had to be the big meanie who sent them to the back of the line. Understandably though, if people cut in or came up for more than a serve it meant someone else had to miss out on food.

The children are amazingly resilient, happy, polite, friendly and smart. As they were standing in line they would reach out to hold my hand. Their arms were so tiny that most of them couldn't hold all of the food, so they were picking up plastic bags, sheets of cardboard and pieces of material from the rubbish piles to help them carry it all. These children truly have nothing. I honestly can't describe how adorable they all are, you'll have to see for yourself in the photos or maybe in person one day.

After all of the food had been dished out, injuries and illnesses attended to as best the first aiders could (alot suffer from scabies, septic wounds, some have broken bones or burns from falling through soft rubbish piles or standing on coals), about 20 or so kids hung around to play. One little girl took a liking to me so she would stand there just holding my hand or giving me a hug. She taught me how to play a hand clapping game and then a few of the girls sung "The Wheels on The Bus". John and I decided on the way back to Bogie and Bacall's to volunteer again before we leave.

Back in Phnom Penh, we drank lots of beer, chatted to David, Richard and two hilarious Aussie guys called Paul and Daryl. We headed off to The Happy Herb Pizza Place for dinner and tried out one of Cambodia's "Happy Pizza's". My pizza was extremely tasty, the "Happy" part was a bit over rated but was definitely worth a go!

Today we caught a bus to Siem Reap (not far from the temples at Angkor Wat), it cost us just $9.00 and took about 5 hours in a super comfy bus. Siem Reap is only 317kms away from Phnom Penh, but the conditions of the roads drag the travelling time out. We had a little stop over on the way and met this beutiful litle boy (who I'm going to call Pax, because I want to adopt him). When he realised we were't going to buy some pineapple from him to eat, he showed us a little monkey that had been chained up, so we fed some pineapple to the poor little thing. I can see why it had been tied up though, it was a cranky little fucker. We jumped back on the bus and as we were pulling away, little Pax stood there waving and blowing kisses. I want one.

Siem Reap is great! We are in such a nice Ph'teah Som Nak (that was Guest House in Khmer, BOOYA!). It's called Mother Home and is $15 a night, the room is huge and we have a bath! Plus the plumbing is actually inside the wall! We are spoilt! I feel like we're cheating on Asian experience a bit.

All of the roads here are pretty much dirt, which makes taking a tuk tuk a bit like 4WDriving. We headed off to the night Phsar (that was market in Khmer, I'm getting clever!) tonight and I have bought HEAPS of goodies for everyone. We also got to try out Dr. Fish. These are a small type of pyrranah that eat all the dead skin off you're feet. It sounds disgusting and I'll admit, the first 2 minutes are pretty unpleasant. I HAVE MY FEET IN A FRICKING TANK OF PYRRANAHS!!! WHY IS THIS!!?? Then it's kind of like a foot spa, except with flesh eating fish from Turkey.

New counrty, new experiences.

Loving every minute of it,

Shanngelina