I thought I would take the time to finish the blogging adventure now that I am home and settled.
I last left you in Sihonoukville, after having way too much sun and looking like a piglet. Fortunately, no one mistook us for bacon and we arrived safely back in Phnom Penh, looking a little less English Tourist Lobster and a little more Sun Kissed Aussie. We decided to take the cheaper bus this time, the difference was about $3 and the cheaper bus had no toilet (considering I avoided the toilet on the more expensive bus like the plague (it was really, really tiny and smelled of urine and farts) there really wasn't much difference). It turns out the cheap bus driver thought he was a rally driver, and manoeuvred that sucker like Meatloaf did in the Spice Girls Movie when they thought there was a bomb on their double decker bus. Fortunately, there was no bomb or Spice Girls (I would have had to kick Posh Spice in the skinny little shins), and we got to Phnom Penh in record time, 4 hours on the dot.
We checked into the Waterview and then into Bogie and Bacall's, making sure they had space for us to head to the Dump again the next day. John went to the Psar to get some soccer balls and I headed back to the Waterview to indulge in some quiet time, watching a movie (there was a channel on cable that was the "DVD Channel" and it consistently just played random DVD's). It was here that a movie called Americano came on. It's about a 22 year old guy holidaying in Spain, he becomes fascinated by Spanish culture and wants to stay however he as a great career waiting for him at home. Therein lies his personal dilemma, should he follow the beaten path and head back to his promising career and "Live the Dream", or stay in Spain and experience adventure by following the road less travelled?
The next morning it was time to visit Beautiful Dump Kids again. With soccer balls in hand, we eagerly jumped in the back of the truck for another rewarding and grounding day. This time I was on first aid duty, however, someone forgot the gloves. Here lies Shannon's moral dilemma: "Do I risk my health and possibly my life to administer first aid without gloves to these amazing children who just need to be cared for?" or "Do I refuse to administer first aid and attempt to help in other ways so I can protect myself?" Taking into consideration that these children are exposed to medical waste (used swabs, syringes, used gloves and other surgical paraphernalia) on a regular basis, I decided to protect myself and be the first aid assistant. Someone did have to administer first aid that day, the adorable little faces already lining up to have someone look at their scraped knee, administer a bandaid and let them know that someone cares. So Richard took the bullet, ensuring that he first did not have any cuts or abrasions on his own hands, then making sure he thoroughly washed and disinfected his hands after every patient. Fortunately that day there were no serious injuries to attend to, just some minor cuts and abrasions.
Being the first aid assistant meant I got to distract a few of the patients in pain by singing songs with them, handed out iodine, gauze, tape and bandaids. A couple of the little girls were fascinated with what was going on and decided to become the assistants assistant. They learnt very quickly what items were needed for what type of injury, made sure the patients were comfortable, stroked their hair if they were crying and also sung songs with them. These kids are truly beautiful.
Once all the food had been handed out, it was time to hang out with the friends we made last time and hand out the soccer balls (which went down a treat!). I gave out a couple of bamboo bracelets I had picked up in Angkor Wat to a few of my friends, they loved them and there were a couple of unhappy faces for those who had missed out. As David was saying goodbye, I noticed that the little girls were handing him some bracelets to say thankyou, they were the same ones I had just given them! These girls had absolutely nothing and were more than happy to give away what they did have to say thank you. The situation these kids are in truly breaks my heart. Their attitudes are an inspiration.
We said our goodbyes and when they said "We'll see you soon" I really, honestly hoped I would be back again soon.
Back at Bogie and Bacall's it was time to drown our sorrows at having to leave soon. David invited us to dinner with himself and his girlfriend Allie at his favourite pizza place. We met them out the front at 6pm and headed into "NGO Land". NGO Land stands out from the rest of Phnom Penh, in NGO Land, there are no street side food stalls, no rubbish on the side of the road and no Khmer people. NGO's are Non Government Organisations, basically charities who are based in Cambodia to help the less fortunate. Unfortunately, when travelling through NGO Land, you notice that their offices are quite luxurious, the 3 Hummers, 4 Lexus's and 2 Security Guards parked out the front are where your donations are going.
The pizza place was called Freebirds, and although quite nice, the food was double what you would pay in Phnom Penh. David informed us that it was frequented by NGO Staff. This was evident by the Lexus's parked out the front. Corruption isn't just rife within Cambodia's government, it's also rife within the "Not for Profit" organisations who are stealing donation money and attributing their gratuitous spending to "Administration Fees". Disgusting.
Even though Cambodia is a victim of corruption, there is some unbelievable good within the country. David and Allie are some of that good. While chatting to Allie over dinner (she is still learning English) she told me about how she had to drop out of school early so she could get a job and earn money. Even though she didn't attend school she managed to learn to speak Korean and Chinese fluently! She wanted John and I to come with her to visit her family back in Kom Pong Thom Province for Khmer New Year, unfortunately, Khmer New Year isn't until April and we would be back in Australia.
Allie decided over dinner that John and I were "good people" and that she would be very sad when we left. She gave me a photo of her to have so I wouldn't forget her. She's the same age as John and I but has this beautiful childish sweetness about her. David and Allie were heading to Sihonoukville the next day to check out the Rubbish Dump situation there. It's David's hope that he can find someone to set up the same project that he has going on in Phnom Penh. I hope he can find someone.
We decided to have a quiet last day in Cambodia, John and I were both not feeling 100%, starting to get runny noses and praying we hadn't caught Bird Flu! We had grand plans to visit an orphanage on the outskirts of Phnom Penh but the kids were at school so our plan was foiled. Mr Thai suggested the Russian Psar and then beers at a great bar he knew of (his payment would be in beers).
Mr Thai is a great Tuk Tuk driver in Phnom Penh, recommended to us by Richard. You can't miss him on the corner of St. 136 and Sisowath Quay, he has a Thai made tuk tuk (instead of a trailer in the back of a motorbike, Thai tuk tuk's are more like a golf cart, the driver sits behind a window on a bench and it has gears on the dash). He has adorned the front of his tuk tuk with some very fashionable bull horns. We did some last minute souvenir shopping at the Russian Psar, scoring cinematic brilliance with the likes of Eagle vs Sharks (The plural must mean it's a sequel, or Cambodilish), Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Valkyrie and Slumdog Millionaire. Brilliant.
From there it was off to Maxine's, on the other side of the Tong Le Sap, run by an Australian Expat called Snowy. We were immediately greeted by the melodic tunes of The John Butler Trio and sat down to watch the sunset over the Tong Le Sap. Mr Thai is an incredibly interesting man. His English is great and his sense of humour event greater. He had some T-Shirts made up, the front saying "Tuk Tuk Driver Phnom Penh", with the Cambodian flag on the front. The back reads: "Not tonight ladies, I'm just here for a drink" it then has a picture of the bull horns from the front of his tuk tuk and the words "Oh Ok, Why not!!!"
The next morning it was off to the airport, chauffeured by none other than Mr Thai. He gave me a present just before we left, a black cotton handbag with gold elephants stitched around it.
I was feeling pretty ordinary that day, my nose was running like a tap and my head was aching terribly. Mr Thai made me promise I would get checked out by a doctor at home to make sure I hadn't picked up anything serious.By the time we got to Kuala Lumpur I had a fever. It turns out that not just KL airport smells like a musty cupboard crossed with urine, the bus we were transferred to our hotel smelled and then our hotel also smelled. The Concorde Hotel was a bit of a cultural "Melting Pot" which funnily enough was the name of the hotel restaurant that served "Beef Bacon" instead of real bacon. I found it very amusing that they were being culturally sensitive to the Muslim community by not serving pork, yet not to the very prevalent Hindi community who believe that cows are sacred? Just a sidenote: Beef bacon is terrible. Don't do it to yourself. It's just wrong.
Back in Brisvegus, it turns out I don't have bird flu, just some regular sniffles and some heart sickness for the amazing people we met.
Since then I have had the pleasure of getting stuck back into work. Part of this was a casual leasing gig at a local shopping centre for my work. While handing out free balloons to kids passing by, we ran out of the clips that go on the bottom of the balloons to help attach them to the sticks. In a sheer stroke of genius, and finger dexterity to rival that of a brain surgeon, I managed to tie a balloon onto the end of the stick. A small boy came up to ask for a free balloon, I happily handed him my invention, in which he promptly proceeded to turn his nose up at, make horrible squawking noises and convey through these noises that this balloon was not good enough for him. He wanted one that has a plastic connector. Resiting the urge to shove the balloon, stick and all down his throat sideways. I handed him another balloon, this one with our last plastic connector. As I handed it over, I thought back to the little kids at the dump, who were happy even though they had absolutely nothing. I wish I could have sent them all the balloons.
Love, hugs and a million balloons,
Shanngelina.
Saturday 21 March 2009
Saturday 14 March 2009
Its coming to a close.. the final hoorah.
Since we talked last.
We headed back from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh. This time we took the $5 shitheap bus and it took 4 hours.Go figure. The bus barely had brakes, but really, I think that made hills much more interesting and a little intriguing, not to mention full of suspense. Everyone loves a bit of edge and mystery, I hear thats why the girls love Johnny Depp. So I guess the bus was a lot like Johnny Depp.
We arrived back in at midday and back to our hotel, the Waterview. We dropped our stuff off and decided to go for a stroll. We strolled all about Phnom Penh, before heading to Bogey and Bacalls to see if they were still having a dump run on friday. Luckily for us they were, and we stayed there for a few hours, drinking 65c beers before heading off.
As we were heading out the next day, I headed down to the Russian Markets on the back of a moto to buy some soccer balls for the kids. When we got to the market and I went to give the driver a dollar he said
Moto: "Where are you staying?
Me: Paragon ( a devious lie so he wouldnt try and mug me or something equally as lame )
Moto: I know a hotel that has free accomodation
Me: I bet it does
Moto: And girls. Sexy girls. All the girls you want. I will take you there.
Me: GFY.
So I met a pimp who moonlights on a motorbike. This place is full of surprises. Haha. I grabbed the soccer balls, and headed home, then later on we went for some beers.
The dump was good yesterday, a really rewarding day. This time we were accompanied by a couple of Germans, a couple of Brits and an Irish guy. The dump smelled a lot worse this time, like really really fucking reeked. I had the job this time of distributing the food in the boys line. So each little tacker came up, grabbed 2 apples, a loaf of bread, an orange and 2 bananas. Absolutely amazing that for $150, 450 kids can get a decent vitamin-packed meal.
While we were up there, a couple of Japanese tourists came up in a tuktuk and started taking photos. Didn't even get out of the tuktuk. Its quite disheartening to see that there are some people who think some good holiday snaps are those containing 450 kids living on a rubbish dump.
After we handed out the food, we distributed the soccer balls. One word only can desribe it: SHITSTORM. Haha. The kids went mental for them. We only took 10 so we made sure to remind them to share them, but even if they get a bit of fun out of them, then thats ok by us.
From there we had the obligatory 10 beers at Bogey and Bacalls, and as we were leaving, David, the owner of Bogeys and the Founder of the Dump Run invited us to dinner at his favourite pizza parlour with his lovely girlfriend Allie. So we agreed to that, came home, showered and met them there at 6. We all took a tuktuk took a took down, had some pizza, laughs, etc before bidding adieu to them both as we won't get a chance to see them before we leave.
We then headed back to Bogeys where we met Richard (the barmy English guy who accompanies David on most of the dump runs). Richard insisted on taking us on a walking tour of the Riverside bars, so off we went. Stopped in a few bars, had a few ales, before heading to the pontoon. The Pontoon is a bar, thats on an actual Pontoon. Its got a fullsize lounge, a fullsize dance floor, a fullsize bar.. and its actually a really cool place to hang out. Unfortunately for us, we'd been in the sun all day, were tired (Shannon was recovering from her delhi belly the night before) and we bailed at about 10pm.
Today we rose late, and then headed for some soup at our favourite little place on the corner of 136 St, opposite Huxleys. After breaky we headed to the markets with our main man Mr Thai, bought some cheap DVD's, thongs etc, and made plans to meet Mr Thai for a drink this afternoon, which is where I am headed now. Obviously won't get a blog out before our pretty uneventful flight home, maybe after if something slightly entertaining popped up.. We've certainly had a great time, and until the next trip, thanks for reading.
Cheers
John.
We headed back from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh. This time we took the $5 shitheap bus and it took 4 hours.Go figure. The bus barely had brakes, but really, I think that made hills much more interesting and a little intriguing, not to mention full of suspense. Everyone loves a bit of edge and mystery, I hear thats why the girls love Johnny Depp. So I guess the bus was a lot like Johnny Depp.
We arrived back in at midday and back to our hotel, the Waterview. We dropped our stuff off and decided to go for a stroll. We strolled all about Phnom Penh, before heading to Bogey and Bacalls to see if they were still having a dump run on friday. Luckily for us they were, and we stayed there for a few hours, drinking 65c beers before heading off.
As we were heading out the next day, I headed down to the Russian Markets on the back of a moto to buy some soccer balls for the kids. When we got to the market and I went to give the driver a dollar he said
Moto: "Where are you staying?
Me: Paragon ( a devious lie so he wouldnt try and mug me or something equally as lame )
Moto: I know a hotel that has free accomodation
Me: I bet it does
Moto: And girls. Sexy girls. All the girls you want. I will take you there.
Me: GFY.
So I met a pimp who moonlights on a motorbike. This place is full of surprises. Haha. I grabbed the soccer balls, and headed home, then later on we went for some beers.
The dump was good yesterday, a really rewarding day. This time we were accompanied by a couple of Germans, a couple of Brits and an Irish guy. The dump smelled a lot worse this time, like really really fucking reeked. I had the job this time of distributing the food in the boys line. So each little tacker came up, grabbed 2 apples, a loaf of bread, an orange and 2 bananas. Absolutely amazing that for $150, 450 kids can get a decent vitamin-packed meal.
While we were up there, a couple of Japanese tourists came up in a tuktuk and started taking photos. Didn't even get out of the tuktuk. Its quite disheartening to see that there are some people who think some good holiday snaps are those containing 450 kids living on a rubbish dump.
After we handed out the food, we distributed the soccer balls. One word only can desribe it: SHITSTORM. Haha. The kids went mental for them. We only took 10 so we made sure to remind them to share them, but even if they get a bit of fun out of them, then thats ok by us.
From there we had the obligatory 10 beers at Bogey and Bacalls, and as we were leaving, David, the owner of Bogeys and the Founder of the Dump Run invited us to dinner at his favourite pizza parlour with his lovely girlfriend Allie. So we agreed to that, came home, showered and met them there at 6. We all took a tuktuk took a took down, had some pizza, laughs, etc before bidding adieu to them both as we won't get a chance to see them before we leave.
We then headed back to Bogeys where we met Richard (the barmy English guy who accompanies David on most of the dump runs). Richard insisted on taking us on a walking tour of the Riverside bars, so off we went. Stopped in a few bars, had a few ales, before heading to the pontoon. The Pontoon is a bar, thats on an actual Pontoon. Its got a fullsize lounge, a fullsize dance floor, a fullsize bar.. and its actually a really cool place to hang out. Unfortunately for us, we'd been in the sun all day, were tired (Shannon was recovering from her delhi belly the night before) and we bailed at about 10pm.
Today we rose late, and then headed for some soup at our favourite little place on the corner of 136 St, opposite Huxleys. After breaky we headed to the markets with our main man Mr Thai, bought some cheap DVD's, thongs etc, and made plans to meet Mr Thai for a drink this afternoon, which is where I am headed now. Obviously won't get a blog out before our pretty uneventful flight home, maybe after if something slightly entertaining popped up.. We've certainly had a great time, and until the next trip, thanks for reading.
Cheers
John.
Wednesday 11 March 2009
This little piggy went to Sihonoukville
Chum reap sua from Snooky!
After finding a bar on the beach yesterday afternoon, there were a few lady's on the beach (and even a ladyboy) touting manicure's, pedicure's, sarongs, bracelets, bleached decorative coral, shells, massages and a thing called "Threading" (You may have heard of Threading before, I think it may originally have come from India, but it has found its way to Cambodia, on the beaches of Snooky. Threading is a form of hair removal, using a piece of string, formed into a loop, the string is twisted, and it then pulls hair out by the root, usually quite a few hairs at a time). So there, at the beach bar, we met Mom (one of the touts, not the ladyboy), who kindly pointed out that my legs were looking a bit shabby and she had the answer to my problem. So for $15 for both legs, I got Threaded. It is then that I learnt the words Choo (pain, or ouch!) and Tik Tik (a little), I also learnt the word for a lot, but I forgot (stupid brain only has the capacity for 2 or 3 Khmer words or sentences a day).Mom was fabulous, teaching me some more Khmer and being very chatty and friendly (I have arranged to call her when I get home so she can teach me more Khmer and I can help her with her English). She also suggested a tour company do do our Bamboo Island Tour with and she negotiated $2 off the price for us. I love Mom :)
Today we headed across to Bamboo Island on the BICAT (no, this is not a sexually confused feline), it is the Bamboo Island Catamaran (when I say catamaran, I really mean a single hulled wooden boat that looked like it should be smuggling us from Indonesia to Australia, possibly with a Children Overboard scandal involved).
There weren't any children thrown overboard today, but I wanted to throw a couple of pommy girls over, along with an American lady (who was the spitting image of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) from Australia, goggle type glasses, stupid hat and nose stuck up in the air. I didn't have the heart to tell her that we were indeed not heading to Australia to drove 1500 head of cattle. She would also not find love in the Outback from a previously heartbroken drover who was tough on the outside but kind hearted on the inside, or a surrogate child, a half cast aboriginal child on the run from the authorities who were trying to place him in a mission. We were in fact just heading to Bamboo Island to do a spot of snorkelling and lazing around the beach.
We were picked up from Makara (our hotel in Snooky, $9, clean, about 100m from the beach - but no air con, tv or fridge - how rude of you SE Asia!) and dropped about 400m down the road. Had I have known it was this close, we would have walked. We were treated to breakfast, really strong coffee, a freshly baked bread roll and some jam, then we headed off to the boat. A very rickety old thing, and as I mentioned above, it looked more like it should be smuggling us back to Australia then taking us on a snorkelling tour. Needless to say, we were a bit apprehensive, especially when I saw the amount of water in the bottom that they were bailing out!
However, I am in it for the adventure, I have travel insurance (for my camera), memory cards can dry out and there was a handful of life jackets. The plan was to punch Lady Sarah Ashley and the pommy girls should they try and reach them in the case of an emergency. Luckily, operation "Australia", never came to fruition. We made it to the snorkelling area just fine - I was perhaps a little green around the gills. Yes, I work for a boat and yes I do get sea sick, I think this is because I am not a Pirate. The snorkelling areas was not the best choice, it was a bit choppy and the viability not good. I gave it a quick go, Andrew from Get Wet would have an absolute heart attack if he saw their safety measures. No wet suit, no instructions just, "Here's your snorkel now jump off the boat. Oh, and by the way, don't stand on the coral, there are sea urchins". After floating around in the water for a few minutes and getting smashed in the face by waves, I decided that it was enough adventure for me out there, in the ocean, with the sea urchins, and promptly hopped back to safety in the rickety boat (the boat was actually quite good and speedy considering the size of the motor, we didn't have any trouble with it at all).
At Bamboo Island, John and I frolicked in the waves, like whales (occasionally breaching and blowing water into the air) and ran into some lovely Khmer people we had met the night before. The frolicking was the best part of my day. I much preferred to frolic in water than to lurch, roll and pitch on the water. We had another quick snorkelling stop off on the way back to Sihonoukville and John tried his hand at fishing (which was really just an exercise in fish feeding, resulting in him covering the white hotel towel in squid ink and making himself smell like fish BAHAHAHAH). John is not the new Rex Hunt.
We resemble piglets at the moment though, with very pink skin and curly tails.
Tomorrow, the piglets are heading back to Phnom Penh. This little piglet will be crying (yom) all the way home.
Oink.
Shanngelina
After finding a bar on the beach yesterday afternoon, there were a few lady's on the beach (and even a ladyboy) touting manicure's, pedicure's, sarongs, bracelets, bleached decorative coral, shells, massages and a thing called "Threading" (You may have heard of Threading before, I think it may originally have come from India, but it has found its way to Cambodia, on the beaches of Snooky. Threading is a form of hair removal, using a piece of string, formed into a loop, the string is twisted, and it then pulls hair out by the root, usually quite a few hairs at a time). So there, at the beach bar, we met Mom (one of the touts, not the ladyboy), who kindly pointed out that my legs were looking a bit shabby and she had the answer to my problem. So for $15 for both legs, I got Threaded. It is then that I learnt the words Choo (pain, or ouch!) and Tik Tik (a little), I also learnt the word for a lot, but I forgot (stupid brain only has the capacity for 2 or 3 Khmer words or sentences a day).Mom was fabulous, teaching me some more Khmer and being very chatty and friendly (I have arranged to call her when I get home so she can teach me more Khmer and I can help her with her English). She also suggested a tour company do do our Bamboo Island Tour with and she negotiated $2 off the price for us. I love Mom :)
Today we headed across to Bamboo Island on the BICAT (no, this is not a sexually confused feline), it is the Bamboo Island Catamaran (when I say catamaran, I really mean a single hulled wooden boat that looked like it should be smuggling us from Indonesia to Australia, possibly with a Children Overboard scandal involved).
There weren't any children thrown overboard today, but I wanted to throw a couple of pommy girls over, along with an American lady (who was the spitting image of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) from Australia, goggle type glasses, stupid hat and nose stuck up in the air. I didn't have the heart to tell her that we were indeed not heading to Australia to drove 1500 head of cattle. She would also not find love in the Outback from a previously heartbroken drover who was tough on the outside but kind hearted on the inside, or a surrogate child, a half cast aboriginal child on the run from the authorities who were trying to place him in a mission. We were in fact just heading to Bamboo Island to do a spot of snorkelling and lazing around the beach.
We were picked up from Makara (our hotel in Snooky, $9, clean, about 100m from the beach - but no air con, tv or fridge - how rude of you SE Asia!) and dropped about 400m down the road. Had I have known it was this close, we would have walked. We were treated to breakfast, really strong coffee, a freshly baked bread roll and some jam, then we headed off to the boat. A very rickety old thing, and as I mentioned above, it looked more like it should be smuggling us back to Australia then taking us on a snorkelling tour. Needless to say, we were a bit apprehensive, especially when I saw the amount of water in the bottom that they were bailing out!
However, I am in it for the adventure, I have travel insurance (for my camera), memory cards can dry out and there was a handful of life jackets. The plan was to punch Lady Sarah Ashley and the pommy girls should they try and reach them in the case of an emergency. Luckily, operation "Australia", never came to fruition. We made it to the snorkelling area just fine - I was perhaps a little green around the gills. Yes, I work for a boat and yes I do get sea sick, I think this is because I am not a Pirate. The snorkelling areas was not the best choice, it was a bit choppy and the viability not good. I gave it a quick go, Andrew from Get Wet would have an absolute heart attack if he saw their safety measures. No wet suit, no instructions just, "Here's your snorkel now jump off the boat. Oh, and by the way, don't stand on the coral, there are sea urchins". After floating around in the water for a few minutes and getting smashed in the face by waves, I decided that it was enough adventure for me out there, in the ocean, with the sea urchins, and promptly hopped back to safety in the rickety boat (the boat was actually quite good and speedy considering the size of the motor, we didn't have any trouble with it at all).
At Bamboo Island, John and I frolicked in the waves, like whales (occasionally breaching and blowing water into the air) and ran into some lovely Khmer people we had met the night before. The frolicking was the best part of my day. I much preferred to frolic in water than to lurch, roll and pitch on the water. We had another quick snorkelling stop off on the way back to Sihonoukville and John tried his hand at fishing (which was really just an exercise in fish feeding, resulting in him covering the white hotel towel in squid ink and making himself smell like fish BAHAHAHAH). John is not the new Rex Hunt.
We resemble piglets at the moment though, with very pink skin and curly tails.
Tomorrow, the piglets are heading back to Phnom Penh. This little piglet will be crying (yom) all the way home.
Oink.
Shanngelina
John in Cambodia.
From Phnom Penh we headed to Sihanoukville. Luckily we paid the extra $3 for the $9 express bus, and it only took 5 1/2hours to travel the 250km to Sihanoukville.
We got here, and with nowhere to stay, had a look at the trusty Lonely Planet, no help there... So we enlisted the services of a tuktuk driver. His name was Doctor Raymond. Doc took us to his favourite guesthouse (the one he gets a commission from), the Markara Guesthouse, right on the beach at Occhueatal. We grabbed a double room with cold water only, and two fans for $9 a night.. although we're not really pinching pennies, everyone loves a bargain.
Shannon wanted to hit the sand, so we walked down to the 999 Bar and Bungalow, pulled up a seat and had a few beers. A few touts came past, including one selling lobster. We bought 10 lobsters for $4, absolutely delicious and fresh, and drank some more beers. A lady named Mom came past, selling sarongs. After telling Mom we had no sarongs, she offered to give Shannon the "threading of a lifetime". Basically its a form of hair removal for the legs using only string. As you can imagine while Shannon was having her minute leg hairs pulled out by string, and chatting with Mom (who is the nicest woman EVER, better than my own mother) I drank more beers.
I turned around as there were some local Cambodians at the table behind us making a ruccus. I waved and said "Sues day" which is hello. Because of my elite Cambodian language skills, the ringleader, a man named Vun asked if I would like to drink some wine with them.
So I ditched Shannon and Mom, and took two steps to their table, and sat down. Vun introduced me to his family... his wife, his uncle and aunt, his sister in law, and her husband. He told me that his uncle was visiting from France and they were down from Phnom Penh to celebrate. As I love a tipple, and a yarn, I decided to settle in for the evening.
Turns out the wine he was drinking, was actually Hennessey VSOP. Partial to a good cognac, my christmas's had all come at once. We sat there talking the usual shit making sure that we never experienced "Chui Ah" (empty glass), when Shannon joined us. We all sat around a table, eating barbequed fish, mango with some kind of salty paste, and drinking cognac and beer, for a while, all talking about everyday life, Vun's recent wedding, Claude's (Vuns uncle from France) recent trip back to Cambodia, only the 4th in 30 years and they helped us with learning more Khmer. Many more "Chui Moi" (cheers) were done, the Cambodians we have found love to Cheers. They will even Cheers a cheersing. And so on.
We drunk, got drunk, and when I put my head through the wooden part of the chair, and broke it, I knew it was time to head home. Not just that, but we had been drinking non-stop for 6 hours, in the sun, and had to get up at 7am to catch the boat to BAMBOO ISLAND to see pandas*.
At about 1am, Shannon and I both woke up to very pasty mouths, and a hot, hot bedroom. No worries, we'll just grab water.
WRONG DUMBASS TRY AGAIN.
No water. Thats ok, we'll go get some from reception. Shut. Can't drink from the tap, the water is not potable. Ask the security guard... can't speak english. So John grabs a shirt, jumps on the back of a seedy guys motorbike and says "STORE". Off we go, from Occheutal Beach, towards the Sihanoukville CBD. Seedy guy says "Chicken farm, chicken farm" whilst taking one hand off his handlebars to point at a casino. Tired, drunk, and thirsty I tell him to shush and we pull up beside a stall.
I get 6 Litres of drinking water for $2, and we head back. Halfway back a massive dog runs out of a vacant lot and towards the moto. The dog is gaining on us, so I tell the seedy guy to step on it. We finally get back to the hotel where Shannon meets me and sculls 2 L of water.
Woke up this morning, seedy and pasty and ready to go out into the Gulf of Thailand. We get to the boat.. which can only be described as .. a people smuggling vessel. As Cambodia is a standout for human trafficking, I wonder where we will end up. But all is ok and we end up chugging out to a small island, where they throw us some snorkels, a coral reef, say "watch out for urchins" and everyone jumps in. The sea was a bit rough, and being seedy, tired and lazy I jumped in and then pretty much back onto the boat. From there we headed to Bamboo Island. At Bamboo Island we lazed, drank some beer, swam and relaxed while our crew made us a delicious barbeque fish lunch. We ate that and then headed back towards the mainland, stopping once to snorkel and fish.
As we were in the open sea, most people will assume a small boat (15 passengers) will experience some kind of motion. There were these whingy English girls who were like:
"Oh me, oh my, I do say this water is awful rough. Jeeves, can you make the water calm? Pip pip hoorah"
We got back to the beach, disembarked, and went down to Bar RU for a beer, where Shannon met Mom. We had some more lobster (the same woman as yesterday sold us 16 for $4 today) and chatted to Mom. Some kids came up and had a chat, we gave them some lobster (everybody had matching towels), as well as a black cat that jumped in my lap, meowed and laid down. I fed the cat some lobster and we chilled out, talking to Mom and the kids. Haha.
Eventually we made tracks back here to our hotel, where we are writing this blog right now. This one here. That's the one.
Tomorrow morning back to Phnom Penh at 8am.. and then Friday we have another appointment at the Phnom Penh rubbish dump.
That's the haps.
Johncrest out.
* there were no pandas at bamboo island. there was also no bamboo. weird.
We got here, and with nowhere to stay, had a look at the trusty Lonely Planet, no help there... So we enlisted the services of a tuktuk driver. His name was Doctor Raymond. Doc took us to his favourite guesthouse (the one he gets a commission from), the Markara Guesthouse, right on the beach at Occhueatal. We grabbed a double room with cold water only, and two fans for $9 a night.. although we're not really pinching pennies, everyone loves a bargain.
Shannon wanted to hit the sand, so we walked down to the 999 Bar and Bungalow, pulled up a seat and had a few beers. A few touts came past, including one selling lobster. We bought 10 lobsters for $4, absolutely delicious and fresh, and drank some more beers. A lady named Mom came past, selling sarongs. After telling Mom we had no sarongs, she offered to give Shannon the "threading of a lifetime". Basically its a form of hair removal for the legs using only string. As you can imagine while Shannon was having her minute leg hairs pulled out by string, and chatting with Mom (who is the nicest woman EVER, better than my own mother) I drank more beers.
I turned around as there were some local Cambodians at the table behind us making a ruccus. I waved and said "Sues day" which is hello. Because of my elite Cambodian language skills, the ringleader, a man named Vun asked if I would like to drink some wine with them.
So I ditched Shannon and Mom, and took two steps to their table, and sat down. Vun introduced me to his family... his wife, his uncle and aunt, his sister in law, and her husband. He told me that his uncle was visiting from France and they were down from Phnom Penh to celebrate. As I love a tipple, and a yarn, I decided to settle in for the evening.
Turns out the wine he was drinking, was actually Hennessey VSOP. Partial to a good cognac, my christmas's had all come at once. We sat there talking the usual shit making sure that we never experienced "Chui Ah" (empty glass), when Shannon joined us. We all sat around a table, eating barbequed fish, mango with some kind of salty paste, and drinking cognac and beer, for a while, all talking about everyday life, Vun's recent wedding, Claude's (Vuns uncle from France) recent trip back to Cambodia, only the 4th in 30 years and they helped us with learning more Khmer. Many more "Chui Moi" (cheers) were done, the Cambodians we have found love to Cheers. They will even Cheers a cheersing. And so on.
We drunk, got drunk, and when I put my head through the wooden part of the chair, and broke it, I knew it was time to head home. Not just that, but we had been drinking non-stop for 6 hours, in the sun, and had to get up at 7am to catch the boat to BAMBOO ISLAND to see pandas*.
At about 1am, Shannon and I both woke up to very pasty mouths, and a hot, hot bedroom. No worries, we'll just grab water.
WRONG DUMBASS TRY AGAIN.
No water. Thats ok, we'll go get some from reception. Shut. Can't drink from the tap, the water is not potable. Ask the security guard... can't speak english. So John grabs a shirt, jumps on the back of a seedy guys motorbike and says "STORE". Off we go, from Occheutal Beach, towards the Sihanoukville CBD. Seedy guy says "Chicken farm, chicken farm" whilst taking one hand off his handlebars to point at a casino. Tired, drunk, and thirsty I tell him to shush and we pull up beside a stall.
I get 6 Litres of drinking water for $2, and we head back. Halfway back a massive dog runs out of a vacant lot and towards the moto. The dog is gaining on us, so I tell the seedy guy to step on it. We finally get back to the hotel where Shannon meets me and sculls 2 L of water.
Woke up this morning, seedy and pasty and ready to go out into the Gulf of Thailand. We get to the boat.. which can only be described as .. a people smuggling vessel. As Cambodia is a standout for human trafficking, I wonder where we will end up. But all is ok and we end up chugging out to a small island, where they throw us some snorkels, a coral reef, say "watch out for urchins" and everyone jumps in. The sea was a bit rough, and being seedy, tired and lazy I jumped in and then pretty much back onto the boat. From there we headed to Bamboo Island. At Bamboo Island we lazed, drank some beer, swam and relaxed while our crew made us a delicious barbeque fish lunch. We ate that and then headed back towards the mainland, stopping once to snorkel and fish.
As we were in the open sea, most people will assume a small boat (15 passengers) will experience some kind of motion. There were these whingy English girls who were like:
"Oh me, oh my, I do say this water is awful rough. Jeeves, can you make the water calm? Pip pip hoorah"
We got back to the beach, disembarked, and went down to Bar RU for a beer, where Shannon met Mom. We had some more lobster (the same woman as yesterday sold us 16 for $4 today) and chatted to Mom. Some kids came up and had a chat, we gave them some lobster (everybody had matching towels), as well as a black cat that jumped in my lap, meowed and laid down. I fed the cat some lobster and we chilled out, talking to Mom and the kids. Haha.
Eventually we made tracks back here to our hotel, where we are writing this blog right now. This one here. That's the one.
Tomorrow morning back to Phnom Penh at 8am.. and then Friday we have another appointment at the Phnom Penh rubbish dump.
That's the haps.
Johncrest out.
* there were no pandas at bamboo island. there was also no bamboo. weird.
Monday 9 March 2009
A Little Khmer Goes a Long Way...
Siousdey!
So yesterday was Sunday and also International Women's Day, this meant mainly one thing - everything was shut - except the pubs (Encouraging us to drink? I think so). We had grand plans to go and visit an orphanage in Siem Reap, but it turns out the woman who runs it had taken all the kids to Snooky for the long weekend. That's OK, we'll go and visit the free silk farm instead - INCORRECT, it was shut. So, all that was left was to grab some beer from a shop around the corner, sit out the front of our guesthouse and drink it. And we did. All day.
It was so fucking hot and there was a wedding that had been going on for the past two days next door (Khmer weddings start just before dawn and finish up around midnight, they generally run for about three days straight) so we had been woken up quite early and were feeling a bit lazy. We sat around and chatted to Ly (who turned out to be the owner of MotherHome). He was a really nice Khmer gentleman who asked us if we wouldn't mind proofreading his menu for the new restaurant and bar he was putting in. As we were just sitting there, drinking beer and composing a couple of Haiku's, we didn't mind at all (as you can tell from the writing of Haiku's, we were a little on the bored side).
Haiku Number One - Entitled Chicken
Chicken's chicken's all around;
Not a one to eat;
Achoo! Bird Flu! Bless.
More to come later, I know, you're riveted. That was one of mine, a master wordsmith if I do say so myself.
Then it was time for dinner! Pit came and picked us up from MotheHome at about 6.45pm. We had bought a slab of coke cans earlier to bring as a gift (for $9.00), when he saw the slab, he nearly fell over. Hilarious. Some American man walking past the tuk tuk thought it wise to make comment, "You sure got a lot of coke there mate!" Well spotted American. Why are you using Australian colloquialism?
We headed out of town on the road to Angkor Wat, and just after all the ritzy hotel's stopped, we turned down a little dirt track (a little bit more narrow than the one our guesthouse was on). At the end of this track was a house, which is where we stopped, Pit and his wife rent one of the rooms in the house. Mrs Pit came out to meet us (she was a bit surprised, because Pit was supposed to call and let her know we were on our way- he forgot :)). She was so lovely and welcoming, they were a little bit shy about their "small room" but it was beautiful. It's true, they do just live in one bedroom (about the size of our bedroom at home), but it it lovely and cosy and they obviously take pride in their home and achievements (on the wall is a photo of Mrs Pit at her graduation from college where she studied English).
There was a little kitchen set up to one side of the room, with a gas burner and some shelves with general ingredients on them. She had laid out so many plates with different dishes for us. We all sat on the floor around the amazing food and tucked in. There was boiled rice, some catfish (which was my favourite, she's going to teach me how to cook them next time), some pork (steamed with some vegetables, like the inside of a pork bun without the bun), another pork dish, some fresh vegetables, and some mango salad. When I thought I couldn't possibly eat anymore, Mrs Pit served up some dessert, coconut milk, corn and tapioca - DELICIOUS.
They also taught us some more Khmer, so I now know how to say the following;
Hello
Greetings
Please
Thank you
No Thank you (this has helped us immensely when not wanting to buy things, it's absolute magic!)
Bye
Farewell
Sorry
Yes
No
On the bus today I also taught myself how to count from 1 - 10 Whoo hoo!
And as suggested above, a little bit of Khmer does go a long way. They really appreciate you taking the time out to learn some of their language. A lot of the sounds are similar to Japanese, so if you know some Japanese sounds, Khmer is not too difficult (I'm no expert though).
We headed back to Phnom Pehn today, the 5 hour express bus, which took 7 and a half hours! This trip we had seriously pimping seats! We must have booked early because we had seats 1 & 2, right up the front of the bus, leather (all the other seats were the normal Brisbane City Council Bus material in the blue pattern), green, with a leopard strip down the middle. Like I said - pimping. So we donned our Fedora's, white tailored suit jackets and bling to the hilt and sat down, stretching our legs out in front of us with all the extra leg room. Once again, spoilt.
It was a fairly uneventful trip sleep, look out the window, sleep, talk shit, look out the window, sleep, watch a bit of the Kung Fu movie in Khmer (I may be able to count to 10, but I definitely couldn't understand what the hell was going on in that movie). I now have a lot of respect for the bus drivers who have to navigate the National Highway, the roads are really fucking bad. So bad in in fact that as we approached Phnom Penh - I saw a dead body for the first time.
We must have arrived just after the accident happened. A woman had been riding her moto (we couldn't work out exactly what had transpired), but as we drove past, she was unfortunately dead, still in the middle of the road. A tuk tuk driver was covering her body with some leafy branches from a nearby tree, but as we drove around, her legs were splayed and her helmet was poking out the top of the leaves. It was very sad and a very real reminder that we are not here forever and we have no choice in how we leave the world.
Life unfortunately does have to go on and our bus trudged along as though nothing had happened (I'm not sure if our eyes can be stapled open anymore, but they were).
We got back to Phnom Penh and found a new Guesthouse for just $15, (instead of $17 at the Paragon) the room is slightly bigger and the bathroom laid out a little better (They don't have proper showers here, it's more of a shower head sticking straight out of the bathroom wall, without a shower curtain or glass. When you shower, the whole bathroom gets covered in water, if the toilet is sitting in an annoying spot, the seat and toilet paper gets saturated. Annoying, but definitely live able).
After dumping our bags we headed to trusty old Bogie and Bacall's to organise another Dump Run on Friday. Tomorrow though, it's off to Sihanoukville for two days, to chill out by the beach, relax and reflect on our adventures. BOOYA!
Ley Huey!
Shanngelina
So yesterday was Sunday and also International Women's Day, this meant mainly one thing - everything was shut - except the pubs (Encouraging us to drink? I think so). We had grand plans to go and visit an orphanage in Siem Reap, but it turns out the woman who runs it had taken all the kids to Snooky for the long weekend. That's OK, we'll go and visit the free silk farm instead - INCORRECT, it was shut. So, all that was left was to grab some beer from a shop around the corner, sit out the front of our guesthouse and drink it. And we did. All day.
It was so fucking hot and there was a wedding that had been going on for the past two days next door (Khmer weddings start just before dawn and finish up around midnight, they generally run for about three days straight) so we had been woken up quite early and were feeling a bit lazy. We sat around and chatted to Ly (who turned out to be the owner of MotherHome). He was a really nice Khmer gentleman who asked us if we wouldn't mind proofreading his menu for the new restaurant and bar he was putting in. As we were just sitting there, drinking beer and composing a couple of Haiku's, we didn't mind at all (as you can tell from the writing of Haiku's, we were a little on the bored side).
Haiku Number One - Entitled Chicken
Chicken's chicken's all around;
Not a one to eat;
Achoo! Bird Flu! Bless.
More to come later, I know, you're riveted. That was one of mine, a master wordsmith if I do say so myself.
Then it was time for dinner! Pit came and picked us up from MotheHome at about 6.45pm. We had bought a slab of coke cans earlier to bring as a gift (for $9.00), when he saw the slab, he nearly fell over. Hilarious. Some American man walking past the tuk tuk thought it wise to make comment, "You sure got a lot of coke there mate!" Well spotted American. Why are you using Australian colloquialism?
We headed out of town on the road to Angkor Wat, and just after all the ritzy hotel's stopped, we turned down a little dirt track (a little bit more narrow than the one our guesthouse was on). At the end of this track was a house, which is where we stopped, Pit and his wife rent one of the rooms in the house. Mrs Pit came out to meet us (she was a bit surprised, because Pit was supposed to call and let her know we were on our way- he forgot :)). She was so lovely and welcoming, they were a little bit shy about their "small room" but it was beautiful. It's true, they do just live in one bedroom (about the size of our bedroom at home), but it it lovely and cosy and they obviously take pride in their home and achievements (on the wall is a photo of Mrs Pit at her graduation from college where she studied English).
There was a little kitchen set up to one side of the room, with a gas burner and some shelves with general ingredients on them. She had laid out so many plates with different dishes for us. We all sat on the floor around the amazing food and tucked in. There was boiled rice, some catfish (which was my favourite, she's going to teach me how to cook them next time), some pork (steamed with some vegetables, like the inside of a pork bun without the bun), another pork dish, some fresh vegetables, and some mango salad. When I thought I couldn't possibly eat anymore, Mrs Pit served up some dessert, coconut milk, corn and tapioca - DELICIOUS.
They also taught us some more Khmer, so I now know how to say the following;
Hello
Greetings
Please
Thank you
No Thank you (this has helped us immensely when not wanting to buy things, it's absolute magic!)
Bye
Farewell
Sorry
Yes
No
On the bus today I also taught myself how to count from 1 - 10 Whoo hoo!
And as suggested above, a little bit of Khmer does go a long way. They really appreciate you taking the time out to learn some of their language. A lot of the sounds are similar to Japanese, so if you know some Japanese sounds, Khmer is not too difficult (I'm no expert though).
We headed back to Phnom Pehn today, the 5 hour express bus, which took 7 and a half hours! This trip we had seriously pimping seats! We must have booked early because we had seats 1 & 2, right up the front of the bus, leather (all the other seats were the normal Brisbane City Council Bus material in the blue pattern), green, with a leopard strip down the middle. Like I said - pimping. So we donned our Fedora's, white tailored suit jackets and bling to the hilt and sat down, stretching our legs out in front of us with all the extra leg room. Once again, spoilt.
It was a fairly uneventful trip sleep, look out the window, sleep, talk shit, look out the window, sleep, watch a bit of the Kung Fu movie in Khmer (I may be able to count to 10, but I definitely couldn't understand what the hell was going on in that movie). I now have a lot of respect for the bus drivers who have to navigate the National Highway, the roads are really fucking bad. So bad in in fact that as we approached Phnom Penh - I saw a dead body for the first time.
We must have arrived just after the accident happened. A woman had been riding her moto (we couldn't work out exactly what had transpired), but as we drove past, she was unfortunately dead, still in the middle of the road. A tuk tuk driver was covering her body with some leafy branches from a nearby tree, but as we drove around, her legs were splayed and her helmet was poking out the top of the leaves. It was very sad and a very real reminder that we are not here forever and we have no choice in how we leave the world.
Life unfortunately does have to go on and our bus trudged along as though nothing had happened (I'm not sure if our eyes can be stapled open anymore, but they were).
We got back to Phnom Penh and found a new Guesthouse for just $15, (instead of $17 at the Paragon) the room is slightly bigger and the bathroom laid out a little better (They don't have proper showers here, it's more of a shower head sticking straight out of the bathroom wall, without a shower curtain or glass. When you shower, the whole bathroom gets covered in water, if the toilet is sitting in an annoying spot, the seat and toilet paper gets saturated. Annoying, but definitely live able).
After dumping our bags we headed to trusty old Bogie and Bacall's to organise another Dump Run on Friday. Tomorrow though, it's off to Sihanoukville for two days, to chill out by the beach, relax and reflect on our adventures. BOOYA!
Ley Huey!
Shanngelina
Your mother has a loose tongue.
Farewell Siem Reap.
Well they say you reap what you sow, and if thats the case, I siem to have misplaced my temple seeds.
Siem Reap was amazing. Angkor Wat, Dead Fish Tower, Dr Fish and Pit, what a rad combination. As I write this, I am sitting in our new guesthouse, the Waterview in Phnom Penh. We took the Paramount Express bus today, 7.5 hrs to find ourselves back here.
Yesterday we had the misfortune of being in Siem Reap for International Womens Day (its a public holiday here) so pretty much everything was shut. We took the opportunity to chill out, relax, went for a leisurely stroll by the Stung Siem Reap (River) and wrote a collection of haiku poems, mainly for shits and giggles.
We waited the afternoon away until we finally met up with Pit, and gave him his present. 23 cans of coca-cola. It would have been 24, but one can fell out on the walk back to our hotel, hit the ground, exploded, and covered me in the delicious beverage we know as COKE.
Pit was floored by the amount of Coke, assuring us it would be more than a months supply. It was a 40minute ride north, through traffic back to Pit's home, which was actually a bedroom in a larger house.
We met his wife, whose name currently escapes me and she welcomed us into their home. She had prepared a feast for us.. consisting of:
Catfish
Steamed Pork Dumpling
Pork Rib Soup
Mango Salad
Rice
and...
Dessert.
The dessert was a mixture of tapioca, coconut milk, and sweet corn. It was absolutely delicious. The catfish was tasty- some of the best fish in my life, the mango salad was again, just amazing... and the soup, to die for.
We stuffed ourselves full and sat there for the next 3 hours chatting away like old friends. Pit's wife is an english teacher and her english is amazing. We chatted about local Khmer tradition, their culture, Khmer politics, and then Mrs Pit started to teach us some Khmer words, to make our stay easier.
We have been dropping these all day, and the Khmer's seem to be lapping it up. It also helps us build more of a rapport, and is paying dividends socially already.
We awoke early to take the 930 bus, and were quite surprised when Ly (The owner of Motherhome, our guesthouse in Siem Reap) gave us $8 off our bill. Yesterday afternoon he asked Shannon and myself to peruse and make suggestions to the menu of the new restaurant he was putting in. Obviously Shannon and I ooze culinary intellect, and we gave him back a revised edition with additions and corrected grammar.
Whilst it was our absolute pleasure to help him with this (he is a top guy) we were by no means expecting a discount (unexpected but appreciated). Ly went out of his way to make sure we were comfortable during our stay, including insisting he drive us to the bus station this morning in his own car (for free), none of this tuktuk shit for us.
It was a pretty uneventul trip (we were given seats 1 and 2 on the Paramount Express). Now for you people who are not in the know I will explain the differences between seats 1 and 2, and all the others.
Regular seat: Fabric covering. 2 air conditioning vents. 40cm seat pitch.
Seats 1 and 2: Green leather with a stripe of leopard print. 6 air conditioning vents. About 200cm seat pitch, enough room for me to lay flat and still have room.
From seat 1, and also seat 2, we had panoramic views of the countryside. We were about 1 hr from Phnom Penh when we suddenly slowed. Turns out a lady had been killed on the highway, fallen off her motorcycle. As our bus drove around the corpse, the locals were covering it (she was laying in the middle of the road) in leaves. Rest in peace lady.
From there a quick cruise into Phnom Penh where our guesthouse tuktuk was not waiting at the bus station. No biggie, we just walked. Down the riverside, through the streets, passing a policeman with a Kalashnikov, and past the Waterview. Although we'd had good experiences at the Paragon, we decided we'd have a look. At the bargain price of $15 per night we have a nice big room, air con, cable tv and a nice bathroom, right on the river.
We have booked our bus for tomorrow morning, for we are heading to Sihanoukville to relax by the beach. S Tac is hoping to get some snorkelling in, I am hoping to get some beers in. We come back Thursday (only 2 days) as on Friday we are heading to the dump again to see our little buddies.
Thats the update, thats the latest, by any rate, I am the greatest.
Rhymoceros John.
Well they say you reap what you sow, and if thats the case, I siem to have misplaced my temple seeds.
Siem Reap was amazing. Angkor Wat, Dead Fish Tower, Dr Fish and Pit, what a rad combination. As I write this, I am sitting in our new guesthouse, the Waterview in Phnom Penh. We took the Paramount Express bus today, 7.5 hrs to find ourselves back here.
Yesterday we had the misfortune of being in Siem Reap for International Womens Day (its a public holiday here) so pretty much everything was shut. We took the opportunity to chill out, relax, went for a leisurely stroll by the Stung Siem Reap (River) and wrote a collection of haiku poems, mainly for shits and giggles.
We waited the afternoon away until we finally met up with Pit, and gave him his present. 23 cans of coca-cola. It would have been 24, but one can fell out on the walk back to our hotel, hit the ground, exploded, and covered me in the delicious beverage we know as COKE.
Pit was floored by the amount of Coke, assuring us it would be more than a months supply. It was a 40minute ride north, through traffic back to Pit's home, which was actually a bedroom in a larger house.
We met his wife, whose name currently escapes me and she welcomed us into their home. She had prepared a feast for us.. consisting of:
Catfish
Steamed Pork Dumpling
Pork Rib Soup
Mango Salad
Rice
and...
Dessert.
The dessert was a mixture of tapioca, coconut milk, and sweet corn. It was absolutely delicious. The catfish was tasty- some of the best fish in my life, the mango salad was again, just amazing... and the soup, to die for.
We stuffed ourselves full and sat there for the next 3 hours chatting away like old friends. Pit's wife is an english teacher and her english is amazing. We chatted about local Khmer tradition, their culture, Khmer politics, and then Mrs Pit started to teach us some Khmer words, to make our stay easier.
We have been dropping these all day, and the Khmer's seem to be lapping it up. It also helps us build more of a rapport, and is paying dividends socially already.
We awoke early to take the 930 bus, and were quite surprised when Ly (The owner of Motherhome, our guesthouse in Siem Reap) gave us $8 off our bill. Yesterday afternoon he asked Shannon and myself to peruse and make suggestions to the menu of the new restaurant he was putting in. Obviously Shannon and I ooze culinary intellect, and we gave him back a revised edition with additions and corrected grammar.
Whilst it was our absolute pleasure to help him with this (he is a top guy) we were by no means expecting a discount (unexpected but appreciated). Ly went out of his way to make sure we were comfortable during our stay, including insisting he drive us to the bus station this morning in his own car (for free), none of this tuktuk shit for us.
It was a pretty uneventul trip (we were given seats 1 and 2 on the Paramount Express). Now for you people who are not in the know I will explain the differences between seats 1 and 2, and all the others.
Regular seat: Fabric covering. 2 air conditioning vents. 40cm seat pitch.
Seats 1 and 2: Green leather with a stripe of leopard print. 6 air conditioning vents. About 200cm seat pitch, enough room for me to lay flat and still have room.
From seat 1, and also seat 2, we had panoramic views of the countryside. We were about 1 hr from Phnom Penh when we suddenly slowed. Turns out a lady had been killed on the highway, fallen off her motorcycle. As our bus drove around the corpse, the locals were covering it (she was laying in the middle of the road) in leaves. Rest in peace lady.
From there a quick cruise into Phnom Penh where our guesthouse tuktuk was not waiting at the bus station. No biggie, we just walked. Down the riverside, through the streets, passing a policeman with a Kalashnikov, and past the Waterview. Although we'd had good experiences at the Paragon, we decided we'd have a look. At the bargain price of $15 per night we have a nice big room, air con, cable tv and a nice bathroom, right on the river.
We have booked our bus for tomorrow morning, for we are heading to Sihanoukville to relax by the beach. S Tac is hoping to get some snorkelling in, I am hoping to get some beers in. We come back Thursday (only 2 days) as on Friday we are heading to the dump again to see our little buddies.
Thats the update, thats the latest, by any rate, I am the greatest.
Rhymoceros John.
Sunday 8 March 2009
BACK TRACKING - Letters from Kampuchea 1st Post
Hello! I forgot to post my first blog on here, so I am doing a back track :)
Are you ready to Time Warp?
Time is fleeting, madness takes its hold...
So it's only 3.30pm Cambodian time (5.30pm Brisbane) on Monday afternoon and we've managed to stay up for about 36 hours now, with only 10 minute power naps to keep us going! Don't worry, the $1.00 beers have helped get us through.
We've gone from Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur and happily spent 8 hours on a Malaysian Airlines flight with a choice of 20 new release movies, tv shows and games - all accessible through a remote control - best thing since sliced bread. We then spent 4 hours in KL airport. There are three main things I noticed most about KL (airport, as I'm not fit to judge the rest of the country yet) 1. the sun didn't rise until about 7.30am 2. It smells. It's a weird sort of smell, like a cross between a cupboard at my nanna's that hasn't been opened since 1940 and urine. 3. They are the proud owner of a bar in the airport called Cheers, where everybody knows your name.
After trying to have a kip in some awesomely designed recliner chairs, it was time to leave for CAMBODIA! Or CAMBOOYA!! as I like to call it. See the clever use of Camb (the first syllable in Cambodia) and BOOYA! As in supremely awesome. I knew you would.
Malaysia Airlines have looked after us fantastically, feeding us and entertaining us at every opportunity. Unfortunately, there was a f*ckstick of a Frenchman on our flight making this strike 2 against French men when traveling abroad (see the first travel blog on Vietnam, namely in Sapa). They are extremely rude (ordering the flight attendant around like a dog, refusing to listen to the obligations of people sitting in the exit rows (thankfully he was moved because I sure didn't trust him to step up to the responsibility of saving me in an emergency!) and then cutting in front of us in the visa line - f*cker (luckily, it was the line for visa's NOT for fighting, or Chutney)).
So we made it to Kampuchea, through the visa line (we had to bribe the customs official US$1 to let us through without a pre arranged passport photo!), then through customs, which consisted of:
Customs Official with Gun: "Anything to declare?"
Us: "No"
Customs Official with a Gun": "Head straight through"
No bag search, no X-ray - nothing. I think John and I must be the luckiest people ever when it comes to customs - touch wood.
We had arranged to be picked up by our hotel - the Flamingo in central Phnom Penh. It's not too bad, comfy, clean, maybe a little bit over priced (which happens when you book before you get here) and FULL of SLEAZY Britich Expats, scamming all over the local girls (but from what I've seen, it seems to everywhere in Phnom Penh). I LOVE what I've seen of South East Asia, I mean LOVE it. The locals are fantastically friendly, the food is AMAZING (just to overuse CAPS here like a 14 year old on MSN... lyk OMG LolzorZ!) and the things to see and do are completely out of anything I would see in my normal world. There's just one thing - I HATE (there's the overuse of CAPS again) the underbelly and seediness of the older male expat community. They are vile. Like Kyle Sandilands - on crack.
Unfortunately that comes with 3rd world and developing economies, even developed economies if you look in the right places in Australia. So I'm going to continue to love South East Asia like it's my home away from home. With cheap beer & food, rich & proud culture, and interesting people - like Kim - the owner of The Flamingo who we met this afternoon.
We're heading to some touristy places tomorrow, the Killing Fields, S21, some pagoda's and the Royal Palace and Elephant rides. The day after, it's off to see the RIEL (see my pun there? No? Look it up) Kampuchea with our new friend Daka.
Peace, Love and Rainbow's.
Shanngelina.
Are you ready to Time Warp?
Time is fleeting, madness takes its hold...
So it's only 3.30pm Cambodian time (5.30pm Brisbane) on Monday afternoon and we've managed to stay up for about 36 hours now, with only 10 minute power naps to keep us going! Don't worry, the $1.00 beers have helped get us through.
We've gone from Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur and happily spent 8 hours on a Malaysian Airlines flight with a choice of 20 new release movies, tv shows and games - all accessible through a remote control - best thing since sliced bread. We then spent 4 hours in KL airport. There are three main things I noticed most about KL (airport, as I'm not fit to judge the rest of the country yet) 1. the sun didn't rise until about 7.30am 2. It smells. It's a weird sort of smell, like a cross between a cupboard at my nanna's that hasn't been opened since 1940 and urine. 3. They are the proud owner of a bar in the airport called Cheers, where everybody knows your name.
After trying to have a kip in some awesomely designed recliner chairs, it was time to leave for CAMBODIA! Or CAMBOOYA!! as I like to call it. See the clever use of Camb (the first syllable in Cambodia) and BOOYA! As in supremely awesome. I knew you would.
Malaysia Airlines have looked after us fantastically, feeding us and entertaining us at every opportunity. Unfortunately, there was a f*ckstick of a Frenchman on our flight making this strike 2 against French men when traveling abroad (see the first travel blog on Vietnam, namely in Sapa). They are extremely rude (ordering the flight attendant around like a dog, refusing to listen to the obligations of people sitting in the exit rows (thankfully he was moved because I sure didn't trust him to step up to the responsibility of saving me in an emergency!) and then cutting in front of us in the visa line - f*cker (luckily, it was the line for visa's NOT for fighting, or Chutney)).
So we made it to Kampuchea, through the visa line (we had to bribe the customs official US$1 to let us through without a pre arranged passport photo!), then through customs, which consisted of:
Customs Official with Gun: "Anything to declare?"
Us: "No"
Customs Official with a Gun": "Head straight through"
No bag search, no X-ray - nothing. I think John and I must be the luckiest people ever when it comes to customs - touch wood.
We had arranged to be picked up by our hotel - the Flamingo in central Phnom Penh. It's not too bad, comfy, clean, maybe a little bit over priced (which happens when you book before you get here) and FULL of SLEAZY Britich Expats, scamming all over the local girls (but from what I've seen, it seems to everywhere in Phnom Penh). I LOVE what I've seen of South East Asia, I mean LOVE it. The locals are fantastically friendly, the food is AMAZING (just to overuse CAPS here like a 14 year old on MSN... lyk OMG LolzorZ!) and the things to see and do are completely out of anything I would see in my normal world. There's just one thing - I HATE (there's the overuse of CAPS again) the underbelly and seediness of the older male expat community. They are vile. Like Kyle Sandilands - on crack.
Unfortunately that comes with 3rd world and developing economies, even developed economies if you look in the right places in Australia. So I'm going to continue to love South East Asia like it's my home away from home. With cheap beer & food, rich & proud culture, and interesting people - like Kim - the owner of The Flamingo who we met this afternoon.
We're heading to some touristy places tomorrow, the Killing Fields, S21, some pagoda's and the Royal Palace and Elephant rides. The day after, it's off to see the RIEL (see my pun there? No? Look it up) Kampuchea with our new friend Daka.
Peace, Love and Rainbow's.
Shanngelina.
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