A new day

When you want to marry a girl in Cambodia first you must take her and get your birth dates checked for compatibility. If you fail to pass this astrological test you should pass up the marriage and move on (although I have discovered not all Cambodians do this). If you pass the test you are permitted to marry. First the male must pay the bride to be’s parents about $4000 US, which can take even those with a decent income about 7 years to save (so as soon as you start earning you start saving with the hopes of finding the perfect match). The bride’s family then uses this money for the wedding, an extravagant celebration. We have seen so many weddings going on since arriving in Cambodia and my friend, Sarath gets married here in a couple of weeks also. 

We rented a moto again a couple of days ago. I had read that you have to have a Cambodian drivers licence to ride here now. But when we rented we asked the guy and he said no, and that an NZ one was ok. So we hit the road. About 2 minutes later we hit the first of three police checks of the afternoon. In his limited English the policeman demanded a bribe of $10 and showed up a booklet which says Cambodian or International licences. Spike, being one not so keen on bribes, told the cops that he had been here before and ridden and was not paying a bribe. After they were frustrated enough they finally told us to go. The upside to all this was that at the following police stops we could say we had been stopped already and paid the money (as we knew the amount being demanded) and luckily enough they didn’t want to fight and let us pass. I wondered why I didn’t see many foreigners on motos. And the ones we did see today at check points had their money out. Makes the cheap $5 for 24 hour rental a bit more expensive when you add on the bribes. 

Crusing

Chilling out

After cruising around, some great beaches and off roading on our way back through downtown on a six lane road (three/three) a girls cap fell off from a moto in front of us. Without thinking Spike put out his foot towards the ground, to which the hat got stuck (amazingly, at about 30kms per hour) and he lifted it up as we rode past the girls and they grabbed it off his foot. Needless to say there were a lot of impressed people and a few claps and thumbs up. The girls (and us) were cracking up too.

The next day we headed back to pick up the moto to find the boss had taken it (complete with all our gas!). After a lot of arguing and wasted time (and anger) the bike was returned. Empty. After more anger we took off to the markets. Upon return we were reimbursed $1 for the gas we put it. A disappointing experience. As with any experience where we get ripped off solely for being white. 

The afternoon continued with more rip offs. An afternoon beach massage and an overcharged/taken advantage of situation again.

I forgot to mention. The power went off everywhere at about 2pm yesterday and came on at some hour during the night. The hostel used it’s generator to power their empty restaurant, while we sweated, fanless in the room.

Then this morning I logged on to find that my cat (which is really mums cat, as it has lived with her for the last 6 years) was hit by a car. 

Off to Phnom Phen today. A new city and a fresh slate.

100 days!

Can you believe it? 100 days of travelling. There is no need to summarise my thoughts to date, as I am pretty sure it obvious that all is well and I really love South East Asia so far.

Every guesthouse you stay in South East Asia has its funny little things. For example, in Kampot the toilet (western style) was on a raised platform, like the Asian ones. But with the western toilet this meant there was pretty much nowhere to put your feet. The bedroom part was also tiled halfway up the walls, like you would do in a bathroom. Here, in Sihanokville the shower head has to holder, so you have to hold it while you try and shower. There always seems to be funny little design flaws that make you wonder what they were thinking.

Spike at Kep beach

We meet these three in Kampot, a guy from Canada, a British chick and an older British guy (Keith Richards younger brother, we swear by it). They were a right laugh and the day after we met them when we were on a tour and had stopped at Kep beach they rocked up on motos yelling “hey kiwis”. They were on the way to do a boarder run to Vietnam to drop off the Canadian, but were having too much fun that his verdict was he would end up back in Kampot after all.

Hard at work gathering salt

The rest of the tour involved a trip to the salt fields (where they are only paid $4USD), a fishing village (where they children were taking photos of us with our blonde hair, a right crack up), a pepper plantation (where we brought some of the world famous pepper and ate a hard fruit that kind of tasted like a fejoa) and some caves at a monastery (were monk boys showed us around the caves, told us facts and a bat pooed on me). Some more interesting facts I though worth noting were that a cow costs 500USD (so you tend to be doing ok to buy a cow), the pepper plantation used to be a killing field, four people is a very small family for Cambodia – most have more like 8 children, there are not many monkeys around Kampot as the Vietnamese used to buy them and eat their brains and the weather means that unlike most rice producing countries Cambodia can only harvest one crop per year due to the weather. It was a fact filled day. I also decided that I am not a fan of the sugar cane drink they have here, it is too sweet. And coming from me I feel that is really something.

Me chomping down on a green mango

Fishing village

Spike with the monks checking out a monkey

The night before that we has been on a ‘sunset river tour’ where we only half saw the sunset because it was cloudy, we were an hour late leaving because of some Cambodians and the boat got stuck, so Spike got out to push (I think pushing vehicles might become a strength of his in South East Asia). We got to see a lot of villages along the river though and it was a nice relaxing way to spend the evening. Much better than the chicken bone feed Spike had and the power cut at dinner the evening before.

On the trip across from Kampot the driver stopped for some lunch where I had a few more neat children experiences(where they battle curiosity with being a bit scared) and we saw one of the most packed vans and tuk tuks I have seen to date. The van had people packed to the ceiling (and as normal, on it) and was filled with fruit, veges and animals too I think. We noticed the tuk tuk as the children started yelling out hello to us (as they regularly do). There was about 10 kids all around 5-8 years old packed in one tuk tuk, happy as larry. They had to spend 30 seconds moving around every time they stopped to pick up another kid to go back to school after lunch.

I have noticed how there are no animal rights here (I know, it sounds all hippy on it). But they pack trailers with fully grown live pigs to three or four pigs high and tie live chickens in bunches of about 5 and pack them as high as the trucks will allow. It makes me happy to say I am vegetarian. It would shock most people quiet a lot though I imagine. It is one hell of a sight too. I have no idea how they get the pigs in packed so high.

I haven’t report on my injury status in a while; I think that is because it is just become part of my daily life. At the moment I am scrapped up from slipping down a deck (my ankle is damn sore) and I am well and truely experiencing lovely purple mosquito bites. I am addicted to insect repellent (well I am trying!) and finally started taking malaria tablets. 

Me and a sunset in Sihanokville

Spike and I enjoyng a cold one

Now I am chilling out in SihanokVille. It is a beachside town with a lot of tourists and lots of children selling things. It is nice though. Great place to relax and catch up with yourself and buy all sorts of ‘treats’ from the seaside restaurants, happy shake anyone? The sellers on the beach are really pushy. But the children selling fruit and bracelets etc are really quiet happy if you simply engage them in decent conversation. They tell you they go to school in the evenings, but it hard to image that when they are working a 12 hour day they are really going to school. Coupled with the fact that I haven’t found on yet who can tell me for how many hours they go to school or what they learn (they just change the subject). Most of them are around 12-15 years old.

Yesterday when we arrived I was absolutely starving so we headed to the beach for some food. After we were done some children came up and asked if we were finished and when informed that we were they proceeded to fight over the leftovers. It was something I hadn’t had happen before. There wasn’t a lot, just a few veges and some steamed rice. 

Yesterday I woke up and went to check my emails to discover about the Earthquakes in Christchurch, no more than 30 minutes after it happened. It is always a shock when there is news like that from home (when we don’t blink an eye to hearing there is fire on the boarder to Thailand, not very far from here at all). My thoughts are with those at home.

One for the road

The crazy trip down from Siem Reap to Kampot was made all the more pleasant by constant use of the bus’s horn. It seems that again here the horn is used constantly to warn motos and cars of the oncoming (at great speed) of the bus. We were told there was a change of bus in Phenom Phen, with a 20 minute wait (which turned out to be 2.5 hours). We ended up getting on exactly the same bus we had come from Siem Reap on (we knew this because we had been assigned the same seats – one with a broken back which didn’t recline). Where the bus had gone for those couple of hours who knows.

There is a road sign they have here which I am yet to figure out the meaning of. It has one straight arrow (pointing up) and one swiggly arrow. I would assume this was straight road and windy road respectively. However these arrows are side by side on a sign which also has a cross out through the middle (so the road is neither straight nor windy???). Another sign I really like is the no horn one (picture of a horn crossed out) which is blatantly ignored by all types of motorists. 

Lots of small children in a moto and a crazy amount of people and animals in a van

As anyone who has been to South East Asia knows, the sights you see on motos never fails to both amuse and impress. Motos carrying families of five or more, motos carrying other motos (yes I have really seen a moto on the back of another moto!) and vast amounts of any type of good you could possibly think of.

Cycles are really popular too.  When travelling there seems to be a never ending stream of children and teenagers biking to and from school at all times of the day. I find it really cute when brothers and sisters or interested boys and girls bike along holding hands from one bike to another or both sitting on one bike and pulling the second one along.

I brought some chips the other day (they are much cheaper here than the other countries we have been to so far) and there was a little girl, about six months old who was fascinated by me (as many children are with my white skin and blonde hair) and we played touch my hair and she got really shy and all the adults laughed. I love those moments (more common in places like this where they don’t see many white people). Like playing colouring and kick ball with a two year old boy while Spike was doing some printing at an internet cafe. He would get so shy and run away, but then his fascination would take over and he would come back.

Fish & Ships anyone?

The way they spell things and the use of english here never falls to crack me up. Fish and Ships, E-sern (eastern food), deet fry, marchine, or outside one of the many many wedding we have seen over the weekend “Love lasts through history”. I have no idea what they really mean.

I think I need a break from writing, will continue trying to catch up soon.

Angkor... What?

To farewell Koh Chang we got to meet a baby monkey which had been chilling out next door to our Thai mums hostel. It was so tiny and so cute and playing the puppies. Not something you see every day. 

Arriving in Cambodia on the other hand a different relationship is taken on with dogs. They are not afraid to admit they eat them (not that they don’t have pet ones too though). This piece of information was provided to us by our super chatty guide for the first day of Angkor Wat and the surround temples. 

Me at the border crossing

Before I get to ahead of myself, a few words on the trip from Koh Chang Island (Thailand) to Siem Reap (Cambodia).  This was my second ever over land border crossing. The experience was nothing short of horrible. We were signed with a company to get us all the way from point a to point b, which included them taking our passports and sending us to the border to wait for them. It all worked out fine and legit, but I wasn’t a happy camper. Lots of waiting and mucking around and such.

Siem Reap greeted us with the most flash hotels I have ever seen in one place. I get the felling this city only still exists because of the temples (and the money brought it by the crazy amounts of tourists). The people are still really nice though (no matter how insistent to sell you something).

Day one of the temples we headed to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. We started the day later than recommended as we were too tired from the travel – but shelling out for a guide was totally worth it. He filled the day with facts, stories and jokes. He has been a monk for two years himself so he could share his knowledge on religion and history (as they have to study to be a guide). He thanked us for choosing to come to Cambodia and sharing our money with the people here.

Me getting my future told at Angkor Wat (the guide translated it for me) 

It sounded like someone had shaken a bottle of coke and it had burst, but no, it was our tyre. Once he had recovered from the shock (and Spike had helped push the tuk tuk down the road) our guide took us to some street stalls where we ate deep fried kumera and money was exchanged with another tuk tuk driver to get us to the next temple while the driver went to fix the tyre. I played a counting with two little girls who could speak a little bit of English. There is a big range in what English the children speak here. Some can only speak what they need to know to sell some things and others speak as well as a native speaker would at their age. As it is anywhere is always sad to see the children put out to work (e.g. sell post cards to tourists) who are taught only what they need to know and have no idea what they are really saying. In their minds it is probably just a way to make money so they don’t get in trouble when they go home.

Our flat tyre and one of the little girls I played counting with

Day two was a late start, after Spike logged onto online banking to discover his credit card had been stolen and was being exercised in Bangkok. The bank was great though and all his money has been refunded. He headed way out of town to a couple of the more far away temples Kbal Spean (a 1500m walk into the jungle for ‘underwater’ temples) and Bankeay Srei (impressive amount of detail). We finished off with the land mine museum, which was an interesting experience. To understand that people are still suffering and being injured. Getting a bit further away from Siem Reap was nice. It took about an hour and half to get out to the first temple, so we got to see a bit more of the ‘real’ Cambodia and people going about their normally daily lives. Children biking to and fro m school, trackers transporting wood for homes and people pumping water from wells. 

Sunrise

Day three was an early start (4:30) for the sunrise at Angkor Wat and then straight back to chill out for the day. Our tuk tuk driver from the day before was waiting for us as promised and we were back for breakfast not long after 8. It was really nice, but not overly draw droppingly amazing. The crowds were pretty horrible too, every man for himself – getting in the way of peoples photos and such. Some people even ran round the front – so would have been in like 2000 peoples photos. Luckily we were there early enough to get a good spot, with the help of a boy (aged about 7 or 8) who took us in with his torch telling us all about crocodiles and things (and of course selling coffee) and showing us the good place to be to see the 5 towers.

Whenever we have been out here we encountered so many children. Selling things, asking for things (such as lollies), being friendly or trying to practise their English. There was this one moment which really sticks out in my mind, where these really young children (they looked about 3 years old) in uniform were all walking home in a group and stopped to wave and smile at us and they got so excited when we waved back.  I think I have said before. But it is so these little things that make travelling so much fun. I am hoping to spend some time at an orphanage in Phoem Phen. Not sure what we will do, but it will be nice to help out.

Me at Angkor Wat (just after sunrise)

Spike and I at Bayon temple

The way to one of the temples of day one.

An elephant and a camera...

Feeding time!

Getting her camera stood on by an elephant on her birthday – Tamara has one heck of a story to tell (it wasn’t my camera lost/destroyed this time!). I was bit nervous before we went. You hear all the stories about how terribly the elephants are treating in Asia. But I am pleased to say that the Elephant trekking was awesome. The dudes riding them controlled them 90% by voice. You should have seen the poor elephant (it was mine and Spikes, which we had nicknamed Grumpy because he didn’t want to get in the water) when it stood on Tamaras camera. The guy was yelling at it and this HUGE creature wasn’t sure which way to walkor what to do next. We spent about an hour total on the elephants and 20 mins swimming with them. Even got to ride on their heads. That was a pretty cool experience... but the hair is SO sharp (like a scrubbing brush) that I got a rash on my legs. There was even a drive through, where on the way to the swimming our guide dude ‘pulled in’ to a tree and got a snack out of it for himself. Not something I expected at all. He could get on and off the elephant by climbing down its ear/front leg. It was neat. The elephant would put its leg out so the guy could slide down its ear and walk down its leg. 

We had a feast cooked by our Thai mum (the lady running Tamara and Andrews hostel) for Tamara’s birthday, including a cake with ‘happy birthday Tamara, for our friend’ written on it. So kind of her to arrange that for us and to cook. We made sure to cook all our tours and our moto today through her as the island is struggling at the moment. There are so many bars, hostels and tour agents – and this is the high season (the hardest thing to get it accommodation, everything else is easy). They suffered some bad mud slides two years ago and are still climbing their way out. 

Running out of gas

Today we hired a moto and spent five hours driving from tip to tip of Koh Chang Island. So much fun. We ran out of gas and some nice tourists driving past went and got us some (the gas gage didn’t work). We found neat beaches and I was freaked out a bit by the hills/state of the ‘roads’ at some points. Pot holes, dirt, steep hills and skidding tires. We had planned on only hiring it for three hours, but once on a mission to the end of the island there was no turning back. It was a cool view and we could see a lot of the other islands. There were dogs just chilling out in the middle of the road along the way. Should have stopped for a photo. But you can imagine it. All these other places to chill out and they choose the middle of the road. Hopefully they learn before it’s too late.

And I lost my belly button bar and couldn’t find the ones I brought in Camden... needless to say it grew over a bit and was a mission to get back in (and a bit painful!). Lesson learnt (I hope).

One more thing. I love the sprite here (only followed by this yummy lime one they have) it tastes way more lemony than at home. Delish.

Coconut (and Spike) on a deserted beach we found on the moto trip

This feels like Thailand

I saw one of those awkward couples today. You know the ones where one partner is totally and whole hearted into it and the other is keen, but somewhat indifferent. I always feel really uncomfortable whenever I see that situation. Mainly for the person who is somewhat getting made a fool of. They say travelling breaks most couples.

Anyway, didn’t mean to get so deep on it (it was a situation I witnessed today that made me feel uncomfortable). 

We headed down to Siam square to work on my camera situation. What a bustling centre. It was a bit more what I thought Bangkok would feel like to be honest. Malls, street stalls and lots of people (locals!). Good fun. And I brought a camera.

Is it Sarah proof?

However, it turned out the charger for the camera didn’t work. By the time I figured this out it was almost midnight. And we had an 8am bus/ferry to Koh Chang. Essentially no way to get back to the mall and get a new one. Meaning I had no camera. 

“Spike, we slept through the alarm” the dreaded words. We had missed the bus. Turns out the alarm was set correctly. Just Spike’s iphone was still on Turkey time. Epic fail. 

A quick facebook message to Andrew and Tamara (Spike’s friends who he had met in Mexico/travelled to the US with and we are currently travelling with) was in need. On the upside I got to go back to Siam Square and now have a fully functional waterproof, shockproof, dust proof and freeze proof camera. The real question still remains. Is it Sarah proof?

One day in Bangkok when we were doing some shopping (as you do) and we were at ‘the noodle mans’ having lunch there was a rabbit chilling out on the street with a bell on it’s neck. It was just hanging out hopping around. Pretty friendly. Who knows what it was doing on the street. On the animal note, they have pink eggs here. Not all eggs, but some are pink. If anyone knows anything about these and why they are pink, please feel free to enlighten me.

Now I am on Koh Chang Island... this feels like Thailand to me....

Our bungalow (and Spike)

Lonely beach - Koh Chang Island

Observations

I have done little other than get familiar with the immediate area around the hostel the last few days.  (There lots of ‘real stuff’ around this area: dogs being fed rice, geckos everywhere, young professional females sitting sideways on the back of motorbikes, food offerings jabbed with incense outside houses, monk riding river boats, bird cages lining the alleys, dirt). It has been nice though not doing too much. Includes getting familiar with the street vendors and the beauty therapy. Thai massages, noodle soup and so on. One lesson learnt is don’t get only half an hour of Thai massage. It just doesn’t cut it! I am still finding my feet with bargaining. But don’t take the first price on the street now. Which is progress. I got 30 baht off a bag and 50 of a bikini today. 

It has been a lot warmer than the last couple of days. Still nice though. Apart from at nights in the dorm (possibly contributing to me to hardly sleeping). 

In the complete opposite to South America it is easy to find bra’s to fit and replace those lost of had it. I think I might have to have a big shop before I come home. Sometimes it is the little things.

I have really started to notice that every single male traveller smokes. I am sitting by the river at the hostel (there are not many rooms here) and every guy (7 of them) are all smoking. It is rather disgusting. I mean, I did notice before. But I am still a little surprised that it is everywhere. Just because it is cheap doesn’t mean you should do it. Strange to take up smoking while travelling (as many traveller don’t smoke ‘normally’).

I properly MET my first lady boy today (rather  than saw etc). She came to the hostel as she from Chiengmai  and is a friend of Boy (the 20 year old gay boy who pretty much runs this place (when he isn’t beautifying himself)).  She came in and introduced herself as a famous Chiengmai ladyboy. Made me laugh.

Yesterday I had my first Thai whiskey; Wong Thong (cracks me up). Was strong, but could be a whole heap worse. 

I have also started adjusting to the cold showers. Enough to wash my hair even! Still not a lot of fun in the mornings. But I can cope without wanting to run and stay dirty. Showers appear to be one of the hardest things for me to get used to. Such a girl. 

I have been trying to write more seen as though I can’t take photos yet. Just need to ask where to go to get one and be organised early enough to go (I have been so lazy).

I brought some moisturiser today, once I could weed through the ‘skin whitening’ ones. I knew they existed but it was weird to see them. I spoke with boy about them when I got back to the hostel. He told me how much he likes white skin (even though he is pretty tan). But also how bad he knew it was to use the moisturiser and he would only used it before important photos. I think they have bleach in them...

A super lame attempt at photographing the sunset

The sunset was beautiful tonight. The sun was huge and red and the sky looked amazing over the river. One of the nicer sunsets I have seen. That was until it was it almost set and you could see the smog of the city.

Sawadee

London!

I had a tour guide for the day in London. Harry gave me the whirl wind tour of central London and even took a couple of photos of me. I re saw the London eye, Big Ben and parliament buildings and also Buckingham palace, Hyde park, St Pauls Cathedral, Gallery (for the Van Gough), Globe theatre and Millennium bridge. That night I hit a few beers with the Sam’s at their local (the goat), needless to say I didn’t leave the house until the following afternoon for Camden markets (which, I found pretty cool I must admit, not matter how touristy). While in London I also put into practise subway etiquette until it become pretty second nature (I spent a hell of a lot of transport – it is damn expensive!). Although there was this one guy who just broke the code and stared for like an hour of my one and a half hour trip to Heathrow. It is very very easy to get around London and minus the grey and cold I really really loved London. Although they denied my beer at the supermarket when I went to buy some for Sam and his flat to say thanks for letting me stay.

The inlet at the hostel and the river/canal in the background

Right now I am sitting by the canal in Thailand at the hostel (Phiman waterview). I put off putting on insect repellent (again) and so have a few more bites for the collection. The view is really beautiful though and, even though it is loud at night (mainly due to the water pump) it is a lot more peaceful than the other hostels and guesthouses I checked out today around Khao San Road. Instead I woke this morning to some Thai music from somewhere nearby. It made me smile. Much nicer than waking to beeps and street nose. This is the high season too. So lots of accommodation is booked and the prices are generally higher. And back to cold showers. In addition there is a sort of a inlet thing of water right outside the dorm... I am sure the sewage runs straight into it. Welcome to Asia I guess (hence I am sitting away for the dorm and by the main river/canal).

I saw people having the skin eaten off their feet by little fish at the markets in Camden and tossed up at the time if I would shell out to do it too. In hindsight I am very pleased I didn’t, as they have it here too and I did it today. For those of you who don’t know, you put your feet into tanks full with all these little fish (for anytime from 15-30mins) and they eat away at the dead skin. It kind of feels like strong bubbles. Sort of tickly. I liked it and think it did a good job. Plan on getting it done again in a couple of days (sorry, no camera, so no photos).

I had my first lot of street Pad Thai.... it was so yummy. I also had some fried rice and veges – which was ok, just real spicy (but bland at the same time if that can possibly make any sense). Did a spot of shopping and made sure I stocked up on toilet paper (yay!). I am already sick of the non-flushing, non toilet paper thing.

It is smoggy in Bangkok. You notice it as soon as you can see outside (in my case as soon as I hit the taxi). I was pleased I knew not to pay too much to get to the hostel, as the first taxi offer was 700 (and I ended up paying 300). 

Off topic here: There was this guy from London at the Hostel in Rio who couldn’t use the can opener (In SA they had the old school ones which you lever).