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Hard life?

Talking of hard life from my previous post...I overheard a conversation yesterday of 2 English people. He was saying that he would never ever earn over 800 pounds a month, then rent needs to taken and car insurance and petrol and phone bill! Maybe i will stay in the Middle East forever! I'm a bit behind with my blog! Yeaterday I had a Cambodian cooking lesson. It waa great fun! Each having our own cooking stations we prepared, cooked and ate fresh shrimp spring rolls, Amok fish curry and fried banana with honey and passion fruit sauce. Before we cooked, we had the delightful trip to the daily food market. Fruit everywhere. Chickens hanging. Fish being gutted. Smelly and hot. Lovely! The trip was well worth it though because the food tasted great, if I must say so myself! I am now evwn the owner of a Cambodian cookery book. Watch this space!

Angkor Wat.

Yesterday, the two Irish girls who i met the previous day, had mentioned about a tour they were doing today to Angkor Wat - starting at 4.15am! Of course, I chose not to join them! I couldn't bare a 4am get up! The idea of the early start is to see the sun rising behind the temples. Thankfully, I chose wisely; there was no sun today! Just clouds! After having the breakfast baguette with an omelette inside(!!) I headed to Angkor Wat by tuk tuk. The journey was not long. The first stop was Angkor Wat itself. As I was about to enter, a local man approached me, asking if i wanted him as my guide. I had no intentions of having a guide, let alone one that did not wear a uniform! Anyway, a short conversation later and some skillful bartering, the Cambodian man was mine for the next hour. I learnt that the temple was built in the 1100s and was actually discovered thousands of years later under a sea of forest, by the French. Over the years, it has been restored and is now managed by UNESCO. It was opened up to the public in 1999. Read about it on Google; it's interesting. To construct such a structure, 4500 sandstone slabs were brought in on a daily basis by elephants; hence the holes in the stone where the pulling rope was. Many carvings can be seen in the temple of Buddha. There are also many statues of Buddha inside. Sadly, their heads were stolen at the time of Khemur Rouge and Pol Pots in about 1979. To this day, these have not been replaced. I guess it shows even more history of Cambodia. After about 2 hours, my driver took me to next temple and to the next and....he wanted to take me to more, but i told him not to! Too much sandstone in one day! I headed back to the hotel instead. For the 5 hours that my driver was with me, I paid him the same amount as I paid the guide who was with me for one hour! How is that ever fair? If the driver had stayed with me all day, he still would only have earnt himself £10! It's a tough life in this part of the world...but the people are happy.

Siem Reap. Bar Street.

Slacking...

So theres really a lot to report since yeaterday. I caught a bus to Siem Reap this morning - the journey taking 5 hours on horribly bumpy roads. Made it tho!! This time, I actually checked into the hotel I had originally booked - and it is Japanese! Marvelllous! Everythinf is written in Japanese! Think i missed that when i was booking it! Bonus though - it has running hot water in the room. I have now walked up to the main area of Siem Reap along the river (unclear photo above). The roads here are busy - difficult to cross. My scouting days came in use - i navigated my way here using the Japanese map! This town reminds me very much of Patong Beach and Bangla Road in Thailand. Now about to eat a pork chop!!

Lazy day

Today started at 11am!! I NEVER lie in! Not sure what happened really! The ear plugs must have worked. Went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast/lunch. Sitting there for only an hour, 4 children on separate occasions tried to sell me friendship bands and bags. Street selling happens alot out here as with any other country in Asia. As i got up to leave the restaurant, i was hounded by tuk tuk drivers offering to take me places! I chose to go to the Cambodian boxing stadium. Free entry. Why not?! When i arrived at the studium, i was the only non-local going in!! However, it was slightly different when i reached the top of the steps. I was greeted by "white girl, come here!". Great...people i could hang out with. Two girls from holland. We watched the boxing for a shirt time....i didnt really understand the rules. What i did know however, was that the competitors were ten times fitter than me!! My 6 pack.....its happening!!! One of girls left as she had a bus to catch. Myself and the other girl evetually left to go to Costa.

Rat-tastic

A giant rat has just run past me at the bar!! The quickest I've moved all year!! My feet are now ON the sofa!! Sorry mum!!

Blue skies.....to rain. Its rainy season!!

Genocide Museum

Russian markets!

Lovely jubbly

And i thought my tuk tuk driver was the only one that said it....lovely jubbly! But no...everyone does....drivers, waiters, waitresses....everybody. So today started with a lack of sleep and 7.30 gst up. First stop was the Killing Fields. Very interesting. Very moving. Remains of skeletons still appear from under the soil following a big downpour. Rags and clothes are still strewn across the land, tangled in the trunks of trees which have since grown; 38 years later. The next stop was the Cambodian Genocidal Museum. Again, very interesting. A survivor from S-21 was at the exit of the museum. Photo of me and him above. He lost 4 children in 1975. The prison cells were just brick rooms about 1m by 2m. The National Museum....Im not really sure what this was about really. By this point I was a bit over museums. I actually cannot remember what was even there, as I write this. The Palace was not due to open until 2pm so I had Cambodian food whilst killing some time. Chicken and noodles. There's not a single fat person over here. On the table next to me were 4 girls who were deaf; all with cochliar inplants. I wanted to join in with their signing conversations! We moved on to the palace where, like Thailand, the architectural features of the buildings were amazing. The rain soon began to pour. It pelted down. Sadly we could not go anywhere as the tuk tuk had no side covers. I would not have minded getting wet; it would have made a change from 50 degree kuwait heat! I am now back at the hotel. Glad really....cos if my driver asked one more time what my plans are for tomorrow I may have shoved a 50 dollar note up his nose and told him to jog on. Im sure he's ripping me off. He must have asked me 10 times. And.....i still dont know what to do tomorrow. Lovely jubbly!! The day has flown by. Will head to the restaurant soon for some food....

Hotel rooftop bar!

Colourful Cambodia

I've arrived!! Finally. 15 hours later i have arrived. My Visa (which i realy should have applied for before i left Kuwait) was an issue. They would not accept a 100$ note. So i offered 10kd, which i think the dude pocketed, eventhough he had no clue what it was! I eventually got it back after being told they didnt accept the Kuwaiti currency. Managed to eventually get my Visa done and got a Tuk Tuk to the city centre of Phnom Penh. I had pre-booked a cheap hotel...but the driver told me it was not worth staying at as the lake it overlooked is now a pile of sand! He took me to a different hotel...very noisy with builders outside.....like Kuwait really! And i was looking forward to some good sleep tonight too! Next time...check Visa application and currencies used!!!! Just ordered English style Lac Loc to eat....no idea!!

Ambulance bikes at Doha airport!

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