turning 28!

We woke up in our little wooden room and opened some pressies from home under the safety of our mosquito net then we took motorbikes through some brilliant scenary of long grasses and orange dirt roads.  We crosse3d the river by putting the bikes on a raft and and continued, untill we were stopped by local police who were quickly given some cash for apparently nothing, to a nearby town. The bus to Shonokville stopped and Glen surprised me with a birthday cake from a street seller and some delishous fruit - what a breakfast!!  We relaxed on the beach watching the sun set sipping cocktails and eating barbequed fish, squid and prawns caughet earlier that day.  Once darkness arrived there were fireworks - what more could a girl ask for?

Awimbawey Awimbawey .........

After our first spell in the Mighty Jungle we were hungry for more, so took a bus and boat deeper into the Cardamoms to a small community called Chi Phat where we arranged to do another trek with our own personal guide and cook.

We set off early morning back in a boat, a motor boat for 2 hours then a traditional row boat where the 'driver' stands up and crosses the oars to row, we were right amongst the jungle with kingfishers swooping down into the water to fish . After1 hour in the row boat we docked up, donned our rucksacks and headed into the under growth towards our 'sleeping place' and back in the hammocks, it doesn't take long to get used to the constant and variety of noises - we still didn't see any tigers! although our guide did point to some elephant dung.

We hiked through many different landscapes, with open grasslands and banana plantations as well as the jungle. In the midday sun we arrived at a large waterfall with a huge pool so we took a well deserved swim before heading back to Chi Phat where we had a delicious dinner in the company of a huge lizard.

We have now reached Sihanoukville in great need of a shower! we plan to head to a remote island for Christmas, so hope you all enjoy the snow ;o)

The Cardaman jungle, Koh Kong, Cambodia

The 8 of us set off, Glen and I, a lovely couple from Belgium and our 4 Khmer guides/drivers Sam, Pan, Map and Ot. The motorbikes were great fun and perfect for the 'óff roading' despite that our faces, clothes and eyes got full of red sand. After a couple of hours we left the bikes and headed into the jungle on foot, walking was difficult as so many vines caught our feet and tripped us up. We got to a beautiful waterfall where we saw monkeys running through the water then swam in a warm lake which washed away all the sand. We trekked for another 4 hours taking in the breathtaking scenery and climbing over and under tress and wading through rivers. We saw several gigantic bugs, a snake and crocodile eggs - no tigers, but some footprints!!
Our camp was spectacular 8 hammocks, 2 fires and a few washing lines to dry our drenched clothes. It was right on the edge of the river so we the relaxing sound of running water.
After dinner cooked on the open fire we went for a night walk, it was pitch black apart from our head torches which attracted all kinds of flying bugs. Walking was harder than in the daylight and the wildlife seemed allot noisier. High up in the trees we saw monkeys, there bright yellow eyes looking down on us like burning stars while they screeched to each other.
When we got back to the camp we realised we had been attacked by leaches - there was blood everywhere, in our socks and shoes and our trousers, we had to burn them off. we couldn't stop laughing, it didn't hurt at all but there was so much blood due to there anti-clotting ability.
Once we had debugged we climbed into our hammocks and slept listening to the sounds of the wildlife at night.
As the sun came up we detangled the fish from the nets and cooked them for breakfast, they were so delicious then we made our way out of the forest, some time and a few more leach attacks later we were back on the bikes. We went to a huge waterfall where we jumped off the rocks into deep pools of water and backed in the sun before saying goodbye to our new friends - a fab trip.

Phnom Pehn

We stayed in the capital city for just one day before moving on, paying a heart wrenching visit to the S-21 Toul Sleng museum.

Before Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime this had been a high school but was turned into a prison where people were beaten before being taken to the 'Killing Fields' for execution. The museum has a cloud over it and shows what happened here, displaying hundreds of photographs of inmates, only 7 of which survived. Its a horrowing experience to visit, but a poignant reminder of Camobdias terrible recent past.

Bamboo train

From Siem Reap we took the bus to Battambang for a quick stop, travelling through lots of flat open countryside with small stilit shacks to the sound of the Cambodian Karaoke video they seem to play on all bus journeys.

We chilled out by the river for a while sipping from our fresh and sweet coconuts before grabbing some lunch and jumping on the back of a moped to be taken to the 'bamboo train'.

Slightly different from the trains we were used to on the Trans-Siberian line, this is made up of a 10ft sq bamboo board resting on 2 axles and powered by an old motorbike engine. When a train comes the other way it can be disassembled taken off the tracks and reassembled in a matter of minutes. We met 2 other Bamboo trains on our journey, the etiquette is that the train with the lightest load/fewest people is taken to bits, we had picked up a couple of locals on the way meaning we 'won' on both occasions with our six people (I think counting a baby was maybe cheating a bit).

The ride is bumpy and winding as the train gets up speed along the old tracks like arickety old rollercoaster, taking us past people fishing in small ponds and stopping at a brick factory where the bricks are made using a small hand operated machine before being put into a kiln powered by burning rice, there was a bed in the middle of all the clay where the woman and her children slept.

So we have continued our journey with another train ride, unfortunately this small, quirky version will only be running for another few months as a new line is being put in and bigger trains will on the tracks meaning the bamboo train will soon have to stop.

living on the flood planes in Kampong Khleang

Our driver, Chom, spoke good English so acted as a fab guide all day. He took us to Kampong Khleang in his tuk tuk, the road passed busy markets then padi fields where we saw women working hard. We saw pigs strapped to the back of motorbikes and chickens running wild, the cool breeze was lovely in the scorching heat. Kampong Khleang is a community build on the flood planes of Tole Sap lake so most houses are built on stilts of 6/7 meters, some are permanently floating. We chartered a boat where we saw children paddling there way to school and monks in the temple, also on stilts where we were greeted by hundreds of kids shouting susdai/hello. It's the dry season so the water is low and rice and corn is being planted. On the way back we stopped and ate sticky rice cooked in bamboo rods with coconut, it was delicious. A fascinating experience to see how adaptable some communities are.

On the road again

2 weeks of white sands, blue skies and clear water were brought to an abrupt halt as the monsoon rains arrived signally the end of our 'holiday', so we took a boat and 3 buses to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The city is quite small and has obviously had some money poured into it since the civil war as there are new roads and buildings and there is a laidback atmosphere in the tropical heat, although it doesn't take long to get away from the centre to see the the locals housing in wood and steel sheds on stilts.

After just 1 meal we decided we need to get find out more about the Khmer food so enrolled on a cooking course, there were 2 other couples on the course and after a quick trip to the market (where they were selling deep fried tarantulas!) we spent 3 hours wielding knives and applying liberal dashes of garlic and oyster sauce to our various dishes. At the end of the session we got to sit down and eat the food we had prepared which was delicious (even if I do say so), I'm not sure what it says about us, but the other 2 couples took away doggy bags, we had nothing left to put in them!

Siem Reap is all about the temples, so we hired bicycles and rose before dawn to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, due to the lack of lights and unmarked roads we were still on the bikes when the sun rose but it was a pleasant ride and we got to the temples nice and early, having to stop at one point to allow a school of monkeys to cross the road in front of us . The temples we visited were all impressive, with various styles, sizes and conditions including the famous Ta Prohm which is still almost a part of the jungle.

We are soon heading into the countryside/jungle where many places are lacking electricity nevermind internet connections, so unless we find one before then, Marry Christmas to you all!