Cambodge

Coming from Australia, we don't cross many borders so the Thailand-Cambodia gates at Hat Lek were more daunting than they should have been. Mainly due to the desperation of the Cambodians trying to fill in our forms/get us to come in their taxi to town/carry our bags/blow our noses etc. - in your face. We got through leaving behind a handful of Baht and shared a car for a quick trip into town. I made an even quicker trip back to the border on a motorbike to get some cash - no ATM for the next few hundred Kms we were told on arrival!

Our intention was to eat, sleep and get the early morning ferry to Sihanoukville. On my return from the border pt2, I found the Trip Manager was settling in for a little longer. At the table sat Doug, the Kiwi hotelier and Dave and Dy, a travelling American/Khmer couple. Drinks were being poured, plans hatched. We were set to head up the Koh Kong River to see the Ta Tai falls...

A picnic was packed, plenty of beer and food, the rain subsided and we 'charted' a dinghy for about $10 each for the day. Many waterfalls along the way, through fishing villages and small crops. We're pictured above by one of the little feeder falls into the Koh Kong'.

The happy couple looking a little heat affected in the jungle, rapids behind us. Sitting in the water a few minutes later, I had one of those 'wouldn't want to be anywhere else' moments - they're popping up more and more frequently.

We stopped on the way back, to assist with a stranded mother and her two helpers. Her boat wouldn't start so we let the next village know. Look at the two hands holding the boat - which do you think would get the cheaper tuk-tuk fare? We've learned more and more about what Dave calls 'Foreigner Tax'.

Here's Doug, the hotel owner/boat ballast. He left NZ about 30 years ago and hasn't settled anywhere for long since. He was a bit of a story teller and a great host. For all the time he spent with us, we spent very little money in return. He assured us that a bit of good ANZAC company was the reason for his generosity. (Moto Bar, Koh Kong, Cambodia - if you're in the area!)

Then on to Sihanoukville, the jewel in the Cambodian Coastal Crown! A five hour ocean 'speed boat' complete with pigs in bamboo cages and squat toilet next to the roaring (open) engine rocked us into the port. We spent the next week or so wandering about the place, reading , bike riding, eating and swimming. The beach itself has many bars and restaurants from which you can watch the lightening show as the evening storms roll in. The pesky kids selling their wares annoyed me from the onset, in my ideal world, they should be either at school or out playing, not being used as marketing tools...

This bike must have been left by one of the Mormons we see peddling everywhere.

We rode out to Victory Hill one windy afternoon to find this bar being constructed on the beach. Nobody minded our wandering through the site, nobody asked for our boarding passes either. (My one man audience is getting sick of these jokes and thinks I need a class full of kids to get them out of my system)

Many rides to attempt to maintain some level of fitness.

Many nights dining out to undo any work done in the saddle. A blind massage, a few sad blog attempts and another swim or two signalled to us both that it was time to move on.

We made our way north to Phnom Penh by bus, on arrival we were bombarded by a dozen tuktuk drivers who weren't aware that I prefer more subtle marketing. In an effort to reduce her ecological footprint, Lisa engaged two man-powered cyclos for a dollar a piece and assured me that they knew where we wanted to go. Ninety six minutes later I stepped off the cyclo and handed the driver US$1. We walked to the nearest main road and got a tuktuk to the main strip where we were spoiled for choice.

Phnom Penh was important though we seemed not to take any photos. The Genocide museum and the multitude of beggars gave the city a slightly heavy feeling. We made contact with Dave and Dy, the US/Khmer couple, and their local knowledge gave the city a quite different feel. Nice restaurants, local bars and a bit of her own history helped us better comprehend the complex situation in her country.

After a few days, we headed north up the Mekong on a speedboat to Siem Reap. Despite years working and living in Asia, Dave had never been there so we had some very welcome company. I was a bit crook, so didn't enjoy the journey as much as the others but it was a relatively fast and comfortable way to cover the distance.

The girls chose a guesthouse and I locked myself away for 24hrs. After that, Dy negotiated two tuktuks for next to nothing, while others argued over uncomfortably higher rates and we made our way into Angkor.

The following photos are only a selection of the uncharacteristically large amount that I took. Nearly everywhere we looked was a 'photo worthy scene', here are a few:

The entrance to Angkor Wat itself.

Here, laugh-in-the-face-of-danger Lisa scampered to the top without the safety rail.

I hung on for dear life.

Bayon Temple, my favourite, with the famous faces.

Keeping an eye out for Lara Croft.

This sort of scene was not uncommon, my little camera doesn't do it justice.

We weren't the first to walk this trail, with good reason.

Dy and Lisa at the top of another temple. The scope of this region is incredible, multiple styles and settings as well as rates of decline or repair. Many projects were underway, sponsored by different nations with money to spare.

One of many meals where we ordered another mystery cocktail. It was a chance meeting that was a really successful grouping spread out, on and off, over three weeks. Dave and Dy were very pleasant company and Dy now has a lot of up-to-date information on midwifery in NSW.

It was time for a trip to the beauty parlour so Dy found this boutique hairdresser who maintains that any hairdo shaped using any electric device is not a true haircut. So, for about $1.50, I had quite a trim, complete with my first ever cut-throat razor shave, administered in the dental position.

We left Siem Reap the next day, sharing a taxi to the border with an American. $10 for a three-hour race where nobody ever overtook us and the drivers elbow was constantly poised above his horn while the hand held the wheel and the other dialed on his mobile. He often beeped along to the CamboPop blaring out of the front-left speaker.

We took four days to get to the Lao border through Thailand, stopping in Khorat and Khon Kaen using trains, tuktuks and buses. The trains are my favourites, but only in less than 3hr doses, paying about $1 to get 100Km!

Here, dining on more pad Thai, I'm reading another easy reading novel- the guesthouses are a great source to exchange books.

Watching the sun set over endless rice paddies, it was a nice way to travel, breaking up a relatively small distance into chunks using different methods along the way. Off to Laos...