Cambodia's a funny place. Number plates are optional here it would seem. There are rich men in nice new Landcruisers and poor people on ancient bicycles. Saw a Landcruiser run over a bicycle the other day. It provided a bit of entertainment from my vantage in the restaurant. There are quite a few beggars around. I got tired of giving to them real quick though. Give them a 1 USD and they'll sing your praises, give them 100 or 200 riel and they get shitty and want more so it's easier to ignore them. Had dinner at a place called the Dead Fish Tower the other night. They have crocodiles in a pond, right there in the restaurant. They're big enough to have a good gnaw on a person too.
Phnom Penh
I am currently in Phnom Penh staying at the lakeside backpackers ghetto at an nice guesthouse build on stilts over the lake. The people are really really friendly, cos they want me to use their moto services the cynic in me says. I still have the flu which really sucks! Codral is doing a good job of keeping my spirits up.
The bus ride down here was sweet. The roads here are really good, its just the road in from Thailand that is crap. Cambodia is so flat, flattest place I've ever been. Its all flat rice paddies and pasture all the way from the Thai border to Phnom Penh with massive lake Tonle Sap in the middle.
Phnom Penh is a surprising nice french colonial built city. Especially nice in that it was abandoned for 4 years in the 70s when the Khmer Rouge kicked everyone out and murdered most of them. It was a particularly affluent city with a vibrant cafe culture before then.
Other than that, nothing to report until I get out of the ghetto and see some stuff.
Heres the last mission in Siem Reap.
Flooded Forest
Went for a mission to the flooded forest with Emily and Jadie, the 2 brits. This involved a tuk tuk ride to the small village of Roulous then a boat trip. The morning market was in full swing as we passed through, was interesting to see a small town market in operation. The boat ride down to the forest was on a noisy long tail jobby, similar to the boats in Thailand but a bit more substantial. The 4 cylinder car engine on board was making some horrible knocking sounds and the captain kept looking back with a worried expression. We cruised down a small stream past cows and fishermen and crocodile farms and a village on stilts 5 metres in the air as the river takes back flow from the Mekong and floods in the wet season. The forest wasn't all that, didn't see any petrified trees like the guidebook said. We stopped in the village though which was totally untouristy which was nice after Siem Reap. We chilled for a while chatting to one of the local girls and talking politics with a fulla there. He'd actually been over seas and was quite clued up on global current affairs. Visited the local Wat which had awesome Buddhist paintings all over it, Sistine Chapel styles. The monk wanted Emily to marry him and the kids asked them for money. I, however, wandered around freely snapping photos of the paintings and drawing really terrible Buddhas for the kids.
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