August 25-31
Trip Start
Jul 31, 2003
1
8
12
Trip End
Sep 30, 2003
Siem Reap/Pnohm Penh, Thailand
Monday, September 1, 2003
Now its grand to be walking around in the temples because nobody is hassling you to buy anything. Different story when you get outside. Postcards, bracelets, drinks, handbags, silk stuff, posters, they've got them all here and all at low low prices. After a while it just gets annoying but I haven't lost my rag yet. I just smile and say no thanks, sometimes in english sometimes in cambodian. But no matter what way you say it the result is always the same, they just keep asking. They're absolutely mad. Put them in a call centre trying to sell insurance and they'd have a reply to all the rebuttals.
"Sir, sir you buy bracelet","No I already bought some","You buy some for your girlfriend","No I dont have a girlfriend","You buy some for your sister","No she died in a horific car accident 10 years ago","Oh, I'm sorry, you buy some for your mother then..." and so on. And these are like 12 year old girls with perfect english. Mad. So I ended up buying 2 flutes and 10 bracelets! $1 and $1 respectively. What do I want with them! No matter, I can still play a few tin whistle tunes on the flute so that's not altogether a waste, but 10 bracelets? Any takers? Let me know. So that was that. Angkor Wat, the big one, was great aswell. Brian and Ciaran got some snaps of themselves with two monks and we generally had a laugh with all the kids selling stuff. A good day.
Headed out that night in search of a good bar. Not really that many to be found. Ended up in a place called Sok Sam I think, which was a nightclub I guess. Really loud thumping music that inhibits the art of conversation. Just the kind of place I like! Really! It was gas though, loads of people on the dance floor strutting their stuff and throwing shapes all over the kip. A slow song comes on and BAM, I've never seen a dance floor clear so quickly! So, being in an inebriated state, I asked Brian to get up and dance. And of course he wouldn't, so Ciaran did instead! The two of us arm in arm giving it socks on a deserted dance floor in Cambodia with all the locals looking at us with strange looks on their faces. Deadly!
Next day was a day of rest. Pottered about a little bit and watched the Premiership matches on TV. Booked our bus to Phnom Penh and not much else. Actually I have to mention the guesthouse we stayed at. It was the Skyway guesthouse. Its a little bit out from the center of the town but I'd go there for the food alone, let alone the crocs. Had four or five different meals myself and each of them were gorgeuos. Recommend the mash, best I've ever had. Sorry mum!
Up for bus the next day at 6. Banana pancake for brekkie and then on to the bus. I though I was sorted. Iwas right at the back in the center with all the leg room in the world in which to stretch my legs. This journey was going to be grand. Not so quick sunshine! All the right hand ailse seats and little fold-out seats in the side of them so when all the regular seats were full, these were pulled out. So no leg room then. Nice looking english girl seating in front of me though! Usual crap kareoke music being played at full blast on the TV so reading was a strain and listening to ma CD meant going slightly deaf. At our first pitstop I thinmk we were all talking really load to each other simply because we'd either been listening to our own music at full blast or listening to the other stuff. No break downs to report on this bus journey and the roads were a lot better than the last one but still not great. A truck caused a traffic jam for a bout half an hour by getting stuf in a trough in the midle of the road. Other than that, the trip was grand. Arrived in Phnom Penh about 6pm. We'd organised to stay in the guesthouse of the brother of the guy whose place we stayed in in Siem, so that was grand. But again it was mad trying to get off the bus. About 20 guys from different places trying to get you to go with them. No no no thank you, in english, cambodian and even french! That was yesterday. There are still no ATM's in Cambodia and seeing as we had no money left after getting food, things weren't looking good for the night ahead. Went back to our place to change travellers checks. Only the mother who runs the place wasn't there so we couldn't do that. Watched the Man U v Southampton match while waiting for her to come back. Go on the Southampton! That finished, still no sign of her. So headed out in search of other hotels that could give us money. None of them could after about 4 mins looking around. Crap, we needed beer and plenty of it after our journey. Back to our place and she was back, thank god. Got $50 to do us all for the night and headed to the Heart Of Darkness. This was at about 11pm at this stage. So a few rounds of Angkor Beer later and we were in great form. Conversation was flowing, memories of school days etc. Also found out what happened with the practical joke Kavanagh played on Patsy, for the Fintans lads! Threw some shapes and tried to get on the pool table but there were too many people ahead of me. So by the time the place was closing at 4am I still hadn't played pool. It's been almost a week now and I'm in withdrawal! So met an Irish and an English girl who said they'd a pool table back at their guesthouse, so off I went with them while the lads went home. Got to the place, 4.30am, and of course there's some guy sleeping on it under a mosquito net. Crap. So stayed up all night talking away with the girls and two Americans who'd come from the club aswell. Great night/morning with the sunrise coming up over the lake. Got back to our's at 7.30, tried to ring home to wish Em a happy birthday cause I couldn't do it earlier having no money. Sorry folks if the phone woke you up. Why didn't you answer anyway?! So now I'm wrecked! Seeing the Killing Fields tomorrow and some other stuf and then on to Saigon the next day.
