Khmer Rouge
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2008
1
5
101
Trip End
Sep 30, 2008
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Speaking of rouge my head is now distinctly that colour after a boat trip which summed up travelling neatly. We arrived at the absolutely insane Suem Reap 'harbour'this morning for a boat to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Inside the boat was comfortable, spacious and air conditioned but the travellers of all nations could instead be found perched on the small roof, complete with chimney, all petrieifed of missing out a defining photo opportunity. Spirits and camaradere remained high for about 20 minutes of the six hour trip, after which point the boat reached the great lake, which was so large that one could not see the shore in any direction for about three hours, at which point the driver upped the knots and we were battered and sprayed for the next 100 or so kilometres of the journey. Laughter was the only answer, particulalry when one surveyed the ludicrous league of nations perched on top of the boat looking utterly miserable. I prayed for the sun, and had my prayers answered when we finally hit the river running into the capital. I was soon praying for a return to the main body of the lake though as I was cooked for the next 200 minutes atop of a roof where the only shade was under a rusty old chimney pouring out black, red hot pollution. I was eventually scraped off the boat by my travel companion and driver and have spent the past three hours in the hotel glowing...
The last two days featured a tour of the many Angkor temples - amazing to see, but no dount boring to write about so in summary:
Entrance fee to temples - 20 US dollars
Tuk tuk drover for the day - 15 US dollars
Luch looking out on incredible vista of numerous temples - 5 US dollars
Seeing old man transporting three huge, live pigs on the back of his motorbike on the way back to town - PRICELESS
