Cambodia Part 1

So here I am in Phnom Penh!  I have been on this trip now for at least 8 days :D

I have seriously lacked updating this blog on a regular basis before I left for the trip to Cambodia, but I do hope to update a little as I am here now at my guesthouse using the complimentary guest internet.

Luckily I have kept a written journal, so I can go back over the experiences so far:

Wednesday 29th December:  Day 1
In the mad rush of trying to get to the airport and make sure I got on the right plane (I actually went to the international terminal when I was supposed to go domestic from KL to Siem Reap!)  I actually forgot that it was my birthday until I was on the plane, four hours after I woke up!

From Siem Reap airport I was picked up by Lucky from PEPY.  On the way to the accommodation I could practice my Khmer!  The Tuk Tuk ride was a new experience for me, a motorbike pulling a kind of trailer on the back that is designed to seat people and transports four people comfortably.

When others in the PEPY / GAFC group found out that it was my birthday, I was treated to Lao Beer (a new favourite of mine!) and the most wonderful birthday cake.  Life is good!

Day 2:
Today was given to exploring PEPY projects as well as learning more about NGO's.  We visited a local school that is supported with PEPY projects and I was especially interested in the school library that we visited.  The kids were great, enthusiastic about their lessons and really kind and welcoming.

I am also getting more used to squat toilets, though you must carry a handy supply of your own paper and are unable to flush the paper down as the plumbing system does not cope.  Most toilets in rural areas don't have cisterns at all, rather you ladle water into the toilet at the end and the natural plumbing does the rest :-/

Overall a very long, but rewarding day!

Day 3:

Today was the first official group bike ride!  We were fitted out for our bikes and I found the transition from Road to Mountain bike quite interesting!  For someone who is used to a very light carbon fibre road frame, the transition to the heavier, more robust mountain bike was interesting.

As I started riding along the local roads, I realised why a mountain bike is so necessary.  The roads were mostly dusty, pot holed and in many cases around this local area, very sandy!  Riding on a road made of very loose, fine sand is very interesting let me tell you!  Most of the time, your back wheel slides out from under you then you either stack it, or come very close.  I have a very interesting bruise on my inner right thigh from where I almost fell off the bike but slammed my inner leg into the bike frame instead.

We rode around an enormous reservoir, totally hand dug by the people of the ancient Khmer empire and the whole area is completely mind boggling.  The ride ended up finishing by passing by the AWESOME Angkor Wat temple.  Here we had some lunch (inflated tourist prices) and cycled home.  I found getting used to my mountain bike with pannier bags on the back totally exhausting so I was well and truly ready for a rest by the end of it!

Alas there was no time to rest, PEPY organised a scavenger hunt for us, so we ended up running all over Siem Reap looking for clues, which led us to a waiting Tuk Tuk where we raced to the foot of a Buddhist temple high on a 'mountain' watching the sun set for 2010 and listening to traditional Cambodian music!

I wish I could upload pictures here, but it is really difficult with file sizes etc, so I might wait to get back to Australia then upload pictures :-)

Day 4:
Today was a 'choose your own adventure' day.  SO what do I do?  Get up at 4am and watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat to start the New Year of 2011!  I totally loved it, through there were about a billion tourists there with the same idea, so it kind of made the experience a little crowded :-/

Here is one successfully uploaded picture, sunrise at Angkor Wat, brilliant!! 

Other things that happened today:

• Caught up on sleep, 2 hour mid morning nap to make up for 4am start!
• Late breakfast.
• Checked out the local markets and saw such tasty fare as deep fried tarantulas! Too scared to try though ;-)
• Had a massage at Body Tune for $16.  Such a blessed thing after a previous day of hard riding!
• Went to the National Angkor Museum.  At $12 for a ticket, it was a little bit exxy, but I loved reading all about the history of the Angkor Empire and seriously, these guys achieved some amazing things!

I have much more to write but I think it is a bit rude of me to hog this computer for so long, so it is goodbye for now and I hope to be back (if not soon when I am back in Australia as I can transcribe the events from my travel diary)

Nic oxo