WEDNESDAY 27TH DECEMBER

As this site doesnt have any photos for cambodia and we havent uploaded any I thought Id give u a pic of a tiger.hope u like it

Got a boat from the islands to the mainland and then a bus to the Laos Cambodia border. Took longer than exp cos the bus got a flat trye (or more like it got shredded) The driver was running in to the forest for rocks, trees and all sorts so took ages! As its an unofficial crossing the guys that stamp your passport charge u "overtime" ($2) Obv we bartered and only gave him one tho!Was supposed to go straight from Stung Treng to Ban Lung but there wasnt enuf of us to get a shared taxi so we had to stay the night. Glad we did tho cos ended up seein a local wedding and havin a beer with Mr T (who disapontingly wasnt covered in bling) who told us quite a bit bout the local way of life. Plus kym eventually bought the sarong tha she has been going on about for 5 wks!Ate at a local food stall whre they laughed at me!Mr T reckons it was cos only poor people are supposed to eat at stalls but I reckon it was probably something I was doin wrong or eating.

THURSDAY 28TH DECEMBER

Got the shared taxi to Ban LUng. Cudnt believe it!Was 3 in the front and 4 in the bk of a car and then he pulled over and anothet girl jumped in the front! Worse than that time Thainy rapped his car up! Hired a motorbike/moped for the day and visited two waterfalls and a volcanic lake, obv getting lost on the way. Kym was no where near as bad a passenger as I was expecting!The lake , Boeng Yeak Lake was gorgeous.Well worth the cramped taxi ride. Its surrounded by forest and is deep right from the edge so u can dive in off the walkway. Kym enjoyed playing with the local kids and showing all her mossie bites off to these Aussies. When we got back to the hotel we were covered from head to toe in orange dust which were stil trying to get off.

FRIDAY 29TH DECEMBER

Got another shared taxi to Kratie which I think might be our last. Think the driver had to be somewhere cos he drove like Banksy/Schumacher all the way and took 1 and a half hours off the 5 hour journey. Me n Kym were squashed on the front seat and Ive never seen her so scared. Hired moto divers in the afternoon to take us the boat to spot the rare Irawaddy dolpins( fresh water).Managed to see them loads but only the tops of em when they came up now and again. Stopped at a mountain on the way back to watch the sunset where our drivers earnt their tips by making us crowns out of leaves and flowers. Good for a picture but didnt have the heart to take it off so drove all the way bk looking like a plonker!! Kyms "wouldnt stay on" apparently. My driver 'Dara" wasa actually a legend and spent the whole time trying to teach me Cambodian. In retrospect the bk of a motorbike is probably not the best classroom.Kym's driver fancied her, apparently when my money runs out she'll be his. (He obv doesnt know how tight I am-pretty sure kym isnt with me for the money lol)

SATURDAY 30TH DECEMBER 2006

Took a 12 hour local bus ride to Siem Reap.Kym managed to land on her feet, sitting nxt to a local woman who educated and fed her all the way where I was stuck next to a French guy who said barely 5 words. When we got to the other end there were loads of tuk tuk drivers waitin on the other side of this gate.Was crazy!When it got opened they ran at us like madmen.! Got a lift with 'Mr Lucky' to our guesthouse, just in time to watch the Reding game. Made the mistake of befriending 'Stone' who turned out to be a bit simple and spent the whole 90 mins repeating "I like Man U, U like Man U?" and giving me the hardest back massage Ive ever had. Reminded me a bit of a pis*** Gower!

SUNDAY 31ST DECEMBER

Had a lie in and then explored Siem Reap. You get the feeling it probably used to be really nice before tourism for Ankor Wat wrecked it. Constantly get hassled by moto drivers, litlle kids selling postcards and the menus are ridiculously expensive. Does get better at night tho.Managed find a bar called the Golden Temple where the food is cheapish, lush and has a free pool table and free tea. Obv we are regulars! Our new years was probably a lot differnt to all urs.watched the film 'The Killing Fields' which was real eye opener.Have just finished reading the book bout S21, the prison under the Kymer Rouge but the film brought the enormosity of what the Cambodian people went thru even closer to home. Got an early night cos we had to get up at half four to get to Ankor for sunrise.