Monday 19th January

Cambodia

Left hotel 8am this morning for ride on Tuk-tuk. Passenger on motorbike was an option but we opted for Tuk-tuk and due to the fact that the roads were very potholed I'm glad we did. Our first stop was to ride on the bamboo train. The Frence used to rule Cambodia but when they became independent, the railway line fell into disrepair. Now there is no railway at all now, in Cambodia. What these inventive people have done in order to utilise the railway is to make a bamboo platform onto which they've fitted a motor, like one found on a boat and sit the bamboo platform on the wheels on the train. It flys along rails were left from a railway line built by the French. It's only a single track rail so if one comes the other way, they just stop, get off and lift one off the track, lifting it back on when the other one's past.

Next was spring roll village so called because everyone in the village is in some way, involved making spring rolls!! First they make the rice paper. They grind the rice and mix it with water. At this stage it's like a paste but doesn't stick together so they leave it overnight in muslin type sieve to strain and it also gets to a thicker sticky consistency making them able to mix it and then they put a spoonful on the griddle, spread it out with a spoon and in a few seconds it cooks, they flip it over, cook the other side then put it on a rest which is like an X with 4 arms each with a piece of bamboo on. She puts the rice paper over a piece of the bamboo and her daughter is behind her, spins the X takes off the rice paper and puts it on a bamboo frame alongside all the others, to dry in the sun.She sits making these all day and can make upto 2500 a day if the weather is warm enough to dry them making a good income of aroung 30 dollars a day. Then we get to try them. We had 1 cooked, 1 uncooked each both filled with salad and beansprouts. The most delicious spring rolls any of us have ever tasted! We then visited sticky rice village where they make snack food by pushing rice, coconut milk, sugar and a type of bean into a piece of bamboo. They stuff banana leaves into the end and put it on a fire for 30-40 mins. Then they cut off the outside part of the blackened bamboo, remove the plug and it's ready to eat by peeling the outside down like a banana. It was very tasty.

Next visit was an old temple in town where our guide (Sambath pronounced sambat) who was a hoot, told us some brief info then it was off to the fish paste factory. Well you needed your nose holding for this one!! Some of the sights were gruesome! Women gutting piles upon piles of fish on the floor, fish on racks drying in the sun then the most horrid bit where all the guts and heads were ground up in a machine and came out a bit like sausage sludge, into buckets which were on a trailer. Thankfully it was for animal food.

Then we went to our guide's house where we had a truly gorgeous meal cooked by his wife. There were 4 courses and all of them were lovely and beautifully presented. Finished off with samples of rice wine saki and snake wine which is basically saki with snake blood added!! Sam did try that one but was unaware of the process at that time! He said it had a herby flavour. I took his word for it! A bottle of saki also contained a scorpion and a snake and there was another concoction which had several huge thick legged hairy spiders in, but don't think anyone tried that one. Can't think why!!

Then back to the hotel to pick up our bags. A 4hr journey will bring us to Siem Reap.

Staying at the Prum Byon Hotel, Siem Reap. We have a balcony and there's a swimming pool. Some have been in the pool, including Sam but it's still a little chilly for me.

Shane took us all to a restaurant / bar where we had a performance by khmer dancers. They could bend their fingers right back as if they were double jointed. They were very elegant. After a few drinks and a nice meal we got Tuk-tuk back to the hotel as we had an early start to see Angkor Wat temple at dawn.

Tuesday 20th January. Angkor Wat

Left hotel this morning at 4.45!!!! It was only a 15 min drive but we had to get a good spec for sunrise at Angkor Wat. I think I was probably a bit disappointed with the shnrise spectacle but as with all things in nature you can't predict what it'll be like.

Angkor Wat is one of the most important archeological sites in south east Asia. A world heritage site built between 1113 to 1150, stretching over 400 km 2. Next we went to Bayon. The temple of faces. We also visited Ta Prohm or forest temple. This is where tomb raider was shot and it's easy to see why. It has a mystic feel. A tumble of stone with massive trees overpowering walls and huge tree roots clambering, in, over, under and through, even growing through buildings and splitting them in half.

We opted for another massage today. I booked Sam a Thai one as I thought he could look at it like physio, with the stretching and bending (after all, he doesn't do yoga) and I would go for the relaxing one with oils. Wrong again! I had to bite down on my finger to stop shouting out. I could've said it was too hard but I was thinking it'll be good for me! What is it they say 'no pain, no gain' well I had plenty of gain!

Went to Charles bar this evening. 7 drinks including 2 cocktails and 2 pints of beer, 5 dollars!

Wednesday 21st January

We visited a few other temples this morning, all somewhat different than the others, then returned pub street where we had lunch in the red piano. Then Tuk-tuk back to the hotel to chill by the pool. Some people had another massage some when for a swim and some like us just read our book.

G adventures support a charity called New Hope. It provides schooling and medical care for anyone wanting it in the area. We were taken by Tuk-tuk through the slums to the original premises. Families can now use that building for shelter. The people here live in appalling conditions. Mainly women and children. There is a huge drug and alcohol problem and the women are beaten and sexually abused by the men. There are karaoke bars but don't get excited Gill, they're not for singing they are places where the women sell sex for some money. These places weren't obvious to us as the whole area just looked like broken down sheds with women and kids everywhere. The kids laughing and smiling and waving to us as we traveled past their homes.

Then we went to new hope's new building and got the opportunity to go into the class room and speak to the students who were aged from around 14 to 35. They were learning English and maths. There is also a training restaurant so we all sat down and had a lovely meal. The starter was a little surprising. Crickets!! Most people did try them and said they were actually nice! A salty beer snack like peanuts! The organisation was started by a Tuk-tuk driver because he wanted to educate the children. Tour groups like G Adventures support them by giving money and by helping them into employment. The condition is the children must attend school. This is difficult because the families want them at home so they can sell goods, postcards, bracelets, scarves etc.. and earn money.

After new hope we went to the night market but didn't buy anything so went back to the hotel and went straight to bed 9.30 and didn't wake up until the alarm went off at 6pm.

Thursday 22nd January - kampong cham

Left hotel at 7.45. Was supposed to be 7.15 but Shane overslept and arrived at the bus to a round of applause. Heading for Kampong Cham 7 hrs on the bus. The road is unbelievable! The traffic as bad enough at the best of times but this major road from the border to Phnom Penn stretching some 400 kilometre can only be described as a free massage / fairground ride. Shane said it's much better now than it was as it used to have lots of potholes! We'll have to take his word for that

Arrived at Mekong hotel. Dropped bags off and went for lunch before heading out on Tuk-tuks to cross the bamboo bridge. Some of the group opted to ride bikes but Tuk-tuk was my preference (thank goodness) Its an amazing structure. Built (as it's name would suggest) totally from bamboo. It can even take cars over it!! Each year in the rainy season it gets taken down as the river rises far higher than the bridge and it's rebuilt again when the rainy season finishes. Cars are taken across by ferry when there is no bridge.

On the island, we were taken to see the farms consisting of tobacco plantation, corn, bamboo and fruit. It was a very well organised village and the animals seemed well cared for. The children run to the side of the road waving and shouting 'hello' with big smiley faces each time any visitors go past.

We sampled some of the fruit grown there and also some sticky rice cooked in little parcels wrapped in banana leaves. Heading back to the hotel we managed to catch the sunset off the bamboo bridge. It was beautiful.

Back to the hotel for a shower and to change. We were filthy as the roads are very dusty. We were fortunate to have finished our shower before the power cut! Couldn't see a thing. Luckily we remembered a little torch Geoff leant us so at least we could scramble around with a bit of light. We were picked up at 7.15 and taken to the house of our guide where we had a lovely meal. They sit on the floor to eat but not in an uncivilised way. We had rice, pork and vegetables, beef, curry, pineapple for afters. Unfortunately just before we finished our meal they had a power cut too.

We got back to the hotel around 8am and although there's a bar just down the road, the general consensus was to head back to our rooms to read, Facebook, get ready for tomorrow or sleep! We have a late start tomorrow 9 am but still means being up at 7 for shower and pack up again before breakfast. Only a 3hr drive tomorrow to Kartie hoping to spot the irrawaddy freshwater pink dolphin.