The river now is almost a muddy pond. Definitely doesn't seem to be running as fast and there is a very slight "muddy" odour in the air. The river is busy though, with the main highway never far away and even at the earliest hour, there is movement on the river and on the highway. The windows of the AMA Lotus were fogged up this morning and the hand rails of the balcony were dripping with water. It had rained over night and the sky was blanketed in grey.Thoug...

A day of contrasts today. Visited the gold opulence of the palace in the morning and then toured a village school in the afternoon.It was free time to start the day and as long as we were back by 11 Phnom Penh was ours. We scaled the stairs for a short walk to the local market to get some stationery for the school visit for LO_RI and a couple of SIM cards which for the princely sum of $5 will untether us from the boat's on again off again data services.Traff...

No-one else heard it - but I did. At 4.17 am I was woken by monks chanting. I put on my robe and scurried out to the sundeck to see what was going on. It was pitch black and not another person was n sight. And despite everyone I have met today if they heard it - not one other soul has confessed to hearing the chanting.And continuing the theme of being on deck in PJs, got a call from Richard saying that the view from the front of the ship was worth the trip down t...

It was a day of false starts. Thought I would get ahead of the game and hit the shower early. Unfortunately, at 5 am there was no hot water. By 6 am all was flowing well and and decisions around breakfast were the biggest challenge of the day.The tender boats were back for us for an 8.45 start and our first visit was to Evergreen Island. Again, Tang waved his yellow sign and took us door to door through the farming village, greeting all the locals and providing u...

Who had the bright idea to order tea and coffee for room service at 6.45 am. The alarm tingled gently at 6.30 which we promptly ignored but the ding dong of Sam calling had to be answered! Mac was charged with the responsibility of getting the door as I made the mad dash to bury myself under the covers. Not ordering that for tomorrow....or on any subsequent day.Breakfast held a little surprise because Mappy had organised an introduction for us to one of the wait ...