Cambodge

Not being rude, that's the name of Cambodia, honest! Its a very different place here to anywhere I've been ever! But you quickly get used to it. Kind of. You know you've crossed the border not just because of all the masked moto/cyclo drivers hanging around and children asking you for money and mud everywhere at the border crossing (Poipet), but mainly, its because of the "road". Apparently, it was rebuilt in 2001/2 or so, and the drive to Siem Reap (base town for Angkor Wat) was supposed to have been shortened from 7-10 hours down to a mere 2.5 hours...well the "road" has evidently been washed out a number of times since then, because it took us around 7 hours on a very bumpy track of stones and mud (sorry, its just bumpy...the guide told us, "it used to be very bumpy, now, its just bumpy"). At least it wasn't raining, as we could have been stuck out on the road all night that way!

After having done my preparation reading, "Off the rails in Phnom Penh...a tale of guns, girls and ganga", I was kind of concerned about venturing further than Siem Reap. As I looked out the window going along that bumpy road, I thought I spotted a dead, beheaded body hanging at the front of one of the houses...and then another at the next house, and then a child's body...but on closer inspection, I saw that they were mere scarecrows, or "scare-spirits" just the same as we have at home, but to scare away evil spirits etc rather than crows and pigeons. That book I'd read was written in 1997, and since I've been here, I haven't seen one single gun or heard one single shot or grenade, think there's been a big crackdown on prostitution, and the happiest herb at the "Ecstatic pizza" restaurant, was basil, or maybe it was oregano. So I suppose things have changed quite a bit in the last decade.

Angkor Wat was very amazing and so huge - will put pics on as they will describe better. Went for sunrise but unfortunately it was cloudy - was very quiet around lots of the sites though, which was good for photos, and for wildlife! - see below!), but my fave passtime in Cambodia was watching people get about. There's no public bus system, so most people have motorbikes, which they pile everything and everyone - including the kitchen sink - on to. The best was pick-up trucks piled high with bricks, and topped off with a couple of kids! No seatbelts!?!

The worst thing I've encountered (apart from nearly stepping on a snake, sitting on a live crab and getting very close to a big black scorpion (albeit a dead one) at Angkor!) is just being ripped off every day. Well, the longer I stay, the more I know what things should cost, so it gets better. You can't blame them, because they're so poor here, and there are few tourists at the moment - my estimate is that there must be 100 moto drivers per tourist at the moment, so you can't blame them for their desperation. However, if you were a moto driver, and you saw a tourist getting off of another moto, wouldn't it be safe to assume that said tourist had arrived in the place they wanted to be? I would have thought so, but no sooner had I handed over the money to my driver, another guy waves at me, "Hello lady moto? Where you go?" I just laughed. And then again 5 seconds later when another driver waved and asked me, "Hello lady moto? Where you go?", and then 2 seconds after that, when a different driver called simply, "Moto?" and another and another and another and another. Then, when I do want to go somewhere, "How much to go here?" I point on the map
Driver: [Screwing up face and thinking really hard] "Ooooooh, ten dollar."
Me: [Burst out laughing]
Driver: "But that's to go there and back to here"
Me: "How much just to go there?"
Driver: "5 dollar"
Me: "That's too much, the price should be more like 1 dollar"
Driver: [Sharp intake of breath and sucking of teeth]
Me: "Ok I find another driver"
Driver: "Nonononono! Ok 4 dollar"
Me: "No 1 dollar"
Driver: "4...ok 3"
Me: "1"
Driver: "No....3. 3 is only...."
Me: "Ok then, 2"
Driver: "Ok!"

Yeaaah! From 10 to 2 - its so easy! (Its so bloody tiring doing this every day, for drivers, buying things, getting a room....!)