The Dengue Express

Sadly today we left Siem Reap. Our transportation for the 180km journey was by local bus. Although the advertised price for a ticket was $4.50 each the counter lady wanted to charge me more because I didn’t have my passport handy to show her. After a brief argument I called upon Sam who yelled at her in Khmer and walla we were only charged the advertised price.

I am quite an horrendous speller so I looked up the meaning of ‘walla’ – according to the urban dictionary in google, Walla is a word used by retarded Americans who don’t know any foreign languages and barley know their own – LOL

So back to our journey to Battambang. We boarded the bus and were immediately swarmed by mosquitos. I’m not talking one or two, the mosquitos had called all their mates to come over as well, they were friggin everywhere. As Dengue Fever is very prevalent in this area this was ‘not good’. I try to be prepared for any situation and just happened to have bushmans in my back pack. If anyone has ever used bushmans you will know that this stuff could strip paint, so I purchased it in the spray form rather than the gel. We immediately started spraying the stuff everywhere which didn’t go down to well in such an enclosed space – whoops! Once our journey began Cambodian music started playing. Emily was exceptionally thrilled with this, particularly as she had forgotten to put her headphones into the back pack, he he he. My head phones really made no difference, I was barely able to hear my music over the constant horn peeping, the Cambodian music blaring and people randomly clapping (to try and kill some of the ga-zillion mosquitos).

We stopped about 2 hours into the journey and everyone started departing the bus, but leaving their belongings on their seats. We concluded we must be at a rest stop so we hoped off as well. After a few minutes the bus just left – with us just standing there looking very perplexed. Fark! I desperately looked around for someone who might speak English. Luckily I had my bag with our passports and money but I couldn’t survive with only one pair of nickers of the next 26 days. A young lady must had recognised my distress and advised that ‘bus come back’. Phew, disaster adverted. Another 2 hour latter we arrived in Battambang.

Our hotel had arranged a Tuk Tuk to pick us up, which actually showed up this time, which was just lovely as we were accosted by drivers while still on the bus. I kind you not. The jumped on the bus before the locals even had time to get off asking if we needed a ride.

This hotel is like an oasis, it’s 10 minutes out of town, with a lovely pool and connecting rooms – they even made elephants out of the towels…..  The kids have settled in very nicely and I’m worried they won’t leave. It’s even hotter here so we may die on our 30km bike ride tomorrow.

'The Dengue Express'

 Our very nice hotel - 'Battambang Resort'

     Tonight we did a market tour and cooking class at Sambath's house. Sambath is a local tuk tuk driver I found through the internet.....

 

Pub Street



We have spent every night in Siem Reap at Pub Street. We tried the Khmer BBQ, eaten weird ice creams, had amazing foot massages and waited, not so patiently, for Tom to barter with the locals. I actually thought I was quite good at bartering, Ian so/so, depending on whether he can be bothered, Emily is just crapiola, but Tom is the master - hands down. So we pick what we want, go order food and leave him to it. It's a great system. LOL



We catch Tuk Tuk's everywhere, which we let Tom barter for. Me and Ian need to sit diagonally across so the whole thing doesn't tip over....

Khmer BBQ, you cook it yourself. Tom was very fidgety tonight as all he wanted to do was go and barter for another watch. He already has two or three or four (actually I have no idea). So he was playing with his chop sticks, was asked to put them down and instead he decided to shove them up his nose, put them in his armpits, you get the picture. He was then asked to get new ones. By the time the food was ready he had forgotten and picked up the same chop sticks and placed them straight into our COMMUNAL dinner!

Banana, chocolate, pancakes.....

Fresh Fruit Smoothies only $1

 

Very strange ice-creams....

 Fried 'tarantula' with chilli, he managed to eat 3 legs before giving up!

 

 

Last day in Siem Reap

Sunrise is far too early. Try getting two kids up at 4.30am that aren’t even in the same room as you! Holy Moly….

The sunrise over Angkor Wat was spectacular and the ambience really eerie. Now back to the children. We were supposed to be in a connecting room – this didn’t happen. They are on the same floor as us just a few doors down. This would not be a concern for most family’s. We are not most family’s…. Yesterday I hopped out of the shower to discover that there was not a single towel left in our room. Emily had taken all of them. Ian had to run down to reception while I stood naked, patiently waiting. My shampoo and conditioner keep disappearing and last night I turned on the air conditioning for them as they were complaining they were hot. This morning at 4.30am they were whinging that they had been cold all night as they couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. Good thing I got them up early. They forget to lock their door, or lock they their door while the key is still inside. Last night I checked on them before I went to sleep and noticed a walkie-talkie on the table beside their bed. Of cause neither of the kids had noticed this (I assumed housekeeping must have left it). As soon as I pointed it out Tom started jabbering into it. As I was walking back to my room staff were running up the stairs towards the kids room LOL



Sunrise - Angkor Wat

Jungle Temple - we climb like Indiana Jones!

At lunch Emily stated that she was now 'done' with temples and was hoping that there wasn't anymore to be seen in Asia - ha ha ha 

After we were finished 'templeing' we drove to Tonle Sap Lake. Tonle Sap Lake is the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asia. Many of the residents live in stilt houses or floating houses to accommodate the flood waters during the monsoon.

  

 

Temples, Temples and more Temples....

Another temple day and it’s friggin hot. Oh my lord it’s hot, especially when you’re walking around temple’s for hours. It feels like you’re on the surface of the sun! It’s so bloody hot I’m worried my fake eyelashes will melt and fall off……

There are a lot of Korean tourists here and Sam, our guide, is not very fond of them. They are disrespectful and rude. He tells us to push in front of them all the time and I’m sure he swears at them in Khmer.

What truly amazes me about these temples is that you can climb all over them. They are ‘really old’, Sam keeps telling us which century they are from and provides loads of historical information, but I really don’t listen, I think parts of my brain have melted from the heat. I’m relying on Ian and Emily to repeat this information to me at a later stage. Spider Monkey, AKA Tom, thinks that it's fabulous being able to climb everywhere. However his enormous feet don’t tend to fit on most surfaces. The midget of the family on the other hand fits under all the doorways without ducking. As there are no real ‘rules’ surrounding these ruins its great fun to send Tom off in certain directions under the pretence of wanting to take photos of him. Not only does this give me a great deal of satisfaction it provides calm and tranquillity for a few minutes.

Palm Sugar!

Tom getting blessed, he needs lots of blessings.....