Day Twelve – Cambodia/Bankok

Greetings my little boat folk,

This morning we were up well before the sun and I was in the bath when the early morning wake up call occurred……one way of ensuring Indy gets up as there was no one else to get the phone and sadly for him, it doesn’t go onto answerphone!!!!

Had breakfast….really not worth mentioning,…warm(ish juice – my three minute boiled eggs were just one short of clucking and Captain Birds Eye’s omlette looking a tad under done – however we ate enough and no one was going to starve.

Som was waiting for us at 8.00 – and off we headed for our river boat cruise!! My Nana would have said “Occhhhh mere unnn cruise”!!! – meaning – call that a cruise?!!

En route we learnt that anyone who has a house on the river bank has to demolish it as during the rainy season, the river swells to such an extent that everything floods – This river, could be called the Tonie Sap is the largest river in South East Asia.

I digress…..The Government is giving the river bank families land further inland so that they can build new safer houses, however the locals don’t want to go as they like being in the centre and on the river. However at the end of the day, they don’t get a choice and off they will go.

Funnily enough, on the way to the mooring, we passed Lotus Fields!!! What do you know!!!!! The Lotus plant has absolutely no wastage. The seeds (fresh) are used to make sweet desserts, the roots are used to make stir fry’s and the flowers are used in vases.

Finally we arrived at the dock…..a very modern looking set of buildings, still under construction, surrounded by complete poverty, with cables, live wires, cement, uneven pavements and sand all over the place. There doesn’t appear to be any rules on Health and Safety so its just kind of every day life here to walk over everything.

Our boat was a private charter and I thought I would use the toilet on board….hahahahaha….
The boat was constructed of wood, which used to be blue and white…now it’s more like flakey paint held together with bits of wire and blue tack and about 20 ft long. All the seats are individual bamboo chairs, just placed on the floor (not locked down) and as we were lucky enough to have the whole boat, we could utilise the only four cushions there were. Made it much more comfortable! The driver, (I suppose you could call him a captain), was very smartly attired in his Emporio Armani T Shirt and holey shorts – he didn’t appear to own a pair of shoes – but honestly, would he have a use for them??

The navigation equipment consisted of a hole where normally a glass window may be, and two foot pedals attached to a chain which ran all the way along the inside of the boat floor, which presumably worked the rudder at the back. As you may know, boats don’t have brakes, they go forward and they go backwards and to make then stop, you have to put it in reverse and this slows the boat down (remember that piece of information!!)

Som came with us and we were giving some other chap a lift!!

Our destination was a floating village further up the river.

The river was filthy – a mixture of mud from the river banks and poo. Quite a few children were playing in it whilst others were looking for anything that they found that could be recycled.

The Floating VIillage is made up of extremely poor people who live hand to mouth – 60 % of are from Vietnam and the rest of the population is made up of Indians, Muslims and Laos people. It seems that the Laos people move to Vietnam, the Vietnam people move to Cambodia and the Cambodians move to Thailand.!

In the centre of the floating village is the floating market – it’s made up of three of four boats tied together and sells the usual tourist stuff. They also have a crocodile area where they capture the crocodiles, (from the wild) and hold on to them until they are big enough to sell for bags, shoes belts. Also as a means to make money they have their babies sat on the edge of a boat or on the pontoony bit with a snake wrapped round them -Wu Dollaaaaa will get you included in a picture opportunity with them!! The babies are so small and one of them was teething, so he kept putting the snake in his mouth! Another kid was floating around in a tub!! The children only know how to repeat…over and over and over again “Wu Dollaaaaaaaa”!!

The journey back to dry land was very pleasant and I commented on an on coming boat where everyone had life jackets on. I asked Som why they had life jackets and none of the other boats did…he said that once the life jackets get old and holey they have to be thrown out and there is no need to replace them and they are too expensive…..Tell that to the passengers of the Concordia!!

WIth land ahead and many other boats waiting to dock it was time to think about slowing up. ( FYI our boat was mid size…there are loads of other boats…bigger and smaller but all about the same caliber of luxury!!) . El Capitan found a space that he wanted to park up at and put the boat into reverse to slow it down to a stop. It would appear that reverse was broken and we just casually cruised into the pontoon….What he should have been saying was “Brace Brace” like they do on an airplane however clearly this is a daily occurrence as no one seemed the remotest bit bothered that we had just smashed into the wall!!! We just looked at each other bemused and disembarked from our bateau.

On dry land it was now time to use the toilet facilities of this new building. There is a lady outside with toilet paper (pink) and for Wu Dollllaaaaaa you can purchase TWO sheets of toilet paper. Fooled her – I had my own….never travel without it now! The water in the toilet was the same brownie colour as the river….(everything is recycled here) so when I flushed the toilet it was dirtier than when I started!! Stupidly I washed my hands afterwards (same brownie water….not concentrating!!) but the good news is I have a bag full of wet wipes and sanitizers!!!

Cambodia (siem reap) has been fun but unless you are a culture vulture there really is no need to stay any longer than one night…..everything can be seen and done in a day. The weather is wonderful though so you can take advantage of free time and sit by the pool.
I just had a Judith Chalmers moment!!!!

This afternoon we went into town for a spot of lunch and some last minute souvenir negotiations! We had lunch at a place called The Red Piano…..(a Jessie recommendation) which had been put on the map by the husband stealer, who came here whilst she was filming the Lara Croft film. They have even names a cocktail after her…… Lots of other names spring to mind which I would have called it but they stuck to the Angelina Jolie! – how original!!

Finally it was off to the ice cream shop for our last scoop and then back to the hotel. We have been into town three times and there must be at least 2000 tuk tuks – what are the chances that we would have the same driver three times!!!!! Coincidence……
I think not!

Well – that’s it for Cambodia, Siem Reap at least. The highlights for me would definitely have to be the Jungle Temple……..

Packed and ready to go, Som came to collect us promptly at 4.30 to take us to the airport – goodbye Cambodia…..hello Thailand

We arrived in Thailand where we were eventually greeted by a very strange little man – apparently he was our guide and the first thing he wanted to know was if we wanted to visit any Buddha’s??!! Was he having a ‘giraffe’? He assisted with the luggage, by watched Indy pushing the trolley (we now have three cases) as we made our way down to the car park. He was quite helpful when we were on the escalator…(in parts they are on quite a sharp incline) he placed a hand on the trolley whilst Indy struggled to stop it rolling away. Down on the next floor he removed his hand and off he walked…us trailing behind with the luggage!!
We were then met by the ‘get away’ driver who made it into Bangkok in record time…..and arrived at the hotel.

We are staying at the Mandarin Oriental which I love. Our room is in the old wing….The Authors Wing, where a string of famous writers have stayed…..and me!! We overlook the river which during the day is all hustle and bustle with boats and tugs going up and down. Its the quickest way to travel here and certainly the quickest way to move large cargo, building materials and a host of other stuff which gets pulled up and down the river. There are also boat/barge stops where you can get on and off to suit wherever you need to be.

As it was quite late by the time we arrived, we quickly unpacked and went down to have supper. Indy claims that they do the best Mango with Sticky RIce here…..in the world….high praise indeed for the modest Mango – so he was beyond happy when it came to dessert.

Now its bed time…..it has been a long day.

Until tomorrow – I bid you adieu

Love

Me and the Mango Eating Expert
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