It’s a rainy sunday in Siem Reap. Today is my lazy day, my day of rest from the crowds of tourist and con artist disguised as children. The last three days have been amazing but equally exhausting. The beauty of the temples is too grand to put into words. Leen and i started out with Banteay Kdei, Pre Rup, Eastern Mebon, Ta Som.. and finished off the first day at Preah Khan. They were all beautiful. Preah Khan gave us a preview of how nature had taken back what man had build to displace it. Our second day started early. We watched the sun rise at Angkor Wat Angkor Wat with lots of other people waiting to dazzle their eyes with something spectacular. It was cloudy. But the sun still rose and the sky lit up and the previously dark shadow that was Angkor Wat suddenly became this massive structure in front of us. The temple city was massive, and for this reason impressive but a big massive stone structure is a big massive stone structure. I prefered the smaller temples we had seen the day before. We continued on to Bayon which peaked my interest again with its multitude of faces. Eash time you looked up you could be sure there would be a big stone face looking back down at you. Baphuon, Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, and then Ta Prohm which was by far my favourite. There were trees growing out of walls and buildings and basickly anything that stood in their way. Man builds a grand city and displaces nature. Man dies, nature reclaims buildings, nature wins. We walked around in awe and as we stared at the endless piles of crumbles rocks with trees on top it started to rain.

On day three we ventured further afeild to Banteay Samre and Banteay Srei. There were nice and small. I apreciated these more than that grand Angkor Wat. We finished off yesterday with a sunset over the lake at the top of a mountian at a temple with a hundred of our closest friends. The sunset was beautiful but more amazing was the circus of people watching it. We got back to the city and i found a welcome suprise of friendly faces. Leila and Jari had arrived. The four of us had dinner at a local family run place that served me the most wonderful fried pumpkin dish. I really must learn to make it. It was sooo good i am thinking i will go there tonight and have it again .

Tomorrow i will head to Phnom Penh. I will only stay here long enough to process my vietnam visa then im heading off to Ho Chi Minh a week early. Stay tuned for more adventures of me. And possibly photos soon!

p.s.

I was granted my Finland visa.

I left Battambang on wednesday morning at 07:00 on a boat headed to Siem Reap. My new friend Leen was headed the same way so we decided to stick together. The boat ride was very relaxing. It is hard for me to imagine living on a house in the water or even a boat but i foud myself surrounded by hundreds of such things. There were huoses built on stilts completely surrounded by water. There were boats with two walls a roof and two doorways inside there were hamocks and children smiling and happily waving to the current entertainment ( us). I took way too many photos but i am having a hard time uploading them so you wil just have to wait to see. BUt trust me when i say it was beautiful. We arrived i think 7 hours later around 2:00pm but i was tired and don’t recall e xactly what time it was. As soon as the boat got close enough to shore tuk tuk and moto drivers jumped on board and started removing our bags and trying to get us to go with them. this was possibly the frst time i was startled by ther assertiveness. Leen and i had already decided to stay at popular guesthouse as it was suggested to me by my friend Mark before i left the US and then again by 3 people i had met while traveling. The tuk tu driver told us the ride was free and said he knew where popular was located though tried very hard to convince us to go elsewhere. When we arrived at popular and did not change our minds the ride suddenly cost money. My $3 room at popular is basic. I have a clean bed, a fan, a coast rack which comes in handy for drying clothes, a table, and my very own trail of ants on the wall. the room is fairly clean but the shared bathroom down the hall could use a little attention. but for $3 a night i really cant complain.

I left the guesthouse early on Monday. It was only 6am so not so bright, but definatly early. The bus was scheduled to leave at 7 am and it actually left ontime. I Hadn’t yet decided where i was going but i would have 3 to 5 hours to think about it. I was the only foreigner on the bus.

Cambodian drivers are crazy. When i first arrived in the country i think it was a full hour before i was positive which side of the road they were uposed tobe driving on. They drive on both almost equally depending on which side offeres the least resistance. Oncomming traffic is not always enough of a reason to stay on the other side of the road. BUt to be fair i haven’t seen any traffic accidents. They are constantly warning people of their presence with the wonder sound of the horn. If a bike is on or near the road they get beeped at. If a moto driver is in front they get beeped at. If a person several feet away from the road looks in the direction of a passing car or moto, they get beeped at. Needless to say my 3 to 5 hour drive to Phnom Phen was going to be a loud one. I decided i’d go on whatever bus was leaving first. This was a bus to Battambang which is in the north. I didn’t really know what was there but i had planned on going anyway. I arrived late and got off the bus to a crowd of drivers all wanting to take me to a guesthouse of their choice. I found a guy holding a sign from the place i had planned on staying at and went with him. His name was Chinchin (sp) and he spoke english very well. He spent the entire time trying to get me to agree o a tour for the next day, but i had other plans. The guide book spoke of day trips from the city but i was just going to walk around for 2 days efore heading off to Siem Reap. I got up early the next morning and headed ot on y walk. I was greete by chinchin and again he asked if i wanted a tour. I informed him i was going for a walk. And i did… for hours. I walked and i watched people walking, working, playing, living. I went to a few temples and listened to the monks. I got some fruit from the market and eventually ended up back at the hotel. It was only 09:30. Chinchin was of course waiting at the door. He asked how my walk was and again asked if i wanted atour. With my 2 days worth of plans completed ( in 3 hours) i had nothing else to do so told him id go in an hour. I ate breakfast, showered and hopped on the back of his moto. This turned out to be a very very good idea. We took to dirt roads and went through the vilages. OUr first stop was Wat Phnom Sampeau which was located at the top of a roadless mountian. Chinchin let me off at the bottom and i was told i could hire a small child guide for $1 or i could take an english speaing guide for $3. I was going to be cheap but opted for the $3 guide. Sakluk (sp) was his name but he told me to call him Terry. Terry was very informative but took every spare moment to either tell me how fat i as or to try and convince me i should give him $20 to pay for his english lessons. The walk was hard and i am indeed fat, but i made it to the top to see the killing caves and memorial. And still further to the top of the temple. At the top i met two people. We were all winded sweaty and tired. We started talking i think more to waste time and rest before the last flight of stairs. They were both really nice. Matt from the US now living in singapore, and Melanie from the Netherlands. We spent time at the top looking at the temple and talking about random things. We made plans to meet for dinner. After i went to another temple, up a very very very high flight of stairs, but i made it, and i ran into a girl staying at my hotel Leen from belgium. We stood at the top and waiting for the comming rain storm to start. We got drebched and it was amazingly fun. BY the time we got to the bottom of the stairs to meet our moto drivers we couldnt have been any more wet if we had jumped into a pool. Our drivers laughed at us and we went to sit with them and waited for the rain to stop. After we decided to go find the infamous bamboo train! We found it! We road on it! it was dangerous and scary and sooooo fun!

Pictures to come soon as i can upload them.

The internet in cambodia is very very slow.

It eventually stopped raining in Sihanoukville. I went to the beach to enjoy the rays and soon remembered that i hate the sun. Sihanoukville is a total beach resort town… i also hate tourist. A german couple( Jari and Leila) i had met on the mini bus from Thailand had invited me to join them on an adveture to Kampot and then to Bokor National park which is between Kampot and Sihanoulville. I had planned on going there anyway and company is always welcome. The Sunday started early. we left Sihanoukville at 06:30 for our 2 hour ride to Kampot. In Kampot we picked up two brits Will and Orlando, and then headed out on our guided tour of Bokor National park. We were in the back of a pick up truck, our chests about level with he top of the cab of the truck. At the start we were driving through town, it was interesting if not slightly dangerous. We went accross a bridge and had to duck else our heads be cut off by the sign informing us that we were obvously too tall to be crossing. It was just a preview of what was to come later. The ride to Bokor hill station ( at the top of bokor national park) was something i will never forget. We started driving up a dilapidated road. From there it only got worse. The “road”became more like what i imagine a river bed looks like. Unpredictable holes, large and small rocks jutting out at random points, and slick mud sometimes deep.. sometimes shallow. We sped up this “road” through the low hanging branches and foliage. Did i mention that we were siting in the back of the uncovered pick up truck? Our heads above the top of the roof of the passenger and driver portion of the truck. We dodged tree branches and spiky plants as they came at our faces and heads at an alarming speed all the while trying not to break out backs against the bars behind us or our asses on the barely padded “seat” while we bounced around. It was a bonding experience. We did manage to safely reach the top some 2 hours later, with sore butts and bruised backs and arms, but alive and smiling. We walked around the ghost town that the french had built in the 20′s and abandoned by the 40′s. It was both beautiful and scary. We explored the ghost town and then went to explore a waterfall. I assumed we were just going to up near it and watch it from a reasonable distance. I was of course wrong. We slowly walked through a shallow stream ( the tp of the waterfall) accross a group of rocks. That was nice i thought and figured we were done. Then i looked over the edge and saw people standing in the waterfall. I eventually got up enough courage to climb down, but i did not have steady enough feet to walk in the water to the actual falls. It was nice. Afterwards we eventually all climbed back up and headed back to the truck for our bumpy ride home. Some 3 hours later we had reached the road to kampot and Leila, Jari and i found our taxi to sihanoukville waiting. We said our goodbyes to Orlando and Will and headed back for the 2 hour ride back to Sihanoukville.

I got up early on thursday morning finished packing and headed out of the deserted guest house for the bus station around 05:30. There of ocurse were no taxis around when i actually wanted to take one. I started walking and hoped for the best. Eventually i saw a taxi driver. I had refused his service no less than 6 times the day before because i had prefered to walk, but i was glad to see him then. I was the only foreigner waling the streets and it was still dark and not to mention raining. I got in the back of his pick up truck and we set off along the dark wet road. Five mins into the drive he stops suddenly. I see him get out of the truck and start running to a dark spot behind us. He picks somehting up and then runs back to the truck. In his hands is a turtle. He tosses it into a bucket and gets back into the drivers seat. I don’t think much of it i assume hes gonna take it home to eat or as a pet or whatever. We continue driving and then about 5 mins later we stop again… Another turtle? He gets out of the truck again and runs back to where i am i get confused because i know this is not the bus station but its still too dark to actually see around. He gets the turtle out of the bucket mumbles somehting and smiles. I then notice that we are near soem water and he is returning the turtle to what will now become home. I smile at him and we continue are way to the bus. We get there in what i think is on time for the next ride tot he cambodia boarder. I am the only one around. I ask the minibus driver if we are leaving at 06:00 and he responds 10 people. I look around again.. i am still the only one around. I sat down and expected to be wiating a while. Moments later in the distance i see a little man walking towards me a rolling suitcase in tow. This had to be a tourist i thought. As it turns out he was a french man ( i never did get his name) and he was on his way back home to Sihanoukville Cambodia, the same beach town i was headed to. We talked while we waited for the 8 other people to fill the minibus. He was very interesting and a little odd, but not in a scary way. Eventually around 07:20 we were told we were leaving. It took about 90 mins to get to the cambodian boarder and just before we exit the minibus the french guys points out where the thai boarder exit is and the minibus is swarmed by taxi drivers and people demanding to help you. I declind help. I think i am capable of walking 20 feet with no help, but they keep insisting. The lovely French guy tells them to fuck off and i ask if i can stick aorund him for a little while longer. We walk over to the cambodian side and he shows me where i need to go to get my visa. I open the door and am suddenly surrounded by a familiar smell… you know the lovely green herb that helps you relax and helps you develop a condition known as the munchies. The boarder patrol guards hear me open the door and start wandering in. I am surrounded by 5 people in uniforms and handed a form to fill out. My hands start shaking but i still somehow manage to write down all the information required. They then demand 1200 baht ( $35), i pause for a moment and say $20 they say 1200 baht again with no hesitation. I think about demanding i pay the correct price but then i realize its just me and them, and they have nothing else to do all day but hold me here. SO i pay the money and go. I am glad to see the french guy had waited for me, and already nagotiated a taxi price into town to try and catch the bus that has aparently not yet left. We get to town and find that the bus has left but the taxi chases it down. This was fun. 10 mins later we find a full minibus on the side of the road waiting. We pay them $15 each.

I expected to see alot of povery ridden houses along the road but found the road mostly lined with rock faces and water falls. It was beautiful.  The ride was long but great. We stoped 4 times to get on a raft to cross the river and i managed to speak to a few other people on the bus.  We reached Sihanoukville some 6 hours later and i thanked the french guy again and started to go on my way when Jamie ( a british guy from the bus) asked if i wanted to share a taxi with him and his friends. I did not want to end up being the only person in the guest house like in Trat so i went along.

We are staying at a guest house near the beach called GST, its $4 a night. $4 a night! The walls are a bit dirty but the bed is ok and i have my own bathroom with shower and cable tv. I let Jamie and Ash convince me to go into town with them via motor bike. at first i was a little terrified, but my insurence coveres moto bike accidents so what the hell i thought. It was alot of fun. I of ocurse id not drive one i rode on the back of Jamie’s bike while Ash rode with his Cambodian friend.

Today i expected to spend most of my time relaxing and being lazy on the beach, but istead i find myself writting and listening to the rain. Its pouring. It has been raining for 2 days. and i love it! I will go to the bech later for a swim. Whats it matter if you get wet in the rain if you are just going to get in the water anyway?

Stay tuned for more reports from rainy Cambodia.

ps. I dont think my phone will work here. So if you dont get a hole of me dont be worried.  If my phone does not work in Vietnam i will get a vietnam number in a few weeks, but foreigners can not buy sim cards here so i have no chance of getting a cambodian number.  But dont worry im fine!