Day 7

Day 7 & onwards

It has been some time since I posted, we have been too busy to do it. And we have no phone service.

We almost missed the bus from PP to SR, because Edvin didn’t give us the full instructions but we made it. We were on the top deck of a double decker bus in the very front seat so had a fantastic view of the trip. Surprisingly there were only locals on the bus, no other tourists.

As you will see from the pics, the main road from PP to SR is no more than a small country road by our standards and as we got closer to SR the flooding became evident. Not that it deterred our bus driver, he just kept honking his horn and forging on.  We had a pit stop half way to be greeted with beggars and little girls selling pineapple and mango, and like any bus stop, baskets of cooked spiders, crickets, stuffed frogs & snails. Yum.

5 hours later we arrived in SR, both thinking we really didn’t want to be here, it looked even more backward than PP, and questioned whether we should get a flight to Phuket and spend the remainder of our holiday there.

We were very impressed with our accommodation ($15/night including breakfast) so thought we would give it a couple of days.

And we are so glad we did, we both feel like our holiday didn’t start till we arrived here, the people are what we were expecting and the atmosphere is different (smaller, friendlier, not as smelly and lots to do).

When we arrived at the bus stop we were expecting a pick up from our hotel, but unfortunately that didn’t happen, but a young man with a tuk tuk said he would look after us and make sure we got tour hotel, and he did. He then asked if we had a driver for our time here and we were sold with him and arranged pick up for the next morning for 7.30am.

We were still unsure of the place but as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast we made use of the free transport into town, and found ourselves in the main restaurant street of SR (Pub Street). There were no lights on, just candles everywhere and we realized that the electricity was out. We selected the second floor balcony of a restaurant looking over the street and were enjoying the ambience, when sadly the lights came on and revealed a very lively street full of every type & nationality of restaurant you can imagine.

The next morning our driver, Manut, arrived bright & early and we started touring the ruins. If you want to enjoy them, there are lots of photos. We went to about 5 – 6 different temples, all awe inspiring, full of history and really big. Each temple of course had the obligatory souvenir and food stalls attached to them, so at lunch time we enjoyed some local fare and of course invited Manut to join us. He had a chicken dish that looked scary. He insisted we try it, and after having a few mouthfuls I wasn’t sure how to warn Marty that the piece of meat I had eaten was chicken liver, and I knew that if he got a bit he would vomit. He was apparently already aware cause he had seen Manut eat the chicken foot, but he managed to avoid eating any more but still remained polite.

Last night we went back to Pub street and had another delicious meal, then stumbled on a massage place, so we sat down for a foot massage. The only thing they didn’t massage were our tummy’s, bums and bits, and for $5 we certainly got our monies worth.

Our driver picked us up again at 7am this morning,  and the day started with a trip to Ton Le Sap lake for a boat trip to the fishing villages. On the way Manut almost rolled the tuk tuk trying to drive through flooded and badly damaged roads, but after a quick walk through the floods to the other side, with Marty helping him to retrieve his tuk tuk and his thong, were off again.

We realized on the way that this is the poorest country we have ever been to. We knew they were poor but what we saw on the way to and on the lake was disturbing. We were very quiet by the time we arrived to get on the boat. I will explain that I had asked Manut about a boat trip I read about on Trip Advisor, he explained that that company is expensive and the rich people get the money, if we went with him the poor people would get paid and we would get the same  trip. What could I do, we opted for his suggestion. We at least felt we had contributed something to help them.

When we stopped on a floating crocodile/fish farm, I spent some time watching and videoing a little girl floating around and playing on the river in a plastic tub, she had asked me for a dollar but I was reluctant (as suggested) to give her any. I couldn’t resist after ½ hr and gave her the dollar. This resulted in another little girl who had just turned up  (along with her pet snake) really crying because she didn’t get a dollar too, at that point I asked Manut if we could leave cause it was breaking my heart.

Next we were off to a countryside tour, and didn’t our kidneys know it, the dirt road was a mess and if you have ever been in a tuk tuk on a bumpy road you will know that it isn’t pleasant. He took us to another temple to see and being polite we tried to appear eager and went to have a look. We met a couple of young lcal men who started talking to us, like most people here, and the story is as follows: they were apprentice monks who could speak English but didn’t get much of a chance to practice, so tried to engage English people whenever they could. We spent quite a bit of time talking to them and learning about their culture, the temples and themselves. They then gave us a tour of the monastery. This was an unexpected but really pleasant experience, to meet and help these young men.

Next we were off to Manuts house for lunch. This has happened to us before, where we have been invited to our guide/drivers village and home and we realize the privilege that goes with it. Marty was extremely nervous because of his experience with the chicken liver & feet the previous day, and when we arrived at his obviously very poor home, met his wife and 2 children (2 girls, Alicia aged 2 and Sara aged 2 months) and his 2 sister in laws (twins aged about 13) who all spoke no English, we settled down on the mat under the house along with ducks, chooks, dog, bad smells and lots of rubbish. His fare consisted of a home grown and cooked chicken with heaps of rice, and of course the chicken soup, that contained all the liver, kidney, feet, neck etc. I managed to score marty the leg & breast of the chicken along with some rice and he graciously refused anything else. I of course tucked into the whole lot, livers and all. As I said this is a real privilege and wouldn’t under any circumstances insult his generosity.

He then took us for a walk around his village and showed us the farming; I was particularly interested in the rice growing as I have always been confused how rice is grown.

We then went onto the Silk Farm, where we had a guided tour of how they make silk, then back to our motel.

pictures temples (potentially boring): http://picasaweb.google.com/ruthymartyc/06102009#

video: http://picasaweb.google.com/ruthymartyc/CrocodileOutsideOurWindowSiemReap#5389795200929735970

more interesting: http://picasaweb.google.com/ruthymartyc/Day7Cambodia#