We got up at 8am to head off to the famous temples of Siem Reap. What an experience! We visited so many and still didn't scratch the surface! For those of you who know me, don't die of shock, but....I walked around these temples in the BLAZING HOT sun for about 7 hours, with sweat literally dripping off me in every direction. Attractive. Everybody raves about Angkor Wat, the real treasure in my opinion is Angkor Thom. You can decide for yourselves at the bottom of the blog post. I can't remember the names for them all so i'll just label Wat and Thom. It was a great experience, however the amount of beggar children at the ront and back of each temple gets a little over bearing, it is all a con. If you really want to help people go through a trusted organisation to an orphanage or something, even a lot of those are scams so be really careful and do your research. I just block it out and after I have said no/tried to out walk them they know not to bother me again. This is when they all flock around Mike, much to my amusement! He doesn't give in but I don't think he is as abrupt as me. On some occassions he even tries to get people back onto my case by exclaiming 'she is the one in charge of the purse strings', and then they go away. Again, I know I sound hash but I promise you it is all a con and these children should be in school. It is free to go until a certain age where they have to pay for exams but it is the young children adults use for the begging purpose. I do feel so sorry for them but by buying a $1 fridge magnet, you're not actually helping them.
After our long day at the temples we headed to the night market. It was already quite late when we got there and so we settled for having that treatment where the fish nibble your feet (Mike's choice not mine- he loved it) followed by a pedicure and 1 hour foot massage (my choice) all for $10 for both of us. Whilst sat getting our feet done in the dingy night market, a group of people came and started playing traditional music whilst young adults came in traditional clothing and did traditional dances, it was a really nice experience.
The next day we went walkig round the central market and the old market, both were rubbish but it was something to do. We went to get some treatments done as I was in desperate need for an eyebrow wax, they looked as though they had taken on its own life form and were trying to conquer my face! We had a honey and milk body scrub which wasn't too different from the horrific experience we had in Udaipur, India. At least this time we were allowed to be in the same room and were given paper knickers (it always makes me giggle looking at Mike wearing them!), however, that is where there positives end. Again, I was made to lie on my back with my bits out, and again they were massaged and scrubed against my will. I have dealt with this horror before so it wasn't as traumatic- I kind of laid back and thought of England. We were then taken to seperate wash rooms to get the first layer of scrub off and when we came out, one look at each other told us that we both had the same experience. We were both led into a room with a bucket of water ad a pan. We had to wash the scrub off this way. Utterly bizzare, cold and hilarious. I don't think Mike found the funny side. We went back into the treatment room and were lathered in honey and waited for it to set. This time we were led into the same 'bathroom' and were told to help each other wash it off. The bathroom wasn't the one I went into on my own, this one had a much bigger bucket of water- a massive barrell, so I just climbed into it and crouched down to make the honey come of quicker. It turned all the water murky. Once we got back to the treatment room they insisted on drying me themselves, again, I felt ncomfotable but I had been through this hell before so I just went along with it. That is until the two ladies started squeezing and groping my breasts whilst exclaiming 'oooh very good very good'. At this point I nervously laughed and asked Mike to pass my bra, the lady grabbed it off me and put it on me- very weird, but not as weird as her then thrusting her hand into my bra, grabbing each boob and pulling it into a position that suited her. ARGGGGGHHHHH!!!! After we walked downstairs (whilst they were refilling the big bucket with fresh water- ooops) where we had an hour foot reflexology and got the hell out of there. That night we went out with everyone in our dorm, for the first time since travelling everyone in there was really nice and fun. It wasn't the best of ideas considering we got back at 2am and had to be up at 4.30am to catch a 5am bus to Laos.
We paid $25 each for a 10 hour bus for Laos, it doesn't sound a lot but out here it is, also when you are travelling for a year it all adds up. This price was for a VIP sleeper bus with one change at the border. Easy. Or not. It was the most hellish day of travelling we have had so far. We were taken on a mini-bus for 11 people, that actually had 18 people crammed inside with no seatbelts, no room, no nothing, half way down the country to a place called Kratie as they decided that was the place they wanted to go first. We, and other passengers were furious. This jouney had taken about 10 hours in itself, along country roads, full of potholes, with no room for our bottoms or legs. Then they decide we all go to another place right ack up north again. This took another 4 hours. The problem was that not only had we paid for a completely different experience, we were told we would be in Don Det, Laos by 2pm, the border crossing closes at 5pm. We had now missed the border crossing and missed out on the accomodation we had paid for. They dropped us and two German girls off (the two German girls had paid to go to Ban Lung in Cambodia, very North East) in the middle of nowhere refusing to take us to Ban Lung. We had now decided to go with these girls as we had nowhere else to go for the night as we were meant to be in Laos and when I say we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere, I really mean it. Not a guesthouse, hotel or anything in sight apart from a roadside shop. We called the tour operator there and then to complain and explain our situation, plus it was getting dark so it was very worrying, and they wouldn't help us, we said we were going to call the police and they didn't care and responded by saying if w did that they wouldn't even try and help us. It was such a ridiculous situation. We hadn't eatn all day, by this time it was 6.30pm and we were p at 4.30am, travelling all day in the wrong direction because it was all one big money making scam (quite the norm in Cambodia) and stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Then the travel Gods decided to send some sort of luck our way. At this deserted little roadside shop where tubleweed would have fit in, a pickup truck arrives with a married Cambodian couple who both speak English, good English is rare to find in Cambodia. They just so happened to be going to Ban Lung. They put all four backpacks into the back of the truck as the four of us squeezed into the back for 1 1/2 hour last stretch of the journey. It was great talking to them about Cambodia, we learnt a lot about the state of the country, their government etc. We arrived finally in Ban Lung, which is not a tourist place really at all. It was a nightmare trying to get transport to take us to the girls hotel as it was on top of a hill. Eventually we managed to get four motobikes (one each with our massive backpacks and hand luggage to boot) to take us to our destination. About another 10 minutes. I am terrifid of such things but my guy was very good and went nice and slow for me. W arrived and thankfully the hotel had a spare room for myself and Mike although they obviously saw the opportunity to rip off the two stranded guests. We booked two nights, one to recover and sleep in the next day and to have time to find transportation to Laos etc. We were just so relieved to have a bed and a shower! But, of course, the bad luck didn't end there.
The next day we had asked to have a scooter ready to go and explore the area. They turned up with a manual motorbike. We told them we didn't know how to drive it but they insisted we gave it a go after a few demonstrations. Mike did well on his own, but when I was on the back, we didn't make it off the driveway and lost control of it (even though we going snail pace) and fell off it. We are both ok, no hospital needed thanks to my trusty first aid kit. I have badly bruised knee, ankle and a sore breastplate but nothing massive at all. Mike has a chunk of skin gone from his knee and various minor grazes. His knee however is gross. I am re-dressing it everyday and giving it 'airing time' and it seems to be improving along with my bandaging skills! I went to restock on supplies today. I am just thankful we weren't on a road or trying to be cocky by going fast. We have learnt however to only trust ur own judgements now and won't be trying it again. We were on it for about 6 seconds and it did quite enough damage! So now we are taking things easy to recover.
The next day we thought we would try again to get to Laos. We got a minibus to somewhere which took about 3/4 hours and when we got there (again, a desolate place, burning hot, very local, nothing to do at all) we were told we had a 4 hour wait to get a bus for an hour the border. I had finally snapped afer all the bad luck and demanded that he get us a friend to drive us to the border, have a minibus waiting for us on the otherside to get us to where we needed to be to catch the boat to Don Det. For a price he agreed and 15 minutes later a man with a van turned up. Maybe saying a man with a square piece of tin with 4 wheels and glued in seats would be a bit more apt. It was a dirty death trap but we only really realised it when we were bouncig along on our way to the border. My seat was not bolted down properly, it felt like there was one bolt the amount I was swinging backwards and forwards, from side to side, clutching onto Mike's seat for some sort of stability. Miraculously, an hour later we arrived at the border and walked across it, greeted on the other side by our own private, safe, a/c mini-van. Lush. 20 minutes to the 'harbour'. Followed by a load of hassle in the baking heat to get a boat ticket, get down to the 'harbour' and onto our own little wooden motorised boat. The scenery and breeze made me relax a bit, well, for about 10 minutes. The boat pulled up to a very steep banking which was pure mud and rocks, it was obviously not a place for you to get off due to it being dangerous but we were made to do so with our injuries, backpacks and hand luggage with no help. It was pure torture and the heat makes everythng a million times worse. Plus we realised there is a perfectly safe harbour now, our boatman was just a s**t. If only I could see him again and have a word with him.
We are now on the island of Don Det in Laos, and I am just happy to finally be here. Even if we do have to flush the toilet by chucking buckets of water down it.
I've just tried uploading pictures but the internet is really bad here so I will do a picture upload hopfully on the 4th Dec when we move off Don Det.
After our long day at the temples we headed to the night market. It was already quite late when we got there and so we settled for having that treatment where the fish nibble your feet (Mike's choice not mine- he loved it) followed by a pedicure and 1 hour foot massage (my choice) all for $10 for both of us. Whilst sat getting our feet done in the dingy night market, a group of people came and started playing traditional music whilst young adults came in traditional clothing and did traditional dances, it was a really nice experience.
The next day we went walkig round the central market and the old market, both were rubbish but it was something to do. We went to get some treatments done as I was in desperate need for an eyebrow wax, they looked as though they had taken on its own life form and were trying to conquer my face! We had a honey and milk body scrub which wasn't too different from the horrific experience we had in Udaipur, India. At least this time we were allowed to be in the same room and were given paper knickers (it always makes me giggle looking at Mike wearing them!), however, that is where there positives end. Again, I was made to lie on my back with my bits out, and again they were massaged and scrubed against my will. I have dealt with this horror before so it wasn't as traumatic- I kind of laid back and thought of England. We were then taken to seperate wash rooms to get the first layer of scrub off and when we came out, one look at each other told us that we both had the same experience. We were both led into a room with a bucket of water ad a pan. We had to wash the scrub off this way. Utterly bizzare, cold and hilarious. I don't think Mike found the funny side. We went back into the treatment room and were lathered in honey and waited for it to set. This time we were led into the same 'bathroom' and were told to help each other wash it off. The bathroom wasn't the one I went into on my own, this one had a much bigger bucket of water- a massive barrell, so I just climbed into it and crouched down to make the honey come of quicker. It turned all the water murky. Once we got back to the treatment room they insisted on drying me themselves, again, I felt ncomfotable but I had been through this hell before so I just went along with it. That is until the two ladies started squeezing and groping my breasts whilst exclaiming 'oooh very good very good'. At this point I nervously laughed and asked Mike to pass my bra, the lady grabbed it off me and put it on me- very weird, but not as weird as her then thrusting her hand into my bra, grabbing each boob and pulling it into a position that suited her. ARGGGGGHHHHH!!!! After we walked downstairs (whilst they were refilling the big bucket with fresh water- ooops) where we had an hour foot reflexology and got the hell out of there. That night we went out with everyone in our dorm, for the first time since travelling everyone in there was really nice and fun. It wasn't the best of ideas considering we got back at 2am and had to be up at 4.30am to catch a 5am bus to Laos.
We paid $25 each for a 10 hour bus for Laos, it doesn't sound a lot but out here it is, also when you are travelling for a year it all adds up. This price was for a VIP sleeper bus with one change at the border. Easy. Or not. It was the most hellish day of travelling we have had so far. We were taken on a mini-bus for 11 people, that actually had 18 people crammed inside with no seatbelts, no room, no nothing, half way down the country to a place called Kratie as they decided that was the place they wanted to go first. We, and other passengers were furious. This jouney had taken about 10 hours in itself, along country roads, full of potholes, with no room for our bottoms or legs. Then they decide we all go to another place right ack up north again. This took another 4 hours. The problem was that not only had we paid for a completely different experience, we were told we would be in Don Det, Laos by 2pm, the border crossing closes at 5pm. We had now missed the border crossing and missed out on the accomodation we had paid for. They dropped us and two German girls off (the two German girls had paid to go to Ban Lung in Cambodia, very North East) in the middle of nowhere refusing to take us to Ban Lung. We had now decided to go with these girls as we had nowhere else to go for the night as we were meant to be in Laos and when I say we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere, I really mean it. Not a guesthouse, hotel or anything in sight apart from a roadside shop. We called the tour operator there and then to complain and explain our situation, plus it was getting dark so it was very worrying, and they wouldn't help us, we said we were going to call the police and they didn't care and responded by saying if w did that they wouldn't even try and help us. It was such a ridiculous situation. We hadn't eatn all day, by this time it was 6.30pm and we were p at 4.30am, travelling all day in the wrong direction because it was all one big money making scam (quite the norm in Cambodia) and stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Then the travel Gods decided to send some sort of luck our way. At this deserted little roadside shop where tubleweed would have fit in, a pickup truck arrives with a married Cambodian couple who both speak English, good English is rare to find in Cambodia. They just so happened to be going to Ban Lung. They put all four backpacks into the back of the truck as the four of us squeezed into the back for 1 1/2 hour last stretch of the journey. It was great talking to them about Cambodia, we learnt a lot about the state of the country, their government etc. We arrived finally in Ban Lung, which is not a tourist place really at all. It was a nightmare trying to get transport to take us to the girls hotel as it was on top of a hill. Eventually we managed to get four motobikes (one each with our massive backpacks and hand luggage to boot) to take us to our destination. About another 10 minutes. I am terrifid of such things but my guy was very good and went nice and slow for me. W arrived and thankfully the hotel had a spare room for myself and Mike although they obviously saw the opportunity to rip off the two stranded guests. We booked two nights, one to recover and sleep in the next day and to have time to find transportation to Laos etc. We were just so relieved to have a bed and a shower! But, of course, the bad luck didn't end there.
The next day we had asked to have a scooter ready to go and explore the area. They turned up with a manual motorbike. We told them we didn't know how to drive it but they insisted we gave it a go after a few demonstrations. Mike did well on his own, but when I was on the back, we didn't make it off the driveway and lost control of it (even though we going snail pace) and fell off it. We are both ok, no hospital needed thanks to my trusty first aid kit. I have badly bruised knee, ankle and a sore breastplate but nothing massive at all. Mike has a chunk of skin gone from his knee and various minor grazes. His knee however is gross. I am re-dressing it everyday and giving it 'airing time' and it seems to be improving along with my bandaging skills! I went to restock on supplies today. I am just thankful we weren't on a road or trying to be cocky by going fast. We have learnt however to only trust ur own judgements now and won't be trying it again. We were on it for about 6 seconds and it did quite enough damage! So now we are taking things easy to recover.
The next day we thought we would try again to get to Laos. We got a minibus to somewhere which took about 3/4 hours and when we got there (again, a desolate place, burning hot, very local, nothing to do at all) we were told we had a 4 hour wait to get a bus for an hour the border. I had finally snapped afer all the bad luck and demanded that he get us a friend to drive us to the border, have a minibus waiting for us on the otherside to get us to where we needed to be to catch the boat to Don Det. For a price he agreed and 15 minutes later a man with a van turned up. Maybe saying a man with a square piece of tin with 4 wheels and glued in seats would be a bit more apt. It was a dirty death trap but we only really realised it when we were bouncig along on our way to the border. My seat was not bolted down properly, it felt like there was one bolt the amount I was swinging backwards and forwards, from side to side, clutching onto Mike's seat for some sort of stability. Miraculously, an hour later we arrived at the border and walked across it, greeted on the other side by our own private, safe, a/c mini-van. Lush. 20 minutes to the 'harbour'. Followed by a load of hassle in the baking heat to get a boat ticket, get down to the 'harbour' and onto our own little wooden motorised boat. The scenery and breeze made me relax a bit, well, for about 10 minutes. The boat pulled up to a very steep banking which was pure mud and rocks, it was obviously not a place for you to get off due to it being dangerous but we were made to do so with our injuries, backpacks and hand luggage with no help. It was pure torture and the heat makes everythng a million times worse. Plus we realised there is a perfectly safe harbour now, our boatman was just a s**t. If only I could see him again and have a word with him.
We are now on the island of Don Det in Laos, and I am just happy to finally be here. Even if we do have to flush the toilet by chucking buckets of water down it.
I've just tried uploading pictures but the internet is really bad here so I will do a picture upload hopfully on the 4th Dec when we move off Don Det.
No comments:
Post a Comment