Photos

Slums at Kompong Cham. People playing volley ball

Our transport over the Mekong in Stung Treng

An isolate school on our trek north east. These children were from a minority group.

Crossing a river on our trek. This is after 4 of us and one bike had gotten off!

Brian trying the rice wine at the hill tribe village. It was good.

Elephants on our wild motor bike ride with the French girls.

Wedding anniversary on the Mekong. Taken from our hotel balcony.

Civilisation again

This is how we are celebrating New Year's Eve - in front of a computer.

We are back.

Since our last entry we ended up at Stung Treng - a town on the Mekong and the last town before crossing to Laos. Here we had the chance to visit a small village and spend time with a Cambodian family. This included a picnic on the Mekong. Kathy swam Cambodain style with all her clothes on!

We then went east on a very rough road to a very isolated part of Cambodia to Ban Lung. It is like the wild west - very dusty streets etc. All the roadside vegetation is coated with a thick layer of red dust.

We have been travelling with two French women who work in the south of Cambodia. One day we hired motor bikes and saw some fantastic little villages. It was really getting off the beaten track. Not too many Europeans come this way so we were a bit of a novelty.

At one spot we came across two elephants working in the fields - rubber plantations. The real thing!

We also did a two day trek heading towards the Vietnam border for 3 hours on a very rough 4X4 track. It had ruts in the road up to 70 cm deep, created in the wet season. It took 2plus hours to travel 60 km. Then we crossed the river in a littleboat and walked on a jungle track for 2.5 hours.

Just after dark we arrived at a minority hill tribe village - Nay. These people are very 'primitive' and isolated. Our guide could speak their language so one family invited us to stay in their house instead of in the 'classroom.' (This was a roof with a bit of a fence around it.)

It was an unbelievable experience. No electricity. No running water. No torches. No loo - choose your own spot. We washed at the well. We took photos of the kids milling around and they loved looking at the previews on the camera. After eating, we joined the men and tried the rice wine. We had to a share the bamboo straw as we drank from the clay pot.

The only difficult bit was sleeping - We ended up sleeping on the floor. Underneath we could hear the pigs and chickens. When I got up to go to the loo, I met one of the buffulo!

People arose early and started their chores after warming up a bit by the fire. Women went off to get water from the river. Breakfast was cooked and the families sat around and watched us.

We gave them some leftover fruit, sugar, tea and biscuits. It was received keenly. An old man came asking for medicine because he had a sore mouth.

Where do we find a balance so these people can have some basics and we not have too much?

We are back south again now at Kratie - on the Mekong again. We went to see the fresh water dolphins in the river. Ausaid provides $$ for an environmental projectto protect the environment from pollution from diesel, netting and the plastic bags that get into the waterways.

To sum up - it's been great - better than we could have imagined.

Hope you are all well.
Happy New Year.

Kompong Cham

Hi all.

Merry Christmas. We spent most of the day on a crowded bus.

However, we love this place. It is quiet compared to the previous places. Kids call out to us and people are great. One guy turned his motor bike around and stopped so he could talk to us.

It was great to ring home but the line was terrible.

Our guest house is the usual standard - $5US a night. It has two double beds, a TV, a fan and a shower (cold). It overlooks the Mekong river. It is a very modest place but a palace in contrast to the homes of the people on the banks.

Despite poverty, people are always welcoming and smile freely. We see people, including children, getting on with their tasks without a grizzle. They still smile.

We feel like real travellers now.

Love to all.
Merry Christmas

Siem Reap

Lunch for Brian!

Yes! I actually did it! I ate a huge spider!

It was actually quite nice and crunchy. Also a cicada was nice as was the snake (especially the roe - egg sack) and frog.

Normally we eat more conventional food. Kathy's favourite is Fish Amok - a fish cooked with lemon grass and served in a coconut.

We are now at Seim Reap, near Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. It is amazing. There are lots of other ruins nearby. One is where they filmed "Tomb raider".

Today we went to a floating village. They change location of the village with the season.

We are feeling like we know the place a bit better now. Know a few words in Khmer which really helps. The people are great and we are really enjoying being here.

Take care.

Phnom Penh

We're here in Phnom Pehn and it's Wednesday night.

Nearly 4 days of adventure and that's counting when we left Adelaide.

I feel that if I did no more and just reflected upon what we have seenand done would be a holiday in itself. Everything is so different and there is so much to look at and examine and ponder. From the time we arrived in Phnom Pehn it has been mindboggling.

The traffic is incredible. Millions of scooters with 2 - 5 people onboard, tuk tuks (motorbikes with a cart attached), cars and trucks plusa few buses streaming in all directions.

When we arrived we arranged to be taken to the place we had chosen from our "Lonely planet". The moto turned out to be a motor bike with us and our back packs behing the driver. I at least had mine off and held on the lap of the driver. Brian still had his on our back. It was a long 7km! This is where we first met this traffic. But it works and we arrived safely. We can even cross the road now. I do have to hold Brian's hand though just to give me that little bit of confidence. You just look and keep moving. They just avoid hitting you.

We are staying at a guest house on a lake. Our room is modest but has a toilet and a cold 'shower' and is built over the water. We are unsure of where our water comes from and suspect the loo and shower empty into the lake, though I hope not.

The lane leading to our guest house gives us a little bit of an insight into the daily lives of Cambodian families. Grandpa is busy each day carving out a bedhead. Grandma nurses the baby. Someone else is rocking a hammock putting a toddler to sleep. Mum is following toddler around with his food, getting in a mouthful every now and then. Brother and sister play sword fights - the younger brother tormenting from what we can see.

The markets have been a kaleidoscope of colours, sounds, smells and sights. And crowded is an understatement. I had plans of taking lots of pics but it is just so difficult to capture it.

We enjoyed walking aroung the gardens of the Royal Palace and theNational Museum just because of the quiet and clean and calm environment with shady gardens. Beyond the walls is a noisy, hectic and polluted world. We have little masks to keep out the fumes.

Today we we went out into the countryside, about 40km from Phnom Pehn. Just the ride on the tuk Tuk was an adventure for all we saw of life in the countryside and how people work and live. I was delighted that I managed the 600 steps up to the temple we were visiting and the 400 back via a different route. My knee has held outand I have even been able to reduce the dose of the anti inflamatory.

Today we have tried snake. Brian bought 4 of them. I had a taste but left it at that. I didn't mind the frogs legs which were stuffed with rice and lemongrass. We both said no to the huge toasted spiders orthe crunchy insects that we saw at the market.

We are staying in an area that reminds me of the Bali I knew 30 years ago except that everyone has mobile phones and there are heaps of internet cafes. I've only seen one letterbox. That was at the Central PO!

Very upsetting is the number of kids out selling books and cards. (Are they going to school?) Some seem to be out on the street all day and night. According to a paper report I read here, ony a small age of kids get to grade 3. Too many get no schooling at all. The beggars, many missing limb/s is also upsetting.