Back in Sihanoukville… Back in Monkey Republic… Back in the game.

// June 29th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Sihanoukville

With all the constant moving from place to place over the last week it’s a big relief to finally get back to a place where we can dwell for a week… Or two… Monkey Republic!

With the night at the casino behind us we sorted out tickets down to Sihanoukville for the same day, packed up and checked out. It was a scorching hot day in Phnom Penh, by far the hottest I’ve ever been in my life and of course the bus was running late… Huddled together in the shade pouring sweat from places we didn’t know we had – dreaming of getting back to the beach was all that kept me standing.

We had a nice bus, not VIP but plenty good enough and the six hours passed in no time. Excitement about seeing the Monkey bunch again set in as we started to make our way into Sihanoukville as did the feeling of being somewhere where everybody knows your name. (more…)

Picture of the day… A monk crossing the road in Phnom Penh

// March 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Picture of the day

Today’s picture of the day is taken in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. It’s a common thing to see monks going about their business in most South East Asian cities but they always manage to stand out in their bright orange robes, especially this fellow with his matching brollie… Enjoy

Vietnam via the Mekong

// August 9th, 2008 // No Comments » // Mekong Delta

8/8/08 We got up at 10 ish yesterday morning and packed our bags all set for our boat down the mekong and into Vietnam. We opted for the express boat and not the slow boat so we could at least have a bit of a lie in, a short tuk tuk ride along the river front and we were at the boat stop having our passports checked and filling out our immigration cards. The boat was a fairly big bus type affair with a small open area out back just right for smoking on, so I was pleased… It was pretty grim weather for the first half hour but as soon as that passed we went and sat out back and watched the world go by the whole way to the border and just loved being on a boat for the first time on the mekong. The mekong river is fucking huge! its almost too big! It must be half a mile across in places and some of the big boats that glided past wouldnt look out of place on the salty sea. It took about 2 and a half hours to reach cambodian immigration and all it was was a small compound on one side of the river with a hut and a window, all stamped up we got back on the boat and headed about half a mile down river and to the other side for the vietnamese immigration which was even less… We all lined up and in turn passed our passports to one guard who checked them then waved up through to a little pagoda type thing where we sit and wait for our stamps, then back on the boat for another hour until we reach the small town of chou doc. We passed loads of stilted houses on the riverside and just about every child screeched hello and furiously waved it was lovely and after hearing from alot of people that the Vietnamese people were actually really feisty and mean we were pleasantly surprised. We pulled up at a floating resturant which is part of a hotel on the river and decided to check a room out there, it was lovely, big, clean and only $7 so there we were all settled and sorted on our first day in Vietnam… We had a little wander around the markets outside our hotel and got some top class grub at the floating resturant but not much else as it was getting late. We hoped to go to a nearby hill called sam mountain the next day if the weather was good but it wasnt so we lied in and got a bus further south to the biggest town in the mekong delta called Can Tho… P.s. Sorry im a few days behind im catching up right now! swinging in a hammock on a glorious day in a tiny little resturant in a very rural part of the mekong delta…

Last days in Cambodia

// August 9th, 2008 // No Comments » // Phnom Penh

Today is our last day in Phnom Penh before we head down the Mekong into Vietnam, we had a few lazy days doing nothing at all after Toby left except for last night after dinner we got in a tuk tuk to come come back to our guesthouse and just after we got in and commented on how nice this particular tuk tuk was he crashed the bugger straight into a parked car… He managed to smash the car up a treat but us and him were completely unharmed and without a scratch and the poor fellow even had the goodness to sort us another tuk tuk before dealing with his boo boo. This morning we planned to spent a few hours at Naca orphanage so we picked up some books, pencils and a big sack of rice before we went. We got there and straight away the little children were all over the tuk tuk and pulling us in to watch their dance they were putting on, and to laugh at my facial peircings!.. We played with the kids and they loved fiddling with the cameras and when I showed them a video on my phone of us sledging back in England they formed a crowd and watched it about 50 times!!! Georgie got crowded by a bunch of little girls reading to her and playing with her hair. It was a lovely few hours and really nice to be able to help although im sure they would appreciate a sack of toys more… They all posed for pictures from the people running the place all in their little costumes and generally run about making noise and being little children which is quite a rare thing out here, most children you see are trying to sell books or postcards on the streets some are still out at 11 o’çlock at night… We stayed for most of the morning and im sure Georgie would have stayed all day if she could but they were all busy with their play and we crept away back to Okay guesthouse to sort things out for tomorrow and get ready to get back on the road again. From Saigon to Hanoi will be the longest we have travelled yet and we only have 30 days to do it in so maybe for the next month at least it will be a bit more “travelling”…

Toby’s last days with us… Again.

// August 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // Phnom Penh

The last two days with Toby were mainly mispent at the markets around Phnom Penh. Firstly was the Russian market a maze of stalls selling everying imaginable “to a chorus of hello mister you look” After the food stalls and tacky souveneirs was the knock off dvd section and they had everything you could ever want and more all for a few pence. We spent far too much money and far too much time sweating it out but im sure Georgie would say the exact opposite! Yesterday we went along to the centre market to shop for nik naks because Toby is soon on his way back to the UK and kindly offered to take a big bag back for us to save on postage costs. The centre market was much of the same but a little more roomy and some amazing food stalls outside. Georgie saw Toby’s offer as an opportunity to buy as much as Toby could carry… And thats exactly what she did. We got some pretty cool stuff and some little pressies and souveneirs for the poor lad to lug back to Bangkok then on to Hong Kong before flying home. Both nights we spent in the local english pub playing pool and darts and drinking a plenty, also hatching grand plans of our next adventure together. It was reall sad to say bye to Toby and its going to be christmas before we see him again but its been pretty fucking good and we are really looking forward to coming home and seeing everybody…