New author in town for the latest update...Master Hogarth!



The last news to reach you was we were heading up to Cambodia via most forms of transport available to man and beast. An early start for us meant arising at 6ish and heading for Koh Samet ferry. We duly arrived back on mainland Thailand with our trusted guidebook telling us to do such and such and we would arrive at the border. Slight issues were that we had read and heard of many horror stories regarding the Cambodian side and as such were both apprehensive to leave our idyllic surroundings.



1st stage a songathew (local bus with two benches in the back) to one city then a government bus to the next then another bus to some god forsaken town an hour from the border then find the local taxi to take us to the border; then negotiate our way across without the need to donate an organ or a gallon of nikkis blood to get the stamp in our passport. Most of this passed off uneventfully until the border where immediately there was a change in culture and costs. The visa should be $20 but the smiling official told us $25 but we hadnt the exact money, so it was going to be $30 each, you can see where this is going, eventually we reached a compromise I only need one Kidney don't i mum?



The next stage is to barter a lift with the 'taxi mafia' in a shared taxi to a town 4 hours away; the hottest ride around these parts is the Toyota Camry which seats 4 normally but here the standard number is 8! It has to
be seen to be believed. Needless to say we arranged our ride and arrived in the next town and learnt alot on the way, see attached for the local garage!!





What sets this apart though from anything else we have done is the impact that this 4 hour road trip had on nik and I. The journey was on the worst dirt track ever and the dust was unbelievable; our driver had to make a stop at the local hospital the scene that greeted us was a pretty stark picture of the way of life. a boy of 8 or 9 that morning had been injured losing his left hand from an unexploded mine, one of the many left across the country. It was quite a reality check. Our driver then started talking to us about his way of life and his family. His dad is a dog handler with the military clearing millions of mines across Cambodia. The hours which people work just to eke out a living seems incredible.



The next few hours saw us viewing life in extremis from weddings to funerals, shacks to huge government buildings, our car running on gas not gasoline, animals, bikes, monks, farmers, beggars, lunatic drivers all accompanied by the continued sounding of the car horn. This as we have since discovered is lesson one in Cambodian driving. Whatever your road position over/undertaking swerving braking accelerating in fact whilst in the car generally press the horn. Although it doesn't always prevent mishaps! See later for details. I thought this would be easy to write and have watched nik composing the updates thinking has she finished yet but I now realise it ain't that easy!


Anyway We did arrive at our destination except there was no room at the inn through some coercion of a local we checked in to a nearby hotel to be told 'No smoking and No Drugging' I think they didn't like the look of Nik
- I could be wrong!


Now for the local cuisine our bible told us to try the local 'White Rose' Restaurant unfortunately on our arrival it became very obvious that every other traveler is reading the same guidebook. To the accompaniment of a local Chinese group practicing their dragon dancing in beautiful costumes for their new year and incredibly loud music we ate a traditional dish called Beef Lok Lakh it had lots of tomato's so I was ok! Next stop was the infamous journey via boat to Siem Reap...