Time cut short

We've just had news that Tony's brother is grvely ill - he was sick before we left but thngs have got worse in the last couple of days.  We're heading home!
See you agian Cambodia.

Day 20 ... It's raining again (sorry Supertramp!)

The little tuk tuk man Tony booked yesterday turned up at about 9.30.  We’d paid our bill, finished breakfast and were ready to go so he put on his raincoat, rolled up his pants and zipped us into the back of the tuk tuk.

The road out of Kampot is rutted & pot-holed – almost tuk tuk eating sized so we bounced and sloshed  our way for about the first 15 minutes.  The further out we got, the heavier it rained but the actual road surface improved.  Passed rice fields, some bring ploughed, sothers planted – now THAT is back breaking work, others obviously planted within the last few weeks.

Assorted versions of wet weather gear on the riders of motos that passed us, including a small boy in the front seat who was completely wrapped in poncho – head not sticking out the hole, and the whole thing ‘stuck’ to him by the wind/forward motion of the bike.

It’s a slower trip in wet weather and we arrived in  Kep about 10.30am, and as we expected the little tuk tuk struggled mightily to get up the hill to Kep Lodge.  Down to first gear, plenty of revs but only one occasion where the driver had to add foot power.

There appears to be another guesthouse building on either side of the road below Treetops and Kep Lodge – will have to ask Dan what’s going in there.  Kep lodge is expanding too with another 2 story bungalow being built between pineapple and Dan’s own house.

The gardens have grown enormously since we were here last April, and there are a number of new taff, but otherwise it is just as we left it.  As a bit of a tech head, Dan has installed a web cam looking over the pool, so if you feel like having a look just google  Kep weather webcam.

We walked down to have lunch at one of the crab restaurants and were just about to order when we were hurriedly moved because another wave of storm/rain was coming.  It had cleared by the time we finished and we were able to walk back without testing out our $3 Luang Prabang umbrellas here.

Hope this weather clear a bit – don’t mind at all if it rains every afternoon but if it continues to rain all day we’re going to get a little cabin fever because there is no way I want to ride a moto down to Ha Tien in the rain.

Day 19 ... Wandering Kampot

We wanted to explore Kampot a bit more so we headed off on foot towards the main market.  It feels like there has been some growth and re-building going on in Kampot since we were here last year.  That and we were also walking a completely different route.

There are still many old colonial buildings in need ot repair and it is a shame that the new building is in ‘chinese wedding cake’ style rather than the more traditional French colonial.

The markets haven’t changed, they are still hot, crowded, leaky and filthy.  Sadly, the Kampot market are the worst we’ve been in in terms of appeal and cleanliness.   In the fresh food markets you still have to wander over dirt floors that are, in reality many years worth of blood, guts & other crap rather than just dirty concrete like we have seen in so many other markets.  Even in Nong Pet in Laos, the Hmong market had a concrete floor and a decent roof.

Transport vehicles here are different to the rest of Cambodia too, long versions of trailors pulled by motorbikes, little pushbike carts (not cyclos) but as always they are usually loaded well beyond what we might consider safe working loads.

After the markets we headed back down along the river front and stopped for lunch at the Rikitikitavi.  The rain had started and it was really quite pleasant looking out over the river.

There is a sunset river cruise which left the riverfront at 4pm which we thought we might do.  We headed back to the riverfront about 10 to 4 but the rain was setting in again, and the boat, the Diva, although bigger than others we saw was not exactly a big boat.  We decided against the trip – sunset unlikely, raining, river getting choppy in the wind and the thought of possibly another wet trip like on Tonle Sap just wasn’t that appealing. 

We decided to have a foot massage at Seeing Hands Blind Massage - $6 for 2 half hour massages – very very good indeed!  It was still raining and not yet dinner time so we headed to the rusty Keyhole for a drink.  Who should we run into but Scott & Mima (on a day trip from Kep) and Leighton, the pommie guy from yesterday’s bus.

Several beers later, the rain had eased and we went in search of dinner.  Ended up at the Bokor Lodge – I had fish amok and it was stunningly good.  I don’t understand why people think Khmer food is not as good as Thai.

Off to Kep tomorrow, so I hope this weather lifts, I really don’t fancy a week of todays weather.

Day 18… On the bus again…. Aaarrrghhhh!

We had half a day in PP before the bus trip to Kampot so we headed for the Central market.  A couple of singlets (buying saves washing – he he) some shorts, and a re-stock of shampoo, toothpaste etc.  Back to Blue Lime to check out and wait for the bus pick-up.

Bus arrived, we loaded and surprise, surprise we left only about 10 minutes after the scheduled time.  That was the ONLY good thing about this bus trip.  About a dozen tourists and maybe the same locals when we left the bus station.  Half empty bus means stopping and picking up en-route.

Phnom Penh traffic is pretty manic - not as bad as Ho Chi Minh City but some of the things you see leave you wondering just .... how?

So we stopped, and we stopped, and we took what appeared to be the back roads, and we stopped to pick up an old ladies bag of vegies, and we stopped for some bloke to have a pee, and we stopped for someone to get off, and we stopped to deliver a parcel, and we stopped for someone to get on.  And on it went!  Add to all this a horn happy driver – how often do you have to blast your horn for the moto you’re are going to pass to realise there is a bus coming – 7 or 8 times at least… starting 50yards before you draw level and one final one as you leave the poor person in your wake!

And we stopped again, to deliver the old ladies vegies, and for someone else to have a pee.  The westerners got their comfort stop.  And we stopped again, and again and again – and while all this was happening we were being tortured with more episodes of Khmer stand up comedy and Karaoke.  Last year when we got the bus back from Kep it took about 3 hours, this time it was closer to 5. 

When the girls were little we had a saying – “you need a milkshake” – meaning someone was tired and cranky and needed some fast acting food to make them a nice person again.  I can tell you, I needed a milkshake by the time we arrived, and we were yet to face the tuk tuk driver scrum that greets every western traveller at every bus station in Cambodia.  So now you know why I added the Aaaarrghhhhh!  ..in the title line  of this post.

We got the bag and headed away from the mele for a ciggie.  A pommie bloke we’d met on the bus joined us and the three of us just stood and had our smoke.  The drivers finally got the message that they just needed to wait quietly, and that jumping in our faces would have a negative outcome for them.  Picked our driver, negotiated a price ($3 to drop us at Mea Culpa and the pommie guy at his g/h.  The other drivers were none too happy.

Arrived at Mea Cupla,   complimentary coffee, check in and by now it was about 5.45pm and we couldn’t muster the energy to go out in search of dinner so we stayed here and had pizza.  Ben the Irish owner has a wood fired pizza oven – and it makes the best pizzas I’ve eaten in a long time.  They bake their own bread too.

Thankfully we have a week before having to endure the Sorya bus again.

Day 17 .. Battambang to Phnom Penh

We've just checked into the Blue Lime and from what we've seen in the last half hour, thisplace thorougly deserves its reputation.  Just amazing!

The bus trip from BB was typical of buses everywhere in Cambodia.

We had 2 episodes of Khmer Comedy before some videp clips of crooning young men and weepy young women.  Then a movie - not that we could follow it but the hero was a young monk, the bad guys were a group with a fat little businessman, a zorro, a rambo and a the guy from Pirates of the Caribean.  The good guys also had an Islamic famiy and a Christian family.  There were shades of Forrest Gump when the young monk carried the old monk (like Forrest and Lt Dan).  Quite a production, lots of things getting blown up by fireworks - all a bit strange.  Sometimes you can follow a foreign language film by the story, but not this one.  The only consolation was that there was no singing!

The 9am bus left at 9.40am and we stoppd about 11 for a 'comfort stop' - the men along the fence-line the ladies - well I didn't need to go so I have no idea what it looked like.

About 2pm coming through Kompong Trach it started to rain, by the truckload, really heavy rain.  The driver slowed a bit - maybe because the big crack in his windscreen was making it difficult to see.

We arrived at the Sorya bus station about 3.30 and Monin was there to meet us.  We'd got his number form a fellow Trip Advisor member and had phoned him last night to arrange the pick up so we didn't have to pass through the rugby scrum of touting drivers.

Still raining but the verandah off our room is undercover and the breeze is lovely.  Blue Lime is really central so we'll wander out for dinner a bit latre.

The lovely little fellow on reception has just rung to confirm he's booked our bus tickets for both the to Kampot leg and the return from Kep trips.  What service!

It's great to be back in PP!

Day 16 ... The Circus

I’m actually writing this on the bus from Battambang to Phnom Penh – trying to block out the Khmer version of stand up comedy currently planning on the DVD (and with a speaker right above my head!)  it’s a bit like Sienfeld, a bit like Benny Hill but mostly just awful!

Back to day 16…. We’d planned a nothing day, hanging round the pool, just relaxing after our trip the day before to the temples with all the stairs.  I noticed a poster on the wall of our hotel for something called Phare Ponleu Selpak  - it looked interesting so I thought I might check it out.  Their story deserves much more widesspread publicity so this is my way of doing that.  I went for an afternoon tour and it was one of the most uplifting afternoons I’ve spent in a long time.

It all began in a refugee camp on the Thai border.  A French teacher visited and gave the kids some drawing lessons in an attempt to maybe keep them occupied, and give them a means of expressing built up feelings since few of them were literate.  After the end of the war, and the people in the camps were repatriated to their towns, this group of budding young artists returned to Battambang.

Keen to not let their friendship slip, they formed PPS and began drawing classes again.  Realising that drawing classes alone were not enough to keep kids occupied & off the streets, one of them who had done a bit of gymnastics went to PP to do some training with a circus school.  This was in 1994 and the school now has classes available in art (drawing – pencil, charcoal, pastel) painting (ink, oil, acrylic) music (traditional instruments) drama, and as an extension of the art classes, graphic design and a small but growing animation studio. 

 The classes are free and open to all comers.  In addition, the centre now has a library (interestingly the librarian is also a social worker) a child care centre and a small live in centre for kids rescued from domestic violence or trafficking (this centre was built with a grant from UNICEF)

But the real star, and the source of most of their local income is the circus.  The circus school students range in age from about 6 or 7 to 19 and it appears they ‘graduate’ to the performing troupe about 13.  Music for the performance is provided by the band from the school playing both traditional instruments (like the Asian version of a xylophone) and western instruments (an elec piano and a drum kit).  They were fantastic and their timing was spot-on!

There were 9 boys and one girl in the performance we saw last night.  PPS is, in many ways a bit like the Flying fruit Flies or Circus Oz, all kid, lots of acrobatics, no need for language to tell the story or entertain, and plenty of slapstick.  The show opened with a young fellow doing the most amazing acrobatics with a long (strong) hanging piece of cloth, swings, hanging, gymnastic moves like those iron crosses you see at the Olympics and the splits 15 feet off the ground.  He then wrapped himself up and hung up above the stage as 3 ‘clowns’ came on.  They were the link across all acts which included juggling, wire walking and pretty amazing feats of balance and tumbling.  We also learned that slapstick, clown body language and visual innuendo has no language barriers!

I took some photos, (which was OK but please don’t use the flash – more than fair enough) but given light conditions and the limitations of my photo skills do not do anywhere near justice to the performance but, they do give you an idea of some of the things we saw.

So there you are, anyone visiting Battambang, put PPS on  your ‘must do’ list, performances are Mon. Wed & Friday , tickets are $8 and the hour long show starts at 7pm.  The tour round the school starts at 2pm and costs $2. There is a good brochure available – with pics, and it is handy to have this because many tuk tuk drivers don’t understand ‘circus school’ but if you show them a picture they can go straight there.

WE are now onto volume 2 of Khmer comedy DVD! I’m on the sunny side of the bus so it might be ipod time!

Day 15 ... Around Battambang (aka "Oh those stairs!")

Ran into a Qantas flight attendant at breakfast who knew Len Sales & Stu McKenzie – small world!

Shanthai picked us up as planned at 9.30am and after dropping off our laundry we headed out of town passed the Blasck Stick Man. 

First stop was the norry (bamboo train).  What a blast that was.  Not sure how far the track runs, but it is dead straight and only one set of rails so when someone is coming the other way, the norry with the least passengers has to get off the track.  This is done simply by lifting off the bamboo platform and the 2 sets of wheels, rolling the other guy passed and putting it all back together again.

At the end of the ride you get off and have a bit of a wander round.  There is a brick kiln there.  60,000 bricks are fired at a time, powered by rice husks (complete recycling).  It takes 15 days to fire, 10 to cook and then 5 to cool.  Three little poppets (sister, sister, friend aged between 5 & 8) gave me a ‘tour’and it cost me three cans of drink.  I realise this is not particularly good for their teeth but that’s how business is done. 

After the norry we headed for Wat Phnom Sampeau, a temple on the top of an amazing limestone outcrop.  Lonely Planet describes it as a long hot climb and they are right – we were both dripping when we reached the Wat and stupa at the top. 300+ stairs and my quad muscles felt every one of them!  Amazing views from the top.  We decided we didn’t need to see the killing caves so we bought another bottle of water and headed back down where Shanthai was waiting.

We headed off on a dirt road, potholes big enough to eat a tuk tuk, and full of water from yesterdays big storm.  We bumped and bounced our way for about 25km, passing some really pretty land, still flat as a pancake, rice paddies as far as you could see  and dotted with little villages (painfully poor) and cattle tethered on the side of the road munching away on whatever they could reach  Next stop was Wat Banan.  Built in the 11^th century it’s in a pretty poor state of repair, but to get there we had another set of stairs to climb.  The pictures say it all!

Storm clouds were gathering again but we managed to avoid it – perhaps the storm was headed elsewhere, but we arrived back at the Bus Stop about 3pm and tucked into a home made burger (very very good) and a beer.  Picked up the laundry (next door to the Bus Stop) and home for a swim, a late nanny nap and some internet before we head out for dinner.

Are planning to hit the food stalls by the river tonight.