... So I've been a long time gone but now I'm back to blog your socks off... I'm in Cambodia, I'm well... I'd been nervous to come to Cambodia, to come on my own... I read things about Tuk-Tuk drivers not taking you to the hotel you ask for, of border officials screwing you out of your hard borrowed dollars, I'd heard the people were too serious and I'd noticed the absence of popular acclaim which accompanies the big boys of this area (Thailand, Vietnam)... this is a minnow with seemingly only a bad reputation, a terrible history, and one absolutely massive array of temples in the sprawling Angkor Wat... I was relieved of my fear, of impending asthmatic, hyperventalatory panic while writing my last post... David and Martin (my German friends, once moustached but now with a naked lip) were in Siem Reap (my planned destination from Bangkok... my base camp from which I would attack Angkor Wat)... So off I trumped with my trumpety trump, trump, trump, trump, all the way to Siem Reap... I got screwed a little bit at the border but I can live without $10... ... ... It can be a bit hit and miss meeting people on the bus somewhere... I know travellers are meant to be a bit open minded, ready to talk to anyone, but I'm a bit more reserved... sometimes you get into a cool conversation, sometimes you just get talked at for 5 hours with no gap where you can subtly put your ear phones in and escape... I had that a bit on the way to Siem Reap... and when the guy asked me, "But what can you really do with a Biochemistry degree in the real world?" I had to resist the temptation to reply, "Stick it up your ass side ways"... instead I replied, "lots" and slipped away into my own world (I know I shouldn't get assey, I probably won't even use my PhD directly... but I hate being looked down at by these 'Real world' enthusiasts)...
... but anyway, Siem Reap (I did get there eventually without losing my degree anywhere)... I got there, the Tuk-Tuk drivers were helpful and if they screwed me then it was only for 50 cents... fair play to them, that's a beer over here... I met Martin and David again... we had a joyful reunion where we cryed, hugged, reminisced and I whispered in there ears, "Never leave me again dear" (N.B. That isn't exactly what happened... in truth, it was, 'Hey Mate, How's it going? Fancy a beer?")... They'd been busy during their time in Cambodia and acquired a new member for our ever evolving group, Khadija (She's Moroccan but studies in France but is taking a study year in Korea (South Korea... I think the education in the North might be somewhat compromised by political objectives... When me and Joe were planning this trip he wanted to visit North Korea... I was scared!) ... So I joined them for a day touring the sprawling temples of Angkor Wat (I neglected to read the history or get a guide... so for me they were just a bunch of like well old temples... they need a bit of doing up though... would make an epic episode of 'DIY SOS' with that smug stubbly bastered) ... we visited a cool temple where they shot some of Tomb Raider and we watched the sun set over the temples (it was OK but I felt like I was intruding in a romantic moment between David and Martin... ... and people applauded the sun set... applauded a sunset!!... why? ... it's like when people applaud a pilot for landing a plane... don't applaud him, it's literally 'áll in a days work'... if he doesn't land it that's a pretty shit day at the office!) ... I got up the next day and cycled to the big daddy temple at Angkor Wat (that's not it's actual name) to see the sun rise... People told me they lasted to 11am or even 1pm after getting up to see sunrise before they needed to go back for a kip (see Phil's comment a couple of posts ago)... I lasted 45 minutes... sunrise done, temple done... time for sleep... don't mess around people...
We seemed to drink an inordinate amount of 50 cent beer in three days that the four of us were together... Them David and Martin moved on to Thailand and I am now still travelling with Khadija before I need to pop back to Bangkok and fly to a little know place called Australia (I'm hoping it's untouched by tourism... a virgin land for me to explore... hummm...)...
... My fingers are becoming tired and my mind sore... I'll leave you with the image of me in Siem Reap... it's the 19th of January and me and Khdisha are trying to decide where to visit next... the next era of my travelling has started... as natural history had the Neolithic period, when people study my life in years from now maybe they will call this the Khadijan-period, the post-David Renaissance, the reversion to traveling just with girls established long ago in this travelling odyssey... ... ... tune in next week to read the next installment in this history...
... until next time, good night my people:)
... but anyway, Siem Reap (I did get there eventually without losing my degree anywhere)... I got there, the Tuk-Tuk drivers were helpful and if they screwed me then it was only for 50 cents... fair play to them, that's a beer over here... I met Martin and David again... we had a joyful reunion where we cryed, hugged, reminisced and I whispered in there ears, "Never leave me again dear" (N.B. That isn't exactly what happened... in truth, it was, 'Hey Mate, How's it going? Fancy a beer?")... They'd been busy during their time in Cambodia and acquired a new member for our ever evolving group, Khadija (She's Moroccan but studies in France but is taking a study year in Korea (South Korea... I think the education in the North might be somewhat compromised by political objectives... When me and Joe were planning this trip he wanted to visit North Korea... I was scared!) ... So I joined them for a day touring the sprawling temples of Angkor Wat (I neglected to read the history or get a guide... so for me they were just a bunch of like well old temples... they need a bit of doing up though... would make an epic episode of 'DIY SOS' with that smug stubbly bastered) ... we visited a cool temple where they shot some of Tomb Raider and we watched the sun set over the temples (it was OK but I felt like I was intruding in a romantic moment between David and Martin... ... and people applauded the sun set... applauded a sunset!!... why? ... it's like when people applaud a pilot for landing a plane... don't applaud him, it's literally 'áll in a days work'... if he doesn't land it that's a pretty shit day at the office!) ... I got up the next day and cycled to the big daddy temple at Angkor Wat (that's not it's actual name) to see the sun rise... People told me they lasted to 11am or even 1pm after getting up to see sunrise before they needed to go back for a kip (see Phil's comment a couple of posts ago)... I lasted 45 minutes... sunrise done, temple done... time for sleep... don't mess around people...
We seemed to drink an inordinate amount of 50 cent beer in three days that the four of us were together... Them David and Martin moved on to Thailand and I am now still travelling with Khadija before I need to pop back to Bangkok and fly to a little know place called Australia (I'm hoping it's untouched by tourism... a virgin land for me to explore... hummm...)...
... My fingers are becoming tired and my mind sore... I'll leave you with the image of me in Siem Reap... it's the 19th of January and me and Khdisha are trying to decide where to visit next... the next era of my travelling has started... as natural history had the Neolithic period, when people study my life in years from now maybe they will call this the Khadijan-period, the post-David Renaissance, the reversion to traveling just with girls established long ago in this travelling odyssey... ... ... tune in next week to read the next installment in this history...
... until next time, good night my people:)
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