Last day in Siem Reap
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2008
1
62
68
Trip End
Ongoing
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I've also had my fill of Temples of Nantwich, the agency that we've let our house through. They promised us that they had loads of landlords abroad and that they'd keep in regular email contact with us; not a problem, they're used to it. After unsuccessfully trying to phone us a few times when we were in India they took to phoning my mum at home several times a week to discuss matters involving the house; we'd only given them her number for dire emergencies. We eceived no emails.
When we finally got through to them that they should email us, Catherine received an email with a query after they'd eventually got tenants in (they promised us it'd take a few weeks, it took several months), so we replied within a day.
A week later, the same question arrived from a different member of their staff in my email inbox. I replied. A week later they thanked me for my reply. The problem is, to the tenant it looks likewe're the slack ones, not Temples. They also insisted that my mum arranged and paid for an electrical survey of the house before they let it out. She did this, but they also billed us for it from the rent we received; ie they've already taken the money from us. I've been waiting for over a week for them to reply to my email. They are, in a word, CRAP.
So in comparison, the temples of Angkor are a dream. I'm glad I saw them.
Tonight we say goodbye to Kyle and Stephanie; tomorrow we head over the border to Thailand and on to some islands for a few days of chilling out before going to Bangkok. We met them at the Dead Fish, a bar/restaurant that was essentially a medium-sized, high-roofed warehouse, which had been filled with about 15 platforms all at different heights; there were no floors as such, just a series of wooden surfaces, each large enough to seat about 10-12 people, all at different levels, connected by a network of ladders. It looked a bit like I imagine a 3D version of Jet Set Willie would look✳.
Walking to the toilet was not as straightforward as it might have been. It involved walking around and over a pit containing 25 crocodiles of various sizes. It seems they used to be native to the Mekong Delta but have been killed off completely in that area. Normally I would have pity for such a species, but a lot of people live in the Mekong Delta, they're already up against it with a lot of malaria in the region. If I lived there, I'd want rid of the crocs too. Anyway, this bar took a few and "looks after" them. It obviously draws the crowds. For US 50 cents you get a bowl of fish which you can feed to them. It's good fun, but it's frightening how quickly these lifeless buggers bolt into action once the scran is served up.
A few beers and we said our goodbyes. It must be a month since we met the Oz-mericans, and we've spent most days with them since. It's almost weird how we didn't tire of each other's company at all in that time. Obviously I can't speak for them, but tire of the company of Catherine and Stew? Please...
✳Jet Set Willie is a ZX Spectrum computer platform game from the 1980's. I trust you knew that.
