Last 24 hours in Thailand and onto Cambodia

Trip Start Jan 10, 2008
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10
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Trip End Jan 20, 2009


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Friday, May 30, 2008

I'm relieved we've left Thailand although Michael has a far less jaded view of the Country than I do. It felt like the majority were just after the 'easy tourist quick buck'. The scams, deceit, the twisted truths became quickly tiresome and draining as I tried to view the people and Country without cynicism. But alas the final straw for me came when our locked and padlocked hotel room was broken into. I have to give them credit, in fact a Lloyds TSB and Barclaycard. They skilfully un-picked three of our combination padlocks, helping themselves to our 'emergency credit cards' buried deep within our rucksacks. They neatly re-packed and re-padlocked our sacs and finally re-locked and padlocked our hotel room. There only mistake-my hair conditioner was in the wrong place!
 
But on the up our final hours in Thailand were far more positive as we.....made it into an 'airport lounge"! We feasted on mini savoury pastries, salmon sandwich squares with crusts removed,tiny wedges of decadent dark chocolate brownies, drank fresh pineapple juice, booked some much needed Olympic week accomdation in Beijing, courtesy of the free fast internet access all whilst taking in the smell of fresh roasted coffee beans and finally grabbing ice cold mineral water minutes before our flight-Thank you very much Bangkok Airways. I almost leave Thailand with a smile.
 
And than we landed in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Cambodia is beautiful. It's fertile, lush, there's dense, dark green tropical foliage, bugs and butterflies look like they've been on a course of steroid enhancing drugs and it's laid back, we instantly feel relaxed. But evidence of the Khmer Rouge days are easy to see. A not so creeping fig root
A not so creeping fig root
 Roads still bear the deep grenade scars, the railway is in ruins, the back of our hotel room door warns that "child prostitution is not tolerated" (what ever happened to a fire evacuation plan), limbless people hobble around and there is strictly no straying from the path as land mines still lie undiscovered. Cambodians are tirelessly welcoming, friendly and are eternally optimistic. Cambodia also makes me feel very emotional. With sadness at the abhorrent atrocities the Cambodians endued within my lifetime. And with happiness thanks to hope, humanity, generosity, and human spirit.
 
We also like Cambodia because, the relief we get from the torrential afternoon monsoon rain showers, known as "mango rains", the locals that feast on giant sized fried grasshoppers like they're a packet of crisps, our tuk-tuk drivers that re-fuel from street stalls selling fuel in 'Johnny Walker Black Label' and 'Coca-Cola' bottles, our taxi that kept cutting out because he'd re-fuelled at the street stall, the perfect stranger sitting next to us on the bus, who offered us some of his mango followed by the salt/pepper mix to dip it into, the moto's that speed by with 3, 4 and 5 people squeezed on them, the 10-15 piglets comfortably nestled together and balanced perfectly on the back of moto's, in their cylindrical palm weaved cages, Michael being denied his mango smoothie because the mangoes dangling over the pool were green and un-ripe that day, the stilted palm houses that stand 10 metres from the ground awaiting the monsoon rains and finally because Angkor Wat did not disappoint. But we're not so sure about their delicacy the 'swimming duck' - a duck egg containing a feathery, fully formed duckling that they whoop back, that also goes for the fried big, hairy, black tarantulas!
 
Keep in touch, we miss all the news at home.
 
Lots of Love
 
Michael and Suzy
xxxxx
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