Waiting for a miracle

Trip Start Sep 01, 2005
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Trip End Dec 04, 2006


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Flag of Cambodia  ,
Thursday, October 19, 2006

I was sweating not because of the temperature on the bus at a warm 25 degrees but because I was preparing myself for the most painful bus ride imaginable as I knew the next stop would not be for at least a few hours and my insides were churning away and working over time to get rid of the dirty noodle soup I had for breakfast. I had to relegate myself to the back seat were I tossed and turned and held my stomach as we inched slowly through the peak hour traffic in the centre of town. I thought I was a dead man. I was in luck though as the bus had stopped at its alternative office where I ran out the door and headed straight for the closest toilet with toilet roll in hand. Two minutes was the time it took and I had managed to relieve myself of the nastiness within me. The bollywood feature dubbed in Cambodian made the bus ride entertaining until we got a flat tyre and had to spend an hour waiting for the crew to change it.

Siem Reap is the launching point for the biggest religious building in the world, Angkor Wat. Naturally with such a big attraction there would be a street somewhere in town lined with bars serving cheap cold beer and over run by backpacking tourists. Sipping on the fifty cent beers I had seen at least a dozen other people who I had met somewhere along the way, even some people who I had met in Hanoi. All roads had indeed led to Siem Reap.

The street kids were everywhere and it was hard to not show a little compassion so without co-ordinating we all had decided to talk and play with the children to at least give them a little bit of joy and happiness back into their lives, even though it was only for half an hour. Spinning them around and giving them piggy back rides seemed to work best and Ashley had been inundated with two kids on her back plus a third trying desperately to hitch a ride at the same time.
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