Cambodia-the beginning

Entrance to Cambodian Border Control -Mekong River

So-where was I- oh yes, on the Mekong River......

Temporarily I left the River [which I am told is the 2nd longest river in the world]-and got driven to Chau Doc-this very funky little town from where I was going to get onto a speedboat to Ponompenh the next day.

My hotel was way away from the town, so I took in on myself to walk the 2 kilometres into town to have a look at this pagoda and park. I kept thinking I was almost there, and stopped with a map I had from the hotel, to ask people how much further. This to people who did not speak ANY English-and what was interesting was that no one, not even people living a block or two away, knew where it was.

I found it, but it was 6 kilometres, not 2-so I stopped a while, ate some dinner from a street cart- still here, not sick- and then walked all the way back. Needless to say this was in stinking heat and humidity...even though it is supposedly the beginning of Winter, it is about 28-32 degrees here and about 75-80% humidity.

Anyhow- next day, I am at the Pier for the speedboat about 1 1/2 hours early- I know, what's new... and when we finally got on board, I was, at last not the only customer in the game...so it was nice to meet some folk and have a chat...one of them being this lovely Irish lass and her boyfriend who is a teacher in Vientienne- which inspired me to check it out for myself. The other interesting couple was a guy -who fought in the Vietnam War and was returning for a cleanse, so to speak- and his partner who is an artist -oh yeah and their daughter, who works for PIXAR. So we passed some lovely time speeding up the River to Phnompenh.

My guide there was waiting for me for 3 hours before I arrived, and was pretty cheesed off...but when we got talking, we had a lot of political things in common-so he thawed out a bit. We visited the Kings Palace, the Silver Pagoda- which is not Silver on the outside, but has silver floor tiles. The best bit was at a Buddhist stupa- Wat Phnom,- where I paid $2 for 2 birds which I held in my hand, said a "prayer" and then let them fly away.

There are so many sad Cambodian stories...not just the Killing Fields,which I am seeing tomorrow- but other ones throughout history, where the Cambodians have been betrayed, dispossessed of land and culture etc. I wanted to cry when Darream, the guide was telling me about it. Tomorrow will be a tear-jerker for sure.

Have a look at some Cambodian scenes...its beautiful here. Also a big thanks to Kev and Glen for the Visa advice, I was all ready with snaps and $$ and it was a snack. [and cheaper than I thought].

cyclo ride around Pnompenh

Mekong Ferrywoman-ChauDoc

Kings Palace-Pnompenh