Arrived in Cambodia

We left Melbourne on Saturday 11 June and spent 4 days in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. We did very little in KL other than swimming, eating and walking around the central shopping district.

We got a massage in KL, but when Nicole asked for a "hard" back rub, they went a little too hard.

On Thursday June 17 at 4am we left KL and flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Coming back to Siem Reap has been wonderful. The Khmer people are among the most gentle we have ever met. We cannot walk down the street without saying "hello" every 20 meters. Though we get asked whether we want a tuk tuk ride or a massage every two minutes, they are never pushy about it and always end up by saying "have a nice day" once we decline what is offered.

So far we have done very little. We have been surprised at how tired and run down we have been. Given an opportunity to rest, we have slept in every day, done a lot of reading and indulged in the $5 per hour Khmer massages on offer in Siem Reap.

We walk into town twice a day for food and words simply cannot describe the delicious cuisine available here. For $5 we dine like kings with the choice of hundreds of unique dishes. Drinks are dirt cheap. The local beer "Angkor Beer" is $0.50 a large mug on tap, cheaper than water and tastes very good. Soft drinks are about $0.75. This photo should give you an idea about the restaurants in Siem Reap:

Speaking of drinks, Cambodia has the cheapest drinks we have seen anywhere. Today we went shopping for some beverages to sample on our balcony during the evenings and we got the following:

The Johnny Walker was the big item at  US$39, the Khalua was $3, the Jeager was $15 and the 1 litre 42 Below was $3.50.

Yesterday (Friday) we went on a very long walk through the "non-tourist" areas of Siem Reap and we got to meet a lot of locals who are always happy to chat. Stan got to try a little fishing along the way. The fish they catch are about the size of your thumb, so not the most exciting to catch. 

In the midst of fishing, we got caught in one of the downpours that happens here at about 2pm every day. So we chatted to some locals who were all huddling under a shelter made of plastic bags. They suggested that we contact the children's hospital in Siem Reap for volunteer work. We'll probably investigate that. We do have some work in Phnom Penh, but would like to stay in Siem Reap a little longer if possible.

While Siem Reap is one of the wealthiest areas in Cambodia, there are many poor people around. At night on the way home we find many children digging through rubbish bags. We are also approached by many land mine victims, many of them children. It is heartening to see that few of them are beggars, many trying to sell books, cards or crafts to the tourists. We always carry on us a lot of candy to hand out and we brought about 10 kilos of small toys which we hand out to the children we come across. It is rewarding, yet a little sad to see them clasping their hands together and bowing as they get these small presents.

Well, we had better end there. We'll try and keep this up to date with interesting information.