To Siem Reap

Last night we had our typical meet the crew evening. The folks in the photo below are the chief cheeses of the 28 crew on board.

This morning we were up well before this ball of fury appeared in the sky and we had eaten and were off the boat by 7:00.

So, it was an early start to an absolutely fascinating trek from Prek K'Dam to Siem Reap. I mentionned earlier that during this dry season that the Tonle Sap River flows away from Tonle Lake thus effectively emptying Tonle Lake and making boat traffic impossible. Therefore our boat trip was done. Our boat staff ported the bags up to the bus.

We boarded a VIP bus - one with fewer seats and therefore more leg and body room - and started out on a 280km, five hour journey to the prime tourist destination in Cambodia, Siem Reap.

This, as long as you aren't do the driving, gives you a fabulous look at the heart of Cambodia, because most human habitation in this central section of Cambodia is concentrated along the highway.

The number one killer in Cambodia is traffic accidents - surprise! We made a few stops on the way, the first at a lotus flower seller. We then sampled the seeds which taste slightly of almond and are delicious.

The number two killer is HIV and malaria, while number three is land mines. Thanks to Princess Diana's initiative in 1993, they found and dismantled 10 million mines in just one year. Since then, they have found four million more, but the locals continue to step on them. So, along the road there were colourful markets.

Rice fields, now totally dried up, follow the road for most of its course. Now cattle and water buffalo browse freely.

Rice stooks and stupas (tombs around pagodas) are another common feature.

The most common stove fuel here is charcoal, formed into logs.

The garment industry is a huge source of exports for Cambodia - just ask Joe Fresh - and we have seen numerous large factories along the way. When the topic of child labour comes up, the official answer is that its illegal, however due to the poverty here, many children do end up in the factories with fake ID cards, because I assume, their parents want them to bring home some additional income.

Most house are still on stilts and some of them would appear to meet Western standards.

The next photos show the plastic cricket traps they set up in the fields and rice spread out on tarps drying, with birds anxiously helping themselves.

This is the home area of Pol Pot, the despot who murdered millions in the 70's. We passed some reminders of his reign of terror include this Killing Field Memorial, where hundreds, perhaps thousands were brutally murdered and buried in mass graves.

One town we passed through seemed to specialize in concrete? stone? clay? monuments.

Our second stop was at a market that specialized in fried bugs - crickets, grasshopper, scorpions and tarantulas.

There might have also been some live tarantulas hanging (literally) around.

You could also get some fricasseed quail or sparrow.

Every five or so kilometres along the highway, there were schools and/or pagodas, usually close to the schools. The middle school children ride bikes to school along this highly dangerous highway, where everyone passes with little respect for oncoming traffic.

Apparently a fortune teller indicates the best day for a wedding and today must have won the lottery, because we passed several raucous wedding celebrations - the first we heard on the boat started at 5:00 - one helluva party!

Finally we arrived at Siem Reap, a city of 230 000 and jumping off point for Ankor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world. We connected with our local guide Jak and checked into the Somadevi Hotel with free time for the remainder of the day. It wasn't long before the huge pool beckoned us and we actually didn't leave for the rest of the afternoon.

Before dinner we had a better look at our hotel and all of its beautiful wood work.

Then we set off on foot for the river. The sidewalks are not exactly user friendly - I think they want tourists to use the Tuk Tuks. We did adapt to the scooters and cars on the sidewalks and made it to the Hard Rock Cafe.

Then we set off to find a restaurant for dinner. Down a narrow alley, we settled on La Malaroux. Dawn had shrimp, Carole had chicken curry and Claude & I had a Cambodian dish with fish and rice called an Amok. Dinner was good, but we spoiled North Americans weren't prepared for the smokers at the next table. C'est la vie!

The walk back to the hotel was a hot, sticky one, as the temperature barely drops in the evening. Dawn hit the shower for the third time today.