438 replies to this topic

[dixon cox]

We woke up feeling tired and lazy around 8am but managed to crawl out of bed for breakfast before we missed it, then just relaxed in the room until early afternoon.

After the midday heat has subsided we walked to the market for a few gifts for folks back home. Continual propositioning from tuk-tuk drivers on or nearby the streets, constant sales pitches from the stall holders within the market and perpetual calls from eatery staff when passing through the alleys in between were taking their toll. We took refuge in a small alley restaurant and order shakes, choc for me and mango for her, hers was nicer than mine.

Decided not to order food at this place so took the two minute stroll over to Viva again for a feed. Once you've found a good place to eat it can be hard to let it go, especially when you're hungry and the food is so good. Plus I wanted to break a $100 bill which I did at Viva, no problem.

Just as we finished eating the heavens opened and we watched all the tuk-tuks baton down their hatches. Rain freshens and cleans the air and cools things down, I never mind the rainy season. After the rain subsides she crosses the road to a nearby travel shop and buys the bus tickets to Phnom Pehn for tomorrow.

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[dixon cox]

Siem Reap is nice for a short visit and for a day at the temples, but we'd done that now and felt it was time to make our way back to Phnom Penh. I couldn't live there.

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[dixon cox]

Walked back to the room via the food market (inside the Old Market) so she can get some fruit then it's back to room. I've been feeling bunged-up all day, as often happens when using AC which we weren't used to.

We shared the lychees from the market and she gives me an ear massage as my ears are itchy and cloggy due to a cold, as I've had a runny nose most of the day and took an Actifed mid evening and a night nurse before bed.

She also gave me another ear massage which is heaven for the earholes. This is done by her plucking one of the hairs from her head, bending it half and twisting it to give it some strength. I then rest my head on her lap and she inserts the hair into my earhole and spins it between her fingers against the inside of my ear canal and against the ear drum. The ear relief is sheer and utter bliss combined with my lips resting on her bare thighs.

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[dixon cox]

Our last morning in Siem Reap and we woke early and went straight to breakfast, but returned to the room almost immediately and they brought it to us there instead a short while later. There was a large group of barang talking loudly in the restaurant about how they are doing so well at saving Cambodia from itself and the world, I couldn't listen to all that self opinionated bollocks over breakfast.

She went to market for some bits for her Mum, I went for a last walk following the riverside dirt track just around the corner from the hotel heading away from town. It was a lovely bright morning.

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[dixon cox]

I completed the loop over a bridge and followed the river back on the other side in time for a shower and a change.

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[dixon cox]

The hotel bin was paid and at 11:35 we waited in reception and we waited for our pick-up at 11:40 with Sokha Komar Tep Express Limo Bus.

The pick-up was over 30 minutes late and she used the hotel's reception phone to call the bus company as both our credits had run out on both of our mobiles. The pick-up bus eventually arrived and we got two of the last remaining seats onboard. The next pick-up was at a hostel and meant 3 backpackers had to stand for the 15 minute ride to the bus station for the main bus, the bus pulled away 10 minutes late at 12:40.

We stopped off a few hours into the ride at Kampong Thom and shared a very nice sweet & sour chicken dish and beef lok-lak and rice between us in a restaurant.

Once we eventually began to approach Phnom Penh the journey became painfully slow with unmade roads and works in progress, although the rural scenery was excellent. The aircon was at full blast and I heard many others moan about how cold it was, it was bloody freezing and the air vents were a bit buggered so we couldn't deflect the cold air away.

Arrived next to the night market in Phnom Penh on Street 106 only minutes from home, the tuk-tuk drivers were a pain, as usual. We made the 5 minute walk to our apartment and one of the first things I wanted to do was check the electricity meter. It was 3330.8 just as we'd left it, good. I turned the fridge back on and re-loaded it with beers, canned coffee and water for ice after having emptied it and left the doors open to air while we were away.

She took a motodop to her Mum's to deliver the sausages (mystery meat) and fish she'd bought in Siem Reap and to pick-up her bike. She came back via Smile and KFC which we both enjoyed.

After food and showers I received another ear massage which was bliss as always, followed by a back, leg and ankle massage for her. Both crashed out knackered but extremely happy to be back, but too tired for boom-boom.

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[petesie]

I've had a bit of the hair massage in my lug hole but it was too ticklish for moi...

Great pics.

[dixon cox]

I've had a bit of the hair massage in my lug hole but it was too ticklish for moi...

Great pics.

Cheers Petesie

I've sped things up a bit posting-wise because I'm trying to get this TR done and dusted before I leave again in just over a weeks time, as once I'm in Thailand and Cambodia I'll have other things to be doing, plus no access to all my pics at home.

For anyone who's ever moaned that I've never done a TR before having spent yonks in Thailand over the years will now understand why it's best that I don't. My overseas sojourns are mellow, laid back and probably boring to many, but they are very pleasurable for me and it's how I like to do things. Hardly the stuff of legend, but at least it's a bit different.

I'm happy that this thread is getting views if not alot else and hope it helps a few who may be curious about Cambodia

[larrylarry]

Great report loved every page and every photo. Thank you for posting it. Sorry to hear about your hassle with the low life guides. Thanks again, I cant wait tilll I can take the time to meander through SEA as well.

[Nick Bullseye]

Cheers Tel, if you liked Spean Thma then you'd love Ta Prohm, that's the one where the temples and walls have been truly overcome by the jungle, which also gives an easy visual of how old these places really are.

Ta Prohm is awesome in the true sense of the word, but you can guarantee that it's on every visitors itinerary so it does get busy. Getting a picture without someone else in it requires patience, there's a few more to follow.

I was in ANgkor several times. Angkor Wat is magnificent, but I am more impressed by Bayon and especially by Ta Phrom. It is just perfectly surreal.

Thanks DC for the wonderful photos.

[dixon cox]

Great report loved every page and every photo. Thank you for posting it. Sorry to hear about your hassle with the low life guides. Thanks again, I cant wait tilll I can take the time to meander through SEA as well.

Your complimentary comments are thoroughly appreciated larry, many thanks indeed

I know I've been somewhat fortunate in being able to spend long periods of time away in the countries I've visited over the years, which in turn provides time to travel beyond the boundaries of the usual target locations. This has all been thanks to being a contractor and not being restricted by holiday allowances from an employer. I was made redundant about 8 years ago and became a contractor, it was the best bad news I ever received.

I hope you too get the opportunity in the future to visit beyond where you have already.

[dixon cox]

I was in ANgkor several times. Angkor Wat is magnificent, but I am more impressed by Bayon and especially by Ta Phrom. It is just perfectly surreal.

Thanks DC for the wonderful photos.

Thank you again bullseye and believe me, I really do appreciate you guys participating in this thread

Anyone who ever decides to visit Cambodia should try to visit Angkor Archaeological Park for at least one day of their lives, it is a truly wonderful and awe inspiring spectacle which pictures and descriptions simply cannot convey.