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June 09, 2006
Currently in Kampong Cham, Cambodia
Blogging while travelling turned out to be much harder than I thought. I'm having problems trying to find time to do the blogging. It has been a hectic few days with little spare time and even less sleeping time :) I can only do a short update for now, I've jolted down plenty of notes in my notes hoping that sometime in the future I have the time to compose a proper backdated travelog.
For the few of you who follow my blog regularly, I've left Bangkok went to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) for 3 days now and currently in Kampong Cham, Cambodia. Not much to see here, and I think we are the only tourist in the city. We came here to visit the local school to give gifts (pencils and notebooks) to the kids and play some football. It was really fun.
On the way back a few of us (including me!) tried the dirty and murky water of the Mekong River and spend a few minutes swimming and colling down. We were the only people swimming in the Mekong river as far as my eyes can see. Must be a truly amazing sight for the locals to see a bunch of white people (and 2 asians) swimming the Mekong River :)
Time is short here, but so I can only write a short spiel about Cambodia. This country is very poor, maybe the poorest in the region. For westerners who have never travelled before, Cambodia will give over the scale culture shock. But behind the poverty and the massive gap in the wealth distribution lies a charming and unbelievably nice people. Definitely a place to go and if you want to go, go now before it changes.
There's not enough words and pictures to describe Angkor Wat. When one says that it's one of the 7 wonders of the world, I can certainly amen that. Angkor Wat is not the only temple in the area, there are 4 major temples: Angkor Wat, Bayon, Bantrey Srey and Ta Phrom. We managed to visit all except Bantrey Srey (citadel of women), which ironically is my guesthouse room's namesake. Ta Phrom is probably the best after Angkor Wat, it is left in ruins just like how the early French explorers "discovered" it.
A quick word on the Interpid tour, it is really good. Although indeed a fair more expensive that if I do it myself, it certainly have given much more that I could hope for. They are true to their slogan "See the real Cambodia". Heh I still can't get over swimming in the Mekong River bit. Had I gone by myself I wouldn't have even thought about it. Playing football with the locals kids definitely not in the agenda.
We're going to Kratie tomorrow. I'm planning to have a good 8 hours or more of sleep tonight. Might as well because even though it's Friday night, there's no pub here. Well not for the tourists anyway. Kampong Cham is a busy working port and tourist mostly bypass this place.
Posted by vhadiant at June 9, 2006 09:36 PM
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