In both Cambodia and Thailand the vehicle of choice is the moped. I used to think this was quite a restrictive vehicle in the UK. Only for one or two people, not very fast and you can't really carry anything. I couldn't have been more wrong. So far Clare and I have seen mopeds with:
- about 30-40 live ducks hanging from it.
- Several bails of hay on the seat
- baskets that have pets or even children in them
- Four grown men
- Two people with arms full of shopping
- Two blokes where passanger is covering eyes of driver
But best of all, and not at all rare, one with five people on it. Dad, mum, three kids with Dad driving whilst talking on the mobile and mum carrying the shopping.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
It's fashion....of a sort
There seems to be a strange fashion phenomenon in Cambodia for the ladies.
Wearing pyjamas as everyday clothing. Not just any old PJ's but the Mini Mouse PJ's. I don't think it'll catch on.
Wearing pyjamas as everyday clothing. Not just any old PJ's but the Mini Mouse PJ's. I don't think it'll catch on.
The long and winding road
After being away for as long as we have, you have some unique travelling experiences, but the Bangkok to Siem Reap (Cambodia) journey was simply the worst journey of my life.
Starting at 7:30 we got the coach from Bangkok for the start of our journey and the first four hours to the border were relatively trouble free. Then it all went a little pear shaped. Numerous people (including our bus driver) tried to sell us entry visas into Cambodia for twice the price. Once we finally got through to the Cambodian side, our bus appeared to have left us behind although it eventually turned up.
The road from the border to Siem reap is notorious for being under developed and rocky, and it didn't fail in its reputation. Occasionally there was tarmac but for the most part its an uneven, bumpy dirt track (Apparentley a Cambodian airline is paying the govenment off to keep it that way encouraging people to fly instead......allegadly). This road is bad enough at the best of times, let alone when it's raining. When that happens the road then turns into a muddy sludge which took us from a heady 30k per hour down to 10kph. That is until we reach one particular corner. For some reason this corner was banked at either side, which made it even more challeging. SO much so that it had caused three rather large dumper trucks slid of the road into ditches.
After all of that we finally got into Siem Reap around 10:30pm, only for the police to pull the coach over and try to extort money out of the bus driver. By 11:30 we finally made it to bed.
Starting at 7:30 we got the coach from Bangkok for the start of our journey and the first four hours to the border were relatively trouble free. Then it all went a little pear shaped. Numerous people (including our bus driver) tried to sell us entry visas into Cambodia for twice the price. Once we finally got through to the Cambodian side, our bus appeared to have left us behind although it eventually turned up.
The road from the border to Siem reap is notorious for being under developed and rocky, and it didn't fail in its reputation. Occasionally there was tarmac but for the most part its an uneven, bumpy dirt track (Apparentley a Cambodian airline is paying the govenment off to keep it that way encouraging people to fly instead......allegadly). This road is bad enough at the best of times, let alone when it's raining. When that happens the road then turns into a muddy sludge which took us from a heady 30k per hour down to 10kph. That is until we reach one particular corner. For some reason this corner was banked at either side, which made it even more challeging. SO much so that it had caused three rather large dumper trucks slid of the road into ditches.
After all of that we finally got into Siem Reap around 10:30pm, only for the police to pull the coach over and try to extort money out of the bus driver. By 11:30 we finally made it to bed.
Hey Mister. Where you going?
After beautifully serene experiences in Malasia and then Phi Phi Island in Thailand, we arrive in Bangkok. It's an assult on the senses. I've never been anywhere so busy in all my life. Just crossing the road is to take you life into your own hands! It's the only place I know where on a one way street, vehicles travel in three different directions and then your tuk tuk drives straight through the middle of them. Crazy.
I hope you're sitting comfortably
I've just downloaded another load of photos on to CD. I reckon we'll have around 7-8000 by the time this is all over. If you're invited round to see our holiday snaps - You better get comfy!
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