Tuesday 23rd
June, 2015 - (photo below)
It was
an early morning today. Ephraim and I
had set up with Mr Sokkol to go on a private tour with our own tour guide and
driver and that was such a good idea, we were to meet our tour guide in the
lobby at 8am, so that meant that we were going to breakfast at 7.30am – that
also meant waking up and being ready to go by 7.30am so it was an early
morning.
Breakfast
was alright there were large groups of Asian tourists, it was pretty cool that
we would be going on a small tour – and we’d planned to meet up with Nic again
that night.
Our tour
guide was this cool young guy and I can’t for the heck of me remember his name,
what was awesome was that Mr Sokkol had booked him as our tour guide and that
was awesome because we all got on really well and we were cracking jokes all
over the place (once we got used to each other that is…) What I really liked
about our tour guide is that he did everything differently to how it’s usually
done, most people start with the biggest place ‘Angkor Wat’ and then do the
smaller cities/towns, but we started with the smaller ones and left the bigger
one for last – and that was really cool because there weren’t many people going
around with us (tourists) which was really lucky for us as well, our guide was
continually telling us about how lucky we were because sometimes there are 40
groups of 40 tourist going around and it was literally hard to move, but we
were really fortunate because there weren’t many people there that day.
It was
stinking hot though – lucky that I’d taken my sports shoes, coz I was going to
walk around in my jandals, last minute changed into my sports shoes coz it was
MUCH better doing all of that walking in those shoes and not jandals. I tell you though, it was so humid and we’d
only walked a little bit and down poured the sweat – YUCK! It was lucky that I didn’t take ANY make-up
or anything coz I knew that it was just melt off my face within minutes of getting
outside. LoL!
Seeing
all of the temples were just really amazing!
These were built hundreds of years ago and touching them was like
touching history, and hearing the history of Cambodia – the struggle of
religion namely Hinduism & Buddhism, like one king would be all we are
Hindu and would destroy all of the Buddha statues, then another king would come
in and say we are Buddhist and destroy all of the Hindu symbols etc. One even took the time to transition from one
religion to another – anciently Siem Reap was the capital of Cambodia, for
hundreds of years, then because at one weak point Thailand came and took over
that part of Cambodia, so for that and other reasons the capital moved to Phnom
Phen.
So,
Cambodia has such a turbulent history – I asked our guide, were there many
times of peace? He said ‘No’. Especially when we think about the Khmer
Rouge and their attempt to take over the country in the late 70’s early 80’s
MAN – I mean, that’s in my lifetime! So,
the country is full of young people under 50’s because so many people died
during that regime. So sad!
What was
funny, though was that when people weren’t fighting they’d have the animals
fighting – which also in itself isn’t that funny! Then our guide talked to us about this tree
that grows over other trees and kills that tree – man, if the people and the
animals aren’t fighting the trees are also killing each other. He talked to us about how a western discoverer
(French, I think) guy followed the butterflies to Angkor Wat we go, did you eat
them – then Ephraim goes ‘Did they fight too?’ crack up!
At one
point we got to this carved wall and these guys were half naked with ropes
around their necks and Ephraim and I were like ‘Oh, they must be slaves’ then
our guide goes ‘No, they’re soldiers and the rope was a holy rope that
protected them, that was their fighting gear’ both Ephraim and I give a look at
each other like ‘Huh?’ – then he goes on to say, that monks would bless the
rope and was even said that it stopped bullets – again with the look at each
other! LoL.. So, we get to Angkor Wat that was built AFTER that particular wall
and I look straight at the soldiers and I go ‘Uh, I see that they have armor
now, was this one built after that other temple?’ to which he replied ‘Yeah’, I
said ‘I guess they found the rope ineffective then?’ and then Ephraim and I
just start cracking up! It was not a
good time to be laughing, but man I just couldn’t stop – it took me a good
couple of minutes to gather myself together again, I mean I could blame it on
the heat and all of the walking but man it was funny! I mean, I’m sure if you know me you can
imagine that when I get started (or anyone for that matter) it’s hard to stop
laughing. What’s funnier is coz Ephraim
goes ‘I’m sure he had more to tell us at that particular place, but decided
against it after you started laughing!’ Oh well, now we’ll never know what he
was going to tell us. J
What was
awesome though was after each temple or city (coz we went to 4 or 5) and we’d
get back in the car there’d be a nice COLD facecloth and bottle of water – SO
NICE!!
Earlier
in the day, coz Nic was doing the temples, as well we happened to bump into
each other, which was cool! We got a pic
with each other and went on our merry ways.
We thought our guide was even more awesome after bumping into them two J J I was really grateful for our guide too, his
English was really good – there were a couple of times I had to take time to go
back and think about what it was he was saying, but otherwise he was really
good – what was funny was that Ephraim at one point goes ‘What did he say?’, I
go ‘Hey aren’t you supposed to be able to understand Asian English better than
me?’ he cracked up!
So, as
you can tell the day was full of fun, walking and a lot of good kōrero – what
was sad was all of the poor children, working to make money I wished that I had
a $$$ for them all, but then I would have no money because there were so many
of them! I felt so aroha for them.
Once
we’d finished the day tour of the ‘small circuit’ because there was a ‘grand
circuit tour’ too, we decided against being dropped off in town and went back
to the motel – we went for a swim and then it POURED down with rain, it was SO
nice swimming in the rain – because it had been so hot that day and it was just
really nice to be relaxing in the water and having a good swim! We had a bit of a rest and then messaged with
Nic to meet him in town, man though having a nap wasn’t a good idea coz we woke
up sore and tired – but we were also getting hungry so it was time to leave and
catch a tuk tuk into town.
This
time though our driver dropped us off in some random place in town and not
where we were used to going, turns out he didn’t want to drive through a big
puddle from the rain and so dropped us off at this dumb spot. LoL!
So, I found the first white person to ask where ‘Pub Street’, turns out
he was French and was on his way there too, although he too got lost a little
walking around – anyway, we ended up having dinner together, then going to get
some drinks together, Nic was messaging me and I found the locator and saw that
he wasn’t too far from where we were, SO, since the boys both had a drink I
said I’d go off and find Nic and come back and get them – so off I go down this
scary little alley to find him in this tiny place it was successful! So, he was with these two girls that he’d met
earlier that day at the sunrise at Angkor Wat – they were really cool! So, I
went back and got the boys and we had a real good time in this bar called YOLO
– then out came the JENGA, the French dude goes the looser buys a round of
drinks & I’m like NOOO coz I didn’t want to buy everyone a drink… LoL!
Luckily I didn’t loose!
Then
Ephraim and I got another tuk tuk back to our accommodation. Goodnight!
Me and my buddy Ephraim, on our private car and tour… such fun!
$20usd later and here is our pass, that I nearly lost like TWICE, we had to show them at every city to an official...
About to make the climb on this muggy day...
Touching history when I touched this flower…
After the climb and it was stinking hot!
Ancient writing on the wall of a temple..
This is so massive, considering they’re done by hand and soooo long ago!
The view from the Expedia Advert
This needed to be cleared because it grows really fast.
Wednesday 24th June, 2015
So, this morning was a bit of a late start – I just wanted to be at the market by 10am to get a couple hours shopping in before I flew to Bangkok and then on to Phuket – so, we had breakfast at about 9.30am and got on a tuk tuk to the market, we made sure not to get off our tuk tuk until we knew for sure where we were and that it was where we wanted to be for shopping purposes. LoL! Needless to say that my buddy Ephraim finished his shopping LONG before I’d finished – I said to him I wanted to try and keep my budget to $40usd I didn’t do too bad and only spent $90usd.. LoL!
And then with the bargaining! It was so much fun, although one had to feel a little bad because they were already selling them at a cheap price and then we were going in there hassling for a better price – I did win mostly, until I must’ve started getting tired because at one place I was going 2 things were $10 then I go 2 for $5 and then went back up to 2 for $10… she looked confused, then I was confused and looked at my buddy and go, am I ripping myself off? He goes yeah – so eventually we struck a deal at 2 for $7… LoL! I think we did well to stay within the given timeframe, we went back for the last time on the tuk tuk and packed our rooms up for the last time – it was really nice where we stayed and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone going to Cambodia, if I could remember the name off the top of my head. Ephraim just stayed on at the hotel and I got a ride to the airport – Mr Sokkol took me and another guy from the hotel, we’ve added each other on facebook – he was really cool!
So, I got to the aiport pretty early and got a little hungry so got something to eat, and then casually walked over to my gate when I noticed it was empty of people – LoL! I had misread my flight times and was the second to last to board the plane, so I’m running to the plane coz it’s an outside walk to the plane and it starts pelting down with rain! It was crazy as, well, I suppose it was also monsoon weather! Then I get to my seat and because of the rain we had to wait 10-15minutes, I was thinking if I’d got to my seat earlier then we would’ve been able to take off before the rain pour, but then about three other people walked onto the plane after me, so I didn’t feel too bad.
I also found that Aunty George and Uncle Orlo were still in Phuket and so we arranged to meet up the next day after my tour, Aunty George told me where to meet them and after I’d checked in I caught a tuk tuk to the meeting place.
However, once I’d got out of the airport I found a cheap shuttle van company that took me right to my hotel, but half way there they made a stop at a travel agency, they asked us which hotel we were going to and tried to sell us different tours – I thought that was a stroke of genius because what happened was where I was staying didn’t do bookings like that – so it was lucky that I’d bought one at that stop and managed to get it for around $88nzd so that was all good.
I was really happy with my accommodation and then went for an explore in town, got another massage and then made my way back for the night - ah, sweet relief. Sleep before I get up for my early morning tour to the islands around Phuket.
Pōmarie
Parns
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