Tuesday, March 29, 2005
feelin' hot hot hot
Moving swiftly through our tour of Cambodia 'light' we made it from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap in one quick journey... so memorable that I can't even remember if it was bus or taxi.
Siem Reap is possibly the most touristed place in SE Asia (well certainly Cambodia) as it is the home of Angkor Wat. Although it is somewhat cliched I still have to say that it is pretty amazing to find these huge ruins in the middle of the jungle of Cambodia. Very cleverly, we thought, we visited the main ruin sites in the reverse order to everyone else (is that a bit middle-aged?). As a result the first 2 temples we visited were blissfully empty - but the trade off was that we ended up melting in the more major ones at the height of the afternoon heat. To finish the day we paid a visit to the Landmine Museum, ostensibly to be pc, but really so that Pete could buy a landmine museum t-shirt -- which I hope you will all harass him for when you next see him in it.
It is possible to buy up to a week pass for Angkor Wat but seeing as we had already committed ourselves not to get too involved in Cambodia (didn't Nixon say that once? - as proof you will may notice there is no Cambodia list...) we were satisfied with 1 day and pushed through to Bangkok the next morning.
Having heard (and rightfully so) that the roads were appalling (up there with Angkor as Cambodia's trademark it seems) we opted for the cushy option of a taxi for the 3 hr drive to the border. Entirely worth the extra money as the driver literally drove us right up to the checkpoint... Amazingly problem free, we made it through and walked straight on to a bus bound for Bangkok.
Which brings us nicely up to yesterday morning when...
Sitting in an internet cafe shouting down the phone to my Mum (to wish her Happy Easter) and who walks in, but Clare and Stuart!! How exciting! We thought all along that Bangkok would be the place to meet random acquaintances, and we imagined we might cross paths with these two in Bali anyway - but it was still an exceptionally nice surprise to see them. Pete and I took the opportunity to show them off (look we have friends!) in our favourite restaurant (where the staff still remembered us from our 5 dinner run last time we were in town) and we had a generally jolly time swapping travel stories (they have been in S America and Australia since November). They were off to Bali this morning - and we leave for Sarawak (Malaysia) tomorrow. And that is the end of that.
Siem Reap is possibly the most touristed place in SE Asia (well certainly Cambodia) as it is the home of Angkor Wat. Although it is somewhat cliched I still have to say that it is pretty amazing to find these huge ruins in the middle of the jungle of Cambodia. Very cleverly, we thought, we visited the main ruin sites in the reverse order to everyone else (is that a bit middle-aged?). As a result the first 2 temples we visited were blissfully empty - but the trade off was that we ended up melting in the more major ones at the height of the afternoon heat. To finish the day we paid a visit to the Landmine Museum, ostensibly to be pc, but really so that Pete could buy a landmine museum t-shirt -- which I hope you will all harass him for when you next see him in it.
It is possible to buy up to a week pass for Angkor Wat but seeing as we had already committed ourselves not to get too involved in Cambodia (didn't Nixon say that once? - as proof you will may notice there is no Cambodia list...) we were satisfied with 1 day and pushed through to Bangkok the next morning.
Having heard (and rightfully so) that the roads were appalling (up there with Angkor as Cambodia's trademark it seems) we opted for the cushy option of a taxi for the 3 hr drive to the border. Entirely worth the extra money as the driver literally drove us right up to the checkpoint... Amazingly problem free, we made it through and walked straight on to a bus bound for Bangkok.
Which brings us nicely up to yesterday morning when...
Sitting in an internet cafe shouting down the phone to my Mum (to wish her Happy Easter) and who walks in, but Clare and Stuart!! How exciting! We thought all along that Bangkok would be the place to meet random acquaintances, and we imagined we might cross paths with these two in Bali anyway - but it was still an exceptionally nice surprise to see them. Pete and I took the opportunity to show them off (look we have friends!) in our favourite restaurant (where the staff still remembered us from our 5 dinner run last time we were in town) and we had a generally jolly time swapping travel stories (they have been in S America and Australia since November). They were off to Bali this morning - and we leave for Sarawak (Malaysia) tomorrow. And that is the end of that.
// posted by courtney and pete @ 11:48 
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A couple of thoughts on Mr Big Shot BBC Luvvie:
1) I like point 2 - reminds me of how one Jonny "Chariots" Barran at Leeds Uni used to insist that everyone in Theos & Naffees still remembered him years later and would give him the best table (....until they cut up his debit card in front of all his little student friends)
2) Pete has always been an armchair tourist. He spends each day in a different internet cafe and between browsing CP websites, just reads about all the sites, downloads photos and photoshops pictures of himself and Courtney on to them before making up stories for his blog
3) Then Pete goes and listens to some "cool" new album and buys a t-shirt.
He'll be sorry he mised the semi-final on Sunday won't he?
1) I like point 2 - reminds me of how one Jonny "Chariots" Barran at Leeds Uni used to insist that everyone in Theos & Naffees still remembered him years later and would give him the best table (....until they cut up his debit card in front of all his little student friends)
2) Pete has always been an armchair tourist. He spends each day in a different internet cafe and between browsing CP websites, just reads about all the sites, downloads photos and photoshops pictures of himself and Courtney on to them before making up stories for his blog
3) Then Pete goes and listens to some "cool" new album and buys a t-shirt.
He'll be sorry he mised the semi-final on Sunday won't he?
having bought a T-shrit, perhaps now Pete can lay to rest the old yellow rag, that continues to make guess appearances.
Keitho
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Keitho
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