Thailand to Cambodia

The 2 faces of Siem Reap-part 1

jobowman — Sat, 4 Jun 2011 16:49:00 GMT

The last couple of days here in Siem Reap have been hectic.. Over 7 hours of temples yesterday !!! Its full on-climbing mountains-temples-soo much walking-and man it was bloody hot out there, the only relief was the tuk tuking between the temples with the breeze in your face. Our tuk tuk driver Sabuth (pronounced without the h on the end) arrived to collect us at 9.30 am- cant believe we only woke up at 8.20 !!!! Rushed off at 8.45 for a $1.50 breakfast-what do you get for $1.50 ?? At a restaurant mind you , Bacon, 2 eggs, a hot baguette, butter, apricot jam and cream cheese, one we get at home, a triangle in foil with a cow pic on it, just cant remember the name of it ......We raced back to the guesthouse for a quick shower and there was Sabuth-biggest smile and esky full of iced water on board-and did we need that water thru the day!!!!!! The temples were breathtaking-some were built in 800 AD for those who dont know that is 1211 years ago !!!!!! We saw both Hindu and Buddhist temples- they were all so beautiful-Sabuth told us the stone the the temples came from a mountain about 70 km's away and the stone was transported by elephant!! You need to see the photos of these structures to appreciate the enormity of what must have been invovled in their building it is un imagineable. The carvings in the stone walls are beautifull, such detail-still so clear, we have so many photos and videos to share, im sure you will be as fascinated as we are !!!!We saw so many monks-lit incense and were blessed in a Hindu temple!!! What an experience. The last temple we were to visit was Angkor Wat- the countrys pride and joy but we were exhausted and just coukd not do it !!! Next time Angkor Wat. Poor Sabuth seemed a bit sad that we had to end our Temple trek before seeing Angkor Wat but we just could not do it - our legs ached-we were so sweaty and dirty- all we wanted by 5pm was a shower and a rest !!!!!! Back at the Guesthouse and a shower and 10 minute sit down later and we were off again for a 50 cent ice cold beer or 2. Kev was chatting to a young aussie cple @ the soup dragon where we were relaxing and they were floored at our energy, are we really that old ???? little did they know we felt like we were dying !!!!!! We hatd a early dinner and were home in bed by 10pm EXHAUSTED !!!!!! Needed to regain energy for todays trek out to 'The Floating Village'

Siem Reap- as I sit here having a cold beer it is beautifull- geared for tourists-so clean-so different from sitting in Sihanoukville- yeah there are children here trying to sell their wares-looking for a drink or a bit of food but nothing like Sihanoukville...Nothing.....Here we had not seen the poverty we saw in Sihanoukville until we went today to the floating village.....How do you compare poverty? You dont , but what we saw today will haunt us for the rest of our lives......How do you erase the vision? You cannot remove what is etched in your memory-today will stay with us forever. 'The Floating Village' a place we feel at this moment we will never visit again but urge anyone who comes here to visit. Why wont we visit again? The overwhelming saddness maybe ?-the guilt of being who we are and what we have ? These ppl live on Tonle Sap lake. The poorest of the poor live in makeshift homes on the water-our boat driver tells us many children between baby and 6 years old die - how ?? they drown- they fall into the dirty water and drown.............They cant swim........ Many families lose their lives during monsoon-which is set to start now- storms sink their homes and the families all drown in the murky waters of Tonle Sap lake.....There are at least 5000 ppl living in the floating village, trying to survive, many we were told also die from illness- they are so far away from and cannot pay for medical help.....Many drink the water from the lake in the village-many become ill and die-they know no better-do you even have to wonder where the urine and faeces from the homes go ??? Everything is on the lake-floating-we went to the floating school for orphans-Oh god this was probablly our lowest point in all of our time here-the children broke our hearts in 2-there are over 100 of them............ There was a little boy- maybe 3-the saddest eyes I have ever seen-he fell over and a bigger boy accidently stood on his tiny arm- he stood up, bottom lip quivering-just reminded me sooooooo much of my Jaybaby-It shattered me, i picked him up and rubbed his arm-oh god these children have no mummy daddy nanny or grandad to cuddle them wen they hurt.....I just want to know what becomes of these children- I cant find an answer...................... Im in a public place and I am finding it sooo hard to hide the tears streaming down my face........ God the killing fields were shattering but this? this is so real-its here-it is now...................................................................Back later

Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh to Siem Reap !!!!

jobowman — Thu, 2 Jun 2011 20:00:00 GMT

Well it has been a few days between blogs ! Here we are in Siem Reap, and what a beauutiful place it is , more bout that later .

We left Sihanoukville monday morning after only 4 hours sleep -outside the lovely beach road hotel at 7am waiting for our bus to come and there was Red, he came to day goodbye. The sky was dark, the rain was starting- we hear it was a very day in Sihanoukville-timed it well hey :) Off we went on the 5 hour trek to Phnom Penh. The trip was good, lots too see and went soooo fast- we arrived in Phnom Penh 4.5 hours later !!! We stayed in a nice little huesthouse called 'Fancy guesthouse' the room was big, clean, air con-ensuite and a balcony.

We went for a Tuk Tuk ride thru the city for an hour in a tuk tuk- we were amazed- what a city !!!! We were too tired to do much Monday night, we had a late night on our last night in Sihanoukville and had maybe 1 too many Mudslides , woops. We had a quik meal out and sat on our balcony watching the life down below and then sleeeeeeeeeeep....... We were getting picked up by our Tuk Tuk driver Ed at 9am to visit 'The killing fields' and 'the S21 museum'

We went to the killing field first - S21 last.... There are no words to express the pain and sadness we felt at these places, I dont want to write about either of them at the moment , sorry. I think the following says it all

UNFINISHED WORDS

A short poem by Sophal Leng Stagg, at age 10, as printed in her story "Hear me now:Tragedy in Cambodia".

Peaceful times have gone away
Long gone, so far, so far away
Let me live as I will you

Peaceful times as we once knew
The young, the old, so sad these days

So sad, so scared, are we
I have closed my eyes to run away

Run away to peaceful days
Mother please stay with me

Don't go, please stay close to me
I need you now to help me see

To see the days of peace for me
Help me find those peaceful times

The times we laughed when we were free
No more pain, be at peace.

It was fun in between tho- we went to a shooting range- Kev shot 25 rounds on an AK47 - wow talk about boys and toys !!!! They hand you a menu wen u get there, no there was no food involved just guns guns guns- You can send a rocket launcher into the side of a mountain for a mere $550 US for 5 rounds :0 grenades are $30 US, pistols, magnums, tommy guns, assault rifles, and more more more andif you REALLY want to you can blow a cow away for $300 : [ I like to hope no body would do this ........ Kev had a ball tho, kid in a candy store :)

We spent our second and last night on a rooftop bar overlooking the Mekong River - it is absolutely beautifull, busy with ppl walking-dogs on leads, and even aerobic classes !!!!!! We heard so many negative storys of Phnom Penh- well we just loved it, what a great city- so hard to believe how far it has come since Pol Pots reign... We got back to the Guest house round 11pm, after quite a few beers carrying the biggest pizza I have ever seen, it was $8 , BIG spend for us, and felt like naughty little kids when the lovely guest house owner looked at his watch then at us not looking very happy at all.

After a whirlwind visit we were on a mini bus to Siem Reap @ 8.30 Wednesday Morn-wher we are right now. We are on 'Pub street' having a drink or 4 before dinner. I'm going to say Bye for now and enjoy my $1.00 cocktails. We are off to see the Temples tomorrow !!!!!!!

Love love love Siem Reap- I think my most favourite part of Cambodia- will tell you all about it next time.

Cheers from Siem Reap Cambodia. xxxxxxxx

It's not goodbye Sihanoukville- its seeya later xxxxx

jobowman — Sun, 29 May 2011 13:20:00 GMT

Our bus tickets are booked and were getting packed up to move on to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning. A 6 or so hour trip on a big coach- $5 each and it has air-con and a toilet. Having a quiet day, chilling and reflecting on our time here. It has been an amazing experience-a lot of laughter, a lot of tears. We have both agreed that when things at home seem tough that we will look back on our blogs to remind us of how lucky we really are.

We sit and wonder how many of the beautiful ppl we have met thru our journey here will be here next year , its a sad reality.

We went fishing yesterday, Kev me Shaun and Louis - oh it was a MAN Trek to get to the fishing spot-halfway there I wished i never went but was to scared to go back alone. It was worth the trek tho- what a beautiful place- many locals fishing with improvised drop lines (line wrapped around an empty water bottle)

I sat on the rocks watching the boys fishing-soaking up the tranquility , I saw a smalll group of local children coming across the rocks below me, the youngest maybe 5 the eldest about 14.

The one that caught my eye was aboy maybe 12 years old- he was so thin every bone in his body protruded, malnutrition or Aids or both-it is anyones guess, all he was wearing was a pair of oversized underpants-this was enough to cause the tears to start welling-I noticed he was carrying a small freezer bag with something which looked like a bright yellow thick liquid, at first i thought oh thank god he has something to eat or drink in that bag - Pureed Fruit ?? NO------- glue :( In the 2 minutes it took for the kids to pass by us abd dissappear behind the rocks I counted 12 times that the little boy had sniffed the bag of glue- he looked a wreck. 10 minutes later they passed back thru, by that time he could only take 2 steps then stopped to sniff... He stood on a rock below me, about 2 meters away, directly in front of me - I watched him sniff again- he turned and looked into my eyes- he saw the tears- he smiled a beautiful smile turned away sniffed again ........................ There is no law here against sniffing glue- its quite legal, it is not seen as an issue- it is not hidden- its open-its public- its not seen as a danger - its CHEAP. They start as young as 5, Glue- a 30 second escape from reality ? What is happening to these angels ? what is their world like ? We can only guess- I will say tho that the poor little boy in the underpants has so many scars across his back.....................The children here do not need to tell you anything- you see their lives and stories in their eyes.....I only hope if we return next year we will see all of the children who have touched our hearts and lives again- we wont forget their faces and we will look for them wen we return....

Watch over a little child to-night

Watch over a little child to-night,
Blest Savior from above,
And keep them till the morning light
Within Thine arms of love

. Amen

The visit to the School Friday was the BEST !!! Thedesks are soo good- lol wondering how long it will take for the graffitti !!! The school will be open in a week or so !!!! Sean , Kev, Red and myself were checking out the room wen we saw a little head peeking thru the door- we told him to come in- he was there for afternoon class at the Khmer school- well within 10 minutes the room was buzzing with kids !!! They were almost hynotized by the books !! It was a beautiful sight- we just let them go and enjoy the room and the books- their Khmer teacher arrived- he is a lovely man- he wasnt going to make them go to class- the kids were learning so much on their own with the books. We sat outside one of the Khmer classroms talking about how much the kids are going to love atending Painting Smiles School when I spotted about 8 books being secretly couriered across to a Khmer classromm by a little one-what can u do but smile.........Even Red was enthralled by the books !!! We both saw sadness in his eyes tho.... as I told you in an earlier blog, Red cannot afford much schooling for his girls- and definately not English schooling.. I wish we could do more for these people.............We thought once we saw the desks in the classroom that our mission would be complete here- how wrong we were. We leave here wishing we could have done some much more- questioning - wondering- wishing......

And as we say our goodbyes to Sihanoukville we remember our Otres beach friends-particularly Tam-bless you angel girl. The can kids on Occhuteal beach - be safe angels may you always be protected-our lovely young woman who has suffered so much at the hands of western men-please be here next year, please dont be sick-be safe in your work-please remember what we told you and we pray its not too late....To Red and your beautifull family- thankyou for you beaut iful Khmer hospitality- you are a great man Red- as much as you battle in life to keep your family alive all you want to do is give give give- we love you Red and your beautiful family- be safe always- never lose the "boy child" inside....Never....To our Mud-slide girl- bless you gorgeous- you always put the smile back ..... Staff at Seahorse-what a lovely Khmer family-we wish you luck always, the best ever happy hour in Sihanoukville.....Our Khmer gentleman @ Moonshak 2- will miss our conversations- will miss our learning and hope that you will remember what you may have learnt from us- we are sure you will- miss your barbeques, im going to TRY and make coleslaw just like yours wen im home .... wanna buy a can of Singha for $1 ??? :) It was an honor to have met you and your family our lovely Khmer Gent. If I continued this blog would go on forever.

Cheers to you Sihanoukville, and thankyou.Thankyou for the smiles and the laughter, the sadness and the tears, Just thankyou.................................................. With much love..... Kev n Jo.

Over and out.......

SIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA-...........

jobowman — Fri, 27 May 2011 20:31:00 GMT

All good things must come to an end- and our time here in Sihanoukville is doing just that-coming to an end. We leave here early Monday or Tuesday morning on a bus bound for Phnom Penh, Cambodias Capital. Here we go to 'The Killing Fields' and to 'S21' a museum that was a school then became a torture chamber during Pol Pots rule :,( Dont look forward to it and I suspect the journey on the bus will feel somewhat like being in a funeral prosession, knowing that where we end up will be full of grief and sadness. We plan to stay in Phnom Penh only 2 nights, then Siem Reap for 3 days to visit the temples and a museum which I will tell you all about in a blog once we have visited.

We have had a really nice last 2 days since the last blog. Yesterday was pretty quiet during the day, we went down to Serendipity/Occhuteal beach just before sunset-sat in papasan chairs a meter from shore and enjoyed yet another Happy Hour !! The beach was alive with the normal massage offers, paint your nails offers, buy one more bracelet, buy fireworks etc etc etc....... Some of thie kids selling on the beach get quite annoyed and rude actually when you refuse to buy, but thats a minority, most are just lovely. We had a group of boys come over to us looking for cans, that is what they do,collect cans to sell for money, they dont try to sell you anything, they have nothing to sell........ We had no cans to give them but we had something else that they all loved so much- TIME- we all laughed, chatted, joked and played. The group of boys ranged between the ages of about 4 to 15. Kev took so many photos of them, why ? becoz they wanted more more more, you could not put a price on the look on their beautiful little faces when they saw the phominutes of laughte30 tos of themselves, yet another magic moment in this crazy, sad, happy, beautiful country. After about 30 minutes of fun and laughter, the boys went on their way-into the long dark night, working............

A girl walk past when we were playing wiht the can kids-weve seen her around a few times- reallly friendly young woman. We sat at the bar a few metres from the beach to get a bit of space from the countless kids selling bracelets, the girl walked toward us and said hello, as you would, we smiled and sed hello back, we offered for her to sit with us a while, she was so tired.....we asked if we could get her something to drink- Red bull was the choice. During our conversation this poor thin young woman told us she was 26, the same age as Ash, and her job was.....' time with man from bars' .............................. She has no children, she told me she should have 2 but the doctor "took away" and number 3 is in there now but the doctor has to "take away" coz she cant even take care of or feed herself let alone a baby- selfish or selfless?...... you decide............ but ohhhh yes the FAT OLD western PIG walks away..............I held his girl as she sobbed her heart out-it broke my heart AGAIN as I held this poor young girl that could have been one of mine- and I cant help her. How do I help her escape the life she has ???? She told me how Barang (western) man treats her, it made me SIK ...- It made me sik to my stomach. But how the hell do we stop these PIGS coming here and exploiting the children and women of this country??? I wish I had the answer- the answer for her , the answer for the children that are SEX OBJECTS..........Yeh it would be soooo easy to not come here or any country where you are so openly exposed to this but hey this is the real world, this is reality ....You can run from it, hide from it, live in your perfect world but its still there. Bless you sweet girl, I hope to see you again.. May you be loved and protected xxxxxxxxxxxx

I cant write more tonight its been a really hard blog to write-il write maybe tomorrow about our :) time today at the school. Until then be safe and much love xxxxxxxxx

SIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA

jobowman — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:36:00 GMT

Happy hour at The Seahorse always seems to be the place of blog writing- nothing beats it- im on a balcony above the street- Serendipity Road to be precise !!! From here you can sit above it all and watch the Sihanoukville world pass by- I can see the beautiful oceon from here, its just a 3 minute walk away. Its incredible. Happy hour here goes from 4pm until 9pm- Vodka and lemons are $1 and a pot of of draught is 50c. We ate here last night- have a few times, their curries are sooooo good. Last night tho we Finally Had Coca Cola ribs- Sihanoukville is a bit famous for these apparantly- Ohhhh Myyyyy Godddd !!!!!!!!!!! The are sooooooo good- Never had ribs like them before and im sure, unless we have them again here before we leave (we actually decided we will lol ) will never have ribs like this again. As soon as we had finished we were straight on the net looking for recipes !!! Something we will ATTEMPT when we get home. Oh and for a pile of delectable ribs, a barbequed potato, a hot baguette and a pile of really good coleslaw- $4................. I dont know how we are going to be able to justify the cost of eating at home let alone eating out when we return. We have made so many lovely friends here-met soo many Khmer people who have touched our hearts.

We had lunch today tho at another of our favorite little eating places- Moon Shack 2 - If you ever come here look out for this place- but the sign says 'Moon Sack 2' :( Its a lovely new sign which wld have cost a months or more earnings at least for the owner- and it had to have an error :( Moon Shack 2 has the biggest menu EVER- and the food is to die for- thats were we have our Seafood BBQ'S. Kevin had Stirfried Squid in Garlic and Fresh Green Pepper- Ohhh Myyyy........... The pepper was in small bunches thru the meal - FRESH not dried Green Peppercorns- Kampot is famous for its Pepper and I understand why. I had a Thai dish and kept pinching bunches of peppercorns of Kevs plate lol. our lovely friend who owns the restaurant os a lovely Khmer man, married with a little boy 3 and 1/2 - we have had many a converstion with him talking of home and here- he is a good man and a hard worker-in the words of the Khmer ppl- We wish much luck to him and His family....

Today we went to the big market Down Town- Its huge- full of fresh produce- we came here before but stayed away from the back stalls where the produce part is- it was a bit too upsetting for me last time- I saw a stall with some live chicken- they all looked so hot :( I thought of our chooks back home and how lucky even they were, then the realization-you choose one- they kill it and pluck it in front of you and yes that people is how you buy a fresh chicken at the market :(.....................

We were there on a mission- and NO it wasnt to buy a fresh chicken- we went up with Red- he waited outside for us. We found a little stall that sold childrens clothes and it was there that we bought a new out fit for each of Reds children- his brother inlaws lil boy and triplets... We had fun choosing the clothes- trying to make sure we got it right- but you know what, it would not have mattered to these children. We found another stall that sold soaps and deodorants- we bought Reds girls aged 14 and 15 an impulse each- Hey we all know what they are.....

Back out to Red with a bag full- Red kev says- please take us to your home again- Red looked a bit confused but off we went. When we arrived a few minutes later again we were greeted by the lovely family and Oh my god when the gifts of came out....................... I have NO words to describe that moment- I am sorry- I just dont............... Just as I dont have words to express the sadness we felt on Monday night when we sat on big papasans drinking a cocktail. Kev saw a little boy, maybe a little older than Jimmy on an old chair about 3 meters from us- he was tossing and turning in the chair. I went to our room and got a container of pringles , took them to him and asked if he was hungry- the biggest brown eyes look straight into mine and he nodded yes.....I gave him the pringles and bought him a can of lemonade, he told me he is 7 .................His clothes were so old and worn and dirty- he had a bag of cans he had collected- yeh we was supposed to be out on the street working but he was soooo tired and hungry-this place can just tears your heart out and shred it into a million pieces..Be safe in you travels little angel boy- be safe...... :'(

It wasnt just the children- It was the sheer Joy on the Mummys, Daddys and Grandmas faces, another thing etched in our memory and can never be erased. No body in the house knew what the impulse was- I could almost relate it to "the gods must be crazy" when they found the coke bottle and had no idea what it was or what the hell you do with it..... The boys, with the help and smiles from all put their new clothes on straight away- the triplets were asleep. The 2 older girls hung te washing and finished their chores before they cam down from their room wearing their new tops- smelling beautifull and BEAMING with pride. It was reallllly hard not to cry..........................................

Tomorrow I think we will go to 'the house of family'.... its an orphanage- a minute or so from Reds home- the children here have lost both parents to HIV/AIDS. Most of the children here are HIV positive-It will be a hard day...................................................

When you kiss your beautiful children Goodnight tonight hold them close and cuddle them tight and please please spare a thought for the Kids of Cambodia.

Love to all, Cheers from Sihanoukville Cambodia.xxxxxxx

The Lovely Khmer hospitality and more

jobowman — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:28:00 GMT

Wow the last couple of days have been fantastic. Our Khmer family lunch was fun, interesting and a great learning experience. Red was ready and waiting to take us to his home and meet his family at 10-45 am for the planned 11.30 am pick-up time :) . We were lazing at the front of the hotel on giant papasan chairs drinking coffee when he pulled up in his Moto Taxi, beaming saying "all ready now" - a race to our room-quik shower and on our way to down town Sihanoukville. We turned off the main road in the middle of town then off that onto a bumpy gravel road-it reminded me of the back alleys at my late grandparents house in east guildford-a turn or 2 left - a turn right and we arrived !!! Wow what a welcoming - the family were all out there waiting for us to arrive. We met Reds lovely wife who shook Kevs hand and hugged me warmly-his 2 daughter aged 15 and 14, their son who is 8 who we met once before and their 8 month old baby boy- and then there was the REST of the family who live there- mum in law- brother in law with his wife and 5 year son and their adorable 2 yr old triplet girls !!! There were more ppl here we me tbut by now it became far too confusing as to who was who lol, the awful part is we were greeted by and introduced to so much family we dont even remember ANY of their names :0 !!!!

Red showed us through his home- he was very proud in telling us he worked very hard and bought the small piece of land and had built te house himself-he has done a great job, it has 2 levels-up the top is a bedroom for Red and his wife, a room for the children, and a large area where mum in law sleeps- at this stage there is no glass in the many windows- the breeze is better than air con !!! Downstairs is a small kitchen 2 more bedrooms and a large room with a TV where the families all hang out togther.

Lunch was served almost immediately- we sat on a big bamboo table about 500cm off the ground- Red served us some food and then himself- we asked about why the rest of the family were not eating- Red told us that Khmer way is for guests to eat with the Man of the house and then the rest of the family eat what is left after we have finished !!!! Ohhhhh this was HARD thing to do-so so very different from home where eating together as family and or friends is enjoyed so much- I love the Aussie way and would love a Khmer family like Reds to try 'our way' God they would LOVE one of our family barbies or get togethers LOL.

Lunch was a baked fish-a steam boat with some vegies and chicken and wen I say chicken I mean the WHOLE chicken was in there bar the feathers I think- I was trying to spoon ONLY vegies on my plate and Red took the spoon smiling and said he'l do it for me - Ohhhhh my there was a huge internal chicken part staring at me alongside a small piece of chicken- I managed to eat the chicken and tactfully hide the offending intestine laughing at me under some rice !!! Kev , well, Kev ate his-he hates to offend- Kev is like my Bear Grylls who will give almost anything a go- lol I could see him almost gagging thru most of the meal.

Red ate like a man that has never eaten before and kept adding more and more fish and chicken to our plates-finally he stopped, we ate what we could and to be honest we were glad when it was over. A great experience tho-would not change any of it.

AS soon as the lunch mess was cleared Red and his lovely wife presented each of us with a "souvenir" Red hung a checkered raw silk scarf around Kevs neck and Reds wife hung a beautiful cream and gold spun silk one around mine- that was pretty emotional all round. We will treasure tose scarves forever and always remeber and think of this beautiful Khmer family who welcomed us into their home.

Kev spent some time talking to Red after lunch and me ?? well I couldnt resist those triplets-their daddy told me they had their best clothes on for us- We decided at that moment that before we leave here we will visit again with a new BEST dress for each of those angelic little cherubs, a nice shirt for each of the boys-a jumpsuit for Reds baby boy and a pretty top maybe for each of Reds teenage girls.

Reds boy for the girattends school all year where he also learns english, Red explained to Kev that this is only beacuse a Swedish couple pay for his education- the girls only attend a Khmer school for 6 months of the year because during the low season (now) he doesnt make enough money to pay the fees for the girls. Red said the girls learn a little english when at school but forget quickly when they are away from the learning environment. Sad.................................

It was all over in a cple hours , Red had to go back to work- Those Aussie Sailors have bought a bit of money into Sihanoukville which is good. So it was hugs all round.. Thankyou Red and your beautiful family for a lovely day. xxxxxxxx Oh and I forgot to say Red told Kev that our WHOLE family are very welcome to come and LIVE in his home here in Sihanoukville, and you know what- I recon he would make room :)

The rest of the day we spent recounting over and over every single moment we spent 'Khmer style'

Today was a quiet day- a moto taxi to Otres beach- ohhhhh my kind life-lazing on a beach chair with a grassed umbrella chatting to the lovely otres locals and beach ppl we met on earlier visits. The company was excellent and so was the cold cold beer and the food. Back to our hotel which is FULL of drunken aussie sailors- LOVE IT - 30 mins in the air con- showers and outa there up to the balcony at the lovely SEAHORSE- Kev... Kev... Hows the serenity :)

Bye for now,

Cheers from the Seahorse happy hour- 50c beers and $1 vodka and lemon- and whoa do they do a BIG measure of vodka. Be safe family and friends. Love and miss you all.x

SIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA

jobowman — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the real world- welcome to Cambodia. I remember myself as a child never thinking we had quite enough-someone always had a little bit more. What is more ? What was more back then? A prettier dress? A Malvern star bike? A cassette player to tape the top 20 on a Sunday night onto a cassette so you had a tape of the latest music- that was then- what is more now?? The latest I POD, playstation, Wii or maybe that amazing pair of boardies or cool dress at City Beach surf, hell its only $100 !!!!!!! Come and visit Cambodia one day-what a beautiful race of people-dont pity the Khmer ppl- admire their strength-admire who they are and what they have endured. They are PROUD ppl. Our children are so lucky-last night I watched 2 little boys- the same age as my Grand sons Jimmy n Jay- walking the streets @ 9pm- begging for food-some cans to sell or a bit of money- I watched terrified at these little boys crossing the crazy roads-looking for whatever they could get to help their family-It was so touching watching the elder one take care of the little one-it bought tears to my eyes and made me appreciate even more how lucky we are back at home. Every moment of every day here makes you appreciate what we have even more.

We went in a Moto Taxi today with our friend Red to look at more of Sihanoukville- we went to a place called 'The airport resort' Whoaaaaa what a place that is !!! Red told us it is owned by and built by a Russian man who also OWNS this amazing island with a resort that you can see from land- about 1km on shore- he even BOUGHT the beach in front of the Airport Resort !!! Something WE NEVER expected to see in this country- that and Sokha Beach Resort at a special price of $150 per night off season thank you very much !!! Not for us-These so called "amazingly beautiful and EXPENSIVE" resorts took away the livelyhood of SOOOOOOOOOOOO many Khmer ppl- We were shocked when Red told us that these places not so long ago were just like Ocheuteal Beach-pretty sad we say...... Double edged sword maybe ??? Yep employment for some Khmer ppl- but what off the rest ?????

Oh yes we have fallen in LOVE with Cambodia and its people. :)

We cant wait for tomorrow !!!!!! We are going to Reds house to have a Khmer lunch with him, his wife and four children AND his whole family !!!!!!!! Cant wait to blog that !!!!!!

The Aussie Navy is in Sihanoukville at the moment-great to hear some Aussie Accents !!!! We have fallen in love with Cambodia- and we will find it very difficult to leave when the time comes but in saying that Yes we both miss our families so much and think about you all every day............... XXXXXX

Cheers from Sihanoukville Cambodia.

SIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA-The school :)

jobowman — Mon, 16 May 2011 17:48:00 GMT

Back along the bumpy dirt track on a Moto Taxi to Otres beach to see the school. Lots of kids around -theyre havin a holiday for the Kings Birthday-it been going for a couple days and Today (Monday) as well. We got some great footage - just have to remember how to load it on to the computer for you all to see : / The Temple where the school has been built is a lot further into Otres than we thought. We went thru another village on the way. The children from this village as well as the children from the 'blue village'- the ones I wrote of earlier, will be attending the school.

The temple also houses the Khmer school which these children attend for 2 hours a day- one hour in the morn- one hour in the afternoon-Shauns school- Painted Smiles-is an English teaching school. The kids will attend there in between their Khmer classes. The kids still need to wrk tho-they collect cans for scrap- A kilo of cans earns the kids 4000 riel- $1 AUD. On a really good day they may achieve this.

Shauns plan is to be able to keep the children in school and away from work- he hopes to be able to provide the kids with a meal at school AND send them home with $1 each per day to give to their parents.

We had a look in one of the Khmer classrooms-just like kids all over the world-writing on the wooden desks- love hearts, names, drawings etc...kids are kids EVERYWHERE :)

The English classroom that Shaun has worked so hard to build is beautiful. All painted now-window in and the Door will go on in a cple days. There is no power to the class room-nor to the Khmer classrooms-Shaun is on a mission to take the power to BOTH schools- he is looking at a cost of arounf $600 AUD/USD All the wiring will be done by Shaun as he's a sparky by trade. But until this can be achieved he islooking at a Gen Set at least to be able to run a fan or 2 in the very hot classroom- I was quite surprised tho, the Khmer classrooms were not too hot inside at all. Even more in AWE of what Shaun has achieved. To see the pride on his face is so heart warming- this is a man with a passion-and he is only at the very beginning of doing great things for this Country.

We met Shaun for dinner last night @ a little bar called Brittania-Shaun has become great mates with the English owner. Kev wanted to go for the Liver - eeeeeeeewwww- that Shaun boasted so much about- the liver with bacon and onions scored a 9/10 !!!! And me ? Bloody hell im in an asian country and I had a chicken Kiev !!!!! Our lovely Moto Taxi man- Mr Red-waited for us for over 2 hours !!!

Shaun flys home to the UK for 6 months on the 14th July-he has a lovely young daughter Abigail who he will care for full time when hes' back home. He misses her so much. I asked him what he needed to be able to go home to his little girl with peace in his heart that he has completed what he had set out to do since arriving here in January. He said "just to see the kids in the classroom sitting at their desks learning" . Shaun did so much fund raising to achieve what has been achieved thus far and a lot has come from his own personal funds-theyre pretty dry now. He has been trying to organise a fund raising event here to obtain the funds to buy 10 desks and a teachers desk- the desks are wooden and seat 2 children with bench seats attached to the desks. The desks are $30 each and the teachers desk $50.

In January of this year 2011- some of you will remember we had a "do it for the kids" day @ the melon stall- we didnt ask for donations - all we asked of family-friends and customers was to buy buy buy - we would take half of the days takings to Cambodia and do what we could with the money to help Shaun out a little.

It was a very emotional moment after dinner last night when we told Shaun to go ahead and order the desks- Aussie in the Valley made enough $ that Sunday back in January to purchase the 10 school desks and the teachers desk !!! We will keep the image of the look on Shauns face in our minds and hearts forever.

We COULD NOT have given this gift to the kids of Otres without our family friends and customers who came to us that day and bought our produce-it was a great day- we even had our lovely mate Joe Stevenson helping us serve the customers- beer in hand-it was fantastic-Leanne, joes beautiful wife is the one responsible for sourcing the 15kilograms of books that will also be a fantastic help to the kids.

I hope all who were involved with and or bought from us AUSSIE IN THE VALLEY that day are as proud as we are at the moment !!! Thankyou all so much-you have all been a part of making one mans dreams a reality. Again- We could not have given this gift without you all. THANKYOU <3

Cheers from Sihanoukville Cambodia- Jo n Kev .

SIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA-

jobowman — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:05:00 GMT

We met Shaun last night. What a lovely human being he is. Had a long chat about the school and learnt a lot about the Cambodian people. Were off to finally see the school today-its almost complete-in an earlier blog I mentioned the strip of very poor homeless families along the road to Otres beach- the children of these families are some of the children that will be attending the school :)

The school is almost complete-Shaun has even organised teachers !!!! What you all need to remember is that Shaun has done this himself-with his own funds and hard work. A labour of love. He plans to build schools like this one in every province throughout Sihanoukville. Anyway enough lazing around- sipping iced coffee-and loving life, gotta get ready for the school visit . Sooo Excited. Will update later.

Love to all. xxx

SIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA

jobowman — Sat, 14 May 2011 18:50:00 GMT

Good to be well again and not feeling like shite :) Even had a few beers earlier !!! Singha- Thai beer, its not cheap here but I think the local beer Angkor gives me heartburn. Local is 50 cents during happy hour and there always seems to bea happy hour somewhere all the time- singha is $1.25 at our Hotel-last night it was $1.50 @ our hotel- hmmmmm work that out !!!!
Every restaurant here has a bbq every night- $3 per person Seafood or Pork or beef or chicken -potatoes on coals and salad !!! Combine that with 50 cent beers and 2 ppl can eat a great meal and get half cut for $10 !!!!!!!
Oh and cigarettes are between 50 and 75 cents a packet !!!

Had an amazing Indian lunch today on the beach-K2 it was called- it was recommended by Lonely Planet-It was expensive for here tho $12 for a Vindaloo- aTandoorisome -Naan Bread and Rice- a beer and a bottle of water. Cute dog as well- I named him PUNJAB.lol.

Finally catching up with Shaun tonight. Look forward to going to see the school !!!!

Be safe all-Cheers Jo n Kev

Thailand to Cambodia

jobowman — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:50:00 GMT

We arrived in the port town of Ban Phe @ around 1pm. Ban Phe is just out of Rayong. We had researched Ban Phe on the net and found a gorgeous beach with some acomodation- not so cheap. We found a taxi to take us there- WELL it was a run dowm maybe once lively beach town. The rooms were worse than 3 rate hell holes and soooo expensive- the beaches were littered with rubbish- oh no - not for us so jumped in the first moto taxi we found and off straight back to Ban Phe town. Found a room that passed with a push- well a BIG push for the price but again too worn out to bother looking anymore- we were still sore and tired from carrying those bloody heavy backpacks thru Pattaya for god knows how long the night before. The hotel had a great bar and restaurant tho- so after a walk thru the port and town thinking what the hell are we doing here we settled for a few- ok quite a few cold singhas and some really good food at the hotel bar. To get out of there and to the border @ Hat Lek was the next issue- NO mini buses were going for 2 days !!! The public buses are too erratic outthere so again no choice- if we wanted to get to that border the next day it was a taxi- wrangled one pretty cheap tho.

We had the taxi come at 7am Wednesday 11th- walked up to the 7/11 to get a coffe at 6am to wake up- saw one of the most incredible heart warming sights I think we have ever seen-9 monks walking all in a line from old down to young - it was so touching watching the buddhist monks and watching the beautiful Thai ppl waiting at the front of their shops-homes etc for the monks to pass so they could give their offerings and pray- we were in AWE- Kev quickly raced into the closest mini mart and boght the first thing he found- 2 bags of donuts- the monks accepted them gratefully :) This is one moment that will stay only in our hearts- something we wish you could all have seen- we didnt have our camera so we only hope you can close your eyes and imagine the sheer beauty of what we saw.............................

The drive to the Hat lek border crossing was uneventfull- some beautiful scenery- quite bizarre really - particularly the last 15 or so klms- to your right was a vast oceon- to your left was the furthest extreme- a thick heavy jungle. And so we arrive at the border. Goodbye for now Thailand-pretty sure we left a big part of our hearts behind. Passing out of Thailand was pretty easy-passport stamped with exit stamp and the Thai border official wishing us well- his final words to us were "good luck "

No mans land is only about 100 metres long - it was quite an incredible feeling being NOWHERE- literally standing in the middle of nowhere- it puts a new spin on that old saying now. Whoaaaaa and then we hit Cambodia- or as Lonely Planet says- Scambodia. The minute we stepped in we were flanked but 2 or 3 young men (TOUTS) advising we had to go to quarantine official- this cost 20 baht each for him to confirm we were healthy- how he knew I have no idea coz he didnt even glance at us- the next min these boys had our passports- filled in our enty forms- (luckily we already had our visas)took us to get photographed then passports stamped within a couple minutes-(found us a taxi to the bus station and sold us our bus tickets to Sihanoukville as well in that time.) Getting into the taxi the 2 touts asked Kev for money- the said well we did all that work for you- WTF ????? they wanted 100 baht- they got 20. Dont think we made a good impression on the Cambo ppl :/ Its also left hand drive here so its soooo wierd driving down what we call the wrong side of the road and remembering to look to your left first when crossing a road

The bus station is a clay pit- we hadnt eaten- it was 11-45 when we arrived there- all we cld bring ourselves to buy to eat was a sealed packet of oreos- tried our first Cambo beer- Angkor- hmmmmm not impressive- nothing like Singha- but then again it was warm as well. Bus which was called a VIP coach finally left the bus station at 12.20. was a relief to be out of the heat dirt and mud and into some air con .

The first 2+ hours of the ride to Sihanoukville was pretty scary to say the least !!!! It was a narrow winding road going up over and down the mountains- I sat by the window- saw some pretty awfull left overs from the many many accidents which must occur on this road on a daily basis- was so glad when we got back down to the flats-didnt like the drive at all- dont know if I wld ever do it again-your heart is in your mouth for a lot of it. And to think I wouldnt get on the propellor plane !!!!!!!!!! It wld have been safer !!!!!!!!!

Did see some awesome country side tho- some beautiful homes and many poor villages.

Its a very wet country- im not surprised there are so many mozzies. Loads of clay and sand-very different from Thailand- I said to Kev when we where in the bus that to look at some of the country side we cld have been in Australia, he agreed.

Finally arrived - worn out AGAIN in Sihanoukville bus station-Again think we upset the Cambos when we agreed to $6 for a taxi to OTRES beach then we were told we werent getting the taxi but a moto taxi for the same price-after arguing with the guys they relented and we got the taxi !!!

The drive to otres was short- 7 klms from the bus station- the last 2 or so k is a boggy wet clay road lined with homeless locals in make shift housing- pretty sad sight. Found bungalows for $18 - too expensive but again we were exhausted-had an amazing curry on the beach and went to bed- we were just so tired.

There is nothing in otres as we found in the morning- the beach was awfull- littered with everything you cld imagine- even a syringe- outa there we decided- in a moto taxi to the more civilised Serendipity beach- found a great place to stay with a pool as well- cheaper- and thats where we are now.

5 different beds in as many days is pretty exhausting.

Its very different here- very different from Thailand- its hard not to make comparisons-we dont find the local ppl very friendly-Kev recons the food isnt too bad- me ? well I have been a bit sik since we arrived so havent eaten much- much better today tho thank god !! Havent really even drank- me that is Kevs doin well on the local beer. Again I compare- I have never been unwell in Thailand nor had a concern if I did become unwell- here it scared me a bit.

We went for a walk yesterday along Serendipity beach- its lovely -lined with beach front bars and restaurants-all with thatched roofs-we sat and had a drink and some lunch-lots of kids selling bracelets etc... we refused to buy- apparantly this keeps the kids out of school while theyre earning. When Kevin refused one boy around 12 yrs old and sed "im not buying- you shld be at school" the boy snapped back- no work no live- well strangely enough thats NO DIFFERENT from anywhere in the world.

We watched a woman begging for some time- she carried a little agelic girl about 2 yrs old. The little one was what I wld call unconcious- I remember seeing this in Bangkok with babies of beggars- a policeman there told me they drug their children to make them look asleep from illness. This poor beautiful angel baby had a twisted severely scarred from burns leg- we were shattered at this sight- we watched mum clutching the child sit beside a tree- a young boy- maybe 11 or so-maybe her son? came to her- out of her pckets and a small bag on her hip came so much cash we were floored- they sat counting the money in full view of us- beaming from ear to ear - while this baby girl lay across her mother without the slightest movement- so many american dollars were in those WADS of cash they counted. Maybe close to $100 - AND the day was young- it was only 3pm- The woman hid the money in a pocket and then walked away- clutching the child-ensuring her poooor little leg was in full view to more un suspecting tourists- sad face-begging for money.....................Need I say more....................I felt my heart break and heard kevins break for that baby girl. Not NIce . :,(

Bye for now. xxxxxxx

Thailand to Cambodia

jobowman — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:45:00 GMT

As always Karon Beach Thailand was amazing, so sad to leave on Monday. Thailand time is never for long enough. The last walk saying bye to all of our lovely Thai friends both human and dogt our trek was pretty emotional.

We had booked a flight out to Utupao airport in Pattaya to start out trek to the border @ Hat Lek , all checked in @ Phuket airport, having a cig and drink, looked at the boarding passes and they said "turboprop" Hmmmmmmmmm a propellor ?????

I started to feel sick at the thought- Kev reminded me of when we landed arriving in Phuket of the small propellored junky plane we laughed at at the airport and said jesus christ you'd have to be crazy to get on that thing. Well that was the one !!!!! Ready to board luggage on and I FREAKED, OMG i am not getting on that thing !!!! I couldnt breathe, my heart was pounding. Sadly for the other 19 passengers, the plane was delayed for a little while while the lovely crew retrieved our back packs- lol they asked me if I was ok and if i needed medication ! Maybe coz Kev kept saying "wife sick wife sick" Bankok Air were lovely enough to transfer us onto an AIRBUS to Bangkok 45 minutes later- when we were boarding the lady processing the boarding passes said Oh Mrs Bowman are you okay now - Sooooooo embarrassed. So to Bangkok we go......

Bangkok to Pattaya was next- landed in Bangkok @ 5.15 pm - next bus to Pattaya was not until 8 pm so a Taxi it was -90 minutes 1500 Baht and a jerk taxi driver later we arrived in Pattaya- the driver and his cab were drpping with buddhist charms- it was quite spectacular but he was a JERK- he pretty much threw us out of the Taxi in the middle of some part of pattaya- we kept telling him beach beach but he played dumb we think. We found ou the next day we were on the outskirts of Pattaya city- what a revolting foul place !!!!! The reek of drain is overpowering there. We must have walked for at least 90 minutes thru the streets looking for somewhere to stay- by around 9pm we finally found a room ! 800 Baht a night, it was really lovely- but by then we were so exhausted anything with a shower wld have done. Dinner was Western !!! Cordon Bleu- Cheers to you Hayden !!!! We know its one of your favorites and it was only 99 baht with a huge plate of vegies !!

Couldnt wait to get out of Pattaya so after a restless nights sleep in a filthy city we boarded a mini bus @ 11 am bound for Ban Phe in Rayong Thailand. It wwas about a 90 min to 2 hour trip. Not cheap @ 600 baht each !!!!

Time to go into Sihanoukville City for a look now- Il be back later today.........