17.2.08
It’s time to leave Phnom Penh behind and embrace the rural
provinces to the North – destination Kampong Thom. Somin and Sophavid picked me
up in the Fred Hollows four-wheel-drive and we firstly went to breakfast on the
outskirts of the city. The roads are still busy out this way but the majority
of vehicles are either motorcycles or heavy trucks packed with as many humans
that can fit. The only problem is that the roads are smaller so overtaking can
be a hairy experience!
We piled back into the car to continue the journey and
made various stops en route to Kampong Thom. The first was to pick up ‘lettuce
flower’ to eat. This was a quick stop with exchanges made from the driver’s
window (since the cars are right-hand-drive but they drive on the
right-hand-side of the road –a tad confusing!) The next stop was for longer as
we browsed a local market. I was then reminded of my promise to try spider and
before I knew it, I was whisked back up into the car armed with a bag of
deep-fried things – spiders, cicadas and other unidentified bugs.
Fresh and
full from a feast of insects and arachnids (which tasted like soy sauce) we
drove for another 20 km or so to reach a remote temple called Phnom Santuk.
This active wat was nestled on top of a mountain with over 800 steps leading up
to it. At the base of the mountain there was a rest area with bamboo huts and
hammocks. We rested while Sophavid helped a local family cook us a lunch of
chicken and fish. Suddenly all attention was diverted to a young man riding
into the reserve on his bicycle. We invited him to have lunch with us and we
later found out his name was Hans and he was from Holland. He had already
ridden 4500 kilometres throughout South East Asia and would continue for
another week or so en route back to Thailand. This guy was hungry. We didn’t
have to worry about having left-overs with Hans on ‘Mission Feed Me’! All that
riding made him a ravenous beast!
After lunch we embarked on our journey to climb up
to the wat. The humidity made sure we felt every one of the 800-an- something
steps! However, the climb was worth it for the view and the cheeky monkeys who
followed us around at the top. In the main temple a fortune teller was
predicting our futures and gave us holy water to pour over our heads. My
fortune was along the lines of if I have lost something, pray to Buddha and I
will find it again. I had a sudden freak out about where I had put my passport...
We returned to Kampong Thom for some dinner and then to the hotel for much
needed rest and the reassurance that my passport was still where I left it.
