Kims update

Well week 1 and a bit down already. My, how times flies when you are on holidays and having fun. We are just doing a 12 hour bus trip from Seam Reap to the north east of Cambodia so a little time to kill on the bus.

The weather has been just beautiful, 35+ everyday. Had a bit of rain, but that is in the late afternoon and only for an hour or so, no big deal. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, greeted by the hustle and bustle of a big city.

Crossing the road is a major task until you get used to it, which takes a couple of days. We're like the locals now though, putting our hands to your side, like a stop sign just to let then know you are in control. Hierarchy is bus and cars have right of way, then rest is open slather, the motor bikes are very good a dodging pedestrians, worst thing you can do is walk really fast or stop in the middle of the road as the motorbikes try to anticipate where you are or will be as the approach you. It's so much fun.

As you know we did the "American war" museum. Far out it was amazing, horrific, and very sad ...... It was good to hear and see the Vietnamese side though. But, it was a very solemn affair. Everyone was very quiet, probably in shock when you see the atrocities that took place. The Vietnamese certainly gave the yanks and I guess the Aussies a run for their money that's for sure. The napalm and agent-orange stuff was just horrific, the damage done to the people and the countryside. Enough of that, lets hope we have learnt....wishful thinking I suppose.

We did the Mekong River, oooh it's had a real working over. Not sure I would be swimming in it, haven't really been able to come at eating fish either. Although there are fish so I guess that says something-there is life in the river, crocodiles as well.

We booked a tour to do the Mekong and met some great people, that’s the beauty of tours gives you the opportunity to meet others. We have since met up with Jose and Sylvia from Spain, and Sammy and Yvonne from Switzerland a couple of times.

Cambodia, wow!!! What a beautiful place and beautiful people. It's hard to explain, but there's a real innocence about Cambodians. Interestingly, a lot of people speak English and the US dollar is the preferred currency. ATMs dispense US dollars, menu prices also in US dollars. There seems to be a lot of countries giving aid to Cambodia, lots of orphanages, agencies to combat domestic violence, assistance with new buildings and helping to restore temples etc. Great place to come and work if you interested in welfare area....mmmm, maybe next time.

The children here have a hard life as you could imagine, but I tell you what, they are little entrepreneurs. Not only do they have things to sell, like the photocopied Lonely Planet books, bracelets etc. they are also working with two currencies, the riel and US dollars, and are very good at switching between the two.

They have all the sayings. First thing they ask is, "where you from", then when you answer them, I'm sure they think ‘beauty that’s one tick closer to getting a sale’. They then say “g'day mate” in a very Aussie accent; you laugh, second tick. Then the "you buy ….?" As they go onto telling you why you need the book about Cambodia, or that you do need another bracelet even though you have half an arm full, because as they say, "you haven’t brought from me yet".

When you go to barter with them, they then go onto to tell you, that they will make no profit on it as they only brought it for that price, and that's its not good for their business. The kids working on street selling their wares go to school from 8.00 am -10.30 am, then for the rest of the time until 10 pm they walk the streets, selling. It's a hard life.

I ended up spending $15 buying 5 of them tea one night. That was an experience to watch and I'm not sure how much I understood of the whole process but it went something like this. They had their favourite restaurant probably one that they knew they were allowed into. Some restaurateurs won't let them in, as we had previously witnessed.

So, they perched themselves up, reading the menu and ordered. There were two families, aged from about  3-11 years. Not all the siblings were there at this stage, some had missed out. Those that ate were so grateful, saying “thank you, thank you” and asking me if I was going to eat with them. I had already eaten so said no, as I just wanted to wait around to make sure the food was delivered.

They pulled up a chair for me and a couple proceeded to give me a massage while the others played Angry Birds on my iPod, they were very good at it too. I remembered later that I had seen a couple of them picking nits out of each other’s hair earlier that day.

When the food came out the older ones divided the rice up amongst them and they sat there eating away. One of the little boy’s brothers came in and straight away the little boy gave his brother one of his kebabs. By now we also had a pregnant women outside wanting food, so Tony gave her money, then one of the older sisters came in and saw what was happening and was very put out that she wasn't included, hence some money for her also.

It's was worth it though, a couple of dollars is nothing to us and so much to them. At the end, the workers at the restaurant brought out take-away food containers, I suspected the full portions where not given in the first place and this was the rest to take home.

Later in Siem Reap, we met up with another young bloke, probably 13 years old and when he found out we were from Australia, he went on to name all of our prime ministers from Julia, calling her a “wranger”, then back in sequence through to Gough Whitlam.  I then, of course, paid him the asking price for the book, $4 as opposed to the $1 I could have got it for, had I bartered.

Another time when we had already brought the all the books and bracelets we needed, this little kid was just running out of his usual lines to use, so he looks at Tony and says "I like your hair" !!!

When it rains here, it sure does rain. It flooded one day to nearly knee depth. But, life goes on, particularly if you have four wheel drive or motorbike. At one stage this four wheel drive was going that fast through the water, the ripple effect or should I say waves knocked these two blokes off their motorbikes.

Angkor Wat was spectacular but bloody hot also. It was so hot that I actually got sunburnt through the long sleeve top I had on. The food is yummo!! If we have to pay more than $5 we feel like our throats have been cut. However, perhaps a bit insensitive to say, considering the country we are in and the whole Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge regime story.

Accommodation is good we are paying between 5 and 15 dollars each per night and in most cases that includes breakfast of toast and jam, eggs on toast or an omelette. The rooms have a/c, wifi and cable tv. It takes a bit off getting used to not flushing the toilet paper, but putting it in the bin next to the toilet instead.

We are know off to the jungle in Ratanakirri in the North East of Cambodia. In my guide book it says not to touch or pick up any unexplored ordnance (uxo).  If you come across anything that looks like a land mine, to etrace your steps only if you can clearly see your footprints, but if you can't, don’t move to get help, Mmmm. On the flip side, there are beautiful volcanic lakes and waterfalls to swim in, wildlife such as elephants, bears, tigers and deer to name a few.

We have been on bus since 5.30 am this morning it's now 3.00pm, we have to get off this bus soon and onto another for the last couple of hours. It's started to rain, lighting and thunder and we are told the bus we are to get onto is full so we will need to sit on our packs in the isle, fingers crossed the bus is there waiting for us. Luckily I have my trusty ponchos i brought from the Reject shop before I left. Tony wasn't keen to get him any I'm sure he might like to borrow one of my spares once he get off the bus :-)