A long waited tuk-tuk party

Dear reader,
After caving out for a while, I felt it was time to carry on to the south of Laos, an area called the 4000 islands. This involved getting a tuk-tuk with 15 foreigners 40 km to the next biggest town with a bus station, which would Thaket. That ride was uncomfortable enough, and it brought us through winding turns, sunning vistas and lots of driving. Finally we arrive to a bus station where we realize the bus we needed was already gone. I wandered about and communed with the animals; cats, dogs, and a friendly calf who wouldn't leave me alone after scratching its head. It was a small junktion rather then a full on town, so it was fairly scrappy and dingy. I usually take Ani-shit pills and motion sickness pills on long tuktuk or bus journeys, and was quite thankful for it on this 24 hr. crazy trip. Made friends with a Lao lady cutting vegetables. She stuffed some bizarre candies into my hand before I left, so I bought a Beerlao from her and hung out a bit more waiting for the bus. She then explained the awesomeness of Lao girls and tried to get me to marry a "Lao Madame" as she put it, (perhaps her daughter?). So, considering the opportunity, I traded her a calf and married her daughter. Now I have a Swedish wife and a Laos wife since being on this trip. My goal of having a wife from every country is two steps closer to completion!
Finally, our tuktuk ride came to an end and we arrived at what can only be described as a real bus station. I remember some things about finding a rooftop bar and the bar owner getting a preying mantis on her and me rescuing her from it and placing it in a non-human ecosystem. Preying mantises are cool!
Our night bus to Pakse arrived and for once in my life I was bus lucky; two seats to myself, no shits or dying need to pee, no screaming baby or motion sickness, just two dizapan and an uneventful ride. I always am disappointed when we finally arrive because I crave one hour more of sleep in whatever position I was in when I woke up. Nonetheless, the fact is that we did arrive, 6AM to a town just waking up and me about ready to pass out again. The only way onward was the 7AM bus to Don Det, (one of the islands in the 4000 islands area) and we packed in 32 (thirty two) people for a four hour ride. It was hotter then hell (why did I choose to wear long pants and a button up shirt that day?). That was probably the more uncomfortable in the scheme of tuktuk rides. Finally, finally, we made it to the departure point to Don Det; it was crammed with tourists waiting to go to Cambodia, as the boarder is so close. A short ride in a fast boat and we were greeted by a sandy beach, swimming and a family of water buffaloes communing with the human population, quietly chewing their cud in the nearby shade.
I treated myself to a midrange guesthouse and threw off my long sleeved traveling clothes, jumped into swim suit and spent the rest of the day in the water watching the sunset.
It started to get dark so I decided to take a nap before getting food, (this was around 8PM) and woke up at 2AM realizing it would be a dinner less night. However, that did enable me to wake up at 5:50AM and see the morning activities of the villagers and see the sunrise over the Mekong. Pig feeding was the best, it seems everyone has a "pet" pig (food pig eventually) and watching someone bring I food, all excited and tied to it's post and oinking away, was probably the highlight of the day. The sun eventually started to bring with it an idea of the temperature for the day, and it's forecast of another 30°C+ day was accurate. I decided to be a good tourist and rent a bicycle to adventure around Don Det and a nearby island. This whole area used to be an impassable obstacle for the capitalist pig-dog French colonial invaders due to the high concentration of waterfalls and rapids. There is evidence of their previous railway and boat launching operations in the forms of ruins and abandoned steam locomotives and weird concrete strictures. After cycling through abandoned beaches, jungle paths and scorching hot abandoned roads, I came to a place where Cambodia could be seen in the distance, as well as a prime site for freshwater dolphin spotting. I saw the, albeit about a mile away. They were very... dolphins at a far distance. With the day coming to a close, I made arrangements to get to Cambodia and had a last meal of steamed fish and sticky rice. It was divine.

Getting to Siam Reap (home of Angkor Wat) was a day long affair; boat to the bus station, confusing as hell forms to fill out, passports taken away, bus to the boarder, wait for an hour, passports returned with fancy visas and stamps and then a grueling time getting to Siam Reap which included uncomfortable buses and freezing cold, mercilessly air conditioned buses. Upon first entering Cambodia, it seemed desolate, arid, with fires burning on the sides of the road and an almost desert like quality. That all changed once we got closer to our destination; jungles soon started to appear as well as signs of river culture. FINALLY, after the aircon ride from Myan Hell, we arrived (my Germans and I) and wandered about aimlessly for a while until settling on a Lonely Planet option that came highly recommended. Like all good things, they were full, so they referred us to the hotel/guesthouse next door which proved quite adequate.

What struck me about Siam Reap was how modern and clean it was, no doubt from the money coming in from tourists seeing the temples. Lit streets, cafes, wifi everywhere, good roads... etc. Seemed more like a warm American/European city then anything else.

Onto Angkor it was then, the next day. The main temple complex was about 14k away from town, so on bikes, we cycled to the ticket booth, picked up a 3-day pass (they put your picture on your ticket as well so you can't stub in) and headed to a place that's as famous as the Pyramids of Giza and Michelangelos David.

To be honest, I wasn't as overwhelmed by Angkor Wat (the main temple, but there are loads of other famous ones in the same area) as I thought I would be, but what was overwhelming was the sheer size, scale and complexity of the temples; just how did these massive stones get in the positions they still stand today? Surely there was extraterrestrial help involved here. I took about 1,134,592 pictures at Angkor, figuring I wouldn't be there again anytime soon. Saw the main temple, saw a temple complex with 2,000 face pillars facing in the four cardinal directions, and also saw the BIGGEST FUCKING SPIDER I'VE EVER SEEN EVER in one of the coolest temples ever; one where trees and nature had begun to destroy and reclaim what was once a Hindu holy site. Tree roots flowing over toppled stones and trees springing up through walls.

Let's see, since I've left it so long the memory is fading a bit, so I do remember having dinner at a place where the menu was was literally as thick as a huge dictionary.

Second day of Angkoring was more templing and seeing sunset on top of a large temple, and apparently Tomb Raider was filmed there. Again, 1,491,927 photos of sunseting. BUT what was really amazing was the next day, or I should say morning, when me and my Germans hauled our asses up at 4:30AM and got into perfect position for sunrise over Angkor. I positioned my little Canon S90 camera on a higher-then-normal stone and once it could pick up light, started an hour long shot that captured the sunrise from just dimly lit clouds in the sky to sun cresting over the temples. Then it ran out of battery. When I get home I'll set perfect sunrise music to it and speed it up to an appropriate length and it will be SO TASTEFUL you won't even believe your eyes and ears.

Onto Sihanoukville, seaside resort town, beach central, nice-nice and time to relax place. I took a sleeper bus there, which was great fun and arrived at about 6AM and arrived at my bungalow-styled guesthouse on Otres beach, much further out then the main touristic thoroughfare. Then, as the world became awake, I flopped into a hammock listening to the breeze and waves lap on shore nearby.

Everyone says "I'll just stay a few days" and ends up staying for weeks, working and staying at the bar/guesthouses in exchange for food and booze. I compared it to the Isle of the Sirenes, when Odysseus and his compatriots stayed there for 5 days when in fact, it had been 5 years. This is very much like Otres beach. Beautiful sand, beautiful water, lovely sun, cheap beer, a consistent southeasterly breeze... which brings me to my next highlight (other then doing your usual stoning/drinking beach routine) which was renting a Hobie Wave (14' catamaran) and sailing it around one of the small islands about 1 nautical mile out from the beach. Contrary to popular belief, the Hobie seemed to do quite well sailing at all points of sail. It didn't do SO good when close hauled or close reached, but on a beam and broad reach it was a blast. The main problem with gaining speed is that the bow of the boat would plow into the next wave, thus decreasing it's momentum. I prefer my Hobie 18' back home, which punches through those suckers without slowing down.... YEA!@

Pool, poker (with a Finnish, James Bond villain-esque card shark), lounging, beer, etc. it was a difficult life. I went to eat Indian food (all you can eat for $4) each night and each night a little boy around the age of 5 or 6 would sit next to me and play Angry Birds on my iPod. I'm constantly impressed at the English skills of even the youngest of people in Cambodia. Unfortunately so much development is occurring in Siahnoukville that it's only a matter of time that those pristine beaches become polluted with refuse, oil slicks of sunscreen, and actual oil slicks due to the offshore oil exploration of reserves off Cambodia's coastline. Such is the way of the world.

One of the funniest things is when you're sitting on the beach and the beach seller-girls come by with fruit, bracelets, or various bodily services (no, you pervert; threading, massage, pedicure, manicure, etc). They say, in this really high pitched, funny as hell voice, "youu wan massaggggee? Massaggee goood foor youuu", "Madame, you have boyfrieeend? noo? Because you so hairryyy, no good for boyfrienndd I help youu" and in reply to these sales girls, they'd often say": "No moneyy no honeyy". Once, when I had not trimmed my nails in a couple weeks, a seller girl came by and said "ohhh long nail, no good, no girl want you, cheap-cheap for youu, only $2" So, with that embarrassment in mind, I gave myself a manicure and pedicure (because girls like guys with short nails) and the next day, the same girl said the SAME THING to me, and I said "look, I did it myself! No nail!" Upon realizing I called her out on her rouse, she scowled at me and moved on. Usually when you say in a sad, apologetic tone "Sorry, I have no moneyyy!" they move on pretty quickly.

Finally, after many "just one more day...", I got my act together and took a bus to Phenom Pehn, the capital of Cambodia. It was an uneventful, unless you count the amusing interactions with some young Cambodian highschool dudes who took an interest in my iPod (they LOVED the inertial scrolling) and listened to my music collection, at which they did not listen to for long (I think some Philip Glass or Penderecki might have come on).

Up next... Phenom Pehn.

Best,

-Eric