Monthly Archives: March 2017

Julie

Knife making

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As most of you know, Robert can be quite persistent when he wants something.  Well, he has been asking to made his own knife for quite a while.  When I saw an advertisement for a backstreet workshop in Medieval Knife making, I thought perfect opportunity. There is no way we would have had the chance to do something like this in Australia.  The OHS would have shut it down immediately. 


The only problem is when we tried to post the knives back to Australia we were told that you are not allowed to post knives out of Cambodia.  So now we have to carry them with us until we reach a country that we can post them from. 

Julie

Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm

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Got out of bed before dawn this morning to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The boys stayed in bed. It was nice to have some alone time with Allister. Just had to pretend that the other 500 tourists were not there. 

Dragged the boys out of bed and climbed all over Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm.  By the end of the day we were all Angkored out. 

Now we are heading to the pool. 

Allister

Day 60 – Angkor Wat and Pre Rup

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Two good rides visiting Angkor area today, one in the morning and the other at sunset.

To start we visited Angkor Wat. Julie is far more eloquent so check out her Angkor Wat post.

Banteay Kdei temple just before sunset.

Pre Rup temple at sunset.

Srah Srang as the sun fades. Pity the phone camera isn’t up to showing the actual light. It was an amazing purple colour.

 

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/905601363/

https://www.strava.com/activities/905983255/

Allister

Day 59 – Siem Reap

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Checking out Siem Reap today. First stop was to the Angkor Wat Ticket Office. Tickets used to be sold as you entered the Angkor area, but now you have to get to the ticket office 3kms in the middle of no where. Tickets are free if you are under twelve or full price for twelve and over. Thought we may able to save $USD62 by making Robert a year younger, but they require a passport for proof of age, so no getting away with it.

We then proceeded to the Angkor National Museum to get history of Angkor Wat and the Khmer people. It was very professionally put together museum and there were many exhibitions that went into detail about all things Khmer and the Angkor area. It is amazing to think that Angkor area at its peak was the largest urban agglomeration of people until the industrial revolution and that all of its buildings use far more stone than all of the Egyptian structures combined.

Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/904450978/

Allister

Day 58 – Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

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Not much riding with most of the time spent on the bus between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.  The ride to the bus was interesting with much weaving and dodging of traffic. Once we got to the bus company they issued us tickets and asked us to wait. Ten minutes later they came over and asked for our tickets back saying they can’t fit out bikes on the bus. In reality they only had two other people booked so they didn’t want to use a big bus. They then told us to follow a tuk-tuk driver to another bus company. The boys jumped into the tuk-tuk with the other two passengers and we followed as quickly as we could behind.

When we got to the next bus company they didn’t want to take the bikes either, so we then proceeded to another company around the corner. After much discussion and showing them pictures of the bikes in storage under a bus they said okay and we would have to wait two hours. There was no where close by for us to hang out so we sat down there. Lucky we did because ten minutes later a bus turns up and there is a repeat discussion about the bikes fitting under the bus. We convince them and they indicate to get on the bus, so after being issued three different sets of tickets we finally make out way to Siem Reap.

On the previous rest day we stopped by Cambodia Post to pick up a package and while Robert waited he made friends with a couple of local boys.


Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/904449234/

https://www.strava.com/activities/904449492/

Julie

Ankor Wat

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Spent the morning cycling and exploring Ankor Wat. It goes without saying that it is an amazing place but we had a different experience because the boys explored and Allister and I followed.


The boys found some stones laid out on a flat grassy area. Instead of walking past like everyone else did. The boys decided to play ancient stone chasey. 


Heading back there tonight to see the sunset. 

Julie

Gastro and Genocide 

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If you read my last post, I mentioned that we were in a remote village and food was limited. Well, I should have gone hungry.  Food poisoning is awful.  I still cannot even think about the food I ate without feeling sick and breaking out in a sweat.

I am so grateful to Allister for getting me to a hotel bed. In which, Patrick and I stayed for two days. When we did venture out it was still not pleasant. 

I am going to be completely honest, Phnom Penh is not a city I would recommend to anyone. It is ugly, dirty, extremely busy and has open sewage drains running through the centre of it. If you are interested in Cambodian history then there are some heart wrenching museums and a bit of old architecture but a lot was destroyed by Pol Pot. We made it to the genocide museum and I glad we did.  Everyone she see what can happen when the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and a mad man gains control of the country. It only took Pol Pot 4 years to murder 2 million of his own people.  By the end anyone who owned a clock, wore glasses or had the wrong hair style was imprisoned and ultimately murdered.  

We are now on a bus, (bike safely stashed below) on our way to Siem Reap. I am looking forwardto cycling through the ancient ruins. I have told the boys it is like an Indiana Jones movie.  Hopefully it lives up to their expectations.  

Allister

Day 57 – Ang Ta Saom to Thmea

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Not the ride we planned today. We started off slow, but all feeling okay after the big ride yesterday. It was close to 9am by the time we really got going and it was already really hot. We rode through rice paddy fields for about 15kms and Julie and Robert were not feeling great.

We had a break near a pagoda to recover, but Julie was still feeling weak.

I thought that because we hadn’t had a good meal in 24 hours that Julie may be needing some extra nutrition, so we stopped at a Khmer village store and purchased a couple of mangos.

Julie kept deteriorating and after another 5kms could not continue and had to lie down under a tree. We still had another 50kms to Phnom Penh and Julie was too sick to continue, so after a little research online found a phone number of a taxi driver from Takeo (the closest town – 15kms south). Even though the taxi driver spoke a little English it was hard to explain exactly what we needed, but enough to order the taxi and we had an hour wait.

While we waited the restaurant owner where we stopped was very hospitable and served us drinks and food. Including mangos and bananas that he grew himself. Robert entertained himself and the owners children playing BeyBlades.

When the taxi arrived it was a standard sedan. In Australia this would have been a concern, but in Cambodia not a problem. Ten minutes later with the help of the driver we had the bikes secured on top of the boot.

The trip into Phnom Penh was interesting and probably a good thing we were in a car. Traffic lights are pretty rare in Phnom Penh and the ones that are operational don’t seem to be followed. For the whole trip through the city we didn’t fully stop once.

We safely arrived at the hotel and the bikes no worse off from the trip. Once in our room Julie collapsed into bed and I organised dinner with Camila and Matias, Chilean touring friends who arrived a day earlier. Patrick wasn’t feeling well either, but was excited to catch up with Camila and Matias, so we left Julie in the room and walked four blocks to a restaurant. On arriving at the restaurant Patrick vomited at the entrance, so I carried him back to the hotel and got Robert to order for me. In the end Robert and I had a good meal with Camila and Matias, while Patrick and Julie recuperated in bed.
Check out my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/899428753/