Kambodscha

Wow, what a ridiculous length of time without an update. And yet, this is the first time I've sat down at a computer for well over a week. Stealing people's wifi is ruthlessly efficient but not as such conducive to posting informative blog entries.

I think that last time I posted I had just been to S-21 - to be honest, the trauma of that remains with Charlotte and I and still visits us in our nightmares occasionally, but moving on. That night we ended up having a totally ridiculous night out in Siem Reap meeting fellow very fun travellers, having our feet eaten by fishes (for exfoliation purposes apparently?! My feet were certainly exfoliated afterwards to be fair), drinking buckets of various cocktails at the best named bar in Siem Reap, "Angkor What?!" (we spent most of our time there shouting the name at each other loudly and drunkenly, and playing air guitar with our new friends) - they lured us in with the promise of free t-shirts, and to be fair mine has been very useful indeed as I stupidly threw out my other t-shirt in Dharamsala when I felt like I'd never feel warm again, forgetting that Asia is, generally, quite warm. We headed on, ill-advisedly, to another bar and then wandered round a bit, and a bit more, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure how this happened but we absolutely ended up on our 6am bus the next morning still drunk and without having slept. That was a tricky journey to say the least but it served us right for choosing such a ridiculous night to go out drinking - not that we regret it, to be fair. And thus began our journey up north into the Cambodian jungle.

We stayed a night in a pretty town called Kampong Cham, where the Mekong is at its widest. The next day we caught another bus to Stung Treng, which is a bit of a nothing town to be honest - nothing to see and nothing to do besides some reclusive dolphins - and after a lot of travelling for many hours on hot, sweaty buses we were not feeling our best and were a bit cross and out of sorts. The next day we headed even further north, up to Ratankiri, which was the end point of our journey, into a town called Ban Lung. We met two really nice British girls on the bus and headed off to the same hostel as them, called Lakeview, which was, somewhat unsurprisingly, by a lake.

And that's kind of where we stayed for a week, for Khmer New Year. After so much travelling we were pleased to put down roots in somewhere so pretty with nice people for a well-earned break. Ban Lung is really remote and beautiful and calm, there aren't even any taxis. We trekked through the jungle with the two British girls, Maddy and Caitlin, and three others so we had a really big fun trekking party. It was both incredible and incredibly hot, and since my only clean clothes were my free "Angkor What?!" bar t-shirt and my red miniskirt I ended up trekking for two days through increasingly wild landscape looking a bit like I was going clubbing, but at least I had my trainers so it was fine. And my tan is constantly improving.

We got back from trekking and had a couple of days free to hang out in Ban Lung and recuperate. Instead of using the first day for recuperation purposes, I of course used it to have another travelling accident (add it to the list after the rabies - which I am now officially immune from by the way, I have the doctor's report and everything. Good times) by violently slamming my toe in the door and breaking it. Not that I have been to the hospital but the incredibly ridiculous swelling and sticky-up bone (mmm nice) is kind of a clue. That was a pretty hideous couple of days in the end because all I could do was rest and be increasingly bored and jealous at the thought of fun people doing fun things while I hobbled about like a retard. We did move hostel to the most amazing treehouse eco lodge place with the best view ever (and let me tell you, I had a LOT of time to appreciate it... argh stupid toe) and puppies running around constantly which really cheered me up except, since there are no taxis, I had to hobble half an hour with my big bag. But it was ok and I am making the best of it and staying positive. Yes, my toe is stopping me from doing stuff now, but it's not a serious break, the swelling has already gone down soo much, so if I am sensible now and keep it bandaged (thank you Charlotte's First Aid Course) and don't try and do too much, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to go trekking again maybe at the end of Vietnam or something in about three weeks. (That is what I am telling myself to stay positive positive positive). And in the meantime I am needing less and less strong painkillers and hobbling a little bit less like a retard every day. Good times.

Yesterday we caught a ridiculously long, hot bus back to Phnom Phen to put in our Vietnam visas. We are back at the Royal Guesthouse and it feels like coming home, all the restaurant staff recognised us which shows how long we spent in that restaurant...! And they gave us a first-floor room so I don't have to hobble too far (I have perfected "the stair hop"). The Cambodians on the bus absolutely loveddd my bandaged-up foot, they thought it was hilarious (my sympathy with their hilarity decreased in direct proportion to the slow, casual breaking of the air conditioner mid-journey and the increase in the volume of the Cambodian music videos constantly blaring on the TV, all of which seemed to involve either Facebook betrayal or girls betraying guys and then the guys setting alight to themselves - I can't describe how odd it all was), and when I dozed off for a little nap I woke up to find a German girl taking a photo of my foot, which did perplex me slightly - do they not have bandages in Germany?! Anyway, our visas are now processing and we have booked a bus to Vietnam tomorrow morning! Very exciting. So this time tomorrow we will be well on our way to 'Nam to start the next leg of our journey.

So I would imagine that, bar anything incredible happening tonight (somewhat unlikely - our plan at the moment is to find a pad thai down by the river and I need to buy a new watch as mine is now sadly deceased after a talcum powder fight at Lakeside Guest House, but neither of these things really merit their own blog entry), this will be my last Cambodian entry. So all that's left to say is that Cambodia was AWESOME. It has been far less up-and-down than India, it has just been all up. What an amazing country, I am tempted to slip into GAP YAH-style "Oh, Cambodiahhh dahhling, wonderful country, beautiful people") but it really is, I don't know how else to describe it. It's vibrant and busy and colourful and so non-threatening, everyone is so friendly, both traveller and non-traveller. The scenery is beautiful, the Mekong hangs over everything like the prettiest shadow in the world. I will be sad to leave of course, but I am incredibly excited for Vietnam which absolutely softens the blow.

One quick note - there is no Facebook in Vietnam(!!) - it's illegal. So chances are I won't be able to get any Facebook access, or if I do it will be exceptionally slow and limited (and illegal). So if you normally contact/message me on facebook, and want me to reply (I will still receive comments and messages because the notifications come to my email, but I can't reply) - EMAIL ME. My email is amykinross@gmail.com if you don't have it already. I will post the same thing as my facebook status just as a reminder. But yes, I will be on my email relatively frequently (as frequently as I ever am - which is definitely quite frequent) so contact me that way, and I will still be updating my blog of course.

Miss you all so much. Loads of love, will update more frequently from 'Nam!

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