My Humps

PT.
About 8am on Monday. Already been up for a while. The girls wandered into our room (P + C) at about 6 - thinking it was 7 (time differences got lost in translation somewhere). They had already been up 3 hours, so it is going to be a long day.

Must be about 30+ deg already. That hour from about 6am feels quite nice, but then the heat draws down pretty quickly and it is thick with water. No sign of mozzies so far, so that it a relief. We are still lathering ourselves with repellent just in case...

We are staying at the "Golden Mango Hotel". They people are so friendly and cannot do enough for you. Western hotels could learn a lot! You arrive to refreshments and a cold perfumed face towel. Your bags are carried to your room. In Christchurch, this place would be 4 star (maybe even 5), although the cost here is just $20 per night. Prices are so low you wonder how the economy even exists.. but a quick glance around confirms that it really doesn't. A meal in the restaurant $2.50. A beer $1. Breakfast, transport, pool towels etc - all free. If you want to guess what something is going to cost - just work out what it would cost at home and remove a zero...

The streets swarm with motorbikes. I have no idea where all these people are going, but they are taking their whole family, so it must be important! Countless motorbikes are stacked with 3 and 4 people. Kids, babies, everyone - all with no helmets. If your entire family cannot fit on a motorbike, then you get a ute - you can get up to 20 on the back...There is a loose rule about driving on the right, but that is clearly just a general guideline. There are no other rules.

Here's a few fun photo's from our travels so far:

(Singapore) In the front and in the back...

(Singapore)  I always wondered what that stood for

(Singapore)  Not sure what you buy from here

(Cambodia) Sorry, no grenades in your hotel room!

(Cambodia)  Linley completed her analysis of the Cambodian
power grid and it passed with flying colours 

LT:
Wow!  Wow wow!  Arriving in Cambodia was sensory overload, we knew it was going to be different but we just didn't know how.  Flying in over the countryside you could see flooded fields and brick red roads, well tracks I suppose.  The airport in Siem Reap reminded me of Whangarei Airport somehow, though the terminal itself was quite large.  By the time we had filled out the documentation for 5 visas on arrival we were well last in the queue, and baggage collection was very straightforward because we owned everything that remained on the carousel.  (We were pleased to see it all arrive safely after an almost-hiccup at Singapore airport when, having packed the jeans and jerseys we wore over into our suitcases we found ourselves 1.6kg over-weight with our baggage!)

We had tuk tuks waiting to take us to our accommodation and the children's eyes popped out of their heads when they saw them.  The airport is about 7km out of Siem Reap so we drove through a bit of the countryside, kids and dogs everywhere, just playing by the side of the road.  Quite a few people had set up stalls selling water and various other items, presumably just outside their homes.  The traffic has to be seen to be believed.  There are bicycles, motorbikes, tuk tuks, cars and buses, all competing for the same space.   Roughly speaking you drive on the right, but if you are going faster than someone and want to get past, or maybe there's just more space on the left then you pretty much go for it.  The slower vehicles seem to be on the outside, and the faster ones end up towards the middle, sometimes straddling the centre line (or even completely over).  Lots of friendly tooting communication as well!  And if you happen to want to cross the road on foot, good luck... just take a deep breath and go.

After we had settled in we went for a quick walk down the street to have a look around. It had been market day, but most of the stalls were closing.  I bought a frangipani bracelet (in fact I ended up with four as our sign language didn't quite work out) and there were lots of stalls selling fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers.  And plenty of food carts selling a range of things, some of which looked so strange I wanted to stop and take photos, but I decided against it.  People smiled at us (no doubt we looked as foreign as we felt) but the only people who approached us were the tuk tuk drivers, thinking we looked like we needed a ride somewhere.

This morning we are being picked up by someone from Globalteer for our orientation to the volunteering programme.  We're not really sure what that will involve, or how long it will take, but we are all looking forward to getting to the school.