cambodia

crossing from thailand into cambodia is like crossing from south africa into zim; or from chile into bolivia; or from england into errr... wales. paved roads become pot-holed dirt tracks. bricked houses become stilted wooded dwellings sheltering used tractor tyres and plastic buckets and pieces of blue and red pipe and broken bicyles and wooden planks and all sorts of other shit. older folks squat on the side of the side of the road chewing grass, absent looks on their faces, just observing, probably because they don't really have anything better to do. children run around, all smiles, swishing sticks and throwing stones and waving at the passing busses. packs of maingy dogs saunter from shack to shack looking for scraps to feed on. gotta love the rural 3rd world.

oh my god
i can't believe it
i've never been
this far away from home

then you hit siem riep - suddenly roads are paved and loads of 5 star hotels spring up all around you. clean and slick and modern and impressive. very tempting. until you see the price per night. $150/night and rising steadily. goddamn. those korean package tourists sure are doing well. i guess i'll have to stick with my $4/night accomodation. basic. but i get my own fan.

the first day and a half i did a the angkor temple tour. they say you need at least 3 days to do the temples. but i was all templed out after the first day. don't get me wrong - they sure are impressive... in fact i would say that angkor wat is probably the pick of the temple ruins that i have seen in the whole world ever (although macchu picchu is still my favourite simply due to it's location in god's cradle). but once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. kinda like a boob. well that is my opinion anyway.

but there is one other impressive thing in siem riep: if you have ever driven the garden route in south africa you will have come across a sign with the words "the big tree". if you get out there and take a 500m walk into the forest, you will find a big-ass tree. it has a massive trunk. and it is like 1km tall. well... in cambodia there are hundreds of the fuckers. everywhere you look. gigantic branched organisms with leaves and roots and seeds. and they are super tall. and they have often grown onto and into the temples and absorbed some of the stonework like huge gnarled hands. pretty friggin amazing.

anyway - must go.

oh yeah - happy 30th bday hobbo for the 7th. hope you had a great day bro. lekker bly.