Left Vietnam early in the morning, struggling to stay awake. A 12 hour journey awaits me with but 1 stop for 20 minutes. Sleep for the first 2 hours and find myself in conversation shortly after with George, a retired American who travels since the death of his wife, 10 years ago. George is anything but boring and I hear many exciting stories about his life and travels. He reminds me of the character Clint Eastwood played in Grand Torino. Serving in the military, he was adopted into the Mong Community near his house and has since joining them tried to help them in their day to day lives. He has documented the arrivals of many Cambodians into the US and how they deal with the culture shock. He was approached by National Geographic for the story but is only able to publish the material once he is dead as he fears he may get sued as he doesn’t have the model releases. Can’t really imagine how great the culture shock must be as the difference in way of life here is so huge. We discuss many things (not hard when you have 12 hours to kill) I find I disagree with him about somethings, particularly the Vietnamese war. I find it interesting to hear his side of the story, especially after hearing the Vietnamese side. He tells me it was not a war as the US were just there to keep the peace. I don’t really know how to argue back and decide to keep my opinion to myself in order to avoid a fight on the bus. Had enough of them last night…
A guy sitting in the row next to me seems to have taken a liking to me and smiles at me. This is not uncommen as white people are often the subject of many curiosities. He doesn’t appear to speak English, but offers me a hardboiled egg. Its blue/green and slightly smaller than a chicken egg. He hands me some powder which he gestures to sprinkle on the egg. It looks like sand and grit. Accoding to my guide book people often feed travellers food that is drugged and then steal their posessions while they are asleep. Maybe the powder is drugs? I eat a bit of the egg and feel fine, so I finish it off. Its fun being paranoid and then doing it anyway…
Discovered what the reason of my illness a few nights ago was. The malarone was causing chronic heartburn and I still find it uncomfortable to swallow. The problem was diagnosed by a crack team of experts back in the UK who wouldn’t rest until they found the answer. Following their excellent advice, now everytime I take a pill I make sure I eat a big meal at the same time. This is easier said than done when your trapped on a 12 hour bus journey! At the lunch break I order a dish with rice and pork ribs. However, there is so little meat on the bone I don’t eat that much. Still, gives me opportunity to take the pill.
The bus approaches a ferry crossing and a small boy climbs up on the side of the ferry starts smacking on the windows of the bus trying to get inside. This is a new form of begging I’ve never seen before. He is soon joined by many other kids. They are miming food and I realise they are trying to sell little parcels of food. Everybody ignores them yet they remain knocking on the windows for another 15 minutes.
George and I arrive at the hotel by a new kind of Tuk Tuk. This type is different from the ones in Bangkok and resembles a trailer with a roof being dragged by a motorbike. Exciting but very bumpy. Hold onto my bags as I feel they might fall out.
I’m staying at the Apsara Steung thymey lodge (not an easy name to remember when your trying to ask for your hotel when your lost) and get a room with 2 beds in it for 8 dollars. Its one dollar more than the room the guide book reccomends, however, when I cheked that place out the room barely had a light and smelled incredibly musty so have decided to have a luxury night tonight here instead. I appreciate the privateness of a single room from a dorm room except miss the air conditioning….Reminds me of living in student halls (the room temperature hit 40C from solar gain) except is not actually as bad! Eat dinner at a place called Khmer Kitchen. Get lost again on the way back. There are no street lights here (or at least very few) and have difficulty reading my map (hotel card). Getting lost is way too familiar for my liking..
Tomorow I visit the temples of Ankor Wat. Think Tomb Raider was filmed here. Apparently according to George who has seen the pyramids, this is better. Yet most people have never even heard of it. Think this adds to the mystery.
Have less than a week now before I head home. Mixed feelings about heading home. Sure I miss my family and friends but will definitely miss the freedom I have out here. Have completely forgotten what its like to have a mobile phone but greatly miss the internet speed of London. Reality is I have to go back, made much easier safe in the knowledge I don’t have to retake the year. However, the university sometimes publishes the wrong results. I have a friend who recieved an email informing him he’d failed an important exam and as such would need to retake. He was a very hardworker and was devestated by the news. A few minutes later he recieved another mail saying he’d passed. Turns out he shared a surname with another Korean in the department and their names confused the secretary. He’d recieved her message in error…I really don’t want to find a message in my Inbox saying they made an error about me passing!
Should be getting my final results soon. Wish me luck!
