April is the hottest month in Cambodia and Laos with temperatures in the mid forties and humidity at 90 - 95%. While we like hot temperatures normally, this was ridiculous. We braved these conditions to focus on the tragic history of Cambodia in Phnom Penh including the S21 torture prison and the Killing Fields, the amazing Angkor temples in Siem Reap and to explore the rugged terrain and waterways of Laos.
HAPPY NEW YEAR - That's right, we have just celebrated New Year again, as Cambodia and Laos celebrate their New Year during April 14 - 17. We think that this begs the question as to how many New Years you can celebrate in one year. Like New Zealand, binge drinking by the locals hits an all time high, the difference being the whole country also engages in one massive water fight, with locals driving down the main streets in Utes filled with people with water guns and massive buckets of water. Participation is compulsory and yes, we did get drenched.
SCRUMPTIOUS SIEM REAP - $1 - $2 mains, $0.50 handles of beer and a road called Pub Street; need we say more? Oh yeah, there were also these things known as Angkor temples that were built just a few years ago. Yet again, we took the bicyle option to explore some of the temples. The locals were amazed we wanted to cycle and tried to discourage us. They may have had a point given the temperature, heat exhaustion and the sweat pouring off us. Needless to say, we eventually replaced the bikes for a tuk tuk with a chilly bin full of cold water for the further afield temples.
CHARTERED FLIGHT - Our international flight from Siem Reap to Vientianne, Laos felt like a chartered flight, as we were only joined by 3 other people. This was very amusing when the flight attendant insisted on completing the safety announcements from the back of the plane over the microphone, despite the fact that we were all sitting together.
DEATH BY BUS - In Laos we had 4 bus trips totalling 26 hours of travel. Based on this, you would have thought that we had covered thousands of kilometres but thanks to highways which resemble Akatarawa's Road in Wellington and on occasions a stage from the World Rally Championships, we only covered 600kms. Bus scams are common all over Asia but Laos seems to be leading the charge. For example, for every journey we took the vehicle resembled nothing like the one in the picture we were shown as we purchased the ticket. Without fail the driver would stop several kms away from our final destination, where our only option was a tuk tuk with grossly inflated pricing. Further, an express buses in Laos actually means a bus that stops every 1 - 2 hours at an isolated restaurant where the driver receives commission from your purchases and you are charged to use the toilet. Needless to say, Rodney's well renowned patience for regular stops and slow travel was significantly tested.
WANT OPIUM WITH THAT? Despite the large warnings on arrival in Laos that you would receive the death penalty for importing drugs, it is common practice for mini marts and restaurants to try to upsell your order with offers of opium tea, Valium tablets and happy pizza (marijuana pizza). Who needs Fly Buys?
CHILDHOOD DREAMS - For anyone who dreamed as a child of living in a tree house and swinging from trees, get yourself to Laos for the Gibbon Experience. While we enjoyed our other treks in Laos, our highlight was spending 3 days trekking, zipping between trees on over forty 200 - 600 metre zip lines and sleeping in tree houses 70 - 80 metres above the forest canopy. We heard Gibbons but weren't lucky enough to see them (potentially due to Kirsty's "woop woops" down the zip line) but we did see lots of leaches, both of us falling victim to a leach bite. We had 3 great Brits on our group but one American/German who amongst many other faux paus asked us what the differences were between cricket and croquet. At this stage, we thought that we were going to have to hold back our highly offended English friends from doing her harm.
We are currently uploading our photos to flickr and hope to also upload video footage of ziplining too. Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodneykirsty/sets.
We are currently in Chiang Mai Thailand and are uncertain as to our next move due to the current political situation. It is fair to say that all our red and yellow clothing has been put to the bottom of our packs until further notice.
Lots of Love, Rodney and Kirsty.
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