One thing I forgot from yesterday just quickly - Laura and I were putting on sunscreen before the zip line and all the Russian tourists kept asking us if we liked our skin white. We later figured out apparently skin whitening cream is a thing here! Weird.
Today we all got up at 5.30, had breakfast and then were on the bus ready to go at 6.30am. Along the way we saw lots of colourful buses, stadiums and stopped at a petrol station to fill out our visa forms, we were all horrified to discover only one western toilet is available and we have now started a rating system for toilets. Toilet paper automatically gives the place a 10 as it is hard to come by haha. We stopped to get our visas processed at the Cambodian embassy and then went to the border town of Poi Pet. Things were crazy here - people everywhere. We passed through the Thai side very quickly and had our passports stamped. The came the notorious long wait for Cambodian processing. This part took a good hour. We stood in a queue, and while we waited I noticed two men push in behind me in front of Sarah, Emma and Becky. So to combat this, I blocked the front of the queue and let them in in front of us. The man was not impressed, and consequently waved his hands and lightly shoved me in the back. I turned around and said 'do not touch me!' And the girls sort of huddled around so all was ok. Was a bit scary but we got out of there and were soon on a shuttle bus to the tourist bus station.
A then went to lunch at a restaurant called Phkay Pheow in the middle of nowhere! It was really nice, Laura had soup and I had sweet and sour chicken with rice. We spent $1.50 and $4.50 - so cheap!!
W then continued the rest of the way to Siem Reap. Cambodia seems to be a lot poorer and dirtier than Thailand. Coming here really makes it hit hard how incredibly lucky we are to live in Australia. Have a look at the pictures, but the houses are hardly standing, held together by paper and sticky tape. Kids run in the street bare foot, the water isn't drinkable and has to be pumped or filtered. People here have so little but they walk around with huge grins on their faces and are so incredibly friendly.
We made it to the hotel and checked in all good, then had dinner at a local lady's house whose name was Fila. We caught Tuk Tuks here, there are no taxis in Siem Reap. Laura, James and I caught one. Wow. If my back wasn't stuffed already it is now haha. Like the bus ride, it was VERY bumpy!!! But we had fun flying all over the place and enjoying the beautiful rice field scenery. Tuk Tuks are named so because of the 'tuk tuk tuk' noise made when the engine is started!! Anyway we made it to the house and had a walk through the neighbourhood where we saw rice fields and walked through them then went to Fila's house. Fila feeds local kids free dinner every night and teaches them English. We had a beautiful three course meal sitting on the floor, and then got to play with the kids for half an hour. They were all so full of life and friendly. They asked us all about our families and - with the help of technology - I was able to show them pictures of Adam, mum, dad, nan, pa and the rabbits. They wanted to know how old you all were, what you do etc etc. It was very cute, and made me miss you all even more explaining to them all about you! They all said well done on getting your first preference Adam, so did the people on the tour!!!
We have become a closer knit group over the course of just one day. Laura and I are the youngest, most are 22-24 and Tom is the oldest at 28. I've memorised everyone's names already in typical Claire fashion. Leah is from Australia, Natalie from Switzerland, Nina from Denmark, and James, Tom, Abby, Nathan, Becky, Emma, Sarah, Louise, Jo and Rhi are from the UK. Jo and Rhi are most like us I think, everyone is really nice :)
We went from the house to the Pub Street which was buzzing with life, people everywhere! Today is Louise's 24th birthday so we had a cocktail at the Temple Bar and had ice cream cake. The people who enjoy drinking lots stayed there, while Jo, Rhi, Abby, Nathan, Natalie, Laura and myself went to the night markets. I bought some jewellery and pants. The markets are absolutely massive.
Now we have all gone home fairly early because we are watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat in the morning and have to wake at 4.30!!! Yuckkkk but worth it!
Love to all,
Claire and Laura
Xoxox
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