Down by the riverside
How civilised. I'm in Kampot near the southern Cambodian coast; just enjoyed a baguette and iced tea whilst watching the sun go down over the Kampong Bay River. It's a lovely-looking little place - a lot of the architecture round here, as in some parts of Phnom Penh and other towns, is French-influenced and complements the natural surroundings very nicely - and the guesthouse I've picked seems pretty funky too. All this helps to begin to calm the almost-exploded spleen I had on the way here, having been ripped off (or had my 'head shaved' as the locals apparently have it) to the tune of $20 on what should have been a $1.50 minibus fare. No wonder the driver was laughing all the way here, nnngh... Oh well, I'll know next time. Maybe.
Got to Takeo last night from Phnom Penh: it's a small, undistinguished place, altho it does contain the old house of Ta Mok, one of the Khmer Rouge leaders - there's a volleyball court in front of it now and a drinks stall selling Coca-Cola behind it, don't know which would dismay him more; but then he's a **** so who cares? Haha. Got a ride on an outboard this morning out over flooded paddyfields to Angkor Borei (a 6th & 7th century stronghold of an earlier state, Funan) and Phnom Da (nice-looking laterite temple on a hill nearby) - both reasonably diverting but as the book says, it's the ride you go for. They talk about Kansas skies but I swear they can't be much bigger than Cambodian ones - the land's so flat and undeveloped you can very nearly see from horizon to horizon, it's beautiful.
Heart of Darkness turned out to be a lot less scuzzy and violent than I'd been expecting, what a let-down! Well OK I don't mean that exactly but it did seem quite a bit snazzier than anywhere else I've been in Cambodia, obviously a lot of money's gone into the place recently. One difference between clubs here and home - by and large, excepting Croydon of course, you don't get patted down for Uzis and there aren't signs banning you from taking grenades in (boring!) at home... must say though, it does add a certain something to the evening's entertainment knowing you might be about to get blown to smithereens.
OK that guesthouse I mentioned has got Happy Hour on for another, well, hour and after the bludgeoning my wallet got today I feel I need to save some cash - yes, Mum, it would be much better to do that by not drinking at all but I'm sure you all agree that sobriety's vastly overrated. Naturally I will still hold this opinion come 9am tomorrow. Bottoms up!
Got to Takeo last night from Phnom Penh: it's a small, undistinguished place, altho it does contain the old house of Ta Mok, one of the Khmer Rouge leaders - there's a volleyball court in front of it now and a drinks stall selling Coca-Cola behind it, don't know which would dismay him more; but then he's a **** so who cares? Haha. Got a ride on an outboard this morning out over flooded paddyfields to Angkor Borei (a 6th & 7th century stronghold of an earlier state, Funan) and Phnom Da (nice-looking laterite temple on a hill nearby) - both reasonably diverting but as the book says, it's the ride you go for. They talk about Kansas skies but I swear they can't be much bigger than Cambodian ones - the land's so flat and undeveloped you can very nearly see from horizon to horizon, it's beautiful.
Heart of Darkness turned out to be a lot less scuzzy and violent than I'd been expecting, what a let-down! Well OK I don't mean that exactly but it did seem quite a bit snazzier than anywhere else I've been in Cambodia, obviously a lot of money's gone into the place recently. One difference between clubs here and home - by and large, excepting Croydon of course, you don't get patted down for Uzis and there aren't signs banning you from taking grenades in (boring!) at home... must say though, it does add a certain something to the evening's entertainment knowing you might be about to get blown to smithereens.
OK that guesthouse I mentioned has got Happy Hour on for another, well, hour and after the bludgeoning my wallet got today I feel I need to save some cash - yes, Mum, it would be much better to do that by not drinking at all but I'm sure you all agree that sobriety's vastly overrated. Naturally I will still hold this opinion come 9am tomorrow. Bottoms up!
posted by Pearson at 11:32 AM
3 Comments:
Hey, I'm not tempting fate or anything, but isn't it about time you got into another one of your "situations", just to spice things up a bit?! ;)
Blog is starting to read a bit like extracts from lonely planet guide at the moment, come on don't you realise how dull it is over here, how about some more adventures! Might help you get more comments as well (assuming you're not vetting most of them...).
No pressure though, and of course this has nothing to do with jealousy that you're over there while I'm stuck in grey, pikified Orpington...
Thought I'd add something here just because the "one comments" was bothering me gramatically.
I'm a bit out of sync because you're luxuriating in Sydney already but glad you're enjoying it. "Fair dinkum" comes from Derbyshire, don't you know.
Hil
I didn't but I do now - haven't actually heard it yet here although it can only be a matter of time. Up to about 4 or 5 'no worries' and one cricket-related piss-take (from Sydney airport staff, within 10 minutes of arrival).
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