the blue horizon

Strung Treng was an unexpected stop over, more a hospital visit then the usual tourist stuff. I was waiting in a guest house restaurant for the bus to Laos when i was rather suddenly overcome with a fever and fatigue. I rented a room and slept for almost 24 hours straight. The manger was understandably concerned, he thought it might have been Malaria, and sent me to the doctor for tests. It wasn't Malaria but was probably Dengue Fever but I needed a 10 hour bus trip back to Phnom Pehn to confirm this. Either way the 'cure' was Panadol, plenty of water and rest. I was going to do this in Laos anyway so decided against the bus back to Phnom Pehn and caught the bus to Laos the next day instead.

We were piled into a minibus for the trip to Ban Lung. I shared the back seat with three other adults and three children. Once of the highway the roads turned to shit, all mud and potholes. Cambodian Kids start being cute when they smile, wave and say hello. They stop being cute when they start throwing up either side of you. The trip was slow but there was a welcome change in the scenery as it went from rice fields to woodlands and forest. The few days I was here were spent on a moto checking out the country side. Two or three waterfalls were pretty nice, one you could walk behind. Another I couldn't make it to as the road was clay, no traction when wet. The rear wheels would fish tail everywhere and I need my legs to act like training wheels. The catch 22 of the wet season. All the waterfalls and river are at their best but the roads turn to mud and it can be near impossible to see them. Both days I finished at Boueng Yaek Lom. A crater lake, volcanic or meteor in origin I'

The bus trip to Kratie was long like any other in Cambodia but I had the luxury of the five back seats to myself. Kratie is a town on the banks of the Mekong. The Mekong is one of those rivers that remind you of just how small the Murray River is. In some places you can barely make out the details on the other side. Not much to do in Kratie but watch the river, the sunset and the occasional lightning storm pass by. You could also sit in the guest house uncomfortably amused at the Kiwi guy who runs the place coming to grips with the fact that his retirement will be spent dealing with Khmer staff that were never quite sure what he was trying to say. It had a weird 'at a mates place and his parents are arguing' kind of vibe to it. Still the workers weren't paid, just meals and board, so he probably deserved all the hassle he got. Hired a moto and followed the river north for the day. Stopped at few villages, a few temples, and Kampi to catch a boat to try to catch a glim

The travel gods smile upon this lucky idiot. I had to change buses in Phnom Pehn. I was walking around a crowded bus station looking for my next bus when a girl tapped me on the shoulder. My camera had slipped from my bag during the last trip and had fallen down behind my seat. Amazed that I got it back. Some good natured citizens aside Phnom Pehn didn't look too appealing, thought I might give it a miss and spend a few more days somewhere a little prettier to look at. Siem Reap was one of the more attractive towns in Cambodia, clean streets, nice landscape gardening. Lots of Hotels of course. As nice as it is there isn't a lot to do in town. The markets are shit, t-shirts, jewellery, painting, wood work, same same, but still shit.  The local market out of town a bit was more interesting and relaxing. Almost anything you could think of to buy and no hassle, but the smell of rotting fruit and raw meat and fish in an enclosed space gets to you after a while, like it does in B

Hired a bike. problem with such amazing scenery is that you can easily get disorientated and end up in Vietnam. Weird that the more appeal somewhere has, as a tourist anyway, the fewer tourists there are. Sihounkvile was a shit hole. Lots of places to drink yes but not much else. Kampot was built around an estuary. Watch the fishing boats going out and in. Walking amongst the rice fields watching people go about their business. A lot the farming still used old techniques. Water buffalo doing the bulk of the work, lots of hands doing the rest. Not much machinery to be seen. Kep was nicer than Kampot still, Mountains and rice fields to one side, the ocean and crab markets on the other. Had a name for itself with pepper. Was a time that any French restaurant worth it salt would have pepper from Cambodia. War and the Khmer Rouge putting a stop to that. Making something of a comeback apparently. Either way the salt and pepper crab was pretty nice.  Tried to find a few caves, the maps

The disadvantage of not having a watch or phone is that it makes it hard to get up for the 8:00 bus to Cambodia, the one that takes me from the ferry port near Trat straight to Sihanoukville. So I had to do it the slightly less convenient way. A pick-up from the ferry port to Trat Bus Station and then a minibus to the border. I get to the border and was immediately surrounded by 'guides' and when they had my attention the kids were trying to undo the zips on my bag. I eventually make it to the visa office, the sign on the wall said 'visas US$20' but unfortunately I arrived on a national holiday so today it was US$50. Plus another US$20 because I didn't look like my passport photo. Then I had to pay the 'guide' who 'assisted' me through the process, and finally I had to pay a relative fortune to get a taxi to Koh Kong.  This is what I was expecting at the border purely on the basis of a conversation with a couple of overly dramatic Germans who had j

I went to Koh Chang on the advice of my brother. Good advice. Though talking to the owner of where I am staying, he wouldn't recognise the place if he came back now. It's the low season so there are not too many people around. I'm staying in a little wooden hut on top of a cliff just on the outside of Bang Bao which is quieter still. At night it is quieter still, just myself, the owner and his family, 2 labs, 3 cats and the infinite sound of the ocean. Which is why I'm pretty stoked that I managed to swap the *shitest novel Stephen King ever wrote for Dostoevsky's 'The Brothers Karamazov'. It should keep me occupied for a while.  A very rare thing to find a decent novel in a hostel bookswap - usually it's Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, Andy McNab or Stephen King or German. I quite like Bang Bao, even though it's a tourist village it's worlds apart from Phuket. I've walked down the main drag a few times ( a pier in this case) and no one has offer