lazy mekong daze

I am now in Southern Laos having crossed the border a few days ago...which was an interesting experience and the first time I have haggled a little with customs officials..in the end I got out of Cambodia for a one dollar processing fee and into Laos for two, which also involved the guy sitting on my passport and folding his arms for a few tense minutes...but it ended in smiles and good lucks and goodbyes...

Angkor Wat was really an experience and quite full on, I went out to the temple to watch the sun rise and at first spent quite a while stumbling around in the dark before the sun came up but it added a bit of mystery to my first approach to the temple complex...I did hope to get a sense of mysticism or to spend some time meditating at the temple and contemplate the sunrise but to tell you the absloute truth even though it was awesome and the temple was huge it just didnt happen for me... I was frustrated in my attempts for quiet by fellow tourists having inane conversations about their trips to Whitehaven beach last month or some ridiculous and loud story about the bad service they experienced last night in one of the many bars and restaurants in town.. when I went somewhere a little more quiet I was faced with a group of older british tourists stubbing their cigarettes out on a thousand year old carving/ statue or the like and it was enough to make me sit there and ponder not about the beauty of the place or the wonder of an ancient Khmer kingdom but rather a human loss of spirit and soul...
and then it started....
before the sun had actually risen just on first light as shapes became more solid out of the darkness.... lady lady you buy something; lady you want breakfast; you buy t-shirt lady???on and on and on...and I thought the tourists had lost their soul but the hawkers were worse; here we are at the symbol of cambodian national pride (angkor wat is even on their flag and often they make claims to modern day greatness because 'we built angkor wat') it's their temple and cambodians were crawling all over it in search of the next dollar... although to be fair I cant say I blame them; they are quite poor but there is no respect at all and the barrage is constant and quite painful...it just made me despair a little for the place...

I spent the day out there with a 'soccer hooligan' from Wales who actually turned out to be quite a nice bloke; he was glad he saw the temples with me because he said that he learnt lots more about them and he also saw a lot more than he otherwise would have (actually i think he was over it by 10am!! but he soldiered on until 3pm; which considering we got there at 5am was quite a solid innings) and he never would have seen the sunrise if I had not insisted... and he helped me keep my sense of humour as I was bombarded by the constant calls to 'lady lady you buy something,,one dollar one dollar' all in all we had a 'good laugh' and really saw some amazing things including the tomb raider temple which is all overgrown with forest (and crawling with tour groups) but nevertheless is a spectacular crumbling and ancient wonder...

I didn't go back to the temples after that but I did spend a nice few days by the pool with some NZ'rs and we had a great night out with karoake and at a local nightclub where they were frisking everyone on the way in and lots of guys were checking their guns at the door...me? I had to check my water .... and then we were allowed inside, the only foreigners there and we were escorted to a VIP table...my god the rich kids in there were totally wasted on drugs and the roof was covered in silk... with seriously big bouncers surrounding the dancefloor and a foreboding sense of danger we didn't stay long..

I did see the Irrawaddy dolphins on my way through Kratie which was a tremendous experience considering they are one of the rarest mammals in the world and we were blessed to witness them at play, jumping right out of the water, most people only get to see a little bump in the water so I was very excited and hardly minding the breakneck motorbike ride back to the guesthouse at night with the bugs smashing into my face and eyes and hair...

walking through villages in the north of cambodia is wonderful, people use lots of donkeys and carts and water buffaloes here and the first time I came across a herd on the path I was a bit nervous because suddenly I was surrounded - I walked so so carefully to get out of that one...

Now I am in Laos and the pace of life is so so very slow and relaxed; I am on four thousand islands on the border with cambodia and it is a really beautiful part of the Mekong - and looks exactly as the name suggests; I have a bungalow and a hammock on the water to which I am compelled to now return...

hope everyone is well --- my stubbed toe is healing well after i smashed it on some rocks badly enough for the german doctor i was with to think about stitches.. but after a local guy stopped, stripped a plant, chewed it up and put it on my foot things are looking pretty fine and I should be good for some trekking tomorrow

much love - janine