Friday 26th November 2004
I had a personal guided tour today with a really great guy called Chin! We went everywhere on his motorbike. He is an amazing guide, very friendly and he made sure that my tour for the day was one I'd never forget because he took me right into some real Cambodian life, where we interacted with some really colourful characters. It was an amazing day and a great education for me. It was a very hot day today as I took in some breathtaking scenery, a good, cheap lunch and got an insight into some real Cambodian life with lots of stories, some happy, some sad and so many beautiful little children. I will never forget the the look of excitement on their little faces at seeing a stranger pass by as they ran alongside the motorbike screaming "Hello" at the
tops of their voices and trying to touch my hand.
We visited a chili farm where dried chilies were being bagged up by hand. 10Kg of fresh chili becomes 3Kg after drying in the sun. We stopped to chat to one of the chili farmers, or at least Chin did. He was very entertaining as he tried his hardest to persuade me to take his daughter with me, although I think he was joking. She was just embarrassed! In one of the villages we stopped to see some fruit-bats. I got some great photos of those and we played marbles and bought some candy for the children. It was a day I will never ever forget. There was a lot of love in the air!
On leaving the village and saying our goodbyes to everyone there, we made our way to the bamboo railway. This was great fun. The bamboo train consists of individual flat-bed carts made from strips of bamboo, running along a narrow track and powered by a small motorbike engine. The carts are so light that they can be lifted off the track and turned around easily to come back the other way. It is the main form of transport for many people in this area, especially farmers and it is quite a frequent occurence meeting another cart going in the opposite direction, where one party must alight and take their cart off the track in order to let the other pass. This happened to us on our journey when we met an oncoming cart transporting a family. The father of the family was suffering very seriously from malaria I was told and they were urgently trying to get him some medical attention. He was unconcious and looked in a really bad way. Just that day I had considered stopping my malaria medication because I didn't think it was that necessary. That experience woke me right up! I realised that if a local man was susceptable to mosquitos then what chance did I have? I carried on with the Doxycycline after that.
In the evening I was invited to a full-moon party with Chin and his friend Chris on the edge of town. That was fun being the only westerner dancing in what could be described as a village hall disco with all the locals. I don't think I have ever experienced so much real culture of a place in one day than I have today. Probably the best day so far of my trip.
