Kampong Food Market
No real logic as to why of the few videos I have made two are of food markets. Might be that markets are such an everyday and important part of life here.
Anyway, this market in Kampong Cham was a surprise for me even though I have seen several other markets in my short time. It was almost hidden from view and so crowded and intense. Just built on broken tiles and bare earth and covered by tarps held up by poles. Raw fruit and vegetables and chunks and parts of animals all out for everyone to see and buy. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. Busy yet relaxed. Nothing like this exists in the West which is something of a shame I think.
Crossing Cambodia
Today I took a 6 or 7 hour bus ride across a good chunk of Cambodia. Not much of a bus and at times hot and airless. Moved at a good constant speed and although the countryside was dead flat, it was always interesting. Interesting that between Siem Reap and this town of Kampong Cham there were very few towns of any size yet almost all of the highway had a never ending chain of huts and houses.
But. I am out of order. I have a lot of stuff I have not had the time to upload to here. Too busy with Cambodia and its wonderful people. So the better the travelling the worse the blogging!?!
Both Siem Reap and especially Angkor Wat and the main temples there were much better than I expected, I think mainly because I was am still am so happy to be here. But one of the big finds yesterday afternoon was when I went for a long walk along the river front. At one point I came across these stilted houses and from there onwards Siem Reap changed dramatically. I was out of the tourist zone and where the everyday local people lived. Possibly the poorer of the Siem Reap locals. I think a lot of them would not even go downtown that much but spend their lives in their area doing business amongst themselves. But alas. Soon after this photo and before getting into this earthy part of humanity my camera battery went dead. Only the strong memory remains but also just having experienced this intense place was reward enough.
Cambodia
Here’s a random shot taken during the epic Bangkok to Siem Reap adventure. I must be having fun and busy as I have not had the time to blog and have some catching up to do.
The short version is: Bus from Phuket to Surat Thani arriving at the train station at 12.30pm. Ticket for the 4.30pm train therefore 4 long hours of waiting with little to do. 4.30pm train leaves at 6.40pm so add 2 hours more of boredom spent talking with two Canadians. We had plenty of time to laugh at and feel sorry for ourselves. Slept OK on the train and arrived at Bangkok station at about 6.30am, too late to get a connecting train to the Cambodian border.
Asked about buses and paid (a bit too much) to get from Bangkok right through to Siem Reap which is the town near Angkor Wat. This worked out well as I caught up on the day that would have been wasted because of the first train being late. 12 hours to finally arrive but a very good day, the bus people were very professional in making the border crossing easy and explaining the procedure. I must describe this day later.
Some of us on the bus ended up bonding to a degree and enjoyed the adventure together, you can see some smiles in the photo. Dee, the lady with the camera even gave me the extra 200 baht I needed for the Cambodian visa. There other lady is Estonian and travelling with her very German boyfriend.
I had planned to get myself across the border but in hindsight this more arranged set-up proved to be the better option even if we were babied somewhat.
