Day 2 - A relaxing day getting over the journey

We all woke up late after a long journey; some people like Geri didn’t get up till 11. As we came down for breakfast the first thing that hit us was the heat (it’s slightly warmer over here than back home). At breakfast we saw our first glimpse of the Cambodian culture a monk (there’s loads of them here dressed in orange) each morning they go door to door asking for money so they can feed themselves in return the person who gives them money gets a blessing. All the males at some point in their lives will become a monk.

The first thing we did was go for a walk down the street we were staying at to get to know our surroundings. Along our way we saw loads of street stands, people selling anything to get some money. The scariest thing though was the roads. In Cambodia there are no road laws. There are one way streets but people drive both ways down it so the traffic is a bit hectic people just drive. Crossing the road is always fun as people just start walking across the road, and the traffic just goes around them.

The main way we get around the city is tuk-tuks. They are mopeds that pull a carriage for four people. Being in the traffic is even scary as the drivers just drive weaving in and out of each other. Our first trip in a tuk-tuk lead us to the central market which was soooo busy - puts Barnstaple market to shame. The slightest look and they’re ready to pounce on you with their cambodian charm. I personally didn’t fall for it, but you always get one and the one was Geri and before she knew it she was trying on 10 pairs of sunglasses.

We then went on to a shopping centre which was way posh and made me feel bad because we had just came from the market where people hardly have any money, to this shopping centre that has an arcade in it and everything for the people who had money to waste. It was way weird seeing the two very different lives in the same area. At lunchtime I was the first one to need to use the toilet so off I went, when I got there I was confronted with like a hole in the ground and a bucket of water! – “so you do your thing in the hole then tip the water down afterwards”. It was an ok experience apart from sharing the bathroom with ant like creatures.

Back at the market we saw fried spiders and locusts.

Rachel blogging out