Happy birthday to us

Normally we try and summarise a few days of our trip and avoid going into specific, mostly mundane details, like what we ate for dinner. This post is an exception.

We celebrated our 25th birthday in Phnom Penh. For a birthday treat we kicked off the day by visiting a local diner that is popular with the students who attend the university next door. We devoured a couple of "Special Burgers" which contain a meat paddie, salad and a fried egg to top it off. The burgers really are special and we frequented the diner often.

Early on in our trip we made friends with an Australian - Troy. Troy was in Phnom Penh so we met up with him - it was cool to have someone else wish us happy birthday instead of just ourselves! We hired some bikes to take in the sights before finding the slowest internet cafe in all of Cambodia to Skype with family.


Dan and Clint improving New Zealand/Australian relations, one Australian at a time.

No birthday is complete without cake. We found a cake store and sampled a couple of pieces, which looked a lot better than they tasted (but on the whole not bad), before getting stuck into some ice cream.

The shorts we are wearing in the photo below were purchased as gifts to ourselves and we have been calling them the "birthday shorts".

After the sweet stuff we felt like some pampering so it was back on the bikes and off for a massage. We opted for a one hour traditional Khmer massage with oil. We felt really good afterwards, we weren't sure if it was the hour massage or the hour of listening to American R&B (which is all the rage over here) during the massage. Relaxation is a little diffcult when you're being beaten and bent and the girls are giggling and laughing amongst themselves - this only adds insult to injury.

In the evening we decided that we should have a birthday drink so with Troy in tow we set off to find a dairy to pick up some cold ones.

The first dairy we came across was a Blue Mart (much like a Seven Eleven from back home). In the store we noticed three young local lads at a table with beer cans sprawled around amongst empty plates - just like at a restaurant/bar but in a dairy. We quickly came to the decision that these guys were onto a winning idea so we pulled up chairs.

It wasn't long before the local lads started to ask us where we were from etc. They were all 26 and friends from their university days. One worked for the Ministry of Labour, another was a Policeman (complete with walkie talkie) and the other worked in the private sector. All smart, affluent and eager to show us a good time.

These guys had the show on lockdown and had obviously drunk in the dairy before. They had cold beers an arms reach away but preferred to click for the staff to get them fresh ones.

We inquired about good local nightclubs or "disco's" and they offered to accompany us to a place called Love Orange Club. The policeman took charge and wasn't afraid to pull rank. This was great to behold as he got whatever he wanted and we were "this is my friends".

Love Orange Club was amazing. We were the only foreigners which meant we could watch the spectacle unfold around us without feeling like we were really a part of it. The music was mostly, wait, you guessed it - American R&B, which just added to the hilarity of it all.

It was fascinating watching the dynamic between young Cambodian guys and girls, both of which are many years behind the maturity level of westerners of the same age group. For half an hour slow music was played and couples paired up and slow danced. We can only guess at the amount of strategy that was applied by the boys leading up to the partner allocation. We think it was coincidence but happy birthday featured on the playlist which was awesome.

A great night was had by all and it is anybody's guess how our local guides fared at work the following day. We suspect that crime called in hungover and that the thin blue line was one man short.

Sihanoukville

After the exertion of Siem Reap we felt as though some generally laziness would be appropriate. Sihanoukville is a great place for this as it is on a headland in the South of Cambodia. The bus trip there was an all day affair with a 6am "pick up" which really means you need to be ready at 6am and they'll pick you up anywhere between 6 and 7 to take you to the actual bus.

The bus trip went smoothly but we asked a few questions when it left us and a couple of other tourists behind at a rest stop. We found out that the bus driver had only gone to change a tyre but it is a little bit concerning when you aren't told this and you see the bus driving off in the distance with your bags.

When we arrived the sun was setting and without having a good look at the beaches we were already suitably impressed.

Sihanoukville has several beaches close at hand, most of which you'd think were named by an American for they include: Freedom, Independence, Victory and Serendipity. Tragic names aside, the beaches are great and the water is just as good. The hawkers, beggars and touts that roam some of the beaches are a little less relaxing but if you give them the "cold face" they get the message soon enough.

After the first night we decided to move accommodation to somewhere cheaper. We quickly found the infamous 'Chiva Shack' and we knew that our search was at an end. Chiva Shack specialises in budget accommodation and offers you your very own small room/cell for the tiny sum of $2 US per night.

Chiva Shack has a good atmosphere and was a great place to hang out during the day and into the evening. We made friends with a couple of young lads (Tropic and Thunder) from Christchurch who had both lived in the UK and had recently visited India. They gave us the low down on both places which should prove useful, although we thought some of it such as "watch out for chuckers if you're playing cricket in India" was common knowledge.

Photo above from left to right: Clint, Dan, Thunder and Tropic.

After three nights at Chiva Shack it was time to move accommodation again. Dan had a rather nasty encounter with what we think was a spider and Clint was a magnet to invisible creatures that like to bite. Anti-histamines, tiger balm and a lime (donated by an old Cambodian gentleman) saw us both right within a couple of days.

Above is a rather impressive statue in the middle of a roundabout or traffic circle as the locals like to call it.

Random Fact: The national beer "Angkor Draught" is brewed in Sihanoukville but it's not any cheaper.

Highlights

- Being abused by NZ'ers for not going on a Booze Cruise with them. The early morning wake up insults included "Get up, your not here for the culture!" and "John Key wants you to burn your passport, you're a disgrace to the country!".

- Sunday roast dinner. The first one since leaving home, very good but best described as quality rather than quantity.

Lessons Learned

- Insect repellent is ineffective against invisible creatures that bite.

- If you buy 20 shots of Absinthe (a highly potent alcoholic drink) at Chiva Shack you get a free t-shirt. Info courtesy of Tropic.

- Not all twins are as evenly matched as we are. Info courtesy of Thunder and his twin brother.

Siem Reap

Lately we've found ourselves doing things to excess. Be it eating, sleeping or site seeing we've been prone to over indulging. The rule of excess and our belief that every young man from New Zealand should be able to run a half marathon without training lead us to enter the Angkor Half Marathon. Set around the Angkor Temples the views were great and the temperature was hot.

Having completed the race we now need to update our CV's to include "International Athlete" as a hobby.

Cambodia is notorious for landmines and you definitely don't want to go wandering in the bush off the trail. Evidence is everywhere as beggars with missing limbs try to get "only $1" off of you.
We decided to find out more by spending an afternoon at a landmine museum. Setup by a Cambodian called Aki Ra his motto is "I want to make my country safe for my people". Over the years this guy has disarmed thousands of landmines and a lot of them are on display at the musuem. The museum also doubles as an orphanage and the kids that live there have written their stories which are on the walls to be read.

On the tuk tuk ride to the museum we drove through an army base before stopping at a large shed. We thought that something was up because the shed didn't look like a musuem (even a Cambodian one). A man comes strolling out and asks "you want to shoot gun?" Intrigued we went in and the wall was lined with about 30 different guns. From pistols to bazooka's the full arsenal was there (I tried to take photo's but got told off). This wasn't really our cup of tea so we declined the invitation.

Whilst in Siem Reap we managed to meet up with some Welsh lads who we met early on in our travels on Koh Phanang. It was good to catchup and exchange stories over a pint or two.


Random Fact
Cambodian's love playing volleyball. Neither of us can work out why - no matter how skillful and talented they are - from what we've seen, not very - their small stature is always going to be a major limitation.

Highlights
- Siem Reap town is very small and straightforward. It's easy to find bars, they are on a street called Pub Street and everywhere you can find stalls that sell meals for $1 USD.
- Cycling the city. At the traffic lights it's all out warfare as you navigate your way to the front and through the ensuing melee as the lights change to green.

Lessons Learned
-There really isn't much to do in Siem Reap apart from the temples.
- Marathon isn't pronounced as Marathon - it is "Marraton" (doh us). If you ask how to enter the Marraton you will be sent on a wild goose chase.
- Get up early or you'll get stuck with a really bad bike. There is nothing worse than a small hard seat and a rusty chain that refuses to stay on the gears.