Right, where to start. Ladyboy feet rubs. Well, on friday I needed to nip to the markets for a bag and shoes, because all my belongings appear to be breaking on me. And well y'know, who doesn't need bags and shoes? Such a girly shopping trip. But granted I wasn't paying sister Woz type thousands, more along the lines of getting $5 down to $3. Which of course failed, and I left having overpaid for a 'Cambodia' t shirt that I will never wear. Anyway, seeing as I had dragged the girls along with me anyway, we headed for a tapas. $1 for everything on the menu. That includes cocktails. I got my first dessert since I got here. It was nice, but such a shame I was in the mood for banana tart, when in fact all I eat all of the time is Banana. Banana and rice. But not together because that would be disgusting. I mentioned my feet were feeling grim because of too much flip-flop. So one of the 'mexican girls' (why we don't just call them Marie and Maria, I don't know) noticed it was bang-on time for the start of the free ladyboy show at the back of the night market. You can get a $2 foot massage whilst watching it. Perfect. It was funny. 6 of us watching a ladyboy show and having a foot massage. When did that become normal? We did head out for a 'dance' after, but of course whilst everybody else from about the world considers it perfectly normal to go out 'dancing' without the over-indulgence of cheap trebles, I on the other hand was a lost cause. Of course. So a couple of us headed home. Didn't fancy the drink seeing as I had to be up at 5am.
So on saturday, me and Erin went down for breakfast at 6am and were picked up at 06:15 to catch the boat to Battambang. 10 seater minibus... 20 people. Standard. The boat was equally cosy and uncomfortable. But nee bosh, it was only a mere 7 hours long so it wasn't a problem. On a less sarcastic note, it was actually very lovely. We went through not only the floating villages, but the really poor rural floating villages. Kids like 5 out working looking for fish and teaching their younger siblings and stuff. They seemed happy enough all the same. I guess they don't get many tourists there, what with it being y'know... a village in the middle of a remote river (which by the way is only high during the rainy season). So they get dead excited and wave and blow kisses. It was very sweet. As much as I don't like that they have so little money, it seems like an okay little place to be for a kid. They get out a lot and have lots to do. And lots of friends to play in the river with. They seemed happy enough. No doubt they won't be quite so happy when they grow up to realise the craic.
We at long last arrived and went to our hotel. $3.50 for a night, and a very very nice hotel. Nice one. No tuk tuks in sight, we had to wake one up. Very bizarre. Back in Siem Reap you constantly hear "tuk tuk? tuk tuk? tuk tuk? tuk tuk?" forever and ever. You get the point. Anyway, he took us to some temple thing and the 'Crocodil Farm'. I was WELL excited, I got to hold a baby crocodile. I held it twice because it was just so cute. Kathleen on the other hand was frightened to death and threw the poor thing on the floor. Okay maybe not 'threw' but she might as well have! Afterwards we went out to a weird Cambodian BBQ thing. Didn't have a clue what was going on. I still don't know what was going on. Anyway, then we went for a mooch through the seemingly dead little town. Finally came across some sign of life in the form of 4 tiny outdoor cafes with about 10 customers between them. 'The Night Market'. Not to Siem Reaps standards, but whatever. Met what appeared to be the only other 2 westerners in the WORLD so stuck with them for the night. Ended up in some Khmer club. They all seem so quiet and dull from outside, then you open the door and it's mad. Much better than the Pub Street DJ's. And absolutely no westerners. The next day we went on the bamboo train. It went so much faster than I expected. Seriously, just youtube it. Just a random plank of bamboo travelling through a lot of fields in the middle of Battambang. So silly. Then we stop at a village where there are a gabillion overkeen kids making bracelets, bobbles, rings, stars, grasshoppers (fancy that) out of grass. We bought them each a can of 'soda' because they were thirsty and cute and that it just what you do when you see cute thirsty kids. Got the bus back. Arrived back in Siem Reap to find out that 6 men had just been killed by landmines in Battambang.
Work has been much better this week. Found things to do and been going a bit quicker, rather than the previous 10 hour long shifts (which were in fact 4 hours but you wouldn't have known any different). Yesterday I went out to a very nice Indian to meet some other volunteers I had been put in contact with who work at a school/orphanage just on the outskirts of town. I'm going to go to the school/orphanage tomorrow to help out a little bit. Probably become a permanent thing. Time to kill in the afternoons, makes sense. Oh and today after work, me and Claire went to Angkor Childrens Hospital to give them a whole load of fruit, because apparently I'm a good person now. It was actually associated with work, but still, no doubt I'd have done it at some point anyway.
OH Batman, I went out last night and found Batman. Well, he found me. He came over and said "you love me". It turns out I have actually seen him around quite a lot, I just didn't recognise him. I should have known better, he's the one that is always dancing alone up and down the street. Of course I love him. Anyway, he drove us home in the early hours whilst doing his standard "na na na na na na na BATMAN" at every turned corner. He was also randomly shouting "Rolls Royce" (which is the make of his motorbike) and "HAPPY PIZZAAA" (which is most likely the cause for his behaviour). Anyway, he is now my Cambodian boyfriend. (CALM DOWN MUM, not literally, just hypothetically). We saw Linda out too, the usual street kid. She told us she is not going to be working any more after next week, because her 'friend' is making her go "dancing". I'm not sure what this really means, but a 6 year old lad has to go too, so I'd like to think it's just a change of scenery. She seemed most upset at losing her turf. She is easily the best worker on Pub Street. She was upset because she was having a bad night, so I agreed that if she could beat me at playing Snake on my really cool (old-school Nokia) Cambodian phone, I would buy 3 bracelets of her. Of course, she won. Don't really fancy the idea of buying from the street-kids, but it saves her getting in trouble after a bad night. She's a happy enough kid. I think she's actually treated quite well by her "friends". Not sure how long that will last for though.
Bicycles I just put in the title because, well I ride a bicycle to work and to the markets and stuff. That's all really. I haven't been in any sort of collision yet, so I'd doing well. I'll keep you updated though. Oh yeah, I end up shoeless most of the time due to the random road floods. I can't cycle through them, so I take my shoes off and put them in the basket (yes, my bike has a basket) and have to walk through. It's like knee-high. It's pretty disgusting, but no worse than muddy festivals I guess.
Anyway, new volunteers arrive tonight, so I'm going for a nosey. Chow! x
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