Kampong Cham

Dear travel journal,
Starting to feel like 4-5 hrs on a bus a day is the norm...
We got up early this morning and headed out for breaky thinking an hour would be plenty of time. Nope. At 8.30am (when we were suppost to be getting on the bus) our breaky came out. Woops lol. Once i was done i ran back to the hotel and finished packing for dana anď got a porter to take the bags down whilw she was at the cafe having breaky and then jumped on the minibus. Todays first stop - spiders. Scoon village is known for its taranchella and insects. Limney got off the bus and came back on with a bucket full of taranchellas. He handed everyone one or two or ten, depending on the person. I eventually let him put a placid one on my hand and but some people had them crawling everywhere, in their hair, chest, shoulders... once we were done playing the spiders went back in the bucket and we got out to have a walk around in the markets and we got a chance to try fresh fried tarantulla. I tried to try some but the leg was hard and furry all at the same time and i just couldnt do it. But some people where munchin away. After buying somd dried fruits and using the bathroom it was back on the bus to krong kampong cham. Once at the hotel we checked in and headed down to the local ngo restaraunt 'smile' for lunch which was quite tasty. Then back to the hotel and bianca had a sleep and i read for a couple of hours and then it was time for the bike tour. We all jumped onto push bikes and headed down the road to the local ferry. Which was just an open barge that everyone loaded onto and squished as many people as possible. With no sides so making sure you didnt fall in. We fit sooo many people, bikes, scooters, a car and even a horse and cart on a floating wooden platform that had to be maybe 6m by 15m. Lol. Each year in the dry season they build a bamboo bridge that runs between the mainland and the island. Kohpen the island was awesome. We got off the barge and up the bamboo bridge to the dirt roads and rode around the little town. Past houses with people washing and cooking and gardening and farming and kids playing everywhere. The kids where so cute they would all run out and say hello and wave, some would hold their hands out for hi-fives as we rode past and others would run behind us for a bit. I took my time at the back of the group just enjoying it and taking it all in. Then we stopped at a temple that looked across soo many fields and rice paddies with people working and a horse drawn cart. The temple however was used as a prison during some of the time of the komarus and there is a small killing field behind it. Its such a peaceful, isolated place, the locals really where not safe anywhere. Then we continued on and stopped at a locals house. Honestly i didnt listen to anything limney was talking about. I tried some of the pink and yellow pomegranit which was tasty - pinks better. But the rest of the time i was playing soccer with a couple of the local boys. We were playing with a small ball then one of the boys ran up the road and came back with a normal he was pretty good. After a while felix joined in and felix and the older boy showed off their skills. It was awesome. Then back on the bikes and the next stop was another home where they make sticky rice cakes with sweet peas and coconut milk. They were sweet but quite nice. Then we headed back to the barge, we didnt want to miss last one back or we would be staying there the night. There was one section of the trail that was totally different from the rest. It was bumpy and overgrown and opened into peoples yards the whole way. Then all of sudden it was bush on one side, opens to the river on the other, the ground was really smooth and the massive tree in the middle of the path had the smoothest bark ever. It was very cool. Then it went back to normal. After we crossed on the last barge and got back to the hotel we cleaned up and met in the lobby for dinner. Dinner tonight is with a local family. We all climbed into tuk tuks and headed to the families home and sat on the floor in their main room. The main room is just a big open space. They put matts out along the sides of the walls to sleep on at night and other matts down the length of the middle to sit on to eat meals. And thats what we did. Sat down the middle of the room in two rows and they brought heaps of food out and spread it acrosd the middle of the table and we all just helped ourselfs to what we wanted and chatted. They passed around tarantulla wine at one point for people to try. After dinner the tuk tuk took us back to the hotel and the kiwi boys, girls and i went with limney to a 'local bar' which is just chairs on the side walk and a little food cart. Limney got some dried squid and crab salad (shelled crabs and sauce) and was munching while drinking his spiced spider wine and the boys had a couple of beers each. Then we said goodnight to limney and we all went for a walk down along the river and then went to look at a local wedding that was happening that you could hear a few streets away. The dresses where amazing. The live band singing achey breaky heart in cambodian was interesting. But we still danced to the music on the way back to the hotel. Once back everyone went to bed and i sat down stairs using the net for a bit. Having brief convos with people was they walked past - tom, limney, lisa and nicola and then i headed up to bed.Read more