Today Tim and I have been chasing Thai airlines to see if we can indeed leave next saturday night for London. After calling about 4 different Thai numbers, the Cambodian number and the Australian number for the airline we have been told we have to keep trying this one number for Thailand (that we never get through on) and there is no other way of rescheduling our flight. So we have been in and out of next cafes making calls and getting nowhere! Its getting a little frustrating. If we have to spend Christmas in Phuket that's not so bad but I would like to know about it soon seeing as I'm due to start my new job in a week and a half. Because we have been doing this its made us think more about our arrival in London. I think we are expecting to be shocked by the cold after tropical heat but I think we will also suffer a little culture shock. Its weird how easily we have become accustomed to these very different places. For one ridinng bikes through the crazy traffic of all three countries we've visited is no longer traumatic and I have stopped thinking in road rules and now follow the way of South East Asian roads which appears to be keep riding no matter what, don't give way, don't stop, just keep inching through the hordes of motorbikes, trucks, cars and buses and don't even worry if you're on the wrong side of the road- you are allowed to make your own personal lanes here going in any direction. Going back to the structured control of a road system like that in the UK will trouble us greatly. As will the blandness of bangers, mash and baked beans! Oh well its all an adventure!
So today we took the morning easy (which we have been doing rather stupidly as when we do start the 6km ride to the temples its very hot!). Then we headed out to see the Angkhor Thom temples. Again amazing and there is no point describing them- we will just post some pics.
We rode nearly 30km again and have returned to Siem Riep very sweaty and dirty. Feeling less than clean has become second nature as well. In both Vietnam and Cambodia we haven't been able to get our clothes washed in a machine but instead have been hand washed. There's something a bit weird about letting perfect strangers handwash your undergarments and its even weirder that they will do it for US$1 per kilo! But there isn't mkuch choice- today we got some clothes back that smelt like old tea. I suppose its better for the environment than washing powder but it doesn't make you feel that fresh!
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