a day of culture and stuff

Yesterday we decided to head into London and actually see some exciting things instead of the inside of a bunch of public houses. So we caught the tube to Leicester square and then stood around confused as to which 'official half price ticket stand' was the real 'official half price ticket stand' so that we could buy some theatre tickets. In the end we chose the one with the shortest line- probably not the smartest idea really as a short line generally indicates something. W wanted to see 'Wicked' but it was sold out so we got tickets for Les Miserables. With tickets in hand we decided to warm our hearts with a coffee. It was at this stage of our day that I began to really understand that there are 3 times as many people in England as Australia- In London there was a massive line up for everything- including a simple cup of coffee.

After our coffee we followed a sign saying China town and the sound of banging drums etc. There are still Chinese New Year celebrations happening so we had the opportunity to follow the dancing dragon around China Town as it went to each shop front to retrieve the hanging piece of lettuce from the front door. Again there were masses of people. Here we found a couple of Asian grocers and in true ex Aussie uni student fashion we went on a search and rescue mission for Mi Goreng noodles. Success- we packed our bags full of the little suckers! yay!

We found a chinese restauraunt that did £3.55 lunch meals and seeing as we are totally sick of pub food (which seems to be the only option in most places) we went in and shoved our faces full.

We wandered up to Trafalgar square and popped into The NAtional Portrait Gallery- it was fairly disappointing in all truth. Momentarily it was cool to see all the old Tudor portraits that I;ve seen a million times in books but this wore off as it took forever to get through the throngs of people out and about. The contemporary collection was fairly bland and neither Tim or I could figure out all the fuss over a photo of a few celebrities. We didn't bother with the Annie Leibovitz exhibtion because you had to pay for that and we are stingy.

So off to South Kensington to the NAtural History Museum where we met Greg. This building is absolutely breathtaking - its massive with ancient creature gargoyles and blue tiles everywhere. Inside the rooves are really tall andthere are beautiful stained glass windows. It was worth the trip for the building alone. Anyway we wandered around the free exhibitions- we wanted to go ot this Darwin exhibition but it was sold out. But Tim particularly had a good time looking at weird insects etc. They had a room full of old stuffed birds from the 1800s when this was fashionable- there were dodos etc. There were some crazy things there. We saw big dinosaurs and all the things you would expect at such a museum.

Then it was off for a beer before the show- but apparently thats fairly impossible in the West End on a Saturday night- we wandered for nearly half an hour before finding a pub with a table left. The atmosphere was really cool though- considering there is an economic crisis people were out liviing it up and the theatres were packed. I really like the fact that in England a Saturday night at the theatre is so popular and normal- our show was full of people our age - which is a rare sight in Sydney productions. Its very exciting to be in an area totall dedicated to theatre.

I have been listening to the recording of 'Les Miserables' for the last decade and have always wanted to see a production-which I think was to my detriment because it meant I left feeling a little disappointed. Apparently my imagination dreams too large for the actuality. It was still great and I am glad we went (I dont think it was Tim's cup of tea). I loved the chorus parts because the music is so beautiful and I enjoyed the girl who played Eponine. But every time the show really built up and I thougt finally here's some spirit it returned to a really slow pace. Considering all its grand themes of revolution, love, revenge etc. I left the theatre feeling fairly placid. I was only momentarily stirred to jump out of my seat and start a revolution against my bourgois oppressors- to me this isn't really good enough. But oh well- I've seen it now and I can safely say the music is still great!

LONDON WEEKEND

Yesterday we went into London meet up with a friend I went to University with. We were originally going to see a play but Amanda's boyfriend wanted to see some sights- principally 'The London Bridge'- so we agreed to meet them on London Bridge. As soon as I heard that Brad wanted to see London Bridge I thought he surely must mean 'Tower Bridge'- because London Bridge is nothing special. But stupidly I didn't say anything just continued on our merry way to London Bridge. Tim and I arrived and phoned Amanda- she said she could see London Bridge in the distance and were walking along the THames towards it- would only be about 10 minutes. SO we stayed on London Bridge (it was extremely windy and cold) looking out for a girl in a green jumper to come towards us. Eventually we got another call from Amanda saying that it was a longer walk than she expected and they were nearly there- I asked her which side of the bridge she was on- and she said the side with the glass building- I looked around and saw at least 2 glass buildings on every side of the bridge. So we just said ok we will meet you in the middle. Another 5 mintues past and we thought they should have been on the brdge by now. So I called Amanda and said, 'hey are you on Tower bridge or London bridge?'- she said I think London Bridge- I said, 'is there a tower on your bridge? and as I expected there was. So we walked donw and met them on Tower Bridge. It seemed a lot funnier than it does in this post. So by this stage everyone was over the idea of sightseeing and in need of some lunch. So we went to the place we go every time we go to London- Camden and had some food and checked out the markets. We found this awesome bar in the middle of the markets called 'The Cuban' which had a really great atmosphere. We had a beer there and then went to Euston to meet Amanda and Brads mate. He took us to this Australian pub called the 'walkabout'- apparently its a chain and its full of bad Aussie gimics like kangaroon burgers and stuff. We drank (what is apparently an Australian favourite?) snakebites- cider, beer and cranberry mixed in- it was an ok flavour but a bit too sweet for me. And really Australians are too tough for the that kind of girly drink. We ended up staying there the rest of the night. It was a good night because of the company but I wouldn't bother going back to the Walkabout pub- I didn't think it had much charm really and truly had no Australian feel to it aside from all the Aussies working behind the bar.

Some UK stuff

Last weekend we went to Rochester which is a very old town close to Gravesend. It is famous for being a point where a lot of invasions occured I think. It was quite quaint- little cobblestone alley ways everywhere etc. There was a massive cathedral which we explored - it was like most big cathedrals here- really beautfiful stained glass windows- some sort of crypt underneath etc.

There was also a massive castle on the hill overlooking the Medway River. We wandered around it but were too stingy to pay 5 pounds to go in. I mean we've both seen castles before- Im sure we didn't miss much.

Best part of the day we went to a pub that had 1 pound lasagne and chips and 2.50 fish and chips! Bloody Brilliant! Obvioulsy like all food in this dreary country it had minimal flavour but you can't complain for that price!

London arrival

We arrived in London at about 6am London time. We were fairly tired and not in the mood for the dickhead Kiwi customs officer who berrated us at customs. He basically insulted us by saying that Australians were a drain on British society, we contribute nothing, get a British passport and then go home. THen to top it off he banged on about how apparently there were a lot of problems with foreign teachers not being at the same standard as British teachers. What a nobwanker. I'm still not over it. The strangest part was that he himself came over on an Ancestory Visa!

Once I put on my pair of jeans and one lame jacket I had I was mustering some excitement. This quickly dissipated when we got outside at Kensington Tube station and walked to our hotel in the freezing minus 2 degrees temp of 7am London. After 2 months of tropical weather this was a shock to the system. I was so cold I thought my butt was wet! Anyway we spent the day trying to stay awake.

We have now been in England for 3 weeks and are starting to settle in. We moved into the first place we found- boarding at a house owned by a woman in her 30s. She is lovely but hardly ever home so we have free reign which is great.

My first week of school was extremely interesting and I will write more details when my brain is functioning better. Its 1.30 am right now.

We had a lovely Christmas with Tim's Grandparents although we both felt a bit homesick throughout the day missing everyone.

Belated updates. Leaving South East asia

So on the 5th of December finally we were to say goodbye to Cambodia. So the night before we decided a goodbye night at the Angkor What? Bar was in order. We thought a couple of beers and back to our hostel for a good nights sleep before our early bus trip the next day. It didn't quite work out that way. As we were onto our second and what we thought would be our last beer we were joined by a Welsh guy and an Aussie girl with a bucket of redbull and vodka and a bucket of scotch and coke complete with sharing straws. We thought it would be impolite to decline their offer. So long story short we got fairly wasted, at some point Tim helped the Welsh guy climb up to the cieling to write their names and then we stumbled home at about 2.30 or so in the morning leaving our new friends behind. Gareth the Welsh guy was going to Bangkok on the bus the next morning as well. Upon waking up early the next morning feeling like complete shite we vowed never to drink from a bucket again. We were picked up from our hotel and taken to the bus. The bus was tiny, and there were only 2 seats left- so TIm and I were split up for the journey. Bags were in the aisles and there was no air con so all windows were left open for breeze. It was stinking hot and Cambodian roads are all dirt and incredibly dusty. With a hangover I tried to sleep but kept waking to find my mouth full of dirt and my neck sore from the potholy road. It took us about 6 hours or so to get to the Poipet border crossing. By this stage we were buggered and cursing the Welsh guy's buckets and wondering where he was because he wasn't on the bus. We lined up at the border to cross into Ayathua Prathet on the Thailand side. It was hot and smelly and we were all dirty. Crossing the border was fairly simple and quick except for the bus drivers strange systems. We were all given different coloured stickers and not told why but that we had to wear them on our shirts. Once on the other side we were all congregated together (still no understanding of coloured stickers) and told to wait. After about 30 mins we saw our old mate Gary wander over with a coloured sticker on. He then told us that he had actaully partied until 5.30am and slept for an hour then got up and got on another bus that was travelling behind us. So we hung at the border with him commiserating on our shared hungover miseries. after another hour we were led to a bus and then given more coloured stickers with numbers. By the time Tim and I got to the bag are it was full and so the guys said "Just leave it on the ground"- we weren't so sure what would happen to them but were so hot we didn't care and boarded the bus. this bus was much nicer than the last but had been sitting in the sun and was excruciatingly hot. We sat here another 20 mins before actually leaving and no one could figure out why. Things were becoming quite tense as no one knew what was happening. When we did finally leave there was a communal sigh of relief- but we hadn't gotten further than about ten mins down the road when the bus stopped for a half hour break! They make money off commissions so it was no great surprise. So we all sat around eating icecreams and looking more like we were eating frozen poo from Coogee bay hotel we were all so sour at our long journey. while we were there the driver got a call saying someone had been left back at the border so they had to go back and get him. It never ended. Then it took us about 5 hours to drive to Bangkok. When we did get there we realised it was the King's birthday and it took us about 2 hours to get through the traffic to Khao Shan Road where we were being dropped off. The lights of the city for the King were incredibly beautiful- I've never seen anything like it but we were so tired it was hard to care. We eventually found a hostel and ran into old Gary again. So we went and had a great Indian meal with him but this time decided not to involve any buckets!

It was sometime the next day while we were hanging around Kha San Road that we think we must have lost our camera! Damn it!

Anyway we got on our flight to London at about 1am Bangkok time.

Banteay Srei

These shots where taken with the video camera.




In these carvings there are always nagas vomiting some creature or another, often out of all five of their mouths.


Lots of the ancient temples have the logo for chang beer on them

Banteay Srei & Kbal Spean