The Jolie Effect

I've just finished a long day of 13 hours travelling, so perhaps I am a bit prickly right now.  But I've been wondering about this place all day....is it really the case that the rave reviews of Cambodia have been created solely by Angelina Jolie?  How is that possible?  My 75 year old neighbor couldn't stop talking about how lovely Cambodia is.  Was she just listening to Angelina?  Probably.


Sometimes our society drives me crazy.


So Cambodia, I've reset the bar really, really low and you have exactly 4 days to convince me that you're worth all the positive remarks the world gives you.  I've been wrong before (like when I changed my mind and decided to go on a 14 day cycling trip instead of 7 days so I could see both Cambodia and Vietnam.  I should have stuck with Vietnam).  


Good luck  ...

My day started out with spiders.  I HATE spiders.  I'm thankful I got to share a room with rats.  At this charming bathroom stop, the kids are waiting for you as you get off the bus (nothing new there) but here they throw giant spiders on you.  This is our Cambodian guide Rong (endless entertainment from that name) with a giant spider.

And in case you are hungry, you can eat them too!

Then we got to take this dirt road for about an hour to lunch.  We were supposed to cycle this bit, but unfortunately too much time was spent with the spiders and we were running late.  At the end of this ride, I vomited.

But it was totally worth car sickness, because look at what we got to see!  These rocks are as old as the pyramids.  Wow.

There were more interesting things to look at, and here the temple guide is pointing them out.  Unfortunately I couldn't understand a word he was saying.  When he mentioned a German organization had sponsored his English lessons, things began to make more sense.

These were the red ants that were climbing up our legs and stinging us while we tried to figure out what the guide was saying. 

These were the kids begging who never left our side (this happens all the time in Cambodia).  More on this topic later when I'm in a better mood and can say nicer things.  Right now I would compare them to red ants.

Then it was time to cycle for about 30 kms which took us an impressive 4 hours.

Unfortunately one of the 2 members of the group who likes going in reverse caught her wheel in the dirt and fell, which really stinks.  This caused quite a commotion in the village and everyone came to watch her get bandaged up (her entire right leg is now covered in bandages because she's fallen down a few times).

While we were waiting, Jane, in her ultimate wisdom, chose to walk with her bike down a steep, muddy ditch to do...what?  I'm not sure.  Anyway, she fell all the way down and was covered from head to toe in mud and god knows what else.  This made all the villagers laugh..

We ended up being really late and it was cool to be in rush hour traffic with lots of ox pulled wagons.

It was a gorgeous night for a ride.

Then back on the bus for another 3 hours.  I was sandwiched in between a Belgian lady who really can't speak English (I was wrong, she's not faking) and a British guy.  We all had our knees up to our ears - except for Jane and the other slow poke who took 2 seats for themselves.  Nobody bothered arguing.
The Belgian lady ended up stealing my water bottle.  I confronted her and she pretended like she didn't understand what I was saying.   This reminds me -  I wish I spoke another language that nobody else understood so I could pull that off.  I'll have to speak to The Healer about this.  There's gotta be something he can do.