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Characters On The Buddha Train – Part 2
Things are taking shape on the Buddha train. Little Miss Selfie has put herself into her self-indulgent limelight and is convinced that everyone loves her as much as she loves herself. The group as a whole is falling into two definable entities, the Punctuals and the Dawdlers, those of us who are always on time and those for whom time seems to be an abstract concept even when the entire group has a schedule to stick to. Bob is a great guy, Ben hugely personable and exceptionally good company, whilst Patrick is emerging as someone who could teach the Buddhists a thing or two about respectful conduct. He can’t pass…
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Characters On The Buddha Train – Part 1
We started our recent journey around South East Asia with what was effectively a “train cruise” visiting some of the most important places in the life of Buddha. During our posts we touched on some of the characters we met on that train. Here we delve a bit deeper into those experiences in a 2-part post about life on the Buddha train…. We’d never done it before, been on an organised trip like this, so we were probably the ones sticking out like sore thumbs as we tried to gauge some sort of assessment of our fellow passengers. Who would be on a “train cruise” through India tracing the story…
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Var’s New Home & Other Stories
If you’re lucky enough to travel, meeting people from entirely different cultures, with entirely different lives, is one of the many privileges. It broadens the mind, is stimulating, educational and humbling, and puts our own lives into a different perspective. Here we continue our short series of posts telling the stories of some of the people we met on our recent tour of South East Asia. Life is never quite as straightforward as it seems: there is another side to every story. Sitting outside the floating house in Prek Toal and talking with a relaxed and disarmed Var, our guide and companion, was absolutely enlightening. His story is no doubt just…
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Tin-Tin And The Khmer Rouge
If you’re lucky enough to travel, meeting people from entirely different cultures, with entirely different lives, is one of the many privileges. It broadens the mind, is stimulating, educational and humbling, and puts our own lives into a different perspective. Here we begin a short series of posts telling the stories of some of the people we met on our recent tour of South East Asia. When we first meet Tin-Tin he is busily cleaning his tuk-tuk, clearing dust from its wheel arches and drying off the recently wiped passenger seats, sharing jokes with a guy who is cooling off in the shadow of the trees. He greets us with…
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Street Art & Tech Art In Singapore
For a fee which is eminently reasonable we are able to delay checkout till 6pm, hugely useful when it’s an overnight flight home. One last ride on the MRT and a couple of stops on the Skytrain and we’re wandering into a crowded Changi Airport, still far too early for our flight but happy to kill time with a beer and a sandwich. Until, that is, the lady at the check-in desk suggests we stay land-side and head to the Jewel. Has anyone seen the Jewel at Changi in the last few years? At night? Just when we think we’ve seen all of the wonders which Singapore has to offer,…
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Last Days Of The Trip: Ending On A High, Literally
“Good morning Sir, will you be paying cash or card?”, she asks before we’ve even got past the gate. “I don’t know yet. Probably card”. “That’s one hundred dollars then, Sir, please”, she says, picking up the card machine. “But I haven’t bought anything yet”. “No, Sir, it’s fifty dollars per person minimum spend here”. I grin, most probably an inane grin, thinking she’s joking. I look at her more closely. She definitely isn’t joking. She means it. This is a beach bar, it’s 11 o’clock in the morning, and they want a minimum of 100 dollars regardless of what we want to eat/drink/buy. We’re both speechless – well, speechless…
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Singapore: On To The Little Red Dot
Such a difference. After ten weeks in Asia, ten weeks of looking away from the heaps of discarded plastic of terra firma and the floating garbage on the water, avoiding inhaling the stench of drains and sewers and steadfastly ignoring any rats which cross our path, and instead concentrating on the many very good bits, we find ourselves suddenly on the pristine streets of Singapore. Singapore, where the sidewalks look permanently swept and the tiniest sweet wrapper has been dutifully binned, where chewing gum is illegal and cigarettes are only smoked on designated street corners, where the posters on the metro carry more instructions and guidance on how to be…
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People, Food And Funny Words: Last Day In Cambodia
“Hi”, he says, his whole face illuminated by his broad smile, “how long you been in Cambodia”. “Four weeks now, we leave on Tuesday”, says Michaela, and adds in response to his next question, “Siem Reap, Tonle Sap, Battambang, Phnom Penh, Kampot and Kep”. He beams. “Thank you so much for visiting my country, I hope you like it” When we tell him just how much we have loved it, his smile nearly bursts out of his cheeks. He can’t say thank you enough times. Big smiles, friendly manner, gracious attitude….and there you have our experience of the people of Cambodia summed up in one brief exchange. Honestly, we haven’t…
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From Kampot to Kep: Discovering A Seafood Heaven
The South East Asia Games are underway. This regional, Olympics-style event is being held in Cambodia for the first time in its history, with Phnom Penh the host city. The last night of our time in Phnom Penh coincided with the Games’ opening ceremony, a spectacular event encapsulating typical scenes from Cambodian history and everyday Cambodian life all delivered with the wonderfully choreographed routines that characterise these opening ceremonies. Packed with commentaries on the country’s bright future and full of pride and patriotism, the whole thing felt like another powerful statement, another big step, on Cambodia’s road to a new era. The enthusiasm of the crowd simply watching on the…
- Asia, Cambodia, Independent travel, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Transport, Travel Blog, World food
Kampot: A Different Kind Of Town
The train is almost definitely not our best option for getting to Kampot, given that there’s only one train per day which leaves Phnom Penh at 7am and takes four hours to do just 150km, but my love of rail travel wins and so we skip breakfast and make our way to the station early enough to beat the traffic jams which create the daily morning gridlock. An ambling train journey through drier and more agricultural terrain eventually delivers us to the little town of Kampot nestling on the banks of the Sangke River, just a few miles from the coast. The smiley little guy introduces himself as Pat as…
