Cambodian tales.

So we've been in Cambodia now for about four days. We've been hanging with six other people we met on the Mekong cruise and it's been totally ace: Marc + Michelle (UK and Australia), Anthony (Australia), Caroline and Guro (UK and Norway) plus a couple of other vagrants along the way.

The Cambodian people have been soooo sweet - I have really loved their kind and gentle ways... and their English is superb, and they don't pester to the point of extreme if they are selling something, which has been a godsend as I've had the flu for the last three days and not really feeling up to defending myself.

The main crazy time was when we got off the bus in Siem Reap. Everyone had had a drink the night before, and the bus journey had been really hot, sticky and bumpy. We got off the bus to a huuuuge crowd of people trying to sell us tuktuk rides or get us to their guesthouse: it was total madness. I think we had about ten people surrounding each of us, pushing signs in our faces, tapping us on the shoulder and shouting out prices and benefits. I made a run for my pack and the swarm did the same. Our saving grace was the fact that the guesthouse we were in in Phnom Penh had alerted their sister guesthouse in Siem Reap and they'd made a sign saying "MR WHATEVER HAPPY BIRTHDAY 7 PEOPLE" (a reference to Quentin, but they didn't know his last name) - the guy triumphantly held up the sign and walked away with the lion's share of the business. And we dived to saftey into his waiting tuktuks. Ahhh.