As I am writing this I am lying on a bed encased in a web like mosquito net listening to the Mekong river lapping it’s Cambodian banks. There is an insect orchestra playing outside or possibly inside our hut and a gecko is defying gravity by scurrying along the ceiling directly above us, occasionally stopping to stare at us with his two beady jet black eyes.
The day started at 04:45 when my alarm went off (playing a Band of Horses track). We only had a couple of hours sleep but had to bounce out of bed and get to the airport. Our hosts dropped us off at the bus station and we hugged them goodbye as we waited for our bus driver to finish his breakfast. It was hot, even now, although you wouldn’t think it by the actions of our bus attendant (Thai lady) who kept miming exaggerated shivers claiming it was too cold. Emma got a coffee from a vending machine and declared it disgusting (little did she know at the time, but that would be the best of her 4 coffees today). The bus was clean, tidy and spacious with reclining seats and the attendant provided us with chilled bottled water. We watched the pink sun rise as we made our way to Bangkok. Check in was straightforward so we treated ourselves to an airport meal. The standard ‘local’ airport meal (Pad Thai) was a little bit tastier and cheaper than your average airport offerings. The plane journey was over in less than an hour (but they still managed to provide a meal and a glass of wine to most passengers -not us though as they claimed we hadn’t ordered a vegetarian meal). Everyone else had fish and rice which made the plane smell like a poor version of yesterday’s fish market.
After a bit of faffing at visa control we were eventually allowed to enter Cambodia. Uniformed officers can be quite intimidating but lucky for us these ones were full of smiles. Outside the airport taxi drivers duelled for our custom but little did they know that Mr Tom and his Tuk Tuk were already on the way to collect us, sent by our accomodation (Blue indigo retreat). Emma tried another coffee and binned it after a sip and shortly later Mr Tom arrived, a chatty friendly Cambodian with a rusty Tuk Tuk. We jumped in and started our 90 minute journey to our accomodation. Thai traffic was wild but had nothing on this. Absolute chaos and craziness, mopeds and tuk Tuks everywhere. How we didn’t crash I will never know! At one point a family on a moped with two babies almost rode into us, someone also rode past with 3 air fryers strapped to his back. Bonkers. There were no glossy signs of tourism here this was real life. The duel currency (dollars and riel) takes some getting used to. We had to squeeze on a ferry to cross the Mekong (we were the only white faces on board) and bounced down the road further and further from the city, the bounces getting bigger and more frequent every kilometer. There were no shops as we know them, everything was a stall or a shack, bikes and mopeds were everywhere.
Eventually Mr Tom started to turn down what looked at first to be a hole in a wall but as we got closer we could see this was a super narrow rutted dirt alleyway. As we edged along the rutted track locals squatted in the dust staring at us, to the left someone was butchering a chicken that was hanging from a wire. At the end of the track we were dropped off in front of a huge solid metal gate. The gate slid open and we stepped into an oasis and we’re greeted by the owner Jan who gave us a tour and got us settled. We were just in time for evening yoga on the deck beside the Mekong river as the sun set. We were under a beautiful tree and enjoyed a hatha session to stretch out after our travels. By the end of the session the mozzies were out, bats were flitting between the tree branches and a gecko was emiting a strange bicycle horn type noise.
After yoga we got some mozzie spray on us and sat down with our group for a ‘family’ style dinner. We had wontons, salad and dip and sweet potato curry with rice (possibly the only vegan meal being eaten this side of the river) which was delicious. We chatted with the small group (yoga teacher, 2 french girls one completely and hilariously bonkers and a German girl) my anxiety seemed under control and I almost enjoyed myself despite the newness of the scene and people! After dinner we washed up and I chased some geckos for pictures before returning to our room and sliding into the safety of our princess style mozzie net.
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