We last left you in Cambodia where we were soaking up the attention from the friendly folks there after the slight shock of Vietnam. After our short stay in Cambodia we reflected that we would have been happier to have missed Vietnam altogether and spent more time in there and Laos but, we could never have known.

We hired a motorbike and did a lovely (if not a little rushed) trip down to the south coast of Cambodia to see the beaches and indulge in some seafood. The landscape of Cambodia was really beautiful. Long, flat expanses of rice fields peppered with coconut palms would stretch out as far as the eye could see, the only movement being the slow waddle of a buffalo cart dragging owner and rice grains alike. Unfortunately the roads weren't quite so flat and at times Lisa would have to grasp at my waist to avoid being thrown from the bike. It seems that the bumps in the road are placed at just the right spacing so that the rider builds up momentum with each bounce in a trampoline like effect until you are forced to slow down and allow your passenger to return to the atmosphere. In our four months of travelling we had our finest seafood meal at a small place called Kep on the south coast. Lisa and and I had close to a kilo of super fresh crabs, prawns and squid each cooked to perfection for around $5. Divine.

Cow-cart, Southern Provinces

Half of the Cambodian population is under 21yrs old due to the Pol Pot Regime

Visiting the Genocide museum in Pnomh Penh and the 'killing fields' really makes you wonder how such a terrible thing could happen in the modern age.

Genocide Museum

A highlight of Cambodia was our unexpected invitation to a Cambodian wedding party. It all started after we met a guy on a bus from Saigon to Pnomh Penh. He was a tour guide for Intrepid but lived in Siam Reap, Cambodia. We met up with him again in Siam Reap and met some of his friends. After a night of drinks and fun one of his friends invited us to his wedding party the next day with the insistence that we would have "never seen anything quite like it". He was right. The wedding party in Cambodia is a lavish affair for them but something very kitsch for us. We had seen some as we'd travelled through the countryside. In most cases they were a gaudy pink and green tent with tassles galore filled with tables and chairs, food and thumping Cambodian pop music. Expecting a similar event we rocked up wearing some basic clothes and eager smiles. It turns out that our new 'friend' came from a much wealthier family and their party was held at the most lavish wedding party venue in town. Girls were dressed in elegant gowns of glitter and gold and each given a quota of half a pound of make-up each. Men wore their finest shirts and even shoes. There was a Cambodian pop band on stage playing the latest hits complete with choregraphed 'boy-band' style dancers. And their, jaws wide and dressed in our backpacker best at the front door was Lisa and myself. Despite our embarrassment at not quite being dressed for the occasion we had an absolute blast of an evening. The most perplexing thing though, the one that had me scratching my head the most, out of all the peculiarities, was the amount of man love in the room... It seems there is a complete role reversal at the Cambodian wedding ceremony. Whilst the girls are dressed in their best and look stunning they did not come near the dancefloor. Men on the other hand were literally dancing until they dropped and boy oh boy did they want to dance with me!

The men were dancing intimately and affectionately whilst wives and girlfriends clapped and smiled along. In one case, following the lead of the dancers on stage men would assume a spooning position with their best mate and slide their hands down his body into a Michael Jackson style groin grope before hollering joy and jumping around like little boys. Hilarious.

Tomb-Raiders

With Angkor Wat, or the Temples of Angkor as they should be titled, the last box for us to tick in Cambodia we were left in a small dilemma. Both of us, being a little bit 'templed out' after four months of Asian travels, were finding it very difficult to justify the exorbitant entry prices to see the famed ruins. Coupled with this the Cambodian Government has banned the hiring of motorbikes around Angkor, cleverly ensuring solid wages for taxi drivers and rickshaw operators alike ferrying foreigners the long distances between temples. Thankfully, with the words of many travellers who'd encouraged us to "believe us, just spend it!" ringing in our ears we purchased the three day pass and a day with a driver, staring at each other with bewilderment as we watched four days budget drift away from us like a childs favourite marble down a drain.


The temples are amazing. Our first day started with a small snow flake on the top of the mountain but was a raging snowball by the end of our second day. I wouldn't recommend our choice of beginning with a sunrise at Angkor Wat, in fact I'd struggle to recommend Angkor Wat at all but once we started delving deeper into the complex web of temples and the jungles that house them, the true fascination and beauty shines through. There are SO many temples and tramping around like you're Indiana Jones (me) or Lara Croft (Lisa) is a unforgettable experience.

Our Beach, Mae Haad

Our Christmas was spent in Bangkok and wasn't filled with anything spectacular. The Thai Govt has a law against the selling of any goods under direct sunlight on Mondays... don't ask me why or how they figured it up but I think it has something to do with the King. This means that all street vendours and markets are out of business on this day, with Christmas Eve falling on a monday, our plans for a fun night on the streets of Khao San were obliterated. I was only thankful that I wasn't one of the many people who planned to spend New Years Eve in Bangkok (also a Monday)!! Our Christmas treat and our 'pat-on-the-back' for four months of travel was a relaxing week on Koh Pha Ngan which included a well deserved party on the famous Full Moon beach for NYE. We found a sweet little beach on the NW coast and had a fantastic time swimming, eating, drinking and gaining some sinnister joy out of both witnessing and admiring the results of the multitude of motorcycle mishaps on the island. We must have witnessed at least five 'mishaps', most of which we were able to 'tsk tsk' as the rider walked away unharmed if not a little self-conscious but in one case Lisa had to ride another couples bike to the hospital after thay suffered a particularly nasty fall in front of our eyes. A few dozen stitches though and they were walking again, if not a little sheepishly.

Not everyday you have a whole top floor of a skyscraper at your disposal for photo fun. Bangkok.

The first 24 hours in Sri Lanka should have been reason enough for us to pack up and leave on the next available flight but thankfully things turned around faster than an enthusiastic bus tout can shout, "Colombo, Colombo, Colombo, Colombo, Colombo, Colombo....." you're just gonna have to trust me on this one...it's fast, real fast, I couldn't even pronounce the syllables!

Sri Lankan faces.


A train ride in SL, inside and out.

We arrived late and as expected when you rock up in a country in the realms of a newly declared civil war, there is military everywhere! Not exactly a picture post card start. Our first bed was crap and over priced and we had no other choice as the streets were a ghost town. Our first explore started strong but went steeply down hill when we had our first of many 'close encounters of the faecal kind'. We hadn't walked down even a hundred metres of the beach when we walked over a small rocky outcrop to find a lovely, kind faced old man (yes I was close enough to see clearly the features of his face) taking a crap right in front of our very eyes. He was cool with it so I guess that means we should be cool with it so we just kept on walking keeping our eyes regularly fixed to the sand for potential 'mishaps'. On these coastal strips the beach is the latrine for thousands of people and here, in India it's even worse! But... you gotta look at it from their point of view, I mean, its not like they need it for sun baking and making castles!!

The next event and the one that has had me closest to breaking point so far occurred when a man in a bus degraded Lisa in the worst possible way. The bus was jam packed and hot and gross and somehow a creature of a man managed to get close enough to Lisa where he masturbated on her leg. I was further away near the door, pushed by the throng and seperate from her, a policy we have been quick to change. Discovering the goo on her pants Lisa reacted which sent the man hurtling through the crowd and out of the moving bus. After a cry of "get him" from Lisa I too ran from the moving bus and in pursuit of the man who to my knowledge must have stolen something from her. Catching the small man and sending him to the bitumen I realised he had only a mobile phone on him and it wasn't Lisa's. A crowd of men from the bus came and restrained him so I took the opportunity to find out what had happened. When I got back and saw what had happened and Lisa's face I ran to the man with as much fury as I've ever felt in my life. There in the mass of people was the man, cowering at my figure as I came closer, knowing that I now knew. With my fist raised and ready to strike I hesitated as the throng stared, perplexed. Through stuttered speach and gestures I would never wish to repeat I explained the events and when preparing to strike him again had to restrain myself. The man was simple, dirty, cowering and with eyes turned down mumbling his forgiveness. With the arrival of an assertive, English speaking man and the suggestion of taking him to the police to be dealt with I relaxed my fist and with my heart racing looked around at the gathering swarm, all staring. It was such a peculiar experience, all that anger in me, that desire for violence yet the unknown factor. In a country where I'd only been for 16 hours, I didn't know the laws, I didn't know the repercussions of my actions and the man was small, simple and severely impaired to do such a thing. I trusted the group to their justice and returned to the bus and to Lisa. I felt for Lisa then, more than I ever have for anyone, in a crowded bus, in a foreign country, in a terrible position. I stood by her side and didn't leave till we got where we were going.

Whilst some of the men may not be very nice in Sri Lanka, the trees are. Our bus ride took us to Kandy in the centre of Sri Lanka where there is some of the most beautiful vegetation I have ever seen. The landscape in Sri Lanka is so incredibly green and the variety of trees is unsurpassed. We spent a wonderful day there wandering around the park spying on the hundreds of young couples hiding amongst the tree root eager for an intimate 'hand-holding' moment away from the peering eyes of parents and friends. There was literally a couple under every tree, in some cases they would hide their faces from our cameras in case we 'leaked' the images to the media or their parents.

We had made a decision in Bangkok to organise our Indian tourist visa in Colombo, once in Sri Lanka and with shouts of civil war we immediately regretted it. We had a bit of an ordeal getting it sorted but thankfully it worked. The military presence in Colombo was pretty rattling. In one instance I emerged from a booth-like ATM after spending five minutes figuring out how to work the darn thing only to find the street deserted. Wondering what the hell was going on I looked around to see a rifle wielding soldier screaming at me to run toward him. Figuring it was better to obey than ask questions I ran across to him just before a huge armed forticade moved through the streets. We were happy to get out of Colombo.

We V-lined it to the south coast of Sri Lanka in the hope of finding some good surf and we got it. We spent around four days at Midigama where I was able to quench my thirst for the waves. The waves were super consistent and the reef breaks around there better than I had hoped. I only wish my arms and ribs could have sustained the barrage I gave them better...I was aching! Sri Lanka is really cheap, I'm planning on going back there in April to surf some more before Europe. You could easily live on less than AU$8/day and be surfing some great fun waves. Why does a little taste of paradise have to be marred by war?

So now I am in Southern India, in Kerala State and it's hot and lovely. In a couple of weeks I will be in the opposite extreme, the Himalaya, flying down some mountains. Needless to say there is no doubt a story or two in the making every day. As I suspected India is feeling 'good' in my veins, it shouldn't be surprising given that this big 'ol Maharaja is in my blood. I'm by no means on a 'spiritual family quest' but I do hope to visit my Great Grandfathers billiards company in Chennai and my Grandfather was born in Lahore. But...you will have to stay tuned for those tales.

Thanks for reading (or maybe you just look at the photos...that's ok)

Tim