Wow, jetlag sucks. I had 2 hours sleep yesterday afternoon and 12 last night and I’ve still been way out of it today. Spose that happens when you have 2 days (one of them 29hrs long) and don’t sleep between them.
We are really being treated well staying here with friends of the family. Lara and I have our own area (the entire upper storey!), we’re being driven around the countryside, and have certainly been given more than enough to eat!

After working out for ourselves how to catch and find our seat on the train despite the language barrier, we were amused more than once during the trip to see people wander in to our carriage dazedly looking around for "wagen ein und zwanzig ... ... OK. ... Drei und fünfzig.. drei .. und .. fünfzig". One couple even had one of the ticket inspectors sit down, heave a big sigh and tell them that yes they do in fact require a valid ticket and no, being simple-minded is not a valid excuse so please don’t smile at me like that. Or something.
Our feelings of intellectual superiority were short-lived however when we arrived in Nuremberg to find a large train station and no-one to meet us. We waited for over half an hour, looking all over the place before calling and leaving a message on the phone of our friends. A little later we went to the service desk and asked them to page our friends. Less than two minutes later another page come over, this time for us! Laughing to ourselves, I went to the desk and called then number left there for us. Turns out we were supposed to call our friends when we arrived in Frankfurt to confirm our arrival time in Nuremberg. They’d waited for our call, but hadn’t received it so thought we must have changed the day, and they went to work.
Not to worry, just one more hour’s wait (during which anyone could have stolen our luggage or painted our faces while we dozed on and off) and we were headed for Heilsbronn.
We had the energy to take a tour of the town on foot that afternoon, and promptly went to bed after returning to the house.

Today has been great. We spent most of the day at Rothenburg, a nearby town that is hundreds and hundreds of years old (as most places here are - as old as Angkor even) and still has most of the city walls and buildings from over the centuries intact. This place is full of great history and we had a knowledgeable guide (father of our friend) and it really was good fun.

Later in the afternoon we went over to Neuendettelsau for their annual Kirchweih festival. Done traditionally, this festival is great. All the men of the village head out in the morning to find a big old pine tree that must be 30m tall and dead straight. Once found, everybody has a drink. The tree is lopped and stripped of branches except for a tuft at the top, and a wreath is hung about two-thirds of the way up. If the tree’s not straight however, you have to go and find another. Everyone has another drink. The tree is hooked up to a tractor and carried into the middle of the town behind another tractor that carries a band. The tractors drive slowly so the men can walk (while drinking and singing) behind. When they reach the town they put the tree in the ground, erecting it in a slow way leaving much time for singing and drinking. Watch must be kept during the night (fortunately the tree is planted outside a pub) to make sure neighbouring villages (whose men have been having a go with songs of their own all day) don’t chop down or vandalise the tree. Much merriment is had by all.
Today’s effort was less than lackluster. There was very little singing, there was little drinking (except by a few rather drunk bystanders), nobody seemed entirely sure how to erect the tree (I don’t know if using a ladder is part of the custom), and it really was quite boring to watch. Our friends apologised but they had expected it to be not so good because Neuendettelsau is now such a big town. Even from the start things were not good: "Oh no, nobody is wearing a red scarf! See, already this is bullshit!" [said in broken English]. But we did get an idea for how it should be, heard some great tales of how good it is in the smaller villages (there’s one nearly every weekend because each village has their own every summer), and heard a taste of a German jeering song from our driver as we drove off early.

Tonight we have feasted on BBQ’d traditional Franconian sausage. Splendid items they were, just lovely with potato salad and a touch of chili sauce perhaps.

During the day I’ve had a chance to daze and doze during the car trips and I’ve found myself reliving some good times in the recent past (though some were odd: who’s in for a chorus of "Springtime for Hitler"?). So I’m feeling incredibly worn and worse for wear, but I’m obviously happy and comfortable here.

Residence of our family friends,
Heilsbronn, Germany

Clarke Quay is like a fancy Eagle St Pier (for the Brisbanites), a select number of cafes along the river, most with interesting catch-phrases painted on the front.
Singapore’s national sport is shopping, and Orchard Rd is the place to do it. Kilometers of shopping centres line both sides of this busy road, you can find not only what you want but even how you want to buy it - large David Jones type department store or more one of the more seedy shops over at Lucky Plaza.
Seeing as I was cramping her style (she’d only bought one pair of shoes in the first 90mins, and they were a less than perfect replacement for her all-time favourite pair that just broke) so Lara and I split up for the rest of the day.
Armed with a crash course in How to be Ripped Off When You Think You’re Getting a Bargain from my Cambodian exposure, and feeling rather bored, I started browsing digital cameras. Not to purchase you understand, just for looking. 45mins and two sweaty palms later I’ve come away with a new toy. You be the judge: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 (5 Mega-pixel, 8x Optical Zoom, cats pyjamas of features), mini-tripod, carry case, 128Mb SD card, 4 rechargeable AAs and charger, Lens protector filter and travel power adapter for AU$386 (incl Visa conversion fees). Back to the hotel I went to double-check that it would copy photos to my iPod (it did), and then I decided to walk back over to Orchard Rd.

It was a very pleasant day for Singapore, the cloud cover helped keep it cool. I took a longish way around, including a ‘private road’ that a local told me of but said I should be right because "You’re a tourist". There wasn’t much special about it except the boom-gates (which were all up), and the guards at one innocuous looking place who were more than happy to ignore me completely from the other side of the road.

That evening Lara and I took a cab to the Raffles "The Plaza" and Swissotel "The Stamford" complex. "The Stamford" is the highest building in Singapore at 72 stories, and Level 71 is the "Equinox - New Asia Bar" with views over the whole rest of the city if not country (72 is a mezzanine level for members of some elite club). This bar is fantastic! Go between 6pm and 9pm Sun-Thurs and get 50% off drinks (Sing$10.50 for cocktails and Sing$7.75 for exotic imported beers). Be sure to get there early or be willing to stand (at 6:40pm Lara and I got the last two stools) and be prepared to wait ever so slightly longer than you’d like for service, but it is incredibly worthwhile, even at full drinks prices. Watching the lights of Singapore one-by-one come on while sharing a drink with all sorts of people in a great atmosphere is a must for any traveller who has more than 4 hours stopover here!


OK so now we’re in Germany. The train from the airport was easy enough to find and catch even for those of us who don’t speak the language, though it did take a little nouse and initiative. I was quite disappointed to see it was late to arrive and leave the airport. This has entirely blown my own personal stereotype of Germany out of the water, leaving me in the awkward position of having to form an opinion of the place without my beloved preconceived ideas.
Also, from the train carriage, I’m finding Frankfurt to be not at all very clean. It seems every time I turn my head to look out Lara’s window there’s another causeway or barn with graffiti on it, or an ugly building like a power station or Frankfurt Central Train Station.
The train ride is lovely and smooth though, and I think I’ll have a nap and dream of what I’d like Bavaria (we’re going to the area of Franconia) to be like when we step off the train in less than two hours.

Seat 91, Car 21
ICE825 Frankfurt - Nuremberg

Taxis in Singapore are great value. They’re cheap, abundant and the drivers are privy to a wealth of information and opinions that neither Lara nor I had. After our first decent (ie includes cereal and milk) breakfast in a while we decided to go see Singapore’s Merlion park. Not much to waste your time on there, just a big statue of a mer-lion spitting water out its mouth. A quick photo then over to Chinatown.
Chinatown is quite similar to what I imagine Chinatowns all over the world to be like, except perhaps with more Indian taylors and cheap trinket shops. One thing we noticed was how friendly the salespeople on the street are. Being accosted by these people was quite a pleasure. They come out and shake your hand and call you good sir and beam brightly when you return the greeting. A smooth flow of comforting tones flows from their mouth as they ask you where you’re from, comment on how beautiful that country is, not to mention your lady companion, and isn’t $40 amazingly cheap for a washable silk shirt.
We were too early at Chinatown to see the mass of food shops and stalls along Smith St open up, but that was OK, we chuffed off to Clarke Quay.

Fleis 4,
Frankfurt am Main Flughafen fernbahnhoff

What came next for this trip was Singapore.
But not before Lara and I had a few hours to ourselves around Siem Reap again. We went for a body massage just after checkout. Khmer massage is fun for a guy (the girl's one seems completely different) because the massage girl is much smaller and gets herself in all sorts of positions to yank and squeeze and thump on your body. I was privelaged to a short lesson in Khmer from my bubbly friendly body rubber, mostly words like "pale skin" and "chest hair".

After our final lunch at Shadow of Angkor we ducked over to the supermaket for some snacks with the last of our USD. Unfortunately I spend the very last of my USD when I was supposed to save $1 for the tuk-tuk to the airport. You can picture the lively scene at the Union Commercial Bank when a big dumb foreigner wanders in and asks to withdraw $1 from his Visa card. Luckily they don't charge fees there.

So off to the airport and up and away to Singapore. On the plane we met a friendly young American girl who gave us some great tips for what to do in 24hrs in this city, which was most helpful.

In some ways I still haven't left Cambodia. It's still "Arkun" for "thankyou" and Lara and I are struggling with the "water from the tap can be clean enough to drink" concept. But Singapore is very impressive at night and a day of retail therapy tomorrow sould snap us back into 1st world mode, for better or for worse.

Room 919, Fort Canning Lodge
Singapore

Sunday night we went to “Bayon II” restaurant (not “Bayon” or “The New Bayon”) for some pretty good buffet dinner and some traditional dancing. It was worth going for sure, you’d be silly to come this far to another culture and not plonk yourself front and centre for an hour’s worth of entertainment Khmer style. Old-school traditional (we saw similar outfits in 800yr old carvings the next day) as well as some more modern styles were performed, each one either very clever (how far can your fingers bend themselves backwards?) or telling a nice story (eg young romance between fishers).

Recommended viewing.

Monday morning and we’re off to see one of the 7 Wonder of the World, the temples at Angkor!

US$20 seems like a lot (especially when you lose your ticket ad have to buy another, like one of our group) when everything else here is so cheap, but it really is top value for such a privilege. Throw in a tuk-tuk driver for the day (mandatory), lunch, and elephant ride, and a bob up and down in a hot-air balloon (we skipped that one) and for under US$60 you’ve had a day of your life you’ll be telling your great-grandkids about and still grinning widely reminiscing.

Built in the 1100s these temples are really something else. Angkor Thom is a largish area with quite a few buildings through it (it’s a few square kms large), the highlights of which is the Bayon temple, where you’ll find all the great pillars (each one is a room) with a Buddha’s face on each of the four sides. Phreah Kahn, the Terrace of the Elephants and Thommanom are all worth checking out, and we didn’t have time to see everything.

The highlight is of course Angkor Wat. This place is just out of this world, even the outside bridge over the moat and gate are impressive before the ~1km concourse before reaching the actual temple. Inside, inscriptions and impressively ornate carvings are everywhere, and these are just the ones that are left!

Inside further is like an inner-temple but to get to it you have to scale up 3 or 4 stories worth of very steep steps (two hands for beginners on these old worn steps). At the top the view is every bit as splendid as you could expect.

(Our group was feeling very beat after lunch. We told our tuk-tuk driver we’d just and have a quick squiz at Angkor Wat, retire to our hotel for a couple of hours recovery, then return for sunset. Ha! We spent 2 hours inside, including climbing and walking non-stop.)

More creative writers than I can better express how impressive this all is – even though it is incredibly worn and most of the more ornate stone carvings are lost, let alone whatever gold or silk or timber that was part of the original (and alas no 12^th century photos have survived).

Go and see Angkor. Stay in Siem Reap a few days and go. Do it soon, next year, next month maybe, while this place is still cheap and friendly. You will forever treasure the experience.

Which brings us to today.

We saw the landmine museum this morning. Not your traditional type of museum, this is out in a poor part of town, a shack and a little land where an ex Khmer Rouge soldier called Aki Ra has on display all types of landmines, booby traps and other unexploded objects that he himself has dug-up using nothing more than sticks. When he was young, Aki Ra was made to plant mine for the Khmer Rouge, but now he takes in young landmine victim children who all live and have schooling here at this place. If you go there you will see the kids running around missing a limb or two (but still able to slingshot a rat out of a tree with one go!) and most of them are more than happy to how you through the place: each type of device and how traps are laid and how mines are recovered, and to tell you his own story too. This place is great because is displays a lot about Cambodia’s recent history, but also shows you the nature of these beautiful people. It’s free to go and you’re mad not to see it and come away with a souvenir or two.

One more lunch with our group before half of this team heads off. We devoured our lovely Western food from “Shadow of Angkor” where we’re now regulars and it was back to the hotel for goodbyes.

This is just about the end of a significant chapter for Lara and I on this trip. Last night the group shared our thoughts to each other and I said that I was disappointed to be struck down when it came to the crux of the trip – even the one day I had with the people I felt very off in the head and the illness tainted my opinion of Tbeng Meanchey. {Just read those last journal entries…} However, I would never have not come, and I would dearly love to come back and do it again properly. Such is how much I enjoyed and gained from the experience as a whole despite the negatives.

We were warned before coming that this sort of trip changes a person. I think it’s easy to say I’ve been changed even already, and we haven’t returned home yet.

To me this change in itself is wonderful because it opens up a whole new element of life, and so much more opportunity and potential. It’s exciting to think what might come next from this.

Room 144, Sakura Villa,
Siem Reap, Siem Reap,
Cambodia

Sunday morning saw us up and leaving Preah Vihear bright and early. Ours was the only car of 4 to opt to hit the road at 7:30am instead of going to one of the churches nearby.

The drive wasn’t anywhere near as enjoyable as the one to Tbeng Meanchey, but the road was smoother and the trip was only 3 hours, and we were just glad to arrive somewhere and have a sleep.

Siem Reap is different to Phnom Penh and really is the opposite end of the Cambodian spectrum to Tbeng Meanchey. This place is full of tourists (even though it’s supposedly low season) and a surprising number of very very swanky hotels! Ours is really quite nice for the price though.

Room 351, Sakura Villa,
Siem Reap, Siem Reap,
Cambodia

The dinner was lovely, but either that meal or (more likely) the one at lunch earlier was entirely upsetting for my digestive system. Over the 11 hours between 10pm Thurs and 9am Fri I made no less than 7 trips to the toilet – each one in quite a hurry. And as yet another indication that bad things come to those to try new things, our toilet (which was progressively having more and more trouble flushing) finally choked and stopped draining completely. Not too late into the night I jumped up to go, but my previous flush wasn’t flushed.
Bang Bang Bang! Was me on the door across the hall. "We're in bed!" called Lara; ever the curt one. Some gentle coaxing in the form of moaning and thumping roused her to open the door just far enough for be to bowl her over and shut myself in her toilet for some momentary relief. It wasn't the type of relief I expected thought; the strain in my intestinal region passed itself to my stomach which subsequently went out (the other end) in sympathy. This continued through the night, I would get around an hour's worth of reprieve after each bout.
Come morning I was quite fed up with the whole affair and resolved to at least keep down the medication, which I finally succeeded at. Every disease likes to kick a man when he's down and the fever is no different, hitting me during the day with enough intensity to give severe discomfort but fortunately not enough severity to warrant more than copious quantities of drugs and moving my bed under the fan. It too passed in a few hours.

During the day I was afforded one amusing scene however. Our room stank like shit that had been left to sit overnight (funnily enough) and my roommate Bruce (permission to use name granted) took it upon himself to see that someone fix our toilet and the air-contents of the room be returned to predominantly breathable elements once again. He spoke to the wife of the hotel owner/manager/handyman/boor when he left in the morning, explaining the problem and mentioning also that there was still someone resting in the room. He got a "ah yeah, happens all the time, no worries" sort of wave and chuffed off. When he returned at lunch time the smell of the room had vastly improved (I could open the window and door easily enough) but the source of the problem was not yet addressed. Being the follow-through type of guy that he is, Bruce again trudged the two flights down to have another crack at procuring assistance. Downstairs it seems that they did understand the problem, but didn't fix it because there was somebody in the room. Better to leave them suffocate on methane perhaps.
Making it clear that no this person resting upstairs won't infect them with a deadly disease, but yes he might soon pass on himself if left with the toilet in its current state, the wife of the family team followed him back up to the room. Apparently her husband gave her a dismissive "you take care of it" wave to send her up, and was disgruntled to miss even that much TV wrestling.
After assuring her that my friendly gestures to welcome her into the room were not contagious scramblings of a madman, she came in and Bruce left us.
No problem, let's have a look.
She lifted the lid only the microsecond required to assess the situation and in one fluid motion reeled backwards and reached forward to flush the toilet (because we wouldn't have tried that of course). This incited mild palpitations in my chest because my rough calculations suggested the volume already in the bowl plus the volume added by the flush was greater than the total volume of the bowl. I was relieved to be mistaken in this case, but I must have been close.
This was the extent of her problem solving abilities apparently so she left the room again, leaving me feeling rather jipped. But only for a short while, she returned momentarily and again made for the bathroom, in a manner that gave me deja-vu. She wasn't going to do the same thing again though, it would be ludicrous to lift that lid again. I know, let's just give it another flush.
In this poor lady's defence I should here mention that she was already under a decent level of pressure from her partner downstairs, and the intoxication of sniffing what was under that lid would have shortened a fair number of synapses too. Stressed people make mistakes.
Before I could slap my hand on my face the dreaded blurble-blurble-blurble started as this most wretchedly odious matter oozed from the lid. With lightning reflexes and a child-like manner of guilt she reached for the shower rose to try and wash away her faux pax.
Just at that moment her magnanimous husband, appeared at the door. Had I been more attentive I might have been able to learn the Khmer for "What the f#*&?". The mild condescending berating that followed was amusement enough for my feebled mind, but what really set it off was the internationally recognisable facial expression that he through to me, saying what real men everywhere say whenever they get the chance: "the stupid woman" (complete with semi-roll of the eyes).
Mr Machismo then shooed his wife away, inspected the scene inside the bathroom, left to get some utensils (making sure to look me in the eye while wiping his feet on our bathroom mat on his way out), returned and got the job done in a few short minutes. I was relieved to see him carrying a bottle of disinfectant when he left (though I'm not sure if he used it or if it was just a prop), but ever much more relieved to be able to relieve myself there one again.

Room 23, "Prum Tep Guest House"
Tbeng Meanchey, Preah Vihear province
Cambodia