Koh Kong and Goodbye Cambodia - CatchingUp pt10

It's now February 10th and just before leaving Cambodia towards Thailand, I've decided to pass through Koh Kong. Not that it seemed like such an interesting place but as I was planning on leaving on the last day of my Cambodian visa, I preferred to be at the border city. Heck, why not see another place on the way?

The road's done with vans that leave once they cram as many people and luggage as possible. Here you can see the ingenuity of adding an extra platform to the trunk so more luggage can be carried.

The scooter doesn't come as a bonus for buying the van

Some passengers have a much rougher ride than us. Animal rights? Yeah, right...

Some more living creatures future meat being carried at the trunk

Although I first thought Koh Kong was full of gamblers, seeing so many people playing and gambling on the street, I was later told it's part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Didn't put a picture here so just Cambodians seeing on the floor (or table) and playing cards to some game with rules you won't decipher that quickly.

Sunset on the sea near Koh Kong. The sunny side is Thailand. Not only because of the sun...

No sun == no life, okay? So I can put as many sunset pictures as I want and you can skip em if u had enough.

Alfred Hitchcock should have shot his famous "birds" movie here where so many times flocks of birds are looming over an otherwise none noteworthy location.

In the move to non biodegradable trash, some places have not realized the need to change their garbage throwing habits. Not many swimmers on that beach, in case you were wondering.

A celebrity out in Koh Kong

This is what "house on stilts" means, in case you missed it above

Stinky rotting sea dwellers corpses being dried so they can be eaten later.

Gotta love life when you got a hammock

Making the V sign for pictures isn't only a Chinese thing

No, V is definitely Cambodian as well

Last time Jesus walked on the water here, he forgot his sandal

Papaya salad stand near the beach

The yummy healthy result of waiting ten minutes for your papaya salad while watching the sea

Artistic protection to gas tank heads

Been a while since I posted a sunset picture

Survived all the way down, then you're probably one of the few talented people who can do that. Now would be a good time to stop hiding in the shadows of the above seen tree and write some comment. If you're not feeling creative, anything along the lines of "sunset pictures are so unique" would be good ;)

Bird Revival and Chinese New Year in Kampot - CatchingUp pt9

Catching up to the beginning of February in Kampot, Cambodia. Small town on the bank of a quiet and peaceful river. The week I've spent there wasn't amazingly interesting but altogether nice place for chilling.

Let's start with some nice sunset shots at the river.

 and now for the bird revival story. When I heard the sound of something crashing on our window, I initially thought some ball got tossed the wrong way during some game. Going outside after a few minutes, I noticed this bird lying down looking all exhausted and smashed. Damn, it looked like it could use some help.

Have you heard about the bird?

 Imagining the heat of the day wasn't helping it, I brought in a bottle cap and filled it with water. As the bird didn't react much a helped it drink by putting the cap to its beak and pouring the water in. After some good minutes of quenching its thirst and looking all burned out, the bird suddenly decided to get scared of me and flew away.

My mother helping with the bird. How can such small things fly and we can't?

Perhaps it's an ad for some play for children but the masked person freaked me out. Baaah

Picking up some papaya salad for the family near the river. This is surely the fastest papaya salad stand I've ever seen, preparing each salad in under a minute. So unlike most stands where the owner takes her (it's mostly women selling papaya salads) time putting love into each salad.

Chinese new year is celebrated in Cambodia as well. Putting a stash of fake money will help you (or your ancestors) get rich, either here or in the afterlife. Considering the costs, it's not a bad bet...

The vegan part of the post: I find it disgusting to slay an animal and present its corpse like that to promote the success of oneself. Let's all basque in the misery of tasty animals. Yeah...

Cambodian King's Cermation - Phnom Penh - CatchingUp pt8

King's Palace in Phnom Penh - The king is dead, long live the king

This catching up series is catching up and we're now in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at the end of January - beginning of February. The Cambodian king has died a few months back and all are preparing for the grand cremation ceremony. Phnom Penh is brushed up to look as good as it can for the ceremony. Some pictures talk... below...

The palce, lit beautifully

Beer tower - because it looks soooo cool and it got the four of us very happy :)

National heritage of Angkor is alive and kicking in a fine local beer

The rich got moneyz, the poor less. See how many cleaners on one jeep wash.

The other side of the river in Phnom Penh is mostly deserted. Eventually will get a real estate BOOM

Shaved head women mourning the king

YES! Vegetarian restaurant. Eat there and "save the earth". Someone took it a bit too far.

King's palace at daytime, resting gardener, mobile food stall, Cambodia

Street hair cut near the temple

My mom on the most common "taxi" a.k.a motodup

Sunset from the roof of the apartment where I was hosted along with 12 other CouchSurfing guests by a cool Colombian guy who's now balancing his karma by hosting everyone.

Rishka driver working on getting cancer

Happy neighbor watching the street

He's also watching over the street, making sure all's well

People everywhere look for treasures ;)

Guess what this bar is for? In case you're still naive that's where men with enough money and little values come to flirt and perhaps pick up a prostitute bargirl for the night.

Watching the street from Phnom Penh balconies isn't only my hobby as you've now come to realize

Would you love to pay a little bit and release a bird back into freedom? Too bad that paying for releasing them is what gets them caught and jailed at the first place. Animal lovers? Yeah, right...

Part of the morning procession in honor of the king

Not everyone's rich enough to open a whole fruit&veg stall. When you calculate how much the whole merchandise is worth, you feel poverty better.

Just chillin' on my rishshaw

Muchin in the street

Cambodia - Battambang - Catching Up Part 7

This catching up series in now reaching the end of January. I hope you're enjoying a moderate influx of pictures. Now this post's gonna flow and show you a tree that bears bats as fruit. What? Yeah! Keep checking out the pictures. This part starts on a boat over Cambodia's biggest lake. After a week in Siem Reap, the time has come to see some floating villages and head to Battambang. Not that Internet connectivity was that great in Siem Reap...

Ready for the boat trip? There's always someone happy to overcharge you barang (foreigner) for food. Good morning :)

No worries, floating shops heading your way. Better prices than pirates ;)

The floating villages are beautiful. The toilet is simply a hole in the floor and the toilet cleaning is done by hungry fish. Then the fishermen kill the fish and the humans eat it and so the carbon keep cycling around.

Since I saw this sign for the first time, I kept looking for the party but nowhere could I find the exact date and location. Probably have been missing Cambodia's biggest rave or sth :p

In the pastoral settings of floating villages, far away from factory farming, pigs are confined to cages smaller than jails we provide for our most horrible criminals. Animal abuse is so much in our nature. You can ponder on this food for thought over some bacon and ham.

Showers are not very private but at least the fish get to eat some soap

Some big ass trees on the river bank holding on to the bits of land still out there.

Hello! Hello!!! Hellllllloooo!!!!!

Enlarge this picture and suggest a good title in the comments. The winner of this non competition will win a Coconut-Jackfruit shake.

Smoking is good for you and makes you look cool even at elderly age. Got a light?

Gotta take some temple pictures. Cambodian ones have a different style than the Thai ones. I'm sure you care about it a lot.

Dunno bout you but I feel better going to a dentist who knows how teeth look like than to one who doesn't. This advertisement surely proves this dentist knows.

One of the biggest perks of Battambag in waiting in the glass on the left. It's a coconut-jackfruit shake that I dub one of the best fruit juices of my life. It's SOOOOOO good that I've had 2-3 a day after I first tried it.

After trying the coconut-jackfruit juice, you'd wanna stay and live the rest of your life in Battambang. Here's the local equivalent of wanted ads. Enlarge this one and see how much you can make a month in Cambdoia. On second thought, you might not be able to afford as many juices...

Lotsa gold but the jewel in green ;)

Different green... RICE

Stylish smiling cow is sure as hell happy to have you eat its flesh. Marketing at its best.

The fruits on this tree are bats!

These bats are called flying foxes and the X35 optical zoom on my camera helps understand why.

and that's the nearby backyard from where I took the picture - mind you a real "free range" chicken

and yes, it's the backyard of a local house - a clean and safe playground

Some minutes away, a vineyard welcomes tourists

Behold the BAMBOO TRAIN - previously a mode of transportation in a country that seems to be unable to afford bigger carriages now made a tourist attraction. When the Japanese group you see crossed our path, we had to get off the "raft", the "driver" dismembers it, they pass and then our "carriage" is re-constructed on the other side.

Been a while since I've taken pictures of my feet. Got a whole series of those.

Sunsets are always good, right?

of course they are, you love them!

There's a circus in town. Frequented by tourists, this circus tries to offer an interesting career path to the youth of the city. The show was quite nice altogether.

Tuktuk drivers need a back rest and Mr. Pooh is happy to help

now if you got all the way here, you surely deserve one of the world's greatest shakes (or juice, nothing dairy) - COCONUT-JACKFRUIT. Remember this as it is the password you should use to reach heaven!