A selection of pix from our recent Cambodia family tour, Ruined Cities and Tropical Islands. First up – a pavement haircut for Zach who quickly realised Cambodia was going to be too hot for a ponytail so…Barber did charge the ‘Barang’ rate of $3, claiming he’d never had to cut so much hair before – fair enough I guess!?
Phnom Penh haircut Next, an impromptu stop on the road to Siem Reap at a temple fundraiser saw Ryan’s Khmer musical abilities put to the test! A few hits of palm wine might have helped.
Temple fund-raiser near Skuon Meanwhile at Prasat Kuhananokor Khmer New Year festivities were also in full flow and we were lucky enough to witness the entire village plus monks from miles around turning out for a merit-making ceremony.
Merit making ceremony at Kuhananokor A lot of ‘umming and aahing’ when it came to tasting the fried tarantulas in Skuon! Anything to waste time really.
An unusually lengthy spider discussion – basic delaying tactics! Crunch time for Michael! (More spider-related stuff on this post!)
Deep-fried spiders again! The school was out for New Year hols and the head teacher had gone off to his home village to see the family so couldn’t make out usual donation and visit to Meas Kong Primary School, (see here), but pens, books and donations will be delivered on the next trip. Plenty of village kids around as usual though.
Kids at Kuhananokor Mobile clothing store at the floating village of Prek Toal.
Mobile clothing store at Prek Toal Low water levels on the Sangkar River from Siem Reap and Battambang meant we had to abandon boat soon after the floating village of Bak Preah and continue overland by 4WD.
Going off piste Note the total absence of any ‘road’ as such!
Readying for departure Unfortunately, even though river levels were low an unseasonal torrential downpour, just before our 4WD section, had turned what little ‘track’ there was into a total quagmire. I’m beginning to think that getting stuck in the mud and making everyone get out and push should be a regular addition to any itinerary!? Customers love it and as they (fortunately) often point out – ‘well it is an adventure tour’!
Slight problem with the baggage truck! It’s not always so much fun at the time – well particularly for the tour leader – but it’s certainly going to be one of their most abiding trip memories and one they’re going to be most excited to tell their mates and family back home about. (“Awesome….best part of the tip dad!!” – Carenden 13 yrs old) And thanks to Roland – the dad in question – for digging the truck out whilst the tour leader was busy on the phone to the Cambodia office saying “get the boat back – we’re never going to make this!”
Another tricky moment on the ‘road’ to Battambang But make it we certainly did thanks to some truly awesome driving! If ever I entered the Paris-Dakar I would hire these guys. No matter how impassable the obstacle looked they found a way through, over or around it; mechanical problem – finely placed whack from a hammer and we were off again. (It’s well known that a Khmer ‘toolkit’ consists only of a hammer and a machete!)
Battambang – bamboo train Early morning ride on the famous ‘Bamboo Train’ is a good way of waking everyone up before setting off on the drive to the Thai border at Pailin and on to Bangkok.
Party time in Snoeung A so-called ‘iron buffalo’ brings party-goers into Snoeung Village for the Khmer New Year celebrations – driver looks about 12! And below a great cap store we liked!
Snoueng, cap shop Thanks to a great bunch of travellers on this trip: Michael, Jane, Zach and Ryan, Roland, Carenden and Linden, Deborah and last but not least Karen and Jim! Thanks for additional photos and hope to see you all again sometime!
You can find details of our Cambodia Family Tour as well as all our other Cambodia offerings at this link.
