Ok, so it has been a while and I apologise to all of those who have followed me to date wondering, or not, eh CK, where I am? So this posting will be one of a number that cover my first few days in a country of such remarkable contrasts, affluent to abject poverty, modern to medieval, happiness to immense and utterly overwhelming sadness.
I have to go back to Saturday morning and my most delicious bacon sandwich, thanks mum, followed by last minute paddy pants packing by me, car loaded by bro and off we went to Heathrow Terminal 3. I had not been there since 8th September. Fortunately got the worlds loveliest check in lady and I did not have to resort to corn beefed face wailing to get the excess charge down by 50%. Menu on flight was good and I managed to sleep through take off and almost through landing in Bangkok. What a contrast of an airport to Heathrow. I am pretty sure that you could have an entire cub pack living in that airport and you would only rarely see them. The place was huge and it took just under an hour to walk to the next gate for the transfer and I was not window shopping as I was just a little excited. We taxi'd to the runway and the time it took, I really thought that we could have probably got to Phnon Penh without taking off. The emergency briefing included pictures of remote controlled cars, ummm I thought, did I pack mine and why would you?
55 minutes later to the exact minute I landed at Phnon Penh airport, I had arrived in Cambodia. Awesome. Visa on arrival got, queue to pay, immigration, cursory glance at the bike box by customs and I was through and outside searching the crowds for a certain person....
Um, now those of you that know Georgie, Izzy, G as she will be referred to henceforth, will know that food is a very important not to be missed activity. Breakfast most definitely so. So I waited 20 minutes and heard every excuse under the sun when she arrived and we had a little bit of a hug (nothing to full on is acceptable here so hugs in public you can just about get away with)
My first taste of being a passenger on the roads of Cambodia ended outside S21 or Tuel Sleung. We are staying opposite the former security prison where more than 20,000 people came to before they were taken by truck to Choeung Ek to be executed. All within my life time.
The hotel is awesome, tranquil, shady courtyard eating and the food is superb - good choice G and I am loving being here even though we are now here a little longer than anticipated due to Thai bureaucratic rule changes!
Day 1 in Cambodia was as relaxing as it needed to be and allowed us both to sync back to how we want and need to be. The sights and sounds assaulted every sense and I went to sleep tired but immensely happy.
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