Scott Fletcher Travels

The rain turned me off going to see temples so after a lazy breakfast at about midday we decided to go for a bike ride to some free temples(the others are $20) So after riding about 2km we saw one temple and then this guy wanted to show us around an Aids orphanage, where they teach kids etc. He was showing us around and there was no one there, I said “where are the kids’ and he said they were away for two weeks, I was thinking to myself where would kids in an orphanage go? So he showed us around some more and then asked for a donation to the school, I offered to volunteer for a day instead he said no and wanted the cash. This is when I thought of a huge problem facing all these countries and charities. They do not know how to communicate with westerners, he gave me a pretty lame piece of paper saying we would love your help. They need a better way almost like a template saying what they do, and different ways you can help. Stealing from a few different ideas already out there, it would be good if you could buy dinner for a week, or perhaps volunteer directly with the community not through a third party, organize a charity thing at home and send the money, see some photos of your money doing work. This would not be that much more effort and I think they would make 10times the amount of money. If I hold a trivia night raising money that would be 100 times more than the $5 I might give.  

After this temple we decided to cycle to another temple (12kms) the Bakong (this was the first Angkorian one we saw) and it looked amazing, but we couldn’t get in as you needed a ticket L. We decided to cycle back a different way through a farming community along a dirt road, all the locals were staring thinking we were going the wrong way, then we came upon a volleyball match so I had a go. We were there for about an hour playing volleyball (they love it over here), then I convinced them to play a little soccer. This was in a rice field where it was muddy and there was about 1 foot holes all over the place, it was great. Had an awesome time, and really made my day J Sport really is an international language, we couldn’t understand each other but knew what to do.

How good is this action shot! I was saying hello in Australian

 

That night met up with Ed and Fi for dinner, then went out for a night at Angkor WHAT??

 

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Tags>> Angkor Wat Angkor What Bicycle Cambodia Siem Reap

Well another early start as I had to get to the boat for the trip to Siem Reap by 7. Didn’t get a chance to grab any breaky but picked up a baguette (they are crazy for them over here, they are everywhere all over

Vietnam and

Cambodia). The boat trip was cool, it went from about 7-2:30 through a few rivers and then across a lake to just outside Siem Reap. It was really cool seeing how all the people in the country are living, absolutely crazy they live about 1 foot above the water in a little house on stilts, or on a floating house boat. There are whole towns around and in the river on the way. One school I passed was in the middle of the water, so there was no way to get out apart from boat or swim.  

When arriving to Siem Reap you go through a floating village which is pretty cool, every place is a house boat or house on pontoon type structure. Really amazing how much stuff they fit on them, I even saw a floating basketball court. On the boat I met an English couple Ed and Fiona, really great people and they are traveling around the world overland, even a few stints on cargo ships. Should check it out www.lowcarbontravel.com, they are coming to

Australia for about a month if you want to show them around or hang out they will be in Manly of all places.  

 

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Tags>> Angkor Wat Bicycle Cambodia Negotiating Siem Reap