I decided to turn on my Kindle tablet and what I saw left me in shock.
There was a message from the guide my friend Alan and I have used on our two visits to The Gambia together. He was passing on a message from a place we had stayed in three years previously to tell him they had had word Alan had died.
This couldn't be true. I'd been speaking to him only a week or so ago and making plans for the future. I'd been trying to persuade him to return to The Gambia in early 2018.
It was 6.00am, I would wait a while before ringing him, tell him what I'd heard and we would have a good laugh about it.
As soon as the clock hit 7.00am I rang. I knew his other half would be up as she still works.
Dianne answered the phone. I asked to speak to Alan and she confirmed the worst. He had died a few days earlier, collapsing out in a street walking home one night. She hadn't been able to phone me directly because all Alan's contacts were on his iPad and she didn't know the password to unlock it.
I can't remember much of our conversation, I was numb.
Alan and I had been sat in the same place almost a year to the day earlier.
We had had two trips to The Gambia together but I'd met up with him in Goa many times too , that's were I first met him. The odd thing was that I have probably spent more time abroad with him than I have in the UK. He only lived 40-45 miles away but as he didn't drive and whenever I head that way it was in a hurry to go to a soccer match with my son, our time together in the UK was more limited. We had become the best of pals though. We were in constant touch via phone or email.
His loss has been a major blow.
I know he was looking forward to hearing about this holiday. He always enjoyed reading my blogs and was keen to share some more adventures in the future.
That will no longer happen.
It was with a very heavy heart that I boarded the plane to fly to Siem Reap via Dubai and Bangkok.
Claire too was fond of Alan, so it was a pain shared. It helps.
We were determined to enjoy the trip despite this setback but Alan was constantly in mind. Every step we took he would never read about now.
He was virtually the same age as me. There goes me but for the grace of God or so they say.
Live life while you can.
2018 will be my big year.
But we were still in 2017.
And on our way to the biggest adventure we had undertaken in quite a while. Emirates big A380 is a great way to travel, even economy is comfortable. They even have internet on the plane!
The stopovers in Dubai and Bangkok were fairly painless and when we arrived in Siem Reap there was a local guide waiting to transport us to our hotel. That bit went smoothly anyway!
It was now early afternoon in Siem Reap and the day after we had set off.
The weather was dull and it was trying to rain lightly.
Our hotel and room were more than acceptable. Things were off to a good start now we'd arrived.
As soon as we had our room sorted we went out to explore. The hotel was a 25 minute walk from the centre of Siem Reap and there was a big river festival taking place with canoe races being held. The banks of the river were full of market stalls selling goods and street food.
I have to say some of the offerings were distinctly dodgy and there was no way I was tempted to try them.
I guess if meat and fish is deep fried in hot oil most things would be taken care of but the number of flies hanging around the food in humid conditions was off putting.
Some of the meat products looked odd with a lot of coloured dye added too.
We ate in a restaurant in town nearly every night and there the food was excellent with a wide range of places to choose from too.
[
This board displaying prices shows just how inexpensive it is to eat out.
You could get a large beer for 50 cents too.
When we are talking $, we mean US dollars. That seems to be the accepted currency everywhere.
Siem Reap is so inexpensive it is a magnet for backpackers from all over the world too so lots of young tourists about.
As for us, well we had a day and a half to ourselves to wander and acclimatise to the time and weather difference to home. Mostly spent people watching from a cafe or bar and browsing the many stalls before returning to the hotel for the second evening where our fellow tour people were starting to arrive. Oddly, but maybe not in hindsight, they were coming on different flights and different airlines so there wasn't a mad influx in one go.
I had already made contact with one of our fellow tourists via a travel website and had arranged to meet up for a night out, so along with an Icelandic couple we met in the hotel the 5 of us set off in a Tuk Tuk for a night at the circus.
I had been contemplating going when I bumped in to a friend locally at home who had recently attended a show and highly recommended going. I'd booked the tickets online to avoid being disappointed as they get fully booked. The Icelandic couple managed to get tickets that day, again pre booking online.
We had a light meal at the venue which was OK, then the circus performance which was indeed highly entertaining and one of the highlights of our trip. A shame the majority on tour didn't get to go!
It was a Little Top, well I'm not sure how big a Big Top actually is. The atmosphere was really intimate. The show good fun and some of the acrobatics built in to a story spectacular.
It gave me an opportunity to test the low light performance of my Canon 1DX2 as well!
When it came to the action shots the high frame rate certainly is an advantage.
although following the action can be tricky.
The first time this happened I wasn't prepared for what followed!
The person at the end of the see-saw was propelled almost to the roof of the tent by the weight of the two landing on the other end.
Somersaults followed before being caught on a thick mat by the rest of the troupe.
fabulous still and I too highly recommend a visit!
Before we had set off to the circus we'd made contact with our Cambodian Tour guide. As it happened there turned out to be 69 people on the tour but in fairness the tour company had kept the numbers in each group to a manageable number so we were divided in to three groups of roughly equal number. We each had our own guide and transport and we largely kept together for the duration of our tour.
and so Bus 2 was born!
Next day we began in earnest. An early start we headed off for a fairly long journey to Being Mealea, described in our tour literature as , a sprawling jungle temple covering over one square kilometre. The
temple is largely overrun by vegetation and unfrequented by tourists, giving it an adventurous, ‘lost
temple’ feel.
Well maybe not as the case with us happened to be. The place was jam packed with tourists as we edged our way along the elevated board walks through the ruins. Our guide said it was deserted after 4.30pm which begged the question why were we not there then?
Well nah was because we were heading south on another long journey by coach to Tonle Sap Lake, a huge inland lake which has apparently lots of floating villages along the banks. We set off from one of them in our rather antiquated boat.
We travelled past the housing of the village
before heading out in to the wide expanse of the lake passing a few distant birds like these Blue-tailed Bee-eaters along the way.
Picnic lunches were handed out after we had dropped anchor and those consumed we returned to dry land and headed back to Siem Reap on the coach.
Not the most memorable of starts to the tour but the next day we were off to the Anghor Wat complex which is one of the 7 modern Wonders of the World and the reason we were in Cambodia!
OK, now is the time to admit I'm a cultural Philistine. The natural world is my thing and temples and the like don't really have too much appeal but I was ever hopeful i might find something of interest along the way.
I won't show too many shots of the crumbling ruins, there are much better to be seen if you "google" I'm sure.
There are lots of them I have to say, it's a huge complex covering 100's of areas.
There was a little wildlife to be found if you looked.
I recorded a few birds and a Macaque monkey.
I have heard people say you could spend a week exploring the temples but one day was more than enough for me. Seen one pile of stones, seen them all! In fact my bad back was playing up so I sat one of them out however, when it came to the end of the day out tour brochure had stated
" Later in the afternoon drive up to Pre Rup Temple, the trip will reward you with a spectacular sunset
over the Angkor Archaeological Park and its surroundings."
We were asked by our guide if we wanted to see the sunset and the majority had had enough for one day. I think 7 of us wanted to stay to see the spectacle which involved a fairly steep climb to the top of a temple. The guide made us feel guilty when he told everyone they would have to say as it was part of the tour programme.
We were thirty minutes from our hotel, so why not take those back who wanted to go and get ready for the group dinner and show organised for that night, then return for us. Infact, why not see how many places were available on one of the other two buses in our tour. A bit of initiative needed, but not much.
Anyway, he complied. 7 of us got to stay to witness one of the least spectacular sunsets imaginable. The sun was partly covered in cloud and instead of descending behind a temple or with stunning reflections from one of the lakes it dropped in to a forested background. We shouldn't have bothered but what you don't know you have to try.
As a result of waiting for the sun to set and then the 7 to come back together at the meeting place it was now dark. The guide was annoyed as he'd said meet back at 5.30 which was stupid as the sun was still high in the sky. it was now past 6.00pm. We returned to the hotel at around 6.45pm and decided not to join the rest of the group for the evenings meal and entertainment. We just didn't have enough time to shower and change ready for the 7.00pm departure.
Instead Claire and I went back in to town and had another excellent meal on our own.
During the course of the day we had also been informed that the next day's flight to Beijing had been put pack. We would now have the whole day to do as we wished... the flight was at 11.30....PM!
I had considered various option including a trip to a bird reserve but in the end decided it was both too expensive and anyway, I'd spend time with Claire. We ended up people watching whilst sat in a bar in Pub Street, downtown Siem Reap only this time we were with the company of some of our new tour companions. The day passed well but you do question why day 1's activities could not have been split between then and day 3? Made sense to me but not to whoever organised the tour.
The big question was though, who had organised the tour?
Our tour brochure had promised :-
"This morning you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Beijing (flight included). On
arrival you will be met by your localguide and transferred to your hotel where the remainder of your
day is at leisure."
That had not happened, that never could have happened, not flying direct anyway. you were starting to get the impression a tour had been planned but then travel arrangements to suit were impossible to make it happen.
Travelling overnight was never an option in our thoughts, everyone was very annoyed but none more so than the unfortunate couple on our bus who didn't realise that the tour company hadn't organised Chinese VISAs for them. The piece of paper they had been sent from the tour company which had misled them was worthless and they were refused permission to fly at the check in desk.
The rest of the 67 set off and left them to sort out their problem.
Fortunately a kind airport worker helped get them back to town as there was no-one else about. The 24 hour emergency number that we all had proved to be useless with no reply despite many attempts to get through.
Fellow members of Bus 2 all felt a little guilty I guess but at least we knew that as UK citizens if they could get to Hong Kong they din't need a VISA for there and could continue the rest of our tour.
What would they miss? We were about to find out!
TBC
No comments:
Post a Comment