Melbourne Cup Eve saw us putting in money so that we could run a sweep, we managed to get enough takers to cover all the horses, this meant that we had to talk Mel into buying a horse, the 7 volunteers and that pesky cat Pierre all bought three each.
We had spoken to the owner of Molley Malone's which is a pub down the road to convince him that he had to show the race on his big screen although only Liz managed to get there on time to watch the race. Sandra and I missed it by 15 minutes, that 4 hour time difference is a killer. We made a point of not hearing who won until we ran the race via Y-tube and 9.30 that evening. Who had the winning horse. Yes you guessed it!!! Pierre managed to pick the winner. Here he is with his winnings and his Melbourne Cup hat.
We have a couple of bicycles here for our use and so far the only one who has been game enough to ride it is Sally our youngest member and she takes the bike out almost everyday now and even rides to the temples and back.
Last Wednesday Sandra decided to make the trip to the nearest supermarket which is on one of the main streets and about a 10 minute walk from here. I will include some of the comments from her email she sent out to her friends.
"Today I did something that I am extremely proud of. I rode a push bike down our bumpy road out on to the main highway to go to the shop to buy some decent food for tea. Not only was I in the middle of peak hour traffic at 5.30 I was riding on the wrong side of the bloody road. I did not panic when I saw hundreds of motor bikes coming towards me. I just got off my bike and ran very fast across the traffic to safety. A few horns were beeped. I even made it home in one piece. Ratha our office administrator was very worried and had people out looking to see if I made it back. Of course I would I am a Scout and we can do anything. the fact I am nearly 60 and haven't ridden for 40 years meant nothing".
One trip that has been on our agenda since we first arrived was a trip to Phnom Kulen which is considered by Khmers to be the most sacred mountain in Cambodia and is a popular place of pilgrimage during weekends and festivals. It played a significant role in the history of the Khmer empire as it was from here in 802 that Jayavarman II proclaimed himself a god-king, giving birth to modern day Cambodia. There is a small wat (temple) at the summit of the mountain which houses a large reclining buddha carved into the sandstone boulder upon which it is built. The views from the 487m peak are tremendous. Nearby is a large waterfall where we all spent a lot of time playing around in the cool mountain water. Sandra, Lyn and myself decided that we would take a picnic lunch of wraps, salads and tinned ham (from Sandra's care package) and a cake we bought from the markets the day before, the others decided to buy from the local restraunt at the waterful. It was great, the owners of the restraunt set up a table for the picnicers and were more than happy for us to sit there and eat our goodies.
The road up to the mountain top is very narrow and winding and certainly not in a good condition. In the very typical Cambodian way of solving problems, all traffic can only go up the mountain until noon and then the traffic reverses and the only traffic can go back down the mountain. So sensible and simple although I did notice when we were entering a very blind corner the bus driver still used his horn (just in case).
The trip back home was a lot of fun as Liz had brought along a friend who she had met on the Trans-Siberian train trip two months ago who was passing through Siem Reap and he had an ipod with a docking station in his bag (as you do) and he climbed into the front passenger seat, held the bus microphone in front of it and we had a bus DJ who took musical requests for the 3 hour bus trip.
It was funny how much we missed hearing western music, we have not seen any news now for over 6 weeks as the only English paper available here is the Phnom Phen news which doesn't mention the world outside of Cambodia. We had a great day, we hired a 20 seater bus and driver for the 8 of us for $60, great price, the only down side was that he could not speak a word of English and so far our Khmer does not go past counting up to 20 and hello and goodbye.
It was funny how much we missed hearing western music, we have not seen any news now for over 6 weeks as the only English paper available here is the Phnom Phen news which doesn't mention the world outside of Cambodia. We had a great day, we hired a 20 seater bus and driver for the 8 of us for $60, great price, the only down side was that he could not speak a word of English and so far our Khmer does not go past counting up to 20 and hello and goodbye.
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