Anton Swanepoel's BlogAnton Swanepoel's Blog - Page 26 of 41

Morning bike ride, 31 miles.

I decided to go for a morning bike ride to the ruins. There are a few ruins according to the map that I have not seen, that looked interesting. Was not in the mood for a tuk tuk driver just wanting to take me where he wants to go, so I activated the GPS, and headed out.

Saw some awesome ruins, some totally off the beaten path with no one there.
Except maybe for a cow or two.
Along the way, I met all kinds of families.

route I took. Blue dot at the bottom is my hotel, start and end point. The brown line is the route I did.

I did stop for lunch, but the rest of the 8 and 1/2 hours, was either spend walking.

or cycling.

or climbing.

and more climbing

and some more climbing

I felt like even my roots was in the air.

but it was all worth it.

Danger in Cambodia

Got my temp drivers license today. Will get get my full license in a few days.

Cost was $60 for the license application at a driving school, and $8 for 8 passport pictures and color copies of my passport and visa.

First interesting thing was, that the girl at the counter, who can barely understand me, never heard of Cayman Islands. So when she asked what country it is, I just said UK, thought it to be close enough. Then when she asked for my passport, she was really confused as I had a SA passport with a “UK” license. She in the end decided to go with a South African drivers license on the forms.

Then I had to produce 8 passport picture, 8, I mean who carries 8 with them. How many double checks are there, o, wait, this is Cambodia, where yes, you pay for a boat ride at the docks. Then 5 steps further when you step onto the jetty, there is another checkpoint, with another before you get on the boat, 3 steps from the jetty checkpoint.

So, off I go to get a place that takes pictures. Was directed to the local market with lots of hand signals from helpful Cambodians at the driving school. But that was about a mile away. So I walked across the road to a small camera shop. And yes, they do pictures. But no they cannot take a picture of me, because I am not dressed appropriately. Huh. Sorry sir, no T-shirt. So they kindly lend me a nice white shirt, red tie and suit jacket. The camera man even adjusted my tie for me, made sure my collar was correct, and that I looked in exactly the right direction, to the 10th of a millimeter. Ha ha ha.

When I asked him for color photo copies of my passport, he did not just throw it on the copier, no, he scanned it. Then he pulled the scans into Photoshop and adjusted the lighting, color, and saturation untill it exactly matched my passport. Very impressive.

Now, just got to get wheels. Looked at a Honda SLR trail bike, but it goes for $1800, way more than I ever plan to spend on a bike now, I can get 3 second hand scooters for that price. So hitting the classified adds until I find something nice.

And then, o dear, danger in Cambodia. :-), gonna go all over.

Peace in Cambodia, visiting the war museum

There are no winners in war, only those that lost more than others. Cambodia has had its fair share of war, and is still struggling to rebuild itself after the last devastation. I had a chance to visit the family run, War Museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Although most of the tanks and other stuff are rusty shells, it is still interesting to walk between them.

I noted that almost all the tanks had land mine damage, or other damage, mostly to their tracks or axles.

There are a number of guns, landmines, and shells on display.

There is even an old helicopter and an shell of an jet.

The museum used to be free, but now a $5 entry fee is charged. Cheap considering that they have toilets, an lounge area, and keep the place clean.
If you are lucky enough, you can get a free guided tour from the owner that was in the war. If his stories are true or not, they are still entertaining.

A number of other artillery and an old truck makes up some of the pieces on display.