Cambodia - Day 5 Part 1

Day 5. Well, this was a different kind of day. When asked to describe it, Ro says, "we sat in boat, slept off, woke up in a new town, went to museum, got sad, had nice dinner, khatam!

Well, such a description would make writing Hopscotch such an easy task for me. But well, I cannot allow myself to do that. So here goes.

We left Siem Reap early in the morning. We took a small boat to a big boat that was headed for Phnom Penh. It was a sunny day, and even at 7 in the morning, we could feel the rays hitting us.



Ro was so thoughtful on the boat, it reminded me of the expression SRK had on the Swades posters.

The trip to the big boat was short, but the river was stinking of rotten fish, making it a not-so-pleasant ride.


The kids were also up very early, going to school on their cute little boats.



Interesting expression. Also notice Chin and Viv in the background?

We finally reached the big boat, and like morons, decided to sit on the top deck of the boat instead of in the air-conditioned interior. Turns out it was the biggest mistake we made. As the afternoon sun beat down on us, we got baked on the boat, just like the baguettes which we were smart enough to buy upon boarding the boat. They came with little cubes of cheese.

The top deck was full of tourists. I suppose the locals were smart enough to sit inside, while the foreigners had no idea what they were in for!


There we were, lost amongst the many others headed for Phnom Penh!

For a while, it was interesting to just look at the water and the people around, but after a while, it got very boring and tiring. Each of us decided to take up an activity. There were the sleeping people and the reading people...


And people like Chin who, instead of sleeping, were reading!


There were the people staring at the water...


There were the dudes posing for the camera...


And there was the smiling guy, the thinking guy, the reading guy and the napping girl.

My big hat was such a life-saver. Some of the sun did stream in though, and at the end of the day, I noticed tiny polka-dotted tan marks on my face, neck and hands!


Notice the common factor among all the posing people? Max!


Chin and Max amidst lotsa hot legs..


We try and smile in spite of the raging sun.

At this point in time, I realised that it was going to be a very very very very long journey on a very very very hot day. It was so hot, so hot, so hot that I believe no description would ever be able to do justice to it. As I napped, I would wake up every 5 minutes, and before I could say anything, Ro would be mumbling, "Are we there yet?" over and over again. Finally, I concluded that the sun had caused him to lose it, and went back to sleep.


The river stretched on endlessly as we got barbecued on board.


Viv was bent on finishing The Da Vinci Code.


Even the water that splashed on to the soles of my feet was hot!


There were tiny villages along the riverside.


The hot winds rustled through the torn flag.

We got really hungry in a couple of hours and decided to eat the baguettes and the cheese. Although all of us ate, Max is the only one whose eating photos deserve a place here!


Step 1 - Put cheese on baguette


Step 2 - Take first bite


Step 3 - Put some more cheese


Step 4 - Take another bite

Is it me or were the last few photographs incredibly funny?


Enough of food already! Max wants to pose with a drink next!


Jeeves does a hunky 'me too'!


Viv poses too!

It was here that the guys realised that they were getting horrendously tanned and had no sun protection. Outta the window went all the 'guys don't use sunscreen' statements and Sayesha's bag came to the rescue again. But you had to admit -- they really were very very tanned, as you will notice in the pictures in Part 2 of Day 5.


Jeeves quicly puts on the huge cowboy hat.


What's he doing now? Taking his own picture to see how tanned he was?


Viv examines Max's eating pictures that I had taken.

By this time, the sun was really getting to me. I think I was hallucinating already. I dreamt that we were all going to die on the boat. It was quite unsettling.

As soon as we saw the shores of Phnom Penh, I could not even wait for the boat to touch the shore. I just wanted to jump into the water and swim ashore just to get as far away as possible from the boat of death!


Finally, oh finally, we were there!

I had never been so thankful about a journey ending than I was that day! The kind of heat we had sat under for 5-6 hours straight was unimaginable and I hope I (and others) never have to go through that again.


There it was -- Phnom Penh!