Jurassic Speu

Hi everyone

I am blogging from the Speu as usual and its pissing down. The rainy season is meant o be eased off but there is a cyclone affecting Vietnam and sending all the weather loopy. So this morning is the first time ever I have actually rode to work in the rain (cos most of the time rain falls in the afternoon)

Anyhoo the past week has been interesting, we shot up to the province of Pursat for two days. Its a new area we will be working in and is quite stunning as it lies along the Tonle Sap on one side and the Cardamon Mountains on the other. It is known for its marblework so i will definately be heading back up at some stage to buy buy buy :) The area seems to be quite needy as well which is re-assuring about the work we do.

Oh and i loved this sign at a school which says, "no cows allowed".

Anyhoo, I had a really exciting weekend. Stephanie (who I used to work with at AusAID but didnt really know her then) and her friend Merryl came down from the Penh to visit the Speu for the weekend. We organised a taxi and headed out to Kirirom National park for some fresh air.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It was mostly clean, untouched and stunning. It was a little weird to be greeted by a stuffed goat and bear, but hey who am I to judge.

We went for a stroll down to the lake down a trail clearly not often used which was pleasant, but then we got a little lost... ...and someone started talking about land mines. And it isnt a land mine area, but you know whenever someone starts talking about that stuff u get nervous :) We also thought that we were putting ourselves in the perfect setting for a horror movie!

At the information centre there were these paintings of a Apsara and a monkey with the face cut out so we couldnt resist.

After the lake (where we all realised how monumentally unfit we were) we headed off the the waterfall. And when I say waterfall i probably should say rapids. We wanted to go see the real 40m waterfall but our driver kept saying it was too dangerous, or too far so we gave up. One day I will come back and go on a guided nature walk as its pretty nice. Makes you realise that back in Hornsby we have all this stuff but never really appreciate it!

We decided to stop off and have lunch at this wacky place called the Kirirom Hillside Resort. For one check out the faux castle entry!

We went in for an overpriced lunch then snuck out of the restauraunt to avoid paying the $3 entry fee. This place is totally wacky covered in dinosaur statues and other random things for some reason. And it was almost entirely empty on a Saturday! So feeling a rush from being naughty we climbed all over everything and took dodgy photos.

Once we had our fill we attempted to leave and were busted and had to pay the fee anyway. So furious we marched back in and bought some beer and sooked over at the flying fox. But then the flying fox guys came over and set it up and it looked uber dodgy so we all chickened out!

We then returned to the Speu where the rats mercifully let the girls sleep without running all over them and they shot off the next day.

Ive said it once and I will say it again, I love randomness in the Cambodia!