siem riep + ho chi minh

So far so good. the days in siem riep were exhausting. so many temples in a short time. we had nice cycling trips to the countryside, thanks for that tiger. people on the countryside are so kind and warm in welcoming us to their villages. siem rieps nightlife must be developed even when youre sitting in the rooftop x-bar which is that location where you can stay longer than 1.00pm. expectations are not allowed. go there, wait there and fall asleep, the hang over is the same with or without partypeople. beware of the ladyboys and the female snooker champions. best wishes to nick ray the author of the lonely planet. By the way I hate u!
Now its ho chi minh what keeps me awake. saigon blue, cheers. tomorrow were heading for a shorttrip to the cu chi veitcong tunnels.

Battambang – or Tvs are less expansive than children

Yesterday we’ve arrived in battambang which is located in the northwestern part of cambodia. With a population of only 158.000 ist the second largest city in the kingdom cambodia. If you wanna see rural cambodia that should be your choice and so it was mine. The busride fromm phnom penh took 6hours so weh ad to get up early and catch it at seven. Naive as I am I thought it might be possible to have sleep in the bus but no way. Besides the aircondition and the nerverresting horn the karaokevideoclips kept me awake. Not that bad for watching the rural landscape passing by. Battambang iss mall, calm, friendlyand short of tourists. Drivers are offering good prices and you might not be so vulnerable for rip-offs. So far my impressions. Having Daytrips to the nearby temples are musts and so we booked drivers for guiding us into the rural surroundings. Great at all to see temples ancient housings, small villages where the time seemed to run slow. Even I am only two days here, I had almost the best sights of the cambodian countryside, my best fruitshakes, the best fish amok ( kind of curry served with bread or rice) and don’t forget the fried grasshoppers and crickets filled with peanuts ( really they use to put roasted peanuts in their asses). Besides the fried frogleggs I must say I had my best food so far. Tomoorow we will join a khmer cooking course which includes to go to the market and buy local specialities and prepare them in a typical khmer kitchen. I will tell you what that experience was.

For the patient readers the headline comes as a riddle. So please I want you to solve it. Bhat, ( don’t know to write khmer) my driver told me a lot of personal things and one of that was about tvs and having children. I love this guy and you would do either. He wasn’t that able to call my name and put it to something between tien and tiaen which is pretty similar to a khmer name. Which meaning is hard to explain, even in german and I am still figuring it out and will ask him again tomorrow. Now it’s time for Aras( only the local cigarettes) and Anchors ( the local beer).

I still have format problems and so uploading pictures is quite a challenge, please excuse for that.

monivong road

monivong road
Originally uploaded by ILikeSlides

even if you are not interested, Mr. BoomBoomLong knows waht you need. Oh you are married, huhh, no prob need some opium? monivong road

repair street

kampuchea krom_1
Originally uploaded by ILikeSlides

got a break down? thats the best adress, best adress in town, cheap cheap.

inhale the dust

centralmarket_2
Originally uploaded by ILikeSlides

hang out on central market you can stick in traffic, if you want to. take big breath.

norodom blvd

norodom blvd_2
Originally uploaded by ILikeSlides

wanna smoke for less?
feels like somebady is following me. thats during lunchtime, so not that much street gangs on the road. good time for a relaxed ride if there were not that heat.

central market

centralmarket_6
Originally uploaded by ILikeSlides

that a typical scene on central market. women chatting about unbelievable strories

central market

centralmarket_1
Originally uploaded by ILikeSlides

those people asked me if I could take a picture of them. It was taken near the central market.

impossible

I Just wanted tu upload that first pics I shot but it seems to be impossible. because everytime I have tried to open my usb device it shows crazy hieroglyphics.
maybe i have to check another internet spot. people here kind but special because Ive never seen a sense in refreshing desktop icons for increasing cpu performance. but hey, maybe i could feed the keyboard with my coffe an it will be running like hell. sorry for beeing that sarcastic.....
well last days were still impressive. Iam actually falling in love with that noise stinky smoggie city. I was riding a lot on silkes bike and took some pictures oft that strange city with its different peeople living, working more or less breathing in. Most of the people used to wear mouthcoverings because of the smog Ive tried it aswell but didnt feel so comfortable. Yesterday my czech tandem Eva arrived from Ho chi minh. I ve picked her up and we had a mototaxi-ride through the city. When we went out for some "walking" she was , iguess, kind of shocked. Because there are not that parks and green spaces here and the city obviously wasnt made for walking ( maybe some body should write a song called "that city was not made for walking, lalalala". But as I did everyody adopted on that city and even more. nad after the very tasty traditional khmer food everything is excuseable even the dusty roads. Now i have to wake up that bunch sleepingbears from cologne and czech republic, i mean its almost half past nine and today is saturday. sleeping is so overrated.....more interesting things next and pics coming son, hopefully

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh......Finally I am arrived in Phnom Penh. martin and silke picked me up at the airport. together with Hajni they share a flat close by the russian market. That district is more or less calm but seems to be very secure. I have started my day with cycling around loking for a nice breakfast. As you could imagine cycling here is different because you have to get into that flowing chaos. Traffic rules are very special but when you just hold your line and ride on it seems to work. never thought of cycling here but hey, lets try something new...
So gestern abend bin ich nach einem sehr langweiligen 6stundenaufenthalt am Flughafen von Bangkok angekommen. Meiner ersten eindruck lass ich mal aus. Ich komme an hab kein passfoto fuer mein visum, no problem just pay one dollar, auch gut. Man bezahlt strafe fuer passbilder die man gar nich braucht, die spinnen die cambodians. dann warte ich auf meine lieben freunde. die kommen nicht stattdessen ein taxifahrer, der ist aber gar nich so aufs geschaeft aus. und nachdem ich ihm erzaehle das ich von freunden abgeholt werde, fragt er nur ob da auch frauen dabei seien. wir unterhalten uns kurz und rauchen ein paar zigaretten zum abscheid schenkt er mir noch ne strassenkarte. ich schenke ihm dafuer ein poppeligen carabiner und er hueptf freudig davon, crazy that cambodians. Dann kommen doch noch martin und silke und wir fahren mit dem mototaxi zu hajnis flat. Schoene Gegend, scheint ruhig und unkriminell. feierabendbier gibts auch und dann irgenwann heija. heute startete ich den tag mit fahrradfahren. Hoert sich krank an sieht auch so aus. Nach anfaenglichen unbehagen, geweoehnt man sich daran nur eine kleine nummer eines grossen flusses zu sein und wird vorangetrieben. aufregend und auch zu empfehlen, nicht zuletzt weil buergersteige nicht zum laufen gedacht sind und wesentlcich gefaehrlicher erscheinen. Man passt hier auf sich gegenseitig auf, glaube ich. und kein cambodian will letzendlcih sein maschinchen aufs spiel setzen, gott bewahre. so mehr demnaechst, der fluss ruft....

first post....

...all my bags are packed I'm ready to go" um es in MosDef sinne zu sagen. oder in denen John Denvers welcher ersterem jene tollen strophen wohl unterschlagen haben muss. anyway. mit großen schritten schleppe ich meine kleinen füße richtung ausgang. was jetz nicht verstaut ist, findet keinen platz mehr, bleibt zurück. noch ein mal mehr oder weniger unruhig schlafen und dann los. mein nächstes ziel ist phnom penh, cambodia (Kambodscha sieht doch einfach schei... aus)
an dieser stelle nochmal ein grosses hiphiphurra an alle die freitag mitgefeiert haben. Dank gebührt den großen wie kleinen den frühen wie späten. groß wars. abschied nehmen sagt man ja, ich sage wir haben wohl eher alles gegeben. doch nehmen heißt es wohl zu recht, denn für die nächtsten monate, so meine idee, borge ich mir einfach mal einen teil von jedem von euch. ich hoffe das hier funktioniert aber ich werde mich abgesehn von den kommata bemühen und euch zu unterhalten versuchen, besonders mit bilingualen postings und damit verbundenen wortschöpfungen...nächste mal aus cambodia schreibt