Five of us decided that being alone in our placements at Christmas without friends and family around would be just too difficult so instead we indulged our selves in that island paradise that is Koh Chang. Getting there from Phnom Preuk proved to be more pricy then we had had anticipated as we had to “encourage “ the Thai authorities to let us cross the border and then finding that there was no way to continue our journey except by hiring a very expensive taxi. Fortunately a bit of research and local knowledge meant that the return journey was far more sooth, cheaper and incident free, except for the collapsed bridge, flat tyre and road being de mined!
Arriving over the border was a real shock. Firstly, Thailand has proper roads, with tarmac and white lines in the middle and traffic lights and sign posts. Everyone drives on the same side of the road and chickens/dogs/cows/children don’t run in front of the car and you travel at more than 30 mph. Also the taxi, what bliss, only 2 passengers rather than the usual 7 (4 in the back and 3 in the front excluding the driver of a Toyota Camry), and it had seat belts!
On entering Thailand one realises just how devastated Cambodia has been. The change of colour in just a few yards is dramatic; Thailand is green and Cambodia is brown. The difference is the dust in Cambodia
which settles on everything within 500 yards of the road. Also Thailand still has its forests, in Cambodia most have been cut down by the Thais or the Khmer Rouge or the Cambodian army or anyone else who can make a few dollars out of raping this poor country.The other big difference in Thailand, apart from the lack of plastic bags and rubbish everywhere, is that it is so quiet. No barking dogs, crowing cockerels, blaring karaoke, chanting monks, crying children just the sound of the sea lapping on the shore. In fact sitting here writing this blog in Jean’s kitchen back in Battambang the amplified chanting from the local Wat has now been going for 6 hours,( it 10 am, do the maths).
Next door to our little group of thatched beach huts there was a flash hotel complex with swimming pool and liveried staff. We crashed their
Christmas Eve party so we could see the arrival of Santa on an elephant. However we swiftly left when the karaoke carols started, grateful to return to our own stable-like accommodation and a tinsel-decorated palm tree and sing along to Carols from Kings on the iPod (much more tasteful).Christmas Day started with the opening of presents which included the traditional shirt and not so traditional J-Cloths. Christmas dinner of fried rice and prawns was made complete by the mini Christmas pud (thank you Liv). The
rest of the day was spent swimming, sun bathing and eating from a beach BBQ in a truly festive way. We’d all been dreading Christmas away from the family and were all a little subdued until phone calls started to arrive from UK. As the messages winged their way across the world all of us would have exchanged our island paradise for cold grey damp old England and the ones we love.Happy New Year to you all.
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