finders keepers

soo much to say, apologies in advance for this lengthy post.

so after a very sucessful sunday morning with sinart from potchentong bringing a whole bunch more new faces along...that could take up a post in itself. me and chris grabbed a bus up to siem reap. this is the town jeni visited last week, if any of you follow her blog. so after 5 1/2 hours driving through the country, which by the way i didnt take my eyes off the whole time, we arrived late and smelly. all i could think of was how much i love it out in the country, it felt like a relief to be leaving the city and for the first time in a while i really felt like i was enjoying being here. nothing like an adventure to get my juices flowing! after a night in a rather over priced guest house ($10) we decided to jump ship and head closer to town. our next experiment was with a guest house with a banner over the door saying....literally 'looks expensive but not' classic. so we have a $7 room, which we both felt a bit better about. this morning we decided to hire a couple of mountain bikes and rough it out in the cambodian bush, we were headed for a silk farm where they make the most incredible stuff out of silk and give you a tour of their farm including a look at all the cocoons and worms and slave labourers. some of their material is so intricate they can only weave 20cm per day....and thats a cambodian day so about 20 hours, joke, more like 12. it was a beautiful thing cycling through the country, not a tourist in sight and burning it through puddles that would be considered small lakes in england. indeed the main street in siem reap was under about a foot of water. tyhe monsoon is in full swing no doubt about it. on our way back after a 16k ride out and back to the silk farm we stopped at the siem reap army base where they have a military war museum. this, by the way, is far cooler than it sounds and includes a selection of decimated tanks and various other machines that had been blown to pieces by mines and american planes. we also got to hold bazookas and a variety of russian made rifles. i also managed to boost (steal) a real khmer rouge bullet, it took me a few minutes to twist the rusty metal bullet of its case but then i left much happier knowing that i had in my possesion a real piece of cambodian history, even if i had to loot a museum to get it. i guess i really should feel a bit guilty, but to be honest its so cool i dont regret it one bit. burn in hell i hear you saying, finders keepers is my reply.

so after nearly 30k's of cycling in slouching in an air conditioned internet cafe in the town and am about to go meet chris for a bevie. one funny moment from the day was after jumping through a rather deeper puddle than expected and hence coated in hot mud i turn to chris and say 'mate...i flippin love this country' happy times. tomorow were going to cycle round the temples some more, only saw them from the distance today. the country up here is certainly picturesque miles after miles of bright green rice paddies, so green it hurts your eyes to look at them, this really is a beautiful country. right, the beer is calling must go.

s-ait do knear mpairt roboh knyom
Ben.