Flooded Forest

It was sooo cold, the morning when Nina and I wake up freeeeezingggg 'it's freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing' I pop on Charlesos' cosy hoody, my khrama and trousers to eat my final breakfast on the roof. We are moving home to Thida's house today. It is all dried out and cleaned after the flood. I'm excited to move back but I have LOVED the rooftop and sharing with Nina! We had so many laughs up there on that roof! With all those flies on our beds, the shower that churns out orange water that has given me ginger hair, the 50 odd steps that we walk many times a day, the flower pots to hide our keys, and then forget that we have hidden them in there, the sunsets, the view of the top of Ankor Wat, the monster gecko.

Our first day back home at Thida's we go on a day trip to a flooded forest. We woke early and got into Mr Gee's Wagon of Love (Mr Gee's tuk tuk with heart shaped plastic windows...cute). It's pretty cold again (I'm such a wimp after climatising to the heat here). Nina, Rachel, Marielle and I in one tuk tuk, the others in another or on motos. After 5 minutes Mr Gee has a puncture so we sit and wait on the plastic chairs for him to sort that out before getting back into the tuk tuk and having a little nap...this is until we hit the bumpy orange roads that are Cambodia and have to hold on tightly, making sure the huge tupperware of hot rice and crate of beer doesn't fall overboard! Out of a wooden shack (shop) Mr Gees son appears on a moto and tells one of us to hop on the back with him as we are cearly too heavy for this tuk tuk on the bumpy roads. I accept and also accept the poncho that he offers me, I am already wearing my pro raincoat with the duck beak hood but double up with a lovely plastic poncho. I love being on motos, I just love it.

We arrive to the others eating noodle soup and make our way to the boat, taking my flip flops off that get stuck in the mud to walk bare foot, it feels amazing, Squelchhhhie. We go out past a village where the houses are on stilts, apparently in the dry season the villagers are able to walk and cycle on the roads but now they make their way by wooden boats. We pick up a 'picnic' boat to have our bbq on and a few random Khmer men, I think the family we are with (who we live with) knew them...!? We enter the forest....the men break down branches so the boat can get through....It's very strange thinking that in dry season you could walk around this forest but now, the water is high up the trees so we are in amongst the branches and the tree tops! The others jump off into the water/forest and I...being the wimp that I am in water where you can't see what's underneath you, try and slide in down the boat and then swim quickly panicking to grab hold of a tree and sit on the branch out of the water! Where oh where is tom and jezza when you need him hey?! The others enjoyed climbing the tree tops and jumping, diving, backflipping off, I make my way back to the boat breathing slowly so not to panic. I AM SWIMMING IN A FOREST.....how am I not supposed to panic?!!! Whoooo knows what is underneath me right now. Oh yeah, and the family tell us about the alligators and snakes that live in the deep water in the forests here. Hmmm I was in and out of that water pretty quickly! It was nice to just chill on the boat though and we had some amazing food, little shrimpies, bbq beef and chicken, cucumber, green tomatoes and fruit to follow. Nina, Rachel and I form some kind of head massage line which works pretty well, I came out of it with an afro that was apparently rather amusing....that is just my normal hair..?!

A really good day, so many amazing places to see and experience here.