Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

Well, at 07:00 it was time to move off and go BIATCH. We took a rather comfyairconditioned bus to Siem Reap, a tourist trap located North west of Phnom Penh. 5 hours later, we arrived at your destination, blissfully unaware of the raging mob of Tuk-Tuk drivers waiting to do business with us (in case I haven't mentined this before, a Tuk Tuk is kind of an motorcycle taxi). In Siem Reap, they use an interesting tactic where the ride to the hotel is rather cheap (one reason is that they want more business but also they get provision for delivering disoriented backpackers and tourists to some hotells) but then they get paid for driving tourists around the ancient site of Angkor Wat, a buddist monestary. The point being that they will drive you around for the entire stay for a humble price of 8 dollars after violent bargaining. So with the price fixed we decided to put our money in use so out we went. First stop, the legendary Angkor Wat, a temple long lost (not really, people have always been taking care of it) and then discovered by a french explorer (this also incorrect, he wasn't even the first westerner to visit and document the place but let bygones be bygones). The temple was to say the least, astonishing. Beautiful architecture, well taken care of and the view was awesome ( thats including a couple of rather attractive french girls but excluding practically the rest of the toursit hoard). After that and a mild case of carbonmonoxide poisoning from the traffic surrounding the place and the ride back to Siem Reap, it was time to endulge ourselves in a Khmer (Khmer is the name of the Cambodian people) all-you-can-eat buffe with live Khmer performances (music and theatre kind of, I can't really describe it. Dave, you would have loved this place. Well, the party continued after the meal and we went down to a small guesthouse with our driver where we enjoyed a couple of pints of good cambodian Lager.

The next day, after a quick breakfast and well, nothing more, we meet with our severely hungover driver who supposedly was going to take us to the Angkor Wat site so we could see the rest of the temples. We felt ambivalent feeling when he told us that he won't take us around today but instead his friend will. Sad because he was a really cool dude who spoke quite good english and relieving since regardless of if he was hungover or still drunk, he probably wouldn't have been a very safe driver.
So off we went, going around from temple to temple. Some were rather nice, like Ta Keo with no guards. We climed up in one of the towers, found a nice block of stone to relax on and enjoyed the view. Also, it wasn't very attractive to tourist (actually it is one of the few temples that was never really finished so technically it was just rocks with no fancy shmancy decorations or such).

Others were really interesting like Ta Phrom which was completly forgotten and overgrown by the jungle.
The Sites were crowded with people trying to sell various things, everything from Lonely Planet copies (actually bought one for $5, good price and a rather well made copy) to postcards. Speaking of postcards sellers. We met this adorable little girl trying to sell us postcardbundles for $1. After following us around for at least 5 minutes, urging us to send postcards to our girlfriends and relatives she asked what we wanted. When we said nothing she replied:
"Nothing costs $10, postcards only $1. Nothing is more expensive!"
How cute. Regardless of that, we weren't suckered into buying anything but still what she said is stuck in my head. What a salepunch! In a couple of years she'll be able to sell freezers to eskimos. Cleever girl.

And finally we watched the sundown with at least 100 fellow toursits at a tower overlooking the jungle of Cambodia. Now it's time to go out and eat and see what nightlife Siem Reap has to offer.
Thank you friends and stay tuned.

And pretty please with sugar on top, could you be so kind and click on the ads?

Yours

Martin C

Chinese Newyear

Well here's another day. Today is the day Chinese New Year begins and alot of people participate in the festivities surrounding these days. The Chinese new year became my wake up call today aswell, as alot of chinese people (or people who for some reason feel they need to celebrate Chinese New Year) walked on the street outside Mickes house with dragons, drums, bells and alot more. At 7 AM.
Well, there are worse ways to wake up actually.
But besides that, the day has been rather interesting. We visited Wat Phnom, the place where Phnom Penh was founded. Someone found some religious artifcats in the river so at that spot they decided to build a temple, Wat Phnom. I will upload pictures later as i seems that I can't upload anthing from this computer. There were monkeys, and bats and mosquitos. Other than that, we have decided that we're leaving Phnom Penh tomorrow to Siam Reap, where Angkor Wat lies. After that, Bangkok. It's going to be one hell of a time (and a rather long busride). I will keep this page updated whenever I get access to the Internet. I hope everyone is well back in Europe.
Ps. Don't forget to support your favorite travellers by clicking on the advertisements on top of this page. Don't be shy, go nuts, click away!

Great DVD's, original for $2.50

Another day, another tour of the city.
Micke,his little borther and me went to the Russian market to take a look at what they were selling there. Designer clothes, Levis, Lacoste, The North Face and alot more. Everything was copied. But those were good copies. It takes alot of effort to see that it's fake. And the DVD's and CD's aswell. Whatever you want for about $2, more if you want a boxed set. Holograms and everything included. Some of the DVD's are actually pressed so ýou can't see that its a copy. Or if I am to believe the sellers, the're all originals. Great original DVD's for $2.50. Wow... Try getting that kind of a price at CDON.com.

New day, new stuff to do

After 51 hours of being awake, my body finaly collapsed at 21:00 GMT + 7 last night. After a visit to the land of dreams, the President (Who lives just outside of Phnom Penh) decided to take his helicopter to work (the senate which is very close to where Micke lives). Although Cambodia is a poor country, with its population living mostly in poverty, the rich have it rather well here. The capitalism is rather ruthless here, not like the mixed economies we enjoy back home. Just to make one thing clear, the presidency is something you buy, not something you get elected to. Everything can be bought here. This country is based on bribery.
But the politcs aside, I put no judgement anywhere, except for that its maybe a bit decadent to the the helicopter to work when it's a rather short drive to work. Especially since the noise woke
me from the land of dreams. Well. No. It's not the worst part but it's anoying never the less.
We started to the day by going to the VIP sports club and took a swim in the moderatly warm outdoors pool. Yes there's nothing like starting the day with some intense training. 75 meters was todays record but we intend to manage 100 meters before we leave for home in Sweden.
We went home and enjoyed some spring rolls and sticky rice cooked by the maid. The Mannberg family enjoys services like cooking, cleaning, washing 5 days a week. And now that I am here, I am get to enjoy all of that aswell. Which means I won't have to do my laundry or cook or clean. Marvelous as I am a rather bad cook.
After a nice large meal, we went to the Shop cafe and made more plans for the BIATCH.
It's probably going to be diving and if some luck (and some resources) we're going to take a shot at becoming Master Scuba Divers. But otherwise we'll just take the Open Water course (PADI).


With todays planning out of the way we decided to expose ourselves to some culture. We visited Toul Sleng or S21 which was a prison for political prisoners during the reign of the Khmers Rouge. It was disturbing but in the good way. Very touching and I'll upload some pictures later on so stay tuned and perhaps check back to this posting in a week or so. Pictures of prisoners and their families (by routine was to execute them). Interigation rooms and torture devices. It's tragic and sad, mans inhumanity to man. Yet, I am not surprised the least bit. Although I believe humanity in essence is good, we can be extraordinarily cruel from time to time. And as time goes, and memories will fade, everything repeat itself, but with the devestating efficiency of the future. The tools will change but humanity won't. Or who knows? There's always a chance, no matter of how slim the odds are.

First impressions

First of all, I need to say that my flight in Kuala Lumpur was 2 hours late and that was a real pain in the anal region. But I arrived In Phnom Penh and was shortly greeted by Micke and by the customs officers (not in that order however). We visted a café, talked about our plans, took a quick look around About the traffic: there are virtually no traffic rules, there are plenty of 100cc motorcycles and cops can and want to be bribed(altough I have no first hand experience with this yet).
Well, Operation BIATCH is well underway and we've got alot ideas of what to do with our time and scarce resources. More on this later.

KUL

Sitting here at KUL international airport and just wanted to tell everyone that sofar everything has gone well. will come back later with more detailed info about the flight and the jet lag.
Cheers!
Martin Ceglinski

The big one begins

Well. This is the beginning of my 9 month vacation. Tomorrow I'll be on a plane bound to Phenom Phen, Cambodia (and when saying a plane I of course mean that I am going to make two 4 hour stops, one in Amsterdam and one in Kuala Lumpur). I'm packed, got most things that I need. The paper work seems to be in order.
I said goodbye to everyone left here in Malmö. Family and friends. All the shopping is done. Everythings seems to be in order. Yeah right. I'm just waiting for something to jump up and bite me right on the ass. I must confess. I am a bit nervous, but I'm always like this right before a big trip. I'll get my cool nerves back at the airport.
Anyway. I'll try to update this blog whenever I get to an internet café and maybe upload a picture or two everyonce in a while so stay tuned for Martin and Mikaels BIg Asian and cenTral american CHallenge, or BIATCH for short. Or simply Martin and Mikaels Big Asian and Central American Adventure. BACAA. Whatever floats your boat.
Wish me luck friends!

Martin Ceglinski

Back again

So, I am back. After a short period of inactivity it is time to start writting again about my adventurous life. And what an exciting life it has been. I guess the inactive period was triggered by the fact that my not-so-old-and- definetly-not-faithful 40GB harddrive decided to go belly-up and end it's life with a bang. Or to be more precise, a lot of clicky sounds everytime I attempted to read any data of it. And along with the harddrive went everything I didn't backup. Which means exactly everything.
But let by-gones be by-gones. Christmas was very nice with the whole family gathered together in that magical harmony that only christmas can induce. All my friends from GB came back aswell and to be quite honest, I didn't realise how much I missed having them around. Machonights with Dave and Neil, Fancy dinners with Cata,Mia and Orsi, and Inas, well, spontenuety I guess. Not that Lund hasn't offered a wide variety of interesting individuals (I studied maths mind you) but old friends are as y'all know old friends.
Alot has happened since my last post. My friend Mikael began the adventure of a life time by going to his parents in Cambodia, and within a week, I'll be joining him and we'll go on what hopefully will become a glorious memory of... well I'm not sure what to expect but surely it will be a most memorable trip that we will look back upon with nostalgia.
And so, the count down begins. Tickets have been paid, drugs have been prescribed and collected, plasma has been donated, backpacks have been bought and everything is set. I'm leaving the 24th of Jan.
I have however become ill. Probably just the sniffles and I'm hoping to be perfectly restored by the time I leave but you can't really tell.
I'm not sure if Im going to continue to write in English or I'll switch to Swedish so my parents can read this. It's a question of censorship I guess. What do i want my friends to know and what do I want my parents to know and of course,what will I want to keep to myself until the day I die. I guess it might end up as Dr. Glas by Hjalmar Söderberg.
I'll probably stick to english, write emails to my family and keep a personal notebook of other events but who knows.
As I maneged to pass all the maths exams, it means I'm currently on a summer holiday whcih should last until september. Wrote my first Curriculum Vitae today. Scary how little there was to put there but I sent it out to some agencies to see if I can get a job after I come back.
Time flies... Long days and pleasant nights to all of ya.