Moving Day

Moving Day - April 13 Day 68

There were a couple of things to clear up at the jewellers in the market before we left.  Taran and I took a quick trip to “buy bananas”.  Whereas we actually collected the newly silver set, Valentine’s day Tanzanite, pendant I had commissioned earlier. It is a late birthday surprise for Jo.  Taran surprised and charmed me by insisting on buying me a sapphire (my birth stone) – very small and sparkly and it seemed like a good deal. I had bought him a small ruby (his birthstone) yesterday. It is a good feeling when you feel you have established a solid relationship with your gem dealer.  

If the price is right it's surely an investment – you aren't actually spending the money at all. Honestly though I haven’t joined the Kardashian’s yet, none of the stones cost more than $25. They'd be embarrassed. And I am now planning to have my sapphire set in the silver ring that I've worn for years.  I'm thrilled.

But I will have to find another jeweller as our time in Battambang is over.

Looking at the stones now, with hindsight and thought.....I suspect they are all fake!  But pretty. And better fake than a fortune.

We returned to Jo who had been packing and we had to go out again to buy the bananas!

So farewell to all the good times and the ant times and the HOT times.  The dance studio, the staff room, the refuge and kitchen. Farewell Battambang Apartment.

We had left plenty of time to get to Siem Reap Airport Airport as it is the eve of Khmer New Year and the entire country is heading home for the holiday – seemingly in just the one van.

 

Or is it two....

Or three....

Anyway there were fewer vehicles on the road than expected and we got to the airport with just the seven hours to spare.  This allowed us the clear opportunity for a spontaneous  "Bonus Angkorian Temple Visit".  There was some resistance but I carried the day chiefly because the airport had very little (really nothing) to commend it.

Sunset at Phnom Kroam: just a modest cab ride away and then a hot climb to an age-old place of worship, an endless rose bloomed vista of stubble rice plains and the retreating great lake of Tonle Sap (Asia’s largest).  

This country is ready for the rain.

 

We lost Taran in the dusk and found him again and we will not wait any longer. 

We make our way to the airport, say goodbye to Cambodia and board a misty plane (see video).

It is a three hour flight to the Philippines and arriving well past midnight once again we are in a crowded airport lounge, sleepless with no immediate prospect of comfort.  

And we turn another page.