Good morning SE Asia!: 18/12/2013

It was a hot and sweaty morning. The first time we had started realising that the temperature and humidity were taking the next step up. Not a long day planned but we were concerned about the road surfaces again. I had asked anyone who was listening in Phnom Penh if they could tell me the state of the roads but I got conflicting information. In the end they were OK, as at most times the centre section of tarmac (the old road) still remained. So the team that were doing the work on this side of PP did it the right way. It was still a very dusty road though even though they had water trucks spraying the dust down at the worst junctions. The air was thick with dragonflies today. You have to dodge them if you can as they weigh quite a few grams and one on the lip or nose can hurt! It was quite atmospheric though - hot and hazy and dusty with the thick air full with the little biplanes and buzzing with cicadas.

We were headed for a place called Skun - famous for the fried or baked Tarantula spiders that get sold at the local market at the roundabout in the centre of town. Apparently the locals run up to each tourist bus as it stops trying to sell a few. I was looking forward to a taste of them! When we got there though there was none available. Lots of stalls but no spiders, only the usual crickets and giant water beetles. Apparently they have hunted them to extinction - no doubt as soon as they found out that tourists could be sold a few for about $5 or something they suddenly became hot potatoes. Sad there are none left.

We went and checked in to the guesthouse we had loosely planned to find (not even sure if it was the same one). Johanna got shown in to the room which was an end bungalow in the back yard in a row of about six and quite run down. She had seen this type of accommodation before so said OK after just a quick glance. After we have unpacked the bikes and taken a closer look at the room though - it was terrible. Bugs and flies, live and dead cockroaches under the bed and wardrobe, broken sink, no hot water and only a fan as the A/C was also not working. The front door did not lock properly and the ceiling had a huge hole to the outside roof space. No good. I had a cold shower then asked the team of teenagers running the place to find another room for us. The second room had just been vacated and was inside the main hotel building. Much cleaner/newer room and at least on the 3rd floor the bugs are less. Still one of the worst places we have had yet though, but not really bad. Just another night where we used our sleeping bag in-liners and our own emergency pillows!

We headed out to try and find the spiders again, and also a Spider-Sanctuary that we had stumbled upon online hoping it was still open. We couldn't find it and noone had heard of it. We stopped and had a drink at a truck-stop restaurant place and I tried the next best thing - fried crickets. Pull the legs and wings off and they went well with a cold beer. I must admit though that place was not the cleanest and there were flies everywhere so we didn't stay for dinner. Still no spiders we cycled the few KM back into Skun 'town' and found a small restaurant that had some pictures on the menu and had the usual type of rice and fried chicken or beef with some morning glory. Not the best ever, but OK and pretty cheap. We found a phone number for the Spider Sanctuary and actually spoke to a bloke who answered in Cambodian but then spoke English with a English or Australian accent. He was not friendly or chatty though and just told me that he had closed the place to work on other projects. Seemed a bit paranoid or something...