Today we just relaxed at the hotel. After breakfast (which is a huge buffet of every imaginable food!), the morning is cool enough to sit outside on our little patio and read and write. I’ve got a massage and mani-pedi scheduled for 10:30 (included in the ridiculously low room price of $40/night), so that will be my morning.
There is a little bit of lost in the translation/mis-communication with the massage. When I scheduled it last night, they said it included transportation to and from the spa. But this morning, they tell me to wait in my room. Huh. Last time here, they came to me, so now we’re assuming that will be the same today.
And we are right! Here comes my little masseuse with her box of nail polish and accessories! So while Ed sits outside and reads, I get what I am know calling the Push me-Pull you massage. It’s the traditional Khmer massage, where they use pressure points and stretching and lots of elbows and feet. It’s odd – but it is relaxing, and it sure does stretch my muscles. My favorite parts were the back – where she was literally sitting on my back – and the head and face massage. I’m relaxed!
Then onto the mani-pedi – with me sitting on the bed and the masseuse turned manicurist on the floor doing my toes. Hey – when in Cambodia!
After those festivities, we just whiled away the afternoon on the porch until 3:00 when we left for our Sunset horseback ride.
The tuk tuk picks us up right on time and we head out of town to the Happy Ranch horse farm. We’ve never been on this side of town – and it gets pretty rural, pretty quickly. The tuk tuk ride is great – through the dusty dirt roads and past the water buffalo in the street!
After about 20 minutes, we arrive at the farm. It’s beautiful out here, the farm is very large (47 horses including 3 babies, one just foaled 10 days ago)…
…we head out.
Our guide Jay is great – he tells us all about the area we ride through, the villages, the rice fields. He’s from the local area, lived in a monastery until 2 years ago when he came to the Happy Ranch, learned how to ride and trained to be a guide. Very well spoken and very engaging, we spend the next 3 hours listening to his explanations and enjoying the country side.
We ride past all level of houses – the thatched huts and beautiful, huge concrete mansions – all right next to each other.
And of course the children. Once again, every house we pass, they yell hello, bye bye, although now, here, closer to town, obviously with more education, some can also ask our names and how we are. They can respond when we ask how they are with “very well, thank you madam”. So sweet – and the little ones! They get so excited….they scream and squeal and come running out to the end of their property to wave and say hello. And then of course, Jay turns his horse toward them, and they squeal and run back away. Too precious.
As we move on, we notice a distinct difference from yesterday’s scenery. The rice fields haven’t been harvested yet (they are late this year because of the floods), so the fields are a vibrant green and beautiful. It’s incredible! Wildlife is everywhere – we see more water buffalo and cows than we’ve seen throughout the trip. And babies – baby buffalo, so skittish when we come by, calves and ducks and chicks.
We pass by a school, a crematorium, more villages and farms with local life all around us. We trot a bit (yeah, that takes way more practice than we’ve had – even trying to post – it is so hard to get it right!), we navigate through mud and sand (don’t sit down Astar!!) and then into the Wat Athvea – which means Wat without a door. It is a Hindu temple, built before Angkor Wat by King Suryavarman II. This is a great time for a break – both for the horses and us (more for us though! Our legs are really sore, especially our thighs! Wow! And my little knee thing? Horse back riding is not really the thing for that – both my knees are hurting when I dismount. So let’s hope some stretching will take care of that!).
There is also a monastery right on the premises where the monks still live (and where Jay either lived or comes every day to help the monks). Pictures below are where the monks live – and also a Monk on a cell phone! Kind of completes are whole Monk with an iPad, Monk on a scooter, Monk with a whatever technological gadget that catches our eye game. Sort of like Where’s Waldo?, we’ve been doing Monk with a……fill in the blank…ever since we landed in Thailand!
Back on the horses, we head through the rice fields to watch the sunset. It is magnificent. The only problem is that we are in the rice fields and every time there is a great shot to take, Barney decides it’s time to eat and literally goes down into the rice paddy to grab some rice. And he is stubborn, boy. Yanking him up and back on the trail takes all my strength. At about this time, Astar decides to do the same thing – and if anything, he’s even more stubborn than Barney! Yikes!
So we plod along – yanking away – and watching the sunset.
It’s starting to get dark now as we head back to the ranch. The sun dropping lower and lower, the cows and water buffalo still roaming, and people still in the fields collecting rice etc. It’s still so peaceful and serene and lovely as dusk descends on this part of the world.
Of course there are also those already done for the day – like the guys hanging out around a bottle of rice wine who ask Ed to join them in a drink. Thanks! But we’ll keep heading for the ranch with the horses! We try to trot a bit, but Astar has decided that he wants to canter – and that’s not happening! So, we just do a semi-fast walk back as it really starts to get dark. We have one more main road to cross and the owner and his helpers meet us there with light sticks to stop the traffic as we cross – it’s really dark now – but of course, the horses know their way! I’m surprised they haven’t taken off for the barn yet.
We make it back in one piece, happy to be off the horses, but so happy we did it. That was one unforgettable adventure. I’d rank it as one of the best on the entire trip!
Our faithful tuk tuk driver is waiting for us when we return, and hop aboard for our ride back to town. It’s a ride too – it’s pitch black out here and the roads are filled with pot holes and sand traps. He navigates extremely well – and we’re glad we asked the Happy Ranch to organize the tuk tuk for us. Someone else may have know where to go, but this guy obviously does it alot and knows the ins and outs of the road, for which we are grateful!
Back at the hotel, we freshen up and go have our set menu dinner (included in the room price!). It’s just us in the restaurant – which is perfect. It’s so nice and quiet, there’s a nice breeze and we feast on spring rolls, seafood salad (again papaya like, but not), vegetable soup and Fish Amok – which is wholly different from the Amok we had the other night at Angkor Famous. We finish off our meal with fresh fruit. Lovely – now back to our room to collapse on the bed and work out the kinks from the horse ride – should have saved that massage for tomorrow!
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