HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Day 11 started off with the celebration of CWC founder, Heidi!! She welcomed 40 with omelet and "Frech fries", many beautiful presents from her equally beautiful friends and a couple of rounds of "happy birthday" sung to her.
After breakfast we had planned to pack up the bus with our bags (that were all waiting in the lobby) and head off to Battambang, where we would set up clinics for the next two days. The plan was pretty solid, until Bianca noticed that her bag was missing, and that mine (Alex) and her shoes were also missing. After unpacking, what had already been squeezed into the back of the bus, the shoes and bag were still no where to be found. Staying at the hotel were another couple of groups cycling around Cambodia. Our beautiful translated Socheat got the number of the groups and we located the bag and shoes in the back of one of their buses (picked up by accident) YAY! This was exciting news, until we realised they were heading in the complete opposite direction to us and were at least an hour away. After a little compromise (and quick thinking on Socheat's behalf) the bag was to be droppped off at Oodong, put on a bus that was heading to Battambang, to be picked up by us at 5pm! Yay we had a plan! Off we went on our 2.5 (turned 4 hour) journey to our clinic for today!
On arrival, we were welcomed with a DELICIOUS lunch and lots of cuddles! The clinic was very small today and we mostly saw children! The kids were attacked with stickers and loved having their photo taken!
Socheat had organised a surprise for Heidi to celebrate her birthday, and took us all to see the millions of bats fly from their cave at sunset! Despite being overcast, this was a beautiful thing to watch. We then all hopped into a truck and drove up to the temples where we enjoyed cake for Heidi's birthday!
After all of this excitement at the caves, we were told that Bianca's bag and shoes had been taken to THAILAND! They hadn't been dropped off at the bus station, so kept going. The new plan is for it to be delivered tomorrow at 11am- fingers crossed! Haha
On our way home, Korn's van got a flat tyre. We had to all evacuate the bus and wait (in the rain) for the other bus driver to pick us up. Luckily the hotel was only down the road, so Korn was able to drive to the hotel to change the tyre in safety off the road!
When we arrived to our hotel, we were very excited at the prospect of massages and an inhouse washing service! After dinner we were off in our different ways ready for tomorrow!