Cambodia (A World of Treasures)
30/06/2008 - 14/07/2008
Crossing the Mekong by car ferry (i.e. an unstable wooden plate carrying vehicles secured by rocks lodged under the wheels), we made our way to Voen Kham on the Laos/Cambodia border. We had a slight disagreement with the Laos passport control when we each refused to pay a $1 admin fee for the exit stamp, they retaliated by refusing to stamp our passports. Our 2nd attempt was successful, incognito (we switched rain jackets and went singular) and a crisp $1 bill discreetly tucked in our passports, we were greeted with a smile from the official and each were punched with a fresh ink stamp. After a change of mini-bus and visas sorted, we were over the border and on our way to Kratie, where we were told we would need to change bus once again. This turned into a total mess as the bus company had overbooked, some American guys were having none of it and started a full blown argument with the bus driver. Eventually one generous guy gave up his seat and the Americans called it a truse. We got moving, roughly 30 of us squashed into a 25 seater bus bracing ourselves for another painstaking, limb numbing, back breaking 10 hours before we got to Phnom Penh. I don't think there's much rules or regulations in Cambodia for how many continuous hours one can drive, as towards the end of the trip the bus driver appeared to be fast asleep and swerving off the road. Several strikes to the shoulder by the front passenger seemed to do the trick and we were soon back on the road again!
It was about 1 in the morning before we got to the capital and were greeted by the usual toots I had by now become well accustomed to. "Hey Lady!", "Tuk-Tuk Lady?" or "Cheap hotel Lady?" are phrases you just cannot escape from in this part of the World! We eventually gave in to the toots and stayed 2 nights in a cheap hotel in the Boeng Kak area with a great view of the lake. Our 1 day sight seeing in Phnom Penh consisted mostly of familiarizing ourselves with the dark history of the Khmer Rouge. In Tuol Sleng Museum, once a school then turned into a Security Prison by Pol Pot's regime, you have rooms where only a rusty bed stands and hovering over it a disturbing picture of the torture carried out on a prisoner. You also have mug shots of the many prisoners and the security forces (men, women and more disturbing, young children). I read some testaments on why the people took part in the Khmer Rouge regime, lack of food and shelter were the main reasons. It was then onto the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek where most of the prisoners were executed. It can only be described as a mass grave! On the grounds there's a tall Stupa with glass windows served as a memorial. Through the glass you can see about 9,000 human skulls piled which were excavated from the graves.
To be honest I was not a big fan of Phnom Penh, I felt bad vibes! I have no doubt I picked up on it's dark history with the Khmer Rouge, I could not wait to leave the place. There were some good points to the city though, it's Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda are beautiful and the Khmer cuisine is pretty good. After our grim sightseeing we watched The Killing Fields movie in our Hotel and ended our evening by sharing a Happy pizza (An ingredient used in a lot of the Khmer cooking and all too often found on menus in Phnom Penh restaurants!).
The town of Siem Reap was up next! Housing The Eight Wonder of the World, seeing The Temples of Angkor was my main reason for coming to Cambodia. This is also the place where I saw the toots at their best! As our bus pulled into the local bus station, the tuk-tuk drivers and hotel reps woke from their midday nap and stormed towards the bus. If you've seen the movie I am Legend, I felt like Will Smith's character when he was trapped in his basement with nothing but glass between himself and the zombies! After wiping out 10 toots whilst swinging my backpack onto my back, we followed one guy who promised us "Cheap hotel"! From there we rented a tuk-tuk driver and a guide and spent two and half days exploring the vast area with it's countless temples. One stunning temple had to be Ta Phrom, with huge tree roots strangling it's structure. For the movie lovers, this temple was filmed in one of the Tomb Raider movies. The highlights had to be experiencing sunrise over Angkor Wat itself and seeing the temple of Bayon, a structure with 216 faces of Avalokiteshvara, a representation of compassion in Buddhism. We also caught a performance of traditional Cambodian dance while we were in Siem Reap, a beautiful mesmerizing and seductive show. It was at Siem Reap where I bid farewell to my Italian companions and made my way to Battambang.
On the bus I found myself another great traveling companion, Jenn from The States! In Battambang we both took a course together at the Smokin' Pot. Aha not what you think my friends...it was a Thai and Khmer cooking class! Before sweating over a stove, we were brought to the local market where we had to buy our ingredients. Our tutor gave us some explanations on all the strange produce for sell. We also had the pleasure of seeing our fish being killed by several sharp blows to the head with the back of a knife and got to taste some fresh ants...yups Cambodia is not for the squeamish! I forgot to mention that while I was in Bangkok I tasted some fried crickets, they tasted like crisps to be honest...they were good! Jenn and I were then off to Sihanoukville to hit the beach and do some trekking in Ream National Park. Our day trekking was a washout as it rained the whole time but we did meet 2 more great traveling companions, Irish Paul and Dutch Amit. We pretty much chilled for a few days on the beach, eating BBQ fresh fish, drinking cocktails and being constantly bothered by locals selling bracelets, manicures, threading (a strange form of ridding leg hair with common sewing thread.) or massages. This place done nothing for your self esteem, their selling technique was quite direct by telling you that your nail polish was last season, you looked stressed or your legs needed a good seeing to. Nonetheless I did love the place for it's tiny little huts come restos/bars along the beach and it's stream of cheesy music. It was onto Kampot with Jenn from there to visit some Pepper plantations, the bat infested caves of Phnom Chhnork and also a reservoir built by the Khmer Rouge. Both of us done the whole tour on the back of one motorcycle with a guide who looked like he was part of Khmer Rouge regime. I think we got a little sunstroke after the tour as we were both glowing and drunk after 1 Angkor beer!
Sadly Jenn and I took different paths from there (We'd planned to meet up in Vietnam again), she moved on to Phnom Penh (there was no way I was going back there!) and I to the small town of Kep to get a boat to the desert Rabbit Island. This place is another paradise! Fantastic beaches with only 1 or 2 huts selling food and drink and hammocks dotted along the shore, my day was spent swinging and reading in the shade. From there I decided I had enough of Cambodia and it was time to move on again....Vietnam here I come!! It was like a motorcycle relay getting from Kep across into Vietnam. First it was a motocycle to just inside the border, there I transferred to another motorcycle to get across to Ha Tien. Once across I was put on my third motorcycle which brought me to a small dirt town called Ba Hon where I jumped onto a local bus to Hoi Chi Man City...I felt like I'd just been smuggled across the border!
TO BE CONT...
Some pix @ CHARMING CAMBODIA
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