Blogs from East, Cambodia, Asia
May 21st 2012
Does anybody remember that song? The one that the title refers to? A song from the Dead Kennedy's, but this was in the time of the Khmer Rouge, so it was a bit cynical to say the least. Anyway, just constantly have to think about this song as I travel around Cambodia. Now what about this holiday in Cambodia? First I managed to cross at the most corrupt of corrupt border crossings, not that I knew it at the time. I hadn't read up closely enough on border crossings, and only after somebody told me that what I had paid was thirty percent more than I should have paid, did I find out that I had been scammed. For a seasoned traveller I sure seem to make some stupid mistakes. Actually I blame the Lonely Planet, ... read more
An education in patience, rice, veg and hammocks
Published: May 14th 2012Asia » Cambodia » East » Banlung
May 10th 2012
Our journey from 4000 Islands started with an early morning boat ride to the mainland followed by a bus trip to the Laos/Cambodian border. We had heard that this border crossing could be a little difficult as it was common for immigration officials to demand ”fees” for stamping your passport and for other administrative tasks that are just part of their day job. At the time it seemed very important to ensure that we didn’t pay a dollar more than the official fee. However, in retrospect the small amounts of cash they were demanding were so insignificant they were barely worth thinking about especially taking into account that most Cambodian government employees only earn between $1-2 a day! Besides, this turned out to be the least of our frustrations that day. After a smooth border crossing ... read more
March 15th 2012
Whenever we ask any traveller what was their most memorable place in Cambodia, they always say Angkor Wat. Not a very surprising answer as in the end this is Cambodian, if not Southeast Asian most important historical treasure. If you ask us the same question, we will say - probably to your surprise - that it was Mondulkiri Province and Elephant Valley to be precise. If you follow our blog you probably noticed how big of animal lovers we are, however as much as it was a reason for us to go there, it was not the only reason why we loved it so much. We read about EVP (Elephant Valley Project) based in Sen Monorom in Lonely Planet but what you read is a mere glimpse of what you meet when you arrive. When doing ... read more
March 11th 2012
After 5 fabulous days in Siem Reap it was time to move on. We were headed towards Laos border but we really wanted to avoid going back to Phnom Penh. In this case we decided on taking a rather long journey (more than 10h and a change of buses) to Kratiein the north-east of Cambodia. So far we have been really enjoying this country a lot (with an exception of few minor incidents with Tuk-Tuk drivers) and judging by what we had read about Kratie, we were more than confident that our next destination would be equally good or even better. We arrived in town just in time for a beautiful sunset over Mekong. Kratie is a very small town so our walk from a bus stop to a hotel took us maybe 2 min. We ... read more
Realiteit, een hallucinatie veroorzaakt door een tekort aan van alles in de bloedbaan...
Published: February 18th 2012Asia » Cambodia » East » Kampong Cham
February 17th 2012
"Realiteit, een hallucinatie veroorzaakt door een tekort aan van alles in de bloedbaan..." was een veelgebruikte zin door de altijd fascinerende Erik van der Z. en zeer toepasselijk op de afgelopen weken. Allereerst voordat ik vertrok mocht ik geen biertje drinken in verband met het slikken van anti-biotica. Dat gaf eigenlijk wel een mooie pauze en ik kwam erachter dat de groene Jupiler met 0-komma-nog-wat-procent alcohol, prima te drinken is! Jammergenoeg hebben ze dat niet hier in Cambodja. Sinds een paar dagen is het onverstandig voor mij hier nog een druppel alcohol te drinken. De Cambodjaanse dokter was daar heel duidelijk in. Koh Chang was heerlijk, leuke mensen, alleen word je er wel erg lui. Ik vond het dus tijd om iets anders te doen en mijn vinger kwam terecht op Siem Reap. Ach, waarom niet? ... read more
September 5th 2011
J'arrive à Kampong Cham, où travaille Laeti comme architecte pour Médecins Sans Frontières. Je loge avec elle dans la maison des expatriés et chaque jour je pars à vélo à la découverte des environs et de la vie rurale de la province. La circulation n'est pas facile, car ici il n'y a aucune règles. J'en fais les frais après 10 minutes de vélo lorsqu'un scooter qui ne m'a pas vu me fonce dessus. Plus de peur que de mal et je suis bonne pour changer de vélo... Dans les alentours de la ville, on trouve de nombreux temples bouddhistes ou hindhouistes, chacun ayant ses légendes associées. Je visite une plantation de caoutchouc et l'usine de traitement associée. Pas de guide et peu de règles de sécurité, je me retrouve donc au milieu de la chaine de ... read more
September 1st 2011
Wie schon im vorigen Blog erwaehnt trugen die Fruechte unseres ersten Versuches Kompong Cham zu erreichen keinen Erfolg. Also haben wir es nach ein paar Tagen Besichtigungstour in Phnom Penh noch einmal probiert, doch leider blieb auch diesmal der Erfolg aus. Wir mussten einen Bus in Richtung Siem Reap nehmen, der nach 150km in Kompong Thom stehen bleiben sollte. Zwar sind wir inzwischen gewoehnt, dass die Fahrten hier ein wenig laenger dauern, doch als der Schaffner uns in sehr gebrochenem Englisch mitteilte, wir kaemen nach etwa 5 Stunden um etwa 7 Uhr abends an, glaubten wir ihm. Die Fahrt selbst war eine Qual: Der Fahrer konnte es nicht lassen, seine Karaokekollektion auf Video bei voller Lautstaerke zu praesentieren. So wurden die ersten zwei Stunden mit berstenden Gesaengen von der DVD "Khmer-Karaoke Vol. 113" ausgehalten, bei der ... read more
July 22nd 2011
The bus had a minor mechanical problem after night fall. It had no head lights! After a little fiddling around, the driver, his assistant and the assistant's assistant managed to get a weak light from the driver side headlight, and stuck a flash light out the passenger side window to make a workable pair of lights. But, we crawled to Phnom Penh, because the flash light only lit up a tiny bit of the road, and the driver could hardly see where he was driving most of the time. I had been near the front of the bus, but moved to the middle of the bus and onto the passenger side, just in case of a collision with a large truck. Most vehicles don't go that fast, but since we were a large mostly blacked out ... read more
Of Showaddawaddy dolphins and flesh wounds....
Published: July 10th 2011Asia » Cambodia » East » Kratié
July 8th 2011
Since leaving Siem Reap about 2 weeks ago it seems we have been slowly making our way north through a selection of one-street towns, each slightly more dusty and remote than the last. It all began in the south of Cambodia in Sihanoukville, where we headed for a couple of beach days to recharge our cultural batteries following our temple overdose at Angkor. The beach was sandy, the sun was hot and the beach BBQs each evening were a bargain at 3$. After three days though we decided to get going, and jumped on a bus for the faded colonial delights of Kampot. That particular phrase will crop up again and again in this blog. Kampot, to its credit, has more than one street. It may have as many as 6 actually, though most of them ... read more
June 28th 2011
Next stop in Cambodia: Kratie (pronounced Kra-chey). Eight dollars bought me one ticket for the 11-hour journey across the countryside to this somewhat remote city in Cambodia. This trip entailed taking one bus and one 14-seater van with no air con, packed with 19 people and 4 chickens. Comically, this less than luxurious, poultry-stuffed van had recovered seats embossed with the words and symbol for ‘Mercedes Benz.’ That beat up old ‘Benz’ was about as legit as my $4 ‘Ray Bans’ from Thailand. For most of the adventurous (read difficult) van ride to Kratie, I found that I had to laugh to keep from crying. Tourists and locals alike were packed into this bare-bones van; sweating buckets and stopping about every 7 minutes to either drop someone off or pick someone up. Cattle were everywhere on ... read more
