Cambodia...the land of smiles

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Early doors, alarm set for 5.45am to be packed up and at the bus station for 6am blimey we hadn't been up this early in a long time!! But it was for a good reason, we were crossing the border into Cambodia, very exciting. We had been told countless horror stories of the border crossing, it can be dangerous, be careful, you could be there for ages, corrupt officers, fake visas etc so we were both very sceptical about it all. Managed to fall straight back asleep on the first part of the journey up untill we got to the border, the bus operator guy asked for all our passports and $25 for the visa, I was adamant that I was not paying it or giving him my passport as it should only be $20 and you can do it yourself. However after some deliberation over it all I gave in and paid the guy and off he went with our passports, theres us hoping and praying this is all above board and luckily it was. In the end the extra $5 was fine as if I had done it myself I may have missed the bus as we got pushed through pretty quickly. Border crossing are always bit of a nightmare as you never really know what is going on, you have to take all your luggage with you but this was absolutely fine. We had an hours wait in Phnom Penh before we went downto Siahnoukville, overall about a 14 hour journey, not too bad considering we were told it would be 10 hours!!

Even before you get off the bus you are swarmed by guys offering taxi's or tuk tuks "where you go I take you" there were 2 other English girls Meg and Beth who were going the same direction as us so we all shared a tuk tuk , piled on all the bags and then us, another cosy ride! We were staying on Otres Beach in Indigo, these cute little huts right by the beach, it was lush. Like paradise. We did some midnihht swimming to see the plankton, in certain parts of Cambodia you can see the plankton in the sea, it is bioluminescent. It glows, it was like swimming in glitter! We stayed here for 3 nights, one day we took a tuk tuk into the town Serendipity, very built up and touristy, some people compared it to Malia.. I am glad we were down the other beach as it was much nicer, there were a good few bars and restaurants to choose from but we ended up in the same one as the food was cheap but tasty, Bamboo. Myself, Kate, Meg & Beth met 3 English guys whist frequenting in Bamboo, turned out we were all doing the same Island tour the next day. The tour is run by an American guy who is known as "DC" because he is from Washington D.C. we never found out his real name. We were introduced to DC whislt he was dancing on the bar taking shots of whiskey as he had just lost a bet, we knew we were in for a treat...we got picked up from our beach huts by tuk tuks and drove to the riverside where DC was waiting for us wearing a pair of pink, heart shaped sunglasses, wonky as they only had one arm! Once again...in for a treat! So all 7 of us piled onto the boat, this is around 10am, DC offers us a drink, he has made fruit punch with a bottle of vodka and a bottle of rum, there is beer, spirits and a bottle of Jager, what would we like?! He tells us a rough plan for the day as it really depends on the weather, then cranks up the tunes and away we go. Our first stop is about an hour out where we all jump off to snorkel, one of the guys attempts to catch some lunch by spear fishing, unsuccessfully. However another boat pulls up, a fishing boat and DC jumps over and picks a spearhead?! Fish that is so fresh it is still twitching! That is for the bbq later, rest assured there are tofu kebabs for me! We snorkel some more, then crack open the beers and float on life jackets sat in them like nappies!! Floating nappies were the highlight for us! Next stop is ISLAND where you can walk across to the otherside, whilst the bbq is being lit and the cooking begins we walk across to find a deserted beach, just as it starts to rain. Now this rain isnt like rain at home, its warm and because we are wet and in swim gear it doesn't really matter! When we get back to the otherside it is now deserted so we now have that beach to ourselves, the fish is almost cooked, the whole thing is on the bbq, yes the whole entire fish! I was so tempted to try some but seeing the head and bones was freaking me out a little, well, a lot! We devour the food which is so good and lounge around on the beach until we are rudely interrupted by the "Booze Cruise Boat" think Club 18-30's, Lads on Tour, Malia...getting the picture? DC tells us that they stop here as they do a whiskey train, intrigued we grab our camera and head over to watch as people are somersaulting and jumping off the boat. They start to sit down in 2 line Girls Vs boys and proceed to give everyone a whiskey shot which they drink then put it on their head, whichever line finishes first is the winner. I filmed the whole thing, it was hilarious! Funniest part is we actually met one of the guys later on in the next city who was on the tour and in my video! Thankful that we were not part of that we headed back to our boat and into our next destination elephant rock to do some cliff jumping. Scary! We watched as DC showed us where to jump, then watched the boys whilst building up my confidence to get up there and do it, so worth it!! It was about a 6m jump, once was enough to remember it. We then casually sailed back to shore, it was such a good day, well worth the $15.

The next day we sailed over to Koh Rong which we had heard so much about, a beautiful island about 2 hours from the mainland and it was amazingly beautiful. We were still the 7 of us and we had been told about some beach treehouses for accommodation, sounded cool. Little bit out of our budget so us girls got a bungalow and the boys took the treehouse. Koh Rong only had electricity for a few hours each day in the evening, the toilets don't flush you have a bucket and water next to it, no loo roll, shower water just went out a hole in the floor. We were back to basics! Our room had some lovely bright pink mosquito nets which smelt like years of deet has been sprayed on them, which is probably true. One morning we set an alarm for 5am to watch the sunrise, sitting on the beach watching it rise behind the islands, pretty special. We did get wakeup calls most mornings from the cockeral and roosters all around, there were animals everywhere little chicks, dogs, cats.

You can trek to the otherside of the island so we made a plan to do that and watch the sunset and boat it back as the trek could take up to an hour. So off we went, we hadn't been wearing shoes for days, not even flip flops as all we had been walking on was sand so we didn't bother with it now, hindsight, could have done with wearing my converse as it was a quite an intense trek. At points there were ropes to help you pull yourself up and absail or scoot on your bum down, we were in the jungle and it was very humid, bikini and sarong may not have been the ideal outfit but I was absolutely dripping, we all were. We just made it to watch the sunset after an encounter with a water buffalo and a wrong turning where we ended up at the cliff top! We were extremely lucky that one of the guys got to the beach just as the last boat of the day was leaving, he managed to get them to stay and gave us half an hour to swim and watch the sunset. We then had a mission getting us and our stuff into this boat, sometimes I wish I could film these situations but at that time I was carrying my camera above my head and trying desperately to not fall over in the waves. Thank god we got the boat otherwise we would have been stuck on that side of the island as you could not do that trek in the dark..The only guesthouse had been shut due to the fact that there were snakes!

The next day we hired kayaks, the boys wanted to see if they could swim to one of the closer islands, the challenge was on, so us girls kayaked whilst they swam, and they did it! We reckon it may have been around 1.5km, the island had some sort of shrine or temple on it and was full of coral, shells and rocks, pretty. We then doubled up the kayaks and went round the headland to another side of Koh Rong where it was empty, we were the only people there. After some swimming, bathing and snorkeling we paddled back in the choppy water, I was at the front getting soaked, so much fun! Our 3 days in the island were up and we got the boat back to the mainland and managed to get a beach hut back at Indigo, score. We were all heading our separate ways the folowing day so it was our last night...it ended up with us taking over the bar, dancing on tabletops and even the bar, then back into the water to swim in the glittery plankton! It felt like the end of a holiday!

So off Kate and I went flying solo again, our next destination was Kampot, further along the coast. We were on a minibus that we assumed would take us to the coach/bus as Kampot was approximately 2 hours away, we were wrong, after alot of kerfuffle with moving the seats around they piled on people into the minibus so we were completely full, not the most comfortable but we did meet our next travel companions. The 2 guys in front of us were also from home and as we were facing each other and knees touching we got chatting. None of us had booked accommodation as it is low season so we were all hoping there would be room, as always the tuk tuks are waiting for you so one if them drove us to a place and luckily they had room for us all. Kampot is a cute little town, there is not a lot to the town but there are salt and pepper fields surrounding, we didn't visit them but we did want to take a trip to Kep, a seaside town known for the best crab in Asia. So the next day we hired mopeds and drove to Kep, I thought this would be along the coastline, nope, most of the road was a dirt track, red sand everywhere. It was only about 20km away so it didn't take long to drive there, it was quite funny battling with the Cambodian roads and drivers, very bumpy with lot's of potholes. We drove through some fantastic scenery, some strange statues of elephants, dears, horses, monkeys and once we got to Kep a massive giant of a crab in the water! Very interesting! The guys all had crab, it came out with the eyes and everything, very fresh. The drive back was hard work with the sand and dust flying eveywhere, when we got back we were covered in it!

From Kampot we took the bus up to Phonm Penh, it was only a few hours away. Our friends Meg & Beth were in Phonm Penh so we chose to stay in the same hostel as them, we went out for a lovely dinner in an organic vegetarian restaurant. Yummy.

The main "tourist attraction" in Phnom Penh is the horrific genocide musuem (S21) and the killing fields. I had heard a lot about both of these from fellow travelers we had met but also friends and family who had been so I was mentally preparing myself as to what to expect. Nothing can prepare you though, the Tuol Sleng museum was once a school where children were learning and safe after Pol Pot and his communist party began their invasion it became a prison of torture. Today you can visit the prision and see the tiny wooden and stone cells, the torturing apparatus and photos of what Pol Pots guards did to them. When people arrived at the prison they were measured and given a number, just like a prison today, this was a way of keeping track of everyone. Each day people were taken, men, women, children, babies being told they were moving for work or to a new place. Little did they know they were being led to their death. The killing fields is a tragic site, today you can see the number of graves and pits were bodies where thrown in, sometimes still conscious, in this case an acid would be thrown in too, to finalise the kill and keep the decaying smell at bay. As I said I had been warned of how emotional this day could be, many people had informed me of the one tree that still stands today where babies were beaten to death against, to stand in front of it and begin imagining what these people went through sent all different emotions through me...anger, resent, sadness, loss, fear I could go on. I felt almost desensitized as I was prepared to see that and feel what I felt. What I was not prepared for was the music that was played out right before the executions took place, that sent chills down my spine. I understand this is hard to read but I want you know how much turmoil this country has been through, this is not something that is taught at school, you don't necessarily know about it unless you see it here. It was a harrowing day but something that made me smile that day was being able to give 3 begging Cambodian boys a doughnut, thy had been begging through the fence whilst we had stopped to listen to the audio guide, I did not want to give them money and we had been to the bakery that morning so instead I passed that to them through the fence and watched as they shared it out between them and savoured each bite.

Kate and I spent the rest of the time in this city sightseeing, taking in the culture, we visited the palace, the river and the central markets (of course) One of the nights it was one of the girls we were with birthdays, Millie, turning 19! We seem to meet a lot of Englishon their gap year before uni! We ended up in a club with a lady boy cabaret style show, it was brilliant, The different acts included Chicago, Lady GaGa and a all male dance crew, it was really good, the club was a strange one, a mixture of Cambodian's and westerners and a distinct amount of older western men, catch my drift?

From Phnom Penh we took the bus to Siem reap to visit the 8th wonder of the world, Angkor Wat the largest temple in the world. We arrived in Siem Reap late evening and were deliberating wherher to get up for sunrise the following day, that got vetoed out as we were jut too tired to get up at 4am. So we discovered Siem Reap the following day and booked to go see the sunset over the temple. Siem Reap itself is a cute town, wuite small, eveythin is wihin walking distance, so obviously we checked out the market, then had a traditional Khmer massage which was so good, similar to Thai where they pull you around. It was a nice day soaking up the town. We were lucky that our hostel has a pool so before heading to sunset I took a leisurely dip! Our tuk tuk arrived to take us to the temples, I was extremely excited as Cambodia to me is all about Angkor Wat, I have been waiting months to see this place. It is a huge tourist attraction but it was not too busy, the $20 ticket you purchase for sunrise is then valid for the following day so it is well worth doing, the ticket also had your photo on as they take one whilst you pay, most attractive! Sunset was good, it was overcast so it wasn't as striking as I had hoped nether the less, we were at Angkor Wat! We sat and had an Angkor beer (oh the irony) and relaxed before we were bombarded with kids selling postcards, braclets etc the kids were chatting and playing, it was nice to see them be kids for a moment rather than working.

The next mornin was a very early start as we were being picked up at 4.30am but it was so worth it The sunrise was spectacular, the whole sky turned pink and lit up Angkor Wat, it was a rather overwhelming sight. We sat and watched for an hour or so before heading to the street stalls to get some breakfast. As you wander around you are constantly being approached by kids and adults asking you to buy from them or eat at their place, it gets hard constantly saying no as you know they are just trying to make a living, one kid pulled us into his restaurant, he said he saw us playing with the kids the day before and bless him he was just so sweet. We chattespd to him over breakfast, he was jut 13 years old gets up for sunrise and helps his family by bringing people in, taking orders, settling up and then at midday he goes to school to learn Cambodian and English untill 9pm in the evening, what a day! Such a hard worker, that is there way over here he also told us when he grows up he doesn't want to be working there, biger and better things.

So off we went to check out Angkor, it was incredibly over powering and all I could think was how did it get here? How long did it take to build? How? It was only about 6am and there were not many tourist so we could just wander around and take it all in. Incredible. There are many temples in Angkor and the driver takes you round one by one, there are different ways to do it, you can cycle, moped etc but its too far to walk inbetween. I won't bore you with descriptions of each temple but they all had something different to offer - Bayon and its many different faces, Ta Prohm with the trees growing inside, the elephant terrace and so many buddhas. We spent around 6 hours temple-ing, we were exhausted by the end but so pleased we had done it and made the most of it, massive tick off the list for me!

Later on that day we treated ourselves to another massage and it was by far the best one yet, a Jasmine oil relaxation, wow, I was actually falling asleep I was so relaxed! One last beer in the Angkor What bar on pub street (guess why it is called that?!) for our last night here.

One if the first things you notice is just how different it is to Vietnam even though the countries border onto each other. Cambodia's landscapes are extremely different, the land, crops, everything. You can see it is considerably poorer. The streets are used as bins, no public bins, some collect the rubbish, plastic bottles or cans, I can only think that they would receive money for it. You see a lot of amputees around, it is hard not to stare, they are begging for money, who knows if they were born that way or whether they are a victim of a landmine accident. Cambodia still has a lot of unexploded landmines around.

There are kids begging everywhere, so young, they should be in school but this is the only life they know. Some have good English which they have learnt from westerners, which means sometimes they know the rude words. Everyone says hello, where you from, how are you? They are extremely friendly and welcoming, the country thrives on tourism. I feel it is different to Vietnam as you get hassled less to enter a shop or restaurant however you get hassled all day by tuk tuk drivers "Hey lady, tuk tuk?" Countless times you keep repeating "no thanks" gets a little frustrating but that is there work, you see a lot of them waiting for their next ride, even saw one guy taking a nap in a hammock which hung from the inside of his tuk tuk!!

Cambodia has been exceptional with all the history I have learnt, some of it so harrowing and shocking, you can see why there is still so much poverty over here and how the main income is from us, tourists. It has been so much more beautiful than I thought it could be, paradise beaches, glorious white sands. And the kids are just amazing, so happy & playful, I want to take them all home with me!

Thank you Cambodia for all you have had to offer, it has been an absolute pleasure.

Next stop Bangkok, Thailand for the 2nd time to discover more!

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Photos

Otres Beach
The stunning view as we walked onto the beach, who knew Cambodia was this beautiful

Indigo on Otres
The lovely beach huts we stayed in

Young workers
Kate getting to know the locals, this little boy would not take no for an answer!

Kates getting lunch ready!
I couldn't bring myself to touch it!

The elephant rock
Cliff jumping!

Brits on tour!
The gang, we spent about week together and had such a laugh, this is at the end of the island trip

Sunset Jumping
Celebratory jumps after our long trek to the otherside of the island

Kayaking
The amazing views from the kayaks, I really enjoyed getting out and about on the sea

Welcome to Kep
We pulled over to take a photo of the massive crab statue, before getting back on the bikes to eat crab

English lessons
Pon is a street seller and she stopped and sat with us for a while, she used Hannah's journal to write the alphabet and numbers

Killing fields grave
This was one of the many graves where victims were buried.

Wooden cells
What once was a school classroom swiftly became prison cells once Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had taken over.

Begging boys
The 3 boys who were begging through the fence, sharing out the doughnut I passed through to them.

The Palace in Phnom Penh
We did not venture inside but skirted around the edges of the palace, it was an immense building with bright shining golds and blues.

Angkor Wat
Kate and I stood outside the huge temple

Smiles
These kids sat and played for a while before sunset, you can see the little boy playing with my toe ring, he kept trying to tickle my feet!

Sunrise at Angkor Wat
This is my money shot of the morning!