The Big Adventure

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We left Vietnam early on Monday morning and crossed the Cambodian border by river. We were charged $25 instead of $20 for the visa process, which was the first of many times being ripped off in Cambodia. However our minibus dropped us in the centre on Phnom Penh where we arranged a tuk tuk tour to the Killing Fields for the next day. We travelled up with a lovely New Zealand couple, Gary and Jeanette who came with us the next day also.

My first lunch unfortunately continued the theme of peanuts in most local dishes...even after a prolonged discussion with the waitress about peanut free food and getting her to write the cambodian down for no peanuts, she then suggested the royal amok, which was amok with peanuts...so it was pizza and burgers for the rest of the time in Cambodia!

Our second day was unforgettable and will stay with me long after this trip is over. It started with our visit to the Killing Fields that had an excellent audio guide

which explained the extreme brutality of the Khmer Rouge lead by Pol Pot, who after overthrowing the unpopular government, started to reorder Cambodia's population, to a pure Angkor race. They were finally ousted from Phnom Penh by the Vietnamese, but remained close to the border of Thailand until 1998, when Pol Pot was finally placed under house arrest. It is reported that over 3 days in April 1975 the Khmer Rouge systematically emptied the busy, developed capitol and other major cities. The population was walked to the countryside under the pretence that America was going to bomb the cities, then made to work paddy fields for 12 plus hours a day. Many died of illness or starvation, however more were murdered in many horrific ways. From 1975-1978 2 million people died, the population was 4 million people before. Reasons given were for being educated, having paler skin, a different accent or wearing glasses, all of which meant you may have been a spy or traitor to the Khmer Rouge. Sorry for the history lesson, but so much of this was still very present in the places we visited! The main stupa, a memorial to the lives lost, was very touching, but also eery to see so many skulls, especially with obvious facial injuries. The book called 'At first they killed my father' had me sobbing on a very public bus! After the Killing Fields we went to the russian market for lunch then onto Tlong Sueng, which was a primary school that the Khmer Rouge turned into an interrogation prison for suspected CIA or KGB spies. The torture instruments and cells were left intact. This was another highly emotional and saddening place. It was opened to the public in 1979 as a museum to what happened to the country, I was glad to do both on one day.

The next day we had a lighter day, we bought 'cheap' electronics (ripped off by $20) and visited Phnom Wat and the Royal Palace. We organised an overnight bus to Siam Reap and met Micheala from our Indian tour for a beer first as she was also in Phnom Penh. Our overnight bus was tiny and claustrophobic. The roads were in such bad condition that Mark awoke in the night and thought that we had crashed over the edge of a cliff for at least 30 seconds. We arrived in Siem Reap at 5am and got picked up by a tuk tuk guide for free, of course the catch is that you are pressured into taking further rides with them to see the Temples. We arranged 2 tours, one to see the sunset that night over a Wat on the hill, beautiful. Then dinner and our evening was spent in the Market, where we both tried the fish pedicure-very tickly, but the price included a free beer. Our hotel was terrible, but very cheap, the toilet was continually blocked and when we got up at 5.20 the next morning there was no water. These annoyances disappeared as we saw Angor Wat at sunrise. This was an incredible sight, well worth the early morning. We spent the rest of the day travelling around other Wats including the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed, this was an amazing day. On the way back our tuk tuk driver offered us a cheap deal on ferry tickets the next day, the first place was $35 then he made a call and found us some tickets for $30, even though the local guide book stated they should be $22, we paid the $30, convinced this was an out of date price, when we got the boat the next morning all other foreigners paid around $22, the locals only $0.50!! We bumped into Gary and Jeanette on this ferry and shared our trip to Battambang with them. The ferry was so loud we had to use ear plugs for the 7hr journey through many floating villages and waterways. On arrival at Battambang we booked into Central hostal, at $2 a night we managed to recoup some of our earlier mistakes!

We went to another hostal for dinner and got talking to an american, Ryan who knew a night club to go to, a few beers later and off we went. Sky club had great music and lots of drunk Cambodians, sharing one beer between 3 or 4 people. We were like celebrities on the dance floor as the only foreigners, and Mark at least 1ft taller than most people there. Ryan, a little worse for wear left before us and when we left some locals asked us to follow them down a dark street as our new friend had collapsed on the pavement. Considering our other experiences in Cambodia we were a little weary and seeing nothing decided to try to leave ASAP, but the locals insisted. Sure enough Ryan was out for the count with a group of 10 young Cambodians trying to look after him. They had taken his phone, tried to call a friend to collect him, then with no luck replaced his mobile in his pocket. They hadn't taken any money either, and as he was unable to sit up could not go home on a moto taxi, they arranged a tuk tuk to take us back to our hostal. We couldn't work out his address, so asked our hostal owner if he would let Ryan sleep in the dorm room, he agreed as long as he paid the next morning. This kindness restored our faith in these people.

We organised 2 day trips with our tuk tuk driver and guide Seth who had a pHd in English. The first day we saw local delicacies being made, inluding sticky rice, rice paper, rice wine (with drunk pigs), and fish head sauce. We saw another stupa and Killing field and Seth explained that every family had lost at least one member, for him it was his sister. We visited a crocadile farm, and saw a huge party procession with boom boxes on their way to the temple, then Ek Phnom. In the evening we met Gary and Jeanette before they left for Bangkok. The next day we visited an 11th century temple that the Khmer Rouge had used as a killing cave, with skeletons still present. Then rode the bamboo train and saw huge fruit bats. Seth was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable, as were our hostal owners.

We got the bus back to Siem Reap for $5 to try to travel up through Loas but with the road damaged by the flooding the previous month it would take at least 2 days travel by bus and flights were $300. One extremely rude tuk tuk driver made our mind up to leave Siem Reap for Bangkok.

The impact of the history of Cambodia has changed the country and made it a unique live for the moment place. We experienced deep sadness, incredible awe, anger and happiness all in our short visit.

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