Blogs from Sihanoukville, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 68

SO, finally in Cambodia, Sihanoukville. After a rather bothersome trip from Australia I am finally here. First I managed to be refused to get on my plane from Cairns to Brisbane. These very cheap airlines are such a pain in the bum. Then, at the international airport in Brisbane I managed to confuse everyone there by claiming that 'yes, I do want to go to Cambodia', and 'no, I do not have a visa yet', and the killer sentence were of course 'no, I do not have a return ticket, or any ticket as such out of the country'. Many phonecalls later, many airport officials later, I finally got them to agree that maybe, but just maybe, there was a slight chance that the Khmer custom would let me in. Pointing out to them that there ... read more

In mid-December we caught an early morning bus from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville on the coast of Southern Cambodia. Gerry decided to buy a baquette filled with cold meat from a street vendor at the bus station - big mistake! 24 hours later, full scale diarrhoea! Fortunately no sickness, and after a day he was eating as well as ever. Sihanoukville is a bit shabby and is spread out across a number of beaches. We stayed in the Mealy Chenda Guesthouse above Victory Beach with a lovely view out to sea, particularly at sunset. They do a wicked barbequeue evening where you cook you're own food on a charcoal stove on your table. The sunsets on the beach are also worth beholding. The sun sets around 6pm, after which we would head for a great little ... read more

's Morgens gaan we naar Ream National Park, we varen door een mangrove woud naar een dorpje, het is twee uur varen over een heel breed water, onderweg is er helemaal niks te zien. In het dorpje aan gekomen zijn er een aantal jongens aan het volleyballen, Marcel (2,02 meter) en ik mengen ons in het spel, de jongens kunnen aardig volleyballen, maar als we samen vooraan bij het net gaan staan, kunnen we elke bal blokken of slaan ze alles uit, heel gemeen. Na een tijdje gaan we te voet richting het strand, onderweg komen we een schooltje tegen, de kinderen zitten al keurig in de bankjes, maar de leraar is er nog niet, hij is te laat, dat is jammer want Wijnand en Marcel hadden nog wat schriftjes gekocht op de markt in Chhoud ... read more

The tragedy of Cambodia's infamous past is that it was a result of outside force, compounded by weak leadership, that permitted the atrocities of the 1970's to occur. In a case of paranoid whimsy Prime Minister Sihanouk committed his country to its nebulous take on communism because he thought the USA planned to assassinate him. His 'Peoples Socialist Communist Party' was no such thing yet its name was implication enough for the North Vietnamese to assume sanctuary on Cambodian soil. This, coupled with the CIA threat from across the border, and Sihanouk casually acquiesced ( Film making was his passion anyway). This was not enough. Sensing indifference to his political responsibilities and becoming increasingly aware of the military's desire to align itself with the American cause, there occurred a rural based insurgency forcing Sihanouk to back ... read more