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Published: August 8th 2007
Border Crossing into Cambodia
We arrived at the border and promptly had our passports and $20 taken off us by our guide who would sort out immigration for us. Delight at the thought of less hassle turned into worry after a 2 hour wait. Eventually he returned, but a member of our group had overstayed her visa, resulting in $10 per day over for her, and another hours wait for us.
Eventually we passed through baggage check, and the 'border' almost went unnoticed as we crossed the dirt track of 'no mans land'. Easier than we had thought... which was good, as we would need all our patience to survive the further 2 hour boat journey and 1 hour bumpy bus journey to Phnom Penh.
Although the scenery was little different to that on the Vietnamese side of the Mekong, the Khmer people look remarkably dissimilar... much darker in skin colour due to their Indian ancestors, as opposed to Vietnam's Chinese roots.
Phnom Penh
Eventually we arrived into Phnom Penh, and Saz prepared herself for the necessary search for a suitable hostel. Little did she know that Dave had decided to treat her to
a stay
in a posh hotel for her birthday. Pretending that he knew of a hostel, Dave got Saz into a tuk tuk and requested to be taken to
The Hotel Cambodiana. Well, Saz was very surprised when we arrived at the largest of Phnom Penh's elite riverside hotels... and even more so when Dave escorted her to their 'Mekong Suite' on the top floor! An absolutely beautiful room with a fantastic view over the Mekong... worlds away from guest houses/hostels we had stayed in over the last 6 months. After dinner at the hotel's top class restaurant, we visited the bar for a cocktail and to listen to Asia's answer to Tom Jones... he was actually quite good!
After the best night's sleep ever Saz decided that she would like to make her birthday memorable by doing something totally different to our everyday travelling plans, aka absolutely nothing! A blissful day ensued... lazing by the pool and feeling positively pampered. That afternoon we carried on our indulgence by visiting the Mekong Delta lounge (for exclusive guests only) were we met Ken and Eric, two expats living in the hotel whilst working for the American Embassy. They invited us to an
expat party the following evening, and so we decided on a quiet night in, which allowed Saz to do something she had always wanted... order room service! A truly memorable birthday.
Our last morning at The Cambodiana was spent relaxing at the pool before checkout. We then moved inland to 'Okay Guesthouse', arriving just before a huge thunderstorm. Stuck in the hostel due to the rain, we made use of the time by replying to emails and watching 'White Chicks' in the restaurant. As the rain subsided we ventured out to 'Friends' tapas bar (a trainee academy for disadvantaged street youths), followed by a few bars on the river. At 10pm we walked to 'Elsewhere' bar, venue of the 1st of the month party where we met Ken and Eric. A fantastic night drinking cocktails with expats around the plunge pool.
Awoke with a throbbing hangover and spent what was left of the morning relocating to the lakeside backpacker area. Our $4 box room covered head to toe in lino was a shock to the senses after Hotel Cambodiana, and it sent Saz running to visit Ken and Eric at The Royal Raffles Hotel. Dave spent the afternoon
updating the blog, interrupted only by a wet rat, formally known as Saz, who had got caught in the rain on her walk back from Raffles. When Saz returned to the room she found it taking in water through the window frame, and decided that its lake side location was less than desirable now that the rains were threatening to take the hostel underwater. Thankfully the rain stopped and lino is known for its wipe dry quality, making for a damp but comfortable nights sleep.
Not wanting to chance another night at the Lake we once again relocated to another part of the city. From there we hired a tuk tuk and driver for the day, and set about visiting the sights. First to 'Tong Sleng' prison museum, a school converted by the Khmer Rouge into a prison to detain and torture political prisoners, aka any person (and all family members) opposing Angkor. Classroom 'cells' are left as they were, with a single iron bed and shackles... a gruesome photo of a dead or dying prisoner in the room adds to the horror. What puzzled and horrified us is the orderly fashion in which they carried out such torture...
including taking a picture of every 'inmate' on their arrival, and other photos of them after torture. Now some of the rooms have been cleared to display such pictures, one particularly shocking one showed a man starved to death, while another had half of his face blasted away.
Suitably horrified our tuk tuk then drove us out of town to the Killing Fields, where 17,000 tortured prisoners were eventually killed and 'buried' in mass graves. Not wanting to waste precious bullets, many of the prisoners were bludgeoned to death with clubs or had their necks cut with the sharp edge of a palm tree branch. The 'Baby Tree' still stands to commemorate the number of children who were killed by guards who held their legs and smashed their skulls against its trunk; and everywhere you look there are excavated grave 'craters'. A central memorial stupa erected to commemorate the dead holds over 8,000 re-covered skulls, while other bones, teeth, and clothing are visible petruding out from the soil. Walking around the small enclosure was such a moving experience... it is so hard to imagine that such attrocites were commited by merely 10 guards; but also understandable when you realise
how close to death from torture these people already were. To think that this brutality happened in our era is unbelieveable!
That afternoon we visited The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda... so named because its floor is made from 5 tons of silver; thus completing all of Phnom Penh's major sights in one day.
Kompong Thom
After a recommedation from fellow travellers we decided to stop at Kompong Thom, from where you can hire motobike drivers to take you on a 4-5 day tour across country to visit Pre-Angkor temples, before finishing in Siem Reap ready for Angkor Wat. After a 2 hour bus journey we arrived in the quiet town and met up with a motorbike guide. Unfortunately the one our friends had recommended was busy, but his friend and colleague happily agreed. He suggested a 4 day tour to Siem Reap, taking in 4 temples en route... and after assuring us that he was a guide and not merely a driver, we accepted.
Very excited at the thought of 4 days off the beaten track we set off to the 'Sambor Prei Kuk' temples along dirt tracks. Not even the torrential rain
storm could dampen our spirits... and it was great fun racing through the puddles on the bike and getting covered in mud. When we arrived our guide told us that he would clean the bikes while we walked around the site, as it was
very easy
to follow... no such luck! The temples were in truly ruined state and were interspersed in a huge forest and our Lonely Planet was not much help in directing us. Thankfully a gang of local children followed us around the ruined sites and acted as impromptu guides with what little English they spoke. First to Prasat Sambor, then on to Prasat Tao and its solitary remaining temple guarded by two Lion statues. Finally we walked to Prasat Yeay Peau, which had the remains of carvings, sanscript on the gate entrance, and an eastern gate taken over by a tree. The temples were a magnificant sight, but we were less than impressed with our 'guide' as it became obvious that he knew little about the temples we would be visiting. We could not rely on the hope that there would be local people at the other 3 temples on our proposed trip, and so requested to
cancel the trip and be taken back to Kompong Thom. He obviously understood the problem and thankfully did not kick up a fuss, deciding instead to sulk the whole way back. It all turned out well in the end, with a nice $3 guest house room for the night!
Siem Reap & Angkor Wat
Morning bus journey to Siem Reap... our stop at Kompong Thom resulted in us having to pay $8pp to Siem Reap instead of $4pp on the bus straight there - talk about encouraging tourism! After sniffing out the best hostel deal we spent the afternoon on the internet, booking a tuk tuk and driver for our trip to Angkor Wat the next day, and chilling in one of the many bar/cafe's.
Early to bed, early to rise... 4am wake up to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise! When we arrived we followed the silent crowds through the outer wall of the Wat and along the stone walkway to the lakeside infront of the magnificent structure. As the sun rose on Angkor Wat, it was silouetted by a multicoloured sky and it was easy to see what all the fuss is about.
As the largest religious building in the world it looked pretty damn impressive! We spent the early morning walking the length of the first (of 3) inner wall structures to admire the elaborate stone carved murials depicting scenes of war, daily life, and legends. On to the second enclosure; and finally the thrid and highest enclosure, built on a large stone platform above the other two and accessable by great stone staircases on each of the four sides. From the top we overlooked the rest of the Wat and all of its surrounding land enclosed within the outer wall. As with many temples the design is made to represnt the Hindu mythical universe, with the largest stupa as Mount Meru, and the moat/lake outside the outer wall as the ocean.
Next to Angkor Thom temples by tuk tuk. We first visited 'Bayon', an enchanting temple of many faces... 216 to be exact. A stone face is carved into every side of each 4 sided stupa, of which there are at least 20. King Jayavarman VII commissioned the building of this temple, which has led many to suggest that they are carvings of his face... he must have been a
funny looking fellow. From there we walked to 'The Terrace of Elephants', a long walled structure carved with elephant scenes, and on to the 'Temple of the Leper King', which had maze-like corridor covered in 7 row high aged stone murials with a lone Budda statue on top.
A short tuk tuk ride then brought us to 'Preah Khan' (a huge building that was once a buddist university), and 'Preah Neak Pean' (an ornamental 5 pond structure - now with grass lawn where water once filled). After giving donations to a band of landmine victim musicians and an orphanage, we headed on to 'Ta Som' a single towered temple which was last used by the Khmer Rouge as a camp hospital. One wall was completely taken over by a tree, a regular sight around Angkor.
'East Mebon' and 'Pre Rup' temples were similar high tiered structures with 5 stupas (see above video). At the former, Saz left a toothbrush by a sleeping needy man in goodwill, but was too embarrassed to take it back once she realised he was toothless... we ran from the temple in hysterics!
In the late afternoon we decided to take a break
by a large lake and were accosted by a girl selling bracklets. Eager to show the folks back home the ingenious selling techniques of Cambodians Dave started to film this little girl in action. After quickly realising that we were not going to buy, she changed tactics...after the spectacular performance she truly deserved her reward of a freebie shampoo (curtesy of The Hotel Cambodiana) for her forever combed hair. You'll have to watch it to believe it!
A quick stop at 'Banteay Kolei', before heading to 'Ta Phrom' aka
that temple in Tomb Raider. Although neither of us had seen the aformentioned film, it was easy to imagine Lara running around in her skin tight hotpants. The place had a real mystic charm about it in the fading afternoon light, with piles of carved stone rubble and many trees literally taking it back to nature... it was definitely one of our favourites.
As the sun started to set we (and seemingly every other sight-seer) headed to the mountain temple for a view over the lost kingdom. Although the sun set in the opposite direction it was still a beautiful view, and we talked/taught english to our tuk tuk
driver until it was time to leave. A very memorable day!
Volunteer day at Savong School
After spending the morning booking our last minute flight to Laos we recieved email confirmation from the owner of the NGO organisation, taking us up on our offer to teach English for the day at his countryside
language school. As most language schools are based only in city/towns Savong realised that children it the countryside surrounding Siem Reap were missing out on learning vital language skills in English and Japanese. He therefore put his own money into creating such a countryside school and also runs a guest house in Siem Reap where all profits go towards the funding of the school (currently raising money to build a second level to the existing 3 classroom structure).
Arriving by tuk tuk we were greeted like celebrities by the children and instantly requested to teach. Not knowing what level the children were at, or what they had learnt previously we faultered slightly! Thankfully a collage of work on 'My Body' covered the back wall, and we were able to distract the class with a quick rendition of 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' while we thought of something to teach. With our TEFL heads on we commenced on a Likes & Dislikes discussion and Dave was asked to teach the same lesson next door. The kids possessed differing levels of English, with some answering our questions with ease, while others obviously struggled... Dave had a monk in his class that had been learning for only 1 week!
By the end of an hour everybody had stated 'I like...' and 'I don't like...', ranging from airports and cows, to football and mangos. It was only when Saz asked how long the lesson was that she was told the children had stayed an extra hour just to be taught by her; very touching. After lining up to shake hands and wish
Good luck for you
, the kids filed outside to play volleyball. In the hours gap between lessons many children left but many more arrived and it was explained to us that children arrived when they could, some coming straight after regular school had ended. We accepted that 'a days teaching' meant we would be staying until they finished at 8pm, but having already given a reasonable donation we were left with the feeling they no longer needed us. Wanting to give as much as we could, we decided to help in the next two lessons despite the negative felling. Saz first assisted a Khmer teacher in his lesson on vocab and then tried to liven up a lesson on grammar, while Dave assisted the other teacher in a lesson on irregular verbs, and then commanded an entertaining lesson on locations, entitled 'Where is the fish?' As a native English speakers our pronunciation skills were sort after, and the children repeated everything we said.
Satisfied that we had made a positive impact we posed for a school photo and then said our goodbyes... happy to have been of some help for such a worthwhile organisation.
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Edna
non-member comment
Give us a job?
How do you remember everything in detail with so many experiences to share! Dave is a big romantic fellow booking a little luxury for you birthday Saz - looks great! Now the children you were teaching in Cambodia will have a northern English accent I suppose!! Lots of love x