A Cambodian Odyssey

Hello there. How are you? I hope your well. Now, I'm going to tell you a little something about our trip to Cambodia. But first, a note to all those people out there who have taken offence to my 'beard'. It was not as bad as it appears in the pictures. I agree, it was not the most photogenic peice of facial decoration, but its far too hot in these countries to shave with any regularity, and, more importantly, Amy liked it (that may say a lot about her taste), so I was much less inclined to shave. However, Cambodia presented a whole new level of heat, and it was too hot for skin, let alone fur, so it was shaved. But I warn you, I can be a lazy lazy man when i want to be, so it will be back. It will be back.

Anyway, back to the point. We took a flight from Hanoi, and after a quick visit to the transit lounge of Luang Prabang (Laos) airport, we arrived at our first destination, Siem Reap. Siem Reap is a very attractive, very clean little city, most famous for the temples of Angkor, just 10 minutes away. After the husssle and bustle of Vietnam, we had decided to treat ourselves to some nice accomadation. The guesthouse had kindly arranged for a driver to pick us up from the airport, and he offered to take us around the sights for a couple of days in the luxury of an air conditioned car. We were treating ourselves, so why not. So after lunch and a quick nap by the pool, he was back to take us to get our Angkor Wat tickets, and then off to the best place for a sunset in Siem Reap. We hiked up a hill opposite Angkor Wat to another temple, from where we watched the sun set over the city. It was rather beautiful. On the way back into town we got dropped off at the newly built mall in Siem Reap to buy supplies. You may think that this is not that interesting, but you would be wrong. You see, the mall is home to the first ever set of escalators in Siem Reap, and only the second set in the entire country. It was hilarious and bizarre to see people genuinely frightened of these moving stairs. Kids were crying, women were panicking, men were stepping on with one foot but keeping the other foot planted, then not knowing what to do when they start doing the splits. It was a very strange scene. From there it was a quick dinner at an expat place that did a fantastic sunday roast, before back for an early night, ready to start the day with the sun.

The next morning we were up to meet our driver and off to Angkor Wat to watch one of the best sunrises you can see. It's a pretty breathtaking site, Angkor Wat against the sun, and reflected in the ponds in front of it. Very cool. But then, all of a sudden, you realise its 7:30 in the morning and you are melting. So we explored the shaded insides of the temple before escaping the heat for breakfast, and the brilliant sanctuary of the air contioned car. We spent the rest of the morning exploring differnt temples in the area, such as Bayon Temple, where hundreds of giant faces are carved into the stone, and Ta Prohm, which featured in the film Tomb Raider. We arrived back in the early afternoon, thoroughly in need of a nap.
In the evening we explored the night market, picking up some bargains, and sampled some of the Siem Reap night life. I got accosted by some ladyboys, but if you run and scream it turns out they leave you alone. The next day we vistited some more temples, then visited the Cambodian Land Mine Relief Fund Museum, a museum dedicated to ridding Cambodia of landmines and unexploded bombs. It was pretty shocking to see the scale of the problem, and to see how many people have been affected by explosives. Everywhere you go you see people who are missing limbs, and at the museum a special house and school has been set up to help kids who have been affected. It was pretty harrowing stuff. Back in Siem Reap we saw a very interesting documentary on Pol Pot and the politics of the Khmer Rouge regime, before grabbing a couple of drinks and getting ready to leave the next day fo the captial, Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh is a very beautiful city, but it is also a very sad place. After visting the Royal Palace, we took a tuk-tuk out to the Killing Fields, the mass graves of some 20,000 people executed under the Khmer Rouge. Around 8000 bodies have been excavated, and there remains are kept in a large pagoda known as the Bone Monument. It is a chilling place, with pieces of bone still visible in many of the excavated graves. From there we travelled back into the city, stopping at the Russian Market, the place to buy all clothes. Gap t-shirts just $2, adidas dri-fit t-shirts $5, bargains galore. From there it was back to a more sombre atmosphere, as we visited Tuol Sleng, or S-21, prison. Here is where the Khmer Rouge brought its prisoners, subjecting them to barbaric conditions and horrific tortures. Some of it was not easy to stomach. All in all it was a very emotionally tiring day, we had all read a lot of books about the Khmer Rouge regime, and seeing the places in real life brought a new dimension to what we had learned. We ended the day on a good note however, dining at an excellent tapas restaurant that employed and trained street kids as chefs and waiters, giving them a chance to get off the streets. The food was fantastic.

Packing so much into our days in Phnom Penh meant we could leave a little earlier and see if different side of Cambodia, so we piled onto a rickety old bus and endured the longest, bumpiest, dustiest bus ride of our lives and headed to Bat Long, in the province of Ratakiniri. The town had one 'paved' road, no mains electricity, and lots of dust. But it was very cool to see what rural Cambodia is like. We stayed in an Eco- Lodge (which i think basically means we had solar powered fans in our bungalow) After clearing the biggest spiders ever (size of my hand) out of Sophie and Sylvie's room, and listening to the owners warnings ('If you hear any noises at night its ok, its just wild pigs, or snakes, or lizards, or little wolf dog things') we settleed in ready to explore nature. And explore nature we did, we visited a load of waterfalls, then hung out with the locals and went swimming at the volcani crater lake, regarded as one of the most serene spots in all of Cambodia. It was so nice we went back the next day.

It was now time to say goodbye to Cambodia. It is a beautiful, tragic country, but one we all loved and would happily return to. But the adventure does not stop there, oh no. It was time to cross the 'unofficial' border into Laos. It all seemed so simple, the guesthouse arranged it. We would be picked up here, dropped off there, put on a boat, picked up again. Simple. Probably be there by 1pm. Excellent. So we were in high spirits in the carpark at 6am (well, as high spirits as you can be at that time). We get on the bus. no problem. get off four hours later, into the waiting minibus. No problem. Dropped off at a random hotel. Ah, whats going on here? Made to wait for 3 hours 'while some more people come'. Ok, 12 people here, are we off? 'no, wait one more hour, the driver is having lunch'. Whats he been doing the last 3 hours? 'just wait, here soon'. Eventually, back on the bus, drive 5 minutes up the road. 'Ok off the bus'. Eh? 'Wait here'. Its hot. We are grumpy. No instructions. Do we cross the river? we dont know. Find the travel agents. Whats the story? 'I dont know, i dont do Laos' Wheres the guy who does? Guy turns up. 'Why you here? you should be on the otherside of the river, the driver is waiting!' No one told us this. 12 very irate white people go back to the river. have missed the ferry. Guy tries to charge us to take a local boat. We make him pay. Boat very very slow. Only one hour till the border shuts, dont want to be stuck in Cambodia anymore. Get to other side, new guy races us to the border. Bored looking men in wife beaters get out of there hammocks and stamp our passports. Woohoo, we are in LAOS!!! Another bus, another boat, and we're at our destination, Don Det. Ice cold Beer Lao is the best thing ever. SO what should have been a relatively easy 7hr trip turns into 13hrs of hell on earth, but we make it, and the adventure rolls on.

Stay tuned for our next thrilling installment...........

Dave

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