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Published: July 23rd 2008
Sunset
A moody sunset amongst the Angkorian ruinsCambodia... Wow! - by George
Sometimes you leave a place and say "I'll definitely go back there one day!". Laos was one of those and from the stories we´d heard of bag theft, constant begging and shocking hygiene, I was certain that Cambodia wouldn't be. How wrong I was...
OK, so first impressions weren't great. After the compulsory bribes to immigration and customs officials at the border, we were in with plans to head North East to Ratnikiri, home to a volcano that you can swim in. Sadly as it was New Year for the next two days all the banks were closed and we had no option but to bail on our date with the crater lake and head straight for the capital, Phnom Penh.
After a couple of fairly uneventful days we headed to Siem Reap, the former small town now booming due to its proximity to Angkor Wat. According to friend who had been to Cambodia only six years ago, there were only a couple of bars and restaurants in the whole town, thus making it unrecognisable in the present day. Now there are streets filled with cool bars and restaurants, delivering whatever you
A local delicacy
Deep Fried Tarantula anyone? want, but with a lot of style on the side, in short it makes Soho look like it´s behind the times. This is a party town and everyone's invited!
I could write a lot about the temples of Angkor, but I doubt I could do them justice. They are truly amazing and, despite the army of tourists, you can still find yourself a quiet spot to pontificate on how it came to be. To this effect I'd highly recommend the Bayon at sunrise, alone with the faces, staring in to the forest. I wish we'd known a bit more about Hinduism, a wish we'd done less cycling on day 1 (50km in 40°C), but most importantly I wish that one day the Koreans give it back to the Khmer people. It's sad, but true, that in the interests of lining their own back pockets the Cambodian government have sold not only their biggest asset, but the biggest tourist attraction in South East Asia!
What else is Cambodia famous for? Sadly, mines...
Courtest of my cousin Bruce we were put in touch with HALO, a British mine clearing charity who are doing grat things out there. On site
How many?
A bit like one of those things at a village fate, how many Cambodians can you fit on a pick up? Answers on a postcard please. we were introduced to Richard, who gave us an overview of their work, which was remarkably positive. As a company they seemed to have the right attitude - rather than talking about how bad mines are, why don't we just get on with it and clear them? Not only did Richard open our eyes to the world of mines, but he showed us some holiday snaps, which prompted the next leg of our journey.
There seemed to be various theories knocking around, when we set off with twelve others on a boat from Sihanoukville. Was the island a secret? Would it be like
The Beach and were we going to stumble in to a drug cartel's operation? Would it be paradise? After three choppy hours and bouts of sea sickness for at least four of the girls we had reached the island and Terra Firma. What followed were five days on a deserted tropical island, eating amazing food, soaking up the rays, reading, playing Scrabble and generally having the time of our lives. OK there were quite a lot of bugs, but they weren´t even a problem, not with our mating pair of
giant gekkos to eat them! As
Sunrise at Angkor Wat
200 people over the other side, just Kate, me and another Farang on the lit up side... perfect. with all good things, our time on the island had to come to an end and we hit the road again back to Phnom Penh.
That evening we met up with Mima, a friend from home who was working there, and had a few very pleasant drinks at the
Foreign Correspondant's Club - rather an ironic place for me given the drivel that I am prone to put in my diary and on this blog...
Our last full day was a sad one, with a trip to the killing field and S-21, the prison where thousands were tortured and sent off for execution under the Khmer Rouge. A sad insight in to how human beings can act under the banner of a revolution.
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