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Published: December 7th 2008
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Wednesday the 3rd
I caught a flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia in the morning. Whereas Laos was pretty cold, Cambodia is really hot and the heat hit me when I got off the plane. From the Airport I got a motor bike taxi to the hotel. The guy put my ruck sack between his knees and off we headed into the city with no helmets. Bit reckless maybe but its the way most people travel on bikes here. I got to the hotel where I met Babette a french girl who had been on the trek with me in Peru 5 months ago. She is also doing some travel around south east asia and we arranged to meet in Siem Reap a few days before I got there. Its brilliant that someone i met 5 months ago is now doing something similar to me and it looks like we will travel around together now for a while in Cambodia. It has been harder for me to meet travel companions here than in south america, new zealand or australia so now its mighty to have a travel buddy again.
That afternoon we walked around the city and its all
sell sell sell. Ok mister you buy this, Ok Lady you by this. But it has some nice restaurants and we ate dinner that night with some choir of local kids giving it loads singing christmas songs. After dinner we had a beer or two but my bloody nose started to run with some crazy allergies so I had to hit the hay. On the way home these guys were playing keep it up soccer style with some sort of a shuttle cock. I joined in and gave it a few flicks much to the delight of the locals.
Thursday the 4th and Friday the 5th
Angkor Vat is a massive temple, described as the biggest religious complex ever built that had vanished in the jungle and was rediscovered by the french in 1850. Around Angkor wat there are a pile of other temples all worth a visit. We ordered a tuk tuk, which in Siem reap is a trailor that can seat two to three people pulled by a motor bike, with our own driver for two days. The total cost of having a driver drive us around the temples for the two full days was a
grand total of 45 dollars american which between two of us wasnt that dear.
In the two days we visited the temples of Angkor wat, Bayon, Bantei Srei, Ta Prohm as well as a few other less known temples. Two days can easily be filled and really we would need more time to see everything but after the two days we were templed out. Angkor wat was excellent but my favourite was Ta Prohm where the crowds were not as big and were trees were growing up threw the ruins of the temple. There was something really beautiful about the way nature is capable of reclaiming land and man made structures. Also in the heat driving around in the tuk tuk was mighty with the breeze blowing in your face.
Friday night we ate some real nice local food and then went for a few beers where started talking to this Irish lad and then found out he was from boyle. Amazing how far away you can be and still meet so close to where you are from.
Saturday the 6th
We got up at 6 o clock to catch a bus to Phnom Penh the
capital of Cambodia. The bus took 6 hours to get to Phnom Penh and on the way it stopped off at a few markets. We ate some noodle soup for breakfast at the first market. At the second market there were fried spiders, crickets, cockroaches for sale for human consumption. One of the Cambodians on the bus we had been talking to tried to get us to eat some of the huge fried crickets he had bought. I couldn't bring myself to go near them but Babette took a huge cricket peeled off its wings and legs and stuffed it in her gob no problem. I nearly puked just watching her. Apparently its crunchy and doesn't taste to bad. Feck that, im sticking with eating larger mammals.
When we got to Phnom Penh we sussed out the traffic situation as we were thinking about renting a motor bike. The roads were complete carnage with people cutting others off at every corner. But I still wanted to rent a bike and Babette was feeling a bit adventurous as well so after we found a guesthouse we went to the rental place. The only bikes they had were bikes with gears
so I decided to take it. I drive a vespa that just goes, no gears, so at the start it was a bit weird driving around in the total chaos on a motor bike I didnt really know how to drive with someone on the back. But i figure it out soon enough and it didnt take long to get into the Cambodian way of driving, i.e. cutting people off at every possible opportunity.
We drove around the city to get a feel for the place. In the centre there is a big square with the royal palace (they have a king here) and a temple. In the middle of the square people were dancing in a kind of abba fashion to some weird cambodian music. It entertained us for a while.
Sunday the 7th
In the morning, again on the rental bike we headed off to Tuol Sleng genocide museum. It was originally a school but was turned into a prison during the reign of the Khmer rouge where they improsined 20,000 people over a three year period. Only 7 prisoners survived the prison. The rest were killed in the killing fields a few kilometers away
where they were beaten to death across the head with a crowbar to save precious bullets. In all the best part of 2 million people died under the khmer rough. The museum was pretty upsetting. Its impossible to understand the thinking behind these people and regimes but as a result Cambodia, despite its smiling face, has a depressing background and the reality is its older generation of people alive today either had friends and family killed or they themselves killed.
After the museum we went and had a look around the centre of town again. The stalls had a lovely selection of huge fried insects and bird fetuses for sale but I opted for some curry. There is a crazy feel to the place with markets, everyone trying to get you to use their tuk tuk or just trying to get money out of you and especially with the traffic on the roads. There was a bloody elephant walking down the main street, now thats just not going to help the congestion problems, is it? In the evening we went to a cinema and watched a documentary on the landmines in cambodia. Every 30 minutes someone is maimed or
killed here by a land mine. Most countries, except of course the USA, have now decided to ban landmines. But funnily enough it is the US that gives the most in aid to countries trying to get rid of its mines.
So tomorrow morning we are heading to a place called Kratie. Maybe the fraffic is a bit more relaxed. Hope there are no frigging land mines though.
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