Cambodia and it's Intriguing Past...........

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Just left Thailand and headed in to Cambodia. Not sure what to expect as we've has mixed reviews. So, here goes.............

Tuesday 20th January
Up 4am to get a taxi to the train station. 80Bht for the taxi which is pretty good for that time in the morning. He did try and get 150Bht out of us - dream on dreamer is all I have to say! Getting there early to make sure we can get tickets as we were advised it can get very busy. 48Bht (96p) for a six hour journey. Slightly annoying as train was NOT busy but it actually set off on time which is very unusual for transport in Asia. Read most of the way as there wasn't really much to see. The train got busier a little later with school children and workers but it was pretty cool as meeting the locals is what travelling is all about. When we arrived at Aranya Prathet station we had to grab a tuk tuk to the border as it's not a walkable distance which we were lead to believe. Not a problem, but why lie? The tuk tuk cost 80Bht which is nearly double the 6 hour train journey and only took about 5 minutes. We had a French guy tag along with us as well which cut the cost. Visa's are supposed to be purchased at the border for 20$. Everywhere advises you not to get sucked in to one of the scams where they pull up to a building on the way and do the visa "for you." Unfortunately this did happen and it cost 30$ but everybody was doing the same. A lot of people, including myself telling the scam artists exactly what we thought of them. The other annoying part of it was having to leave our bags on the tuk tuk as all the drivers stay outside so anyone can be sneaking drugs etc. into your bags so I was ready to reply to the border police, if they asked, "Has anybody tampered with your bag?" obvioulsy, "Yes, they could have done!" But luckily we're not in a prison cell just yet, but then again we wouldn't be put in prison as it's death sentence for drug trafficking. So we carry on to the border. The tuk tuk was even cheeky enough to ask for a tip. It was a kind of wierd border as there were lots of sellers and beggars in between what's usually no-mans-land. Security didn't seem too heavy anyway! We got to the Cambodian side and were taken on a FREE bus to the bus station as in Cambodia you have to use tourist buses, not local buses. This was NOT a bus station, it was actually a private taxi station trying to charge 60$ for four of us when we know it's only 40$ so we try to barter but no chance as we'd met up with a Slovenian couple so there was in fact five of us (with the French guy). Some of the guys went hunting to try and find a cheaper taxi. Me and the other guy stayed with the bags. They were gone for, like, an hour and the taxi office were getting a little bit stressed with us. But it paid off as they found one for 40$ just 5 minutes up the road and can you believe it? The taxi station we were in offered to do it for 40$. So we just went wirth it cos we couldn't be bothered anymore and the French guy offered to go with another group. All the taxi drivers pull into a very over-priced shop and blatently get free goodies for doing this so it's proably a good idea that we took our own snacks with us. Next freebie of the day the taxi droppped you off with a tuk tuk who took you to wherever you wanted to go in town. We were well aware tha they recieved commission at the hostels so we chose a central point. They took us but kicked us out along the way as he knew he wasn't going to make anything out of us. He got a little bit aggressive, opening his wallet, showing us his money saying he was rich and he didn't need our money. He stressed Steve out that much that he was even ready to punch him, and I don't agree with violence but I think I would have cheered him on. We found a few hostels which were all full and this we noticed was part of the tuk tuk scam - they would take you to other hostels and charge you as it's not the hostel you agreed to get dropped off at for free. Anyway we got one for 8$ a night, warm water and TV, 24 hour shop on the corner and pretty central so we didn't do too badly there. Headed out in the evening and discovered there was a whole street of vendors doing really nice meals for only 1$ so after a stressful day, our first impression of Cambodians is not good but we'll keep an open mind.

Wednesday 21st January
Woken by bloody drilling right outside our window. Pulling back the curtain I was greeted by a team of builders bums. No matter where you go in the world they just can't seem to get trousers to fit them. Had to move rooms which was a pain, but away from the drilling. Had a little wander round. Nothing too strenuous.

Thursday 22nd January
Angkor Wat day, otherwise known as "Temple Lovers Paradise!" You can do anything from one day to a whole week even as there really is that many temples to get araound. We decided we'd do it in a day and just do the main ones. So we rented bikes for 1$ each and headed off to our first sight. We began by getting totally lost, not like us I know, before finally reaching an entrance to Angkor Wat. We didn't go in this way due to the guard telling us, "Tourists have to leave bikes at the entrance," but locals are allowed to take theirs in - their rules really don't make any sense. So we carried on on the never ending road arriving at Ta Prohm. We were greeted by - building work! Luckily, most of it you could still walk around at your own risk as it was pretty much all fallen down. Starting to get unbelievably hot so being inside the temples brings some soothing shade. Second stop, Ta Keo, basically a very large pyramid built in 968 for reasons unknown and never finished. I climbed to the top but it was very steep which I discovered as I tried to bum-shuffle down the damn thing. Third stop, Terrace of Elephants, a 300m long terrace was originally used as a giant viewing stand for public ceremonies and parades. The detail is still very prominent, with 3 headed elephants and mythical creatures. Fourth sight, Bayon with the 216 gargantuan faces of Avalokiteshvara (don't know who he is) staring down at you. It was built in the 1200s and no-one really knows what the unsettling faces stand for but some believe it was the king himself, looking down on his people. Known as one of Angkor's most stunning temples and last but not least for the day we headed to the famous Angkor Wat described as, "the mother of all temples." Some believe it replicates the spiritual univers in miniature. It was built between 1112 and 1152. You can still see evidence of the detailed artwork that has sadly faded due to age and touch. It was really interesting to walk round. It probably would have been advisable to get a guide but majority of what they know is guesswork not facts so we decided it would be cheaper to do our own guesswork and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The only thing I would have done differently is spread it out over more than one day, as the temples are so spread out. We enjoyed doing the bike riding but it was hard work. A sunrise/sunset would have been nice as well but we were just too hot to hang around for sunset. Also during our day of adventures we encountered some wild monkeys who were clearly used to human contact as thousands pass through the grounds daily. I even got to feed one of them a banana as she was holding her baby. A lot of them were quite cheeky and threw things at you from the trees so we stayed away from the trees! It was absolutely amazing though.

Friday 23rd January
Spent the day doing our blogs and catching up on gossip from back home as we're off on the boat to Battambang tomorrow, 6am start as we've been told this journey is one of the most amazing you can do in Cambodia. At four times the price of the bus I should hope it is amazing. Really looking forward to it.

Saturday 24th January
Happy Birthday Mum. So the day didn't begin too well as the bus didn't show up and we were worrying if we'd been sold a dodgy ticket. Finally, half an hour late a yute overloaded with people showed up asking for our ticket. After being crammed in we headed off to the boat dock, pretty cool journey actually as we got to see a local on a motorbike with a LIVE pig, laid belly-up, on the back - clearly not enjoying the adventure, pretty unbeleivable really. Arriving at the dock we were surrounded by screeching locals asking if we wanted bread and cheese. They clearly don't understand, "NO!" We bordered our boat which should have left at 7am but didn't leave till just before 8. Unbeleivably I was sat there minding my own business when I had. "Bread and cheese, Miss?" in my ear. They were on their little rowing boats. You can't blame hem for trying but it's just those high pitched voices that go through you. The journey started off with not a lot going on until we hit the first floating village. Some are wooden shack-style houses on stilts, some are converted boats. they work, live, shop, bathe, crap etc. all in the river - and trust me, the water is unbelievably manky. We saw people bathing right after having a wee. It was nice to wave at the kids who loved to see you pass and got really excited, jumping up and down. The adult locals gave mixed responses, some happy and even gave you a smile then some looked at you with complete disgust as they stopped what they were doing and glared. I'm guessing they didn't like us! So the estimated time was 6 hours so we should be arriving at 1pm to 2pm. We pulled up to a mini floating cafe at 1pm, clearly a lunch stop. Totally overpriced with toilets attached to the side where I had a very traumatic experience due to everybody walking around the toilets were swaying which knocked me, luckily I steadied myself and only my sunglasses went down the hole and not me. I don't think I would ever get over the trauma of falling in if I'd have actually survived the diseases I would have probably ended up with. We kind of come to the conclusion that we're not going to be there by 2pm. Lonely Planet said 3-8 hours, 8 hours being worst case scenario during dry season. We finally arrived at 6pm, the boat journey taking 10 hours, dehydrated, fed up, and wishing we hadn't have bothered. We went with a promotion guy for one of the hostels as it was only 5$ and he took you there FREE in a minibus Due to it being 7.30pm we headed out, but most places closed due to it being Chinese New Year. We haven't eaten all day so we're even contemplating one of the really manky vendors who even the locals would be wary of. Our insides were saved by an indoor vendor who served pork and rice. We couldn't skype my mum on her birthday due to everything being closed and arriving so late. It's always the same, the one time you want Skype it's never around.

Sunday 25th January
Still nowhere open. Can't decide if it's due to a Sunday or Chinese New Year as they really celebrate it big here, apparently for the whole week. Most of the market was closed but we managed to buy some Pringle style rice cakes for our lunch. Later we headed out to get a take away. It wasn't very nice but I kind of expected that, as whilst we waited in the restaurant a huge rat ran across the floor. Pleasant! It's amazing how much your standards drop when you're hungry as there was nowhere else to eat and I actually had the shakes and felt faint. Even the bits of squid (when it was supposed to be pork) didn't put me off.

Monday 26th January
We hadn't booked our bus tickets for Phnom Penh but spoken to a woman yesterday - in fact the only person selling tickets, just around the corner and she had tickets for the 10 O' clock bus. We got there at 9.30am waited till 9.45 and she still wasn't back so we decided to jump in a tuk tuk. He tried to charge us 5$ which we laughed at as bearing in mind the 5 hour journey is only 5$ so we managed to get it for 50 cents and we got there just in time. The bus driver told us it would take 3½ hours, the guy at the ticket office said 6. I know who I want to believe but it's not the same person that I do believe! We did arrive at about 5-ish and were greeted by a hoard of tuk tuk riders, again trying to rip us off 5$. The most we were willing to pay was 2$. They were having none of it and walked away. We put our bags on and headed to flag one down when they drove a tuk tuk over and agreed to 2$. They really are tryers! Due to us staying for a few days we wanted the cheapest room we could get. Rooms ranged from 9 to 10$ and I must admit were really nice but a bit too nice for our budget. We eventually found one with TV and cold water for 5.50$ a night. It's not the best room, lots of mosquitos but they supply spray and we whacked our mozzie net up and lit a mozzie repelling coil straight away. Found a huge supermarket and a cheap take away.

Tuesday 27th January
Chill day, not a good nights sleep. very hot and sticky and woke up by an annoying band at 5am. Something to do with Chinese Bloody New Year! Not in the best of moods today. So we just headed out and got information for sights and activities whilst we're here.

Wednesday 28th January
Up early to do the embassies for Thai and Vietnamese visa's, but suprise, Chinese New Year meand embassies are closed until Friday so we thought we'd cop out, get Steve's hair cut and visit the market, but again, all closed thanks to Chinese New Year. Quite clearly everything really does come to a complete standstill. We decided on a walk up the river front to the Independance Monument as it's not really possible to close that. Posted a letter for the computer virgins and checked out a buffet restaurant from Lonely Planet. it's a very similar price as well at 3$ for a set menu. I think we'll be visiting there!

Thursday 29th January
Up early to get to Tuol Sleng museum as they show a documentary film daily at 10am which we wanted to see before venturing around the museum. Mainly to try and understand the history and get our heads around the whole Khmer Rouge takeover. We ended up getting lost and walking three times further than we needed to so missed the first 10 minutes of the movie. to be honest, it wasn't what we expected, it was more a love story between a husband and wife who were in fact cousins - I'm sure there's a law against that, or is there? Suppose it depends where you're from! Sicko's!! The sound wasn't too good either so we stuck it out for half an hour before deciding that our Lonely Planet info would be enough to go with. A lot of the rooms have prisoner and guard information, some their own individual stories. So the reasons for Tuol Sleng: Pol Pot's people turned the Tuol Sleng pre-High School into S-21 (Security Prison 21) during 1975 and 1979. Almost everyone held here was tortured using undescribable torture devices. Some were so gruesome and the pain which the victims went through was unvelievable, a lot died during these tortures so there's mass graves on-site. A lot were taken in trucks to the killing fields (up to 100 per day) for no reason in particular, it's as though the names were picked at random. We got to see black and white pictures of inmates, some looking as young as two years old. A prisoner had been employed to paint the tortures in action, one which is quite disturbing was the babies which were taken away and killed immediately as they held no use to the prison. We walked around the old cells some of which were only 800mm x 2000mm and still had the chains which the prisoners were shackled to. Got a picture of Steve inside one of them and they had a little square window which he looked out of whilst I stood in another cell opposite to take the photo. An unfortunate unsuspecting American girl wandered past and got the fright of her life. She finally gave us a little smile but I actually think she wanted to kill us! It was very amusing though. You couldn't smile in any of your photo's so we're not just having a miserable day when you see the pictures! Some rooms where many beatings took place only contained a rusty metal bed-frame and a picture of the horrors which took place in that room. Outside there was a rule board which the prisoners had to abide by or they'd be tortured some more. I was quite wary of the Tuol Sleng museum as some people had described it as being unbearable but it was nowhere near as ghastly as others had made it out to be. It was upsetting to think of the pain and inhumane ways these people were made to suffer but I'd definately not be put off by what others say. It's clearly people with wild imaginations, and I am quite squeamish but it's a way to find out more about the Khmer Rouge and how much power they had over everything.

Friday 30th January
Went to the Vietnamese Embassy. They did a one day service for the visa for 35$ each. We headed to the Thai Embassy but it closed for lunch at 12 so we were 5 minutes too late. All we needed was a few questions answering about visa's as it's becoming more apparent that Thailand doesn't want backpackers due to the fact that we don't bring enough money after they've had a taste for package tourists. It was a very, very hot day today and the embassies were quite a fair walk so we didn't bother going back to the Thao Embassy and just picked up our Vietnamese visa at 4.30. I'm definately staring to miss the convenience of not being able to go into a kitchen and make your own drink or a meal. You have to rely on everyone else all the time but it's just one of those days.

Saturday 31st January
Not well at all today so spent the day in the room.

Sunday 01st February
Today we went to the killing fields of Choeung Ek which has become a memorial for 17,000 men, women and children who were executed here by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978. 9000 human skulls were found here during excavations in 1980. The white stupour contains the skulls of some of the victims. Many of the skulls bear witness to the fact that they were bludgeoned to death to save precious bullets. Information around the entrance explain which area the horrors took place and explain victims arrived in trucks and were executed immediately until the number of victims increased to up to 200 per day so they were detained in wooden huts until the following day. There was a tree which the sign informs you that it was solely used to beat children. Another tree was used to hang speakers from to mask the sounds of the victims screams. A lot of the things that happened here is left to the imagination as most of the 126 mass graves are now open craters. The rest of the day we finished our packing as we leave tomorrow and are off out for our "all you can eat set menu" tonight.
Later
Unfortunately the bus was full for tomorrow so we've booked on to Tuesdays. Our meal was absolutely amazing - unlimited rice and chapati's and we were so stuffed we actually felt sick. I was actually sick later, (I felt like Posh-Spice) clearly the rice had expanded. Steve had double the amount of what I did and I don't know how he managed to cope. At first we were saying we might go bacl tomorrow but I think I might actually be full till then! We're clearly just not used to eating that much anymore.

Monday 02nd February
Last full day in Cambodia. A complete chill out as there's not really anyhting much left to do. Really enjoyed Cambodia though and would recommend it to anybody. Not looking forward to the border crossing tomorrow but glad I don't have to pack tonight as I did it yesterday, whoop whoop!

So, that was our time in Cambodia. It went very fast but due to limited time with visa's etc. I think that the next four months is going to fly. Really excited about Vietnam as we've heard that it's a beautiful place and there's beaches which I can't wait to hit. I'm starting to feel like a milk bottle. So we have 30 days in Vietnam so we'll be back at the beginning of March with, "The Truth About Vietnam." Hope you all enjoyed reading the blog but my arse has gone unbelievably numb now so it's time to go xx.

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Photos

Ta Prohm
and the tree roots

Ta Keo
I'm at the top of the steps!!

Victory gate at Angkor Thom
The walls are 8m high and 6m thick!

Some of the 216 faces
at Bayon

Journey to Battambang
Floating villages

Tuol Sleng Security Prison
Torture devices with paintings of them in action

Torture Chamber
with the picture in the background of the horrors

The Rules
at Tuol Sleng

Skulls dug up at the Killing Fields
showing evidence of the brutal beatings resulting in their deaths to save bullets. These are children aged 0 - 15 years

Harsh Reality
Information board and Temple of Bones

Magic Tree
used to hang speakers to mask the sound from the painful beatings

Tuk Tuk journey
to the Indian Restaurant