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Published: April 29th 2010
The journey from Bangkok to Siep Reap was relatively painless considering it took 12 hours. The border was much easier than I had expected perhaps because thousands of Thai's go across the border every weekend to gamble at the numerous casinos that dot the post border town.
Siem Reap is famous for the Ankhor temples which have only recently been 'rediscovered' as a tourist attraction following the end of the Cambodian civil war in 1999. We left to go to the temples at 5am as I have been told that you cannot miss seeing the sunrise of Ankhor Wat. The early start was definitely worth it as it was a truly spectacular sight. From far away the monument is incredible but close up you can see the years of degradation and lack of maintenance (or as one of the guys in my group described it - 'an ageing celebrity starlet good from far but far from good).' Fortunately UNESCO has started an extensive restoration programme. After this we visited Ankhor Tom which is the Buddhist equivalent of the Hindu Ankhor Wat which although not as spectacular is definitely worth viewing. All around the temples there are numerous young children selling
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sun rising over Ankhor Watanything and everything which was not good for our friend Tom who's 'kind eyes' and inability to say no caused him to be constantly hassled and end up buying things he had no need for. On a side note for anyone visiting Siem Reap a visit to Pub Street is a must as it is the best nightlife we found in Cambodia.
From Siem Reap we headed to Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia. We had been offered two buses standard or VIP obviously we chose VIP. The bus was anything but VIP an average sized western man would have found the seats uncomfortable for me it was almost unbearable. We arrived in Phnom Penh two hours after we were supposed to and then had to walk for half an hour in the afternoon heat to our hostel so as a result by the time we got to the hostel we were all thoroughly fed up. However some cold beers whilst watching the sun set over a lake helped to restore our traveling spirit.
The next day we first went to a shooting range where I spent a lot of money to fire 60 bullets very quickly. I
fired an M60 machine gun and a ruger sniper rifle at a t-shirt with a target on it. It was a novel experience but I would not rush back to do it again especially as my aim was appalling!
We next went to visit the killing fields which is where the Khmer Rouge regime transported prisoners from the S21 prison and other places to be executed and buried in mass graves - over 8000 bodies were unearthed from the graves. It was a somber and harrowing place but very informative and a must for anyone who visits Cambodia to learn about the countries recent history.
After this a comedy lunch helped to overcome the somberness of our morning as we all order chicken fried rice but asked for it with egg as well this resulted in the owner rather than saying they did not have any shooting off on his moped to buy some from the market. When the food arrived I asked if they had any soya sauce so again the man hopped on his moped and drove ten mins away to get some however he returned with chili sauce which I don't like but as the
owner was watching I felt obliged to smother my food in it!
In the afternoon we went to S21 which is a prison in the centre of Phnom Penh where the Khmer Rouge took anyone who had not conformed to their strict regime. The prisoners were tortured into confessing to being an enemy of the regime and in most cases taken to the killing fields to be executed. The prison seems to have not been changed since it was liberated in 1979. The various methods of torture machines are visible and truly barbaric. The cells are incredibly small and inhumane. The worst part of the prison is the torture rooms which do not look like they have ever been cleaned with what look like blood stains on the walls and floors - there were even pictures on the wall of the bodies they found in each room. Perhaps the most incredible thing was that there was a guy wondering around the prison who turned out to be one of only seven survivors from the prison. He was friendly and happily answered questions on his horrific experience which included him telling us that as he was being led to the
prison he passed his family on the street being led he would later discover to their deaths.
After S21 we headed back to our hotel however our tuk tuk was starting to show the strain of carrying four western men our guide and the driver all day as a result we were now struggling to reach 10kph. The tuk tuk finally died about 1km from our base. Now we were not going to leave a comrade in behind so what we would later call tuk tuk bob sled ensued where the four of us would push start the tuk tuk and then all jump in as it shot down the road until it would die again. This process ended with us pushing the stricken vehicle the last 200m when it would finally refused to come to life anymore.
We headed off the next day to Shinoukville to get some sun and sand. After the disastrous bus from Siem Reap we spoke to our guide and paid an even larger price than the previous bus in order to ensure we truly got a VIP journey. Things started to go wrong from the start as our ride to the bus
station was 45 mins late. As a result we arrived at the bus stop to see our bus just setting off. A chase across the packed streets of Phnom Penh ensued, involving frantic waving and beeping by our driver. Once we had finally boarded the bus it turned out to be as bad if not worse then the previous one I guess the saying 'you get what you pay' for doesn't count in Cambodia!
Shinoukville is Cambodia's premier beach resort, unfortunately for me I came down with a fever (hopefully not malaria) for the whole two days we were there. I did enjoy some freshly caught barracuda and chips on our last night for only $3. In the end perhaps it was fortunate I was ill as one of our party - Tom - decided to walk around all day with no sunscreen believing as it was cloudy he would not get burnt - he ended up with the worst burns I have ever seen. This resulted in serious but ultimately comic incident as in the morning Tom came out of the bathroom then fainted from we guess heat stroke hit his head and then swallowed his tongue. Even
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Ankhor Tom worse than this he had to wake up to find my fingers down his throat pulling his tongue out! Despite a couple of days of intense pain from the burns all ended well and we were all able to have a good laugh about it.
Next stop Vietnam!!
Mark
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