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Published: August 19th 2006
The Cambodian border crossing
Welcome to Cambodia thank you pleaseFor the next part of my adventure I decided to do a trip with Intrepid travel… and a good decision it was! I flew from Hong Kong to Bangkok.. On arrival the first thing I noticed was lots of signs saying.. “We love our King”. He must be a special man. I took a taxi from the airport and checked into my room at the hotel… All good so far! I was supposed to arrive earlier to meet the group but I didn’t so I was left a number at reception to call. I phoned Charlie our leader and he came to meet me. He introduced me to some fellow travellers.. Fiona from Scotland and a couple from Oz…. nice peeps. I was somewhat peckish so indulged in some street food.. Some Pad Thai, (Thai noodles) and some meat kebabs, both amazing. After some beers I went for a walk along backpacker street Khao San Road.. pretty hectic, lots going on. I like it. I will be back, (maybe).
An early start the next day for the journey on down to the border. More people to meet: some more Australians and some English peeps… so got to know some of
Bayon (Angkor Thom)
Had great fun climbing around this! them on the bus. After about 4 hours we arrived at the border where we would cross into Poipet, Cambodia. We climbed off the bus in the sweltering heat and had some more Thai food before walking over the border doing the usual passport malarkey on the way. Big culture shock!! As soon as I walked over the border there was a big difference. There were these kids that seemed to be locked in this big caged enclosure playing in the rubbish, begging to people that walked by. Loads of people were pushing these carts over into Cambodia carrying a range of strange cargo piled up high. Tiny kids pushing massive carts loaded up with who knows what. There was lots going on here… loads of people everywhere… Some just sitting about, some begging, some: I’m not really sure what they were doing. It was pretty cool just watching all these people… After hopping on and off various vehicles we finally boarded a mini bus for the long bumpy drive to Sim Reap. And when I say bumpy I mean the bumpiest road I’ve ever been on. It wasn’t even a road… just a dirt track in most placed with
lots of holes. A fun 6 hour bus ride all the same. Lots of amazing scenery.. very undeveloped landscape, rice paddies, lots of people everywhere, mainly smiling kids all of who wave at you as you pass them. After a few stops for food and unhygienic toilet relief we arrived in Sim Reap just as a rain storm was saying hello. I guess this is monsoon season so this crazy weather is to be expected. Sim Reap is more developed with guesthouses, hotels restaurants etc.. I guess a lot of it is because of the tourism brought on by the temples. My first impressions of this place are good… It has a real nice feel about it. We checked into our hotel which seemed pretty safe and then headed to the Khmer Kitchen restaurant for some top food and cold Angkor beer. The Cambodian Peace Potato with Fish was amazing and I suspect a slight French influence. Pretty perfect… next stop…. Hotel for sleeps. But no: As I’m sitting there on my bed I can’t work out whether I am hallucinating or whether something big just ran across the room. I suspected it to be the side effects of Doxcycline
malaria drugs but unfortunately not… As I’m lying there I hear noises and when I move the side cabinet a big mouse runs out and starts running around the room. I chased it but another smaller one joins the party. After much chasing and causing several injuries to myself I decide to change rooms. I feel a bit stupid when there are kids on the street who are probably sleeping with the mice, rats and god knows what else but I’m never going sleep with mice crawling over my face so I decided to change. A good choice… no mice here: just a few cockroaches and big black daddy beetles. But they are ok. A good night’s sleep and an early start… Its temple time! Oiy Oiy!
An early morning start to get our 3 day passes for the Angkor temples and then on to our first temple complex… Angkor Thom built by King Javarman 7th. We had a brilliant local guide called Pauline (man). He sounded just like Dr Evil from Austin Powers! He was a pretty funny guy and pretty knowledgeable. The first one we explored was Bayon a pretty amazing temple originally decorated with 216 big
Angkor Wat
The mother of all temples! smiling faces baring a resemblance to Mr Javarman 7th himself. Happy faces… happy temple! Many of these faces remain and make for a pretty amazing sight. It was loads of fun exploring this massive complex and I enjoyed climbing around it like a child in a giant play fort. The carvings were extremely detailed depicting Cambodian life in the 12th century. Mentalists! We then headed on to some more temples in the complex before moving onto Preah Kan… another one of Javarman’s accomplishments… Yet again very impressive… A maze of corridors, rooms and ruins overgrown by nature. It kind of reminded me of the Crystal Maze except instead of Richard O'Brian there were novice monks in their orange robes, (also bald). And so… It’s to the crystal dome! Well actually no… instead we went for lunch at a café near the entrance to Angkor Wat. The food that came recommended was ‘Fish Amok’, a kind of fish curry served in a delicately carved out coconut. Amazingly tasty! Steve this guy from Melbourne has become somewhat of a fish Amok connoisseur and has tried it nearly everywhere we have been. He loves it. After the meal the local bracelet and book
selling kids tried there hardest to sell us some of there goods. They ask you where you are from and then reel off loads of info about the country… cities, population, etc. The kids were pretty cool and made for some fun conversations. Bought some random stuff of some of them… after all they are just trying to make a bit of money and they are so happy when you get something from them.
In the afternoon the monsoon sky waters came again so we headed to a landmine museum in the rain. It was a pretty mad place… We watched a film under some plastic sheeting amongst the chickens and mud. The guy who set this place up had taken on the mission of attempting to clear up and defuse some of the many unexploded landmines that have been left over from the various wars in an attempt to make it a safer place. Not a job that I would like to do! He also took in and helped the kids and families that had lost limbs from these landmines. The museum had some mad stuff on display… A massive collection of mines, US bombs, and various other
stuff from the war. He was a cool man.
For one of the best meals I’ve had we headed out into the countryside for a meal with a Cambodian family. We all sat round on the floor of their porch to the sounds of frogs and crickets and they served up some brilliant Cambodian cuisine. It was so tasty.. Good good food. Some of the selection included a Cambodian curry, Chicken with Ginger, pretty perfect soup, some noodle dishes and loads of other interestingly tasty stuff! There were about 15 kids living at this house and after dinner they put on some music so we could all dance and play with the kids. They had a strange collection of music including a Khmer version of the Crazy Frog! All the kids were pretty cute… really happy and friendly. They seemed to love having us there. We then spent the next couple of hours playing games with them and taking some photo’s which we will send back to them. I spoke to one of the older girls who works at the hotel we are staying at. She had been working there just to raise the money to keep her brother
Ta Prohm temple
Overgrown by jungle... what a mental place! in education. She taught me some dancing moves and I showed her some of my special moves. Her dream was to see the ocean! Hopefully she will one day. We said our goodbyes to the kids and the rest of the crew, gave the cook of the house some money for the lovely food then headed back for some sleepy sleepy!
The next day was a really really really really early start… 4am wake up and straight to Angkor Wat… The temple of all temples. With our torches we wandered through the complex in the dark which was slightly eerie and took our positions ready for sunrise. As it got light we gradually saw the outline of the temple with the sky a turquoise blue colour. It was a bit cloudy so we didn’t get a perfect red sky sunrise we were hoping for but it was mint all the same. Got some great photos of the temple reflecting in the water and saw the monks coming out to play. I like monks. They are brilliant!. After some DIY baguettes it was time to explore the temple. It was fantastic in size and detail and we spent a good
Cart loaded pretty high
Smuggling goods accoss the border! few hours exploring this ancient temple climbing up the thin steps to the different levels for some great views. The detail of the carvings around the whole place was phenomenal and I can see why this is known as the greatest temple in the world and why it took centuries to build. Next we headed to Ta Prohm, This was my favourite… A large temple complex that has been completely left to the elements, surrrounded by jungle and completely overgrown by trees and plants. The whole place is completely surreal and it’s as if the temple has been gobbled up by the jungle! In places the tree roots have grown right through and over the buildings… a weird atmospheric place! Again… great fun exploring this jungle adventure playground!
After seeing some other less known temples in the area I was pretty templed out and in need of a change of direction or some munchies. After some stomach fillers we headed to Tongle Sap lake and the floating river village of Chong Kneas. Every rainy season the river Mekong overflows into this lake which expands to 10,000 sq. km. We took a boat down the floating village to see a
whole community floating happily. There were floating houses, floating schools, a floating basketball court, floating pigs, a floating crocodile farm, floating kids in metal bowls etc. Half way into the trip Buddha reminded us that it was Monsoon season again and the clouds gave birth to some proper big rain. Really heavy, big, fat, chunky, clear bisto gravy rain. And lots of it. I like rain storms… they are brilliant. We sheltered in a floating shop and watched the locals as they went about there daily business. It was an amazing experience. Nice One brother. After realising that the rain wasn’t going stop we got back on the boat and headed back to semi-dry land. On the way back Pauline purchased some barbequed rainbow snake from the village… I gave it a try and the meat tasted ok… a bit like chicken… However I couldn’t get that much meat off the snake spine! It was then time to say goodbye to Dr Evil himself… Pauline. He was a great guide. We later found out that previously he had been forced to serve under the Khmer Rouge during Pol Pots disgraceful regime. He was a cool guy and cared a lot
Me at Bayon temple
Just having a rest! about his country. The Temple Bar was our destination for dinner. Yet again amazing top banana food… I had a selection of Khmer classics and enjoyed a demonstration of some traditional Khmer dancing, Angkor beer and a bucket of vodka red bull. Then some of us went on to bar street for more buckets of vodka red bull…. I think. Made it back… eventually. Safe as houses.
Bad hangover the next morning! I went to the market with Fiona to find some pretty mad stuff. Lots of live turtles on sale, (to eat) and various other strange looking foods and objects. We bought a couple of books then went on to ‘Seeing Hands Massage’ for a massage from a blind person. The place has been setup to allow blind Cambodians to train in massage and make a living. They may not be able to see but they are good with their hands! I’ve not had a massage before but this one was pretty damn good and only cost 4 dollars for an hour’s massage all of the money going to the masseur. Good work. Thank you very much. I also had a chance to talk to some of the
Angkor Wat
Good Morning Angkor Wat. locals all of whom were really nice. I like Cambodians. Lots. Peace Out.
In the afternoon it was time to say bye bye to Siom Reap. “Bye Bye Sim Reap”. I loved it here. The place has lots of character and the temples are amazing. The people I’ve met have been so nice and friendly always with smiles despite all the stuff they have gone through. And to the airport it is. Phnom Penh here I come… PPTD signing off. Over and Out!
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