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Published: February 15th 2010
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We fled Vietnam and Tet two days ago bound for Cambodia and a blissful escape from the holiday transportation lock-down that plagues Vietnam and China. I believe that we, and by we I mean all backpackers in flight across the border over the last week, held too-high hopes that the constantly moving border between Vietnam and Cambodia would hold firm over the holiday time: Vietnam celebrates, Cambodia Does Not. That is of course not true, because Cambodia does in fact celebrate Chinese New Years.. or at least the area that I am in- a stones throw from Vietnam- does. It's really not as bad as it could be, though. Most hotels are full, but it's not that hard to find one that has a few rooms open.. if for a slightly inflated price. At least most businesses are open, as far as I can tell- and the buses are running.
Ok. Cambodia. The border crossing was easy enough, even if it barely resembled a border crossing. It seemed to be like any dusty impoverished street in a small town- coconut sellers, stray dogs, skinny cows, motorbikes. Kep was about 20 minutes from the border- and was our first stop in
Cambodia. Kep wasn't much of a town about 80 years ago, more of a small community of rich peoples beach side villas that was bombed to smitherines in the war with Vietnam in the late 1970s and then pillaged during the subsequent years. Now it is a bombed out wreck of what was probably a fun beach destination in 1930. It was highly enjoyable, despite the utter lack of anything to do, and the lack of any sand on the "beach", and the super inflated tourist prices. ($10 a meal??? Are they out of their minds???) We found one lady selling greasy waffles that had some crunchy items and peppercorns inside for .10 cents a pop and survived on those for 2 days. Our hotel was nice, right on the water with plenty of open hammocks in the shade, but it was owned by a Frenchman who prefered French guests... and since we had our fill of the Asian dwelling Frenchies in Shanghai, we decided it was time to move on.
Cambodia is pretty different than Vietnam. It is noticably poorer, more expensive, and more jungley. Another surprise is that we seem to have left the "toilet paper zone".
I noticed it at the last hotel, and have confirmed it here. Toilet paper is a thing of the past. We don't even get a waste basket to put it in, so unless you want to cart your used tissues out of the bathroom- you have to use The Spray. The spray is a hose with a spray top that is next to the toilet that one uses in lieu of TP. I think the system works alright for the first step (even though it seems to get water all over the bathroom), but then falls apart with the problem of what to do post-spray. Use a towel? Wet your shorts? I suppose that the humidity is so high here, that nothing is really ever dry after all... but it still feels unnatural to me.
Now we are in Kampot, which more closely resembles a town.. maybe a small French ghost town in the wild west? Can you picture it? The dusty half abandoned buildings, some look like a bomb exploded in or near them with the holes in the wall patched with palm thatch. Lazy dogs lying around flicking away flies, piles of smelly trash here and there,
and always motorbikes driving by honking honking honking. Also lots of roundabouts with strange old decrepit plaster statues in the middle with things like people shoveling rice, a bird sitting on a big number 2000, a white horse, which I learned are used in place of street signs, because so many Cambodians cannot read.
Last night to celebrate Valentines Day John and I went to a real restaurant and had a wonderful meal plus dessert. It was the cheapest and most satisfying Valentines Dinner of my life, I have to say. Today we used the hotel bikes and biked about 8km out of town. Our goal was a series of not-so-rapid rapids, but we got sidetracked when we stopped to poke around a guesthouse on the river. It is called Utopia, and the name is fitting for the very peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. We stopped for coffee, but stayed for a swim in the river, lunch, smoothies, and lazing in the shade watching the palm trees. I thought about moving in, but luckily we had bought our bus tickets to Phnom Penh before we biked out there.. otherwise I might have been tempted to spend the rest of the
trip lounging in their bungalows.
Right now we are lounging in our own hotel, for a change. John is sleeping in the chair beside me, and I'm enjoying the breeze and the shade.. Later we'll probably go try to find some dinner, and tomorrow we head to Phnom Penh (the capitol of Cambodia). There isn't much to do there, but we have to get some visa stuff taken care of.. and see the obligatory depressing Khmer Rouge sites.
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