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Published: March 11th 2016
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After Siem Reap, Delaney and I boarded a 7 hour bus to good old Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh, as some of you remember, is where I was rushed to the hospital with food poisoning two years ago, so I can't say I was super excited to be back. Nevertheless there were many parts of the city I never had the chance to see due to the hospital situation. We began our journey by settling in at Kriss Guesthouse, where our mildly sketchy room was perched on the fifth floor. It wasn't exactly a palace but it was a good deal for budget backpackers. We wandered around Phnom Penhm the most characteristic aspects of which are the hundreds of tuktuk drivers asking if you need a ride, the enormous amount of pigeons, and the startling weath gap. The effects of povery were clear everywhere. People brought hundreds of small birds in cages to the riverfront and let you release one for a dollar. Children roamed the streets selling bracelets or asking you to buy them milk. Men and women sold corn kernels for tourists to feed to pigeons. We met one young girl who was just eleven years old but was wandering
the streets on her own selling bracelets, and wondered if she had dropped out of school, though her English was remarkable. i forgot to mention that while we were wandering the temples of Angkor, I saw two young children, maybe only 3 and 6 years old, searching through trash cans for plastic bottles to bring back to their family. They looked up when I walked by and said hello as friendly as could be. The people in Southeast Asia are characteristically incredibly friendly, but homelessness is rampant, especially in Cambodia. I was told that the average Thai person makes only 4,000 baht each month. My salary as an English teacher, 35,000 baht, is that of a Thai person who has a doctorate.
We spent our time in Phnom Penh exploring the city, but were excited the next morning to head south to the beach regions of Kampot and Sihanoukville. Kampot was about 5 hours from Phnom Penh. It is a relatively quiet town that hasn't been morphed or overwhelmed by tourism yet. Our hostel was this beautiful riverside bungalow cluster called Samon's Village. We were treated when we arrived by seeing a baby and mama cow walking between the
bungalows.
Cows pretty much roam wherever they want in the Cambodian countryside, I'm not clear on how farmers keep track of them. When we ventured to the street side to find a tuktuk to town, two tipsy Australians who looked oddly like 60-70 year old pirates offered us a ride. As they explained, "we usually don't pick up people but we almost plowed you over". They were hilarious, and so friendly. One had lived in Kampot for years and the other came every now and then to visit him, what great friends! They dropped us in town and told us where the markets were, then carried on to the pub that was their desitination. We then witnessed a man trying to sell a bull to another man in an old graffiti covered lot, and shamelessly took photos to their
amusement? Confusion? Annoyance? After this my stomach started to feel really ill, so I had to head back to the bungalow to sleep it off. Delaney took a sunset firefly cruise for five dollars that sounded amazing. We slept like royalty in bunks under mosquito nets that look strikingly like princess canopies, then debated what on earth we would do
if it started to rain (the bungalows were huts handmade with all local materials, each one unique to the others). Thankfully it was a short, dry night and we checked out and carried on to Sihanoukville.
The van ride to Sihanoukville was only 2 and a half hours, but they were our scariest hours in Cambodia. Before we got on the van an older European missionary man offered us his business card proclaiming the way to Heaven. I hadn't had my coffee yet and was in dire need of caffeine at that point. They squeezed at least 13 of us with all of our luggage into a "twelve seater". When they tried to fit one more, the narky troupe of twenty year old Brits in the back started protesting with "we don't need 'im' and 'what a wanker!" To which Delaney, the Australian family across from us, and I couldn't stop laughing. The last man was stuffed into the front seat of the van and we took off. About half way there we randomly stopped, and we all realized the driver was very ill. He was pouring water on his head and pacing. He got back in the van
and continued to drive with a wet towel draped over his head. Suddenly the Australian father piped up that the driver's eyes were shutting and we realized he was falling asleep. He woke up thankfully and the Australian man keep checking in with him in the rear view mirror, while discussing whether one of us should ask to take the wheel. The driver picked up the pace and started passing other vehicles like a speed fiend, which was also not ideal, but we finally made it into town and out of that scary van. Our hostel in Sihsnoukville was called " Guesthouse 66" and our room was perched about the common area, which was actually only common for the rowdy shirtless Thai men that played pool there every night. We spent our first day in Sihanoukville shopping around, lounging on the touristy beach (Serendipity Beach) and being peddled to. One woman told me that she could thread my leg hair for seven dollars, and that the reason I don't have a boyfriend is because my legs were too hairy, so she would make them smooth as a baby's ass--I politely declined her amusing offer. We were offered massages, hair wraps,
bracelets, and pedicures, but we just wanted to lounge in the sun! Finally we got dinner and trekked back to Guesthouse66. Our second day in Sihanoukville was probably one of the best in my life. Delaney and i rode Cambidian horses through the countryside past water buffalo ( who mooed aggressively at us to defend their calves, on beautiful Otres beach, and over the red clay covered middle stretch between the two. I decided to pay ten dollars extra to go swimming with the horses which was unbelievable. Our guide even let me stand on my horse's back in the water! We galloped through the fields in the countryside, which was AWESOME, they just let the ponies take off and run as fast as they want, it was a dream day for me. We ended our ride back at Liberty Ranch and said goodbye to our horses Djungo and Guy, then we played with the resident goats for a good twenty minutes. Our tour guide was so sweet, he complimented my riding and even gave us a lift on his motorcycle back to the beach. Otres beach is breathtaking. It's totally pristine and seems to be pretty unknown to most
tourists. No one was there selling things and, though we were sunburnt, we enjoyed a magically relaxing afternoon. That night when we rode into town to get food, we saw two stray cows wandering toward the bars! There were even nomadic cows ambling around at the gas station. It was unlike anything I've ever seen, so absurdly funny to American eyes.
Sihanoukville was definitely my favorite part of Cambodia, though I think the presence of horses gave it a pretty massive advantage. We packed up and boarded a four hour bus to Phnom Penh then ate Chinese noodles ( giving me an awesome opportunity to practice my Chinese) and finally got on our short flight back to Bangkok. We hopped in a van to Ayutthaya and crashed at our friend's place to recharge for the next leg of our journey!
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