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Published: August 13th 2007
Intro
After two long weeks in pursuit of happiness and hangovers on Ko Phangan, the lure of the open road was reestablished and Jamie and I set our sights on Cambodia, a country promising ancient ruins, lawless cities, blissful beaches and the chance to shoot a chicken with a fully-automatic rifle.
The Scam Bus
So, back on the Khao San Road, feeling tired and unsatisfied after an overnight bus ride and an early morning McDonalds (McDepression is alive and unwell in Asia too), we headed straight for Welcome Travel (via Prakorb's House, where we dropped our bags) to book our bus. Five minutes later we left, thoroughly pleased, having secured tickets that would take us all the way from Bangok to Siem Reap, Cambodia, for a mere 300 baht - a steal, by all accounts. How right we were.
Cut to 7am the next day and with our bags stored safely below us in the belly of the bus, we settled in for what we expected to be a 12 hour journey - monotonous, draining even, but manageable nonetheless. Having been lazy of late we both decided that this was as good a time as any
Red Lodge
Excellenceto crack out the Lonely Planet and educate ourselves on what Cambodia (Cambo to its friends) had in store for us... and, leafing through our trusty tome, it was only moments before we came across the following warning (taking up early a whole page, boxed off and heavily highlighted): "Beware The Scam Bus". The
what now?. The "Scam Bus", which, according to the Lonely Planet, operates between Bangkok and Siem Reap, ensnaring travellers with low priced tickets before subjecting them to various ordeals such as:
*Forcing passengers to buy their visas at inflated prices instead of allowing them to purchase them at the border
*Fibbing that you must change Thai baht into Cambodian riel at an extortionate exchange rate, because, they say, there are no ATMs in Cambodia
*Deliberately driving slowly so that when you arrive at the bus company's chosen, commission-friendly guest house in Siem Reap, you are too tired to argue the toss and move elsewhere
All in all the Scam Bus was something of a monster, to be avoided at all costs. Which was always going to be difficult for us, as we were already locked in its warm embrace. Whoops.
So we spent the long, restless journey continually aware that we were up for a good scamming and plenty sceptical and grouchy as a result. What made things worse was that even though we were aware of our situation, our efforts to avoid being taken for a ride (ouch) were largely ineffective. The guys running the bus wanted 1,250 baht for their 'visa service'. We knew it should only be 800 and told them we would rather secure them at the border. Their response was that this was fine - we were welcome to make our own way to the border for visas, but if we were still queuing when the Scam Bus came along, it would leave without us. Acutely aware that this was no idle threat and that our bargaining postures were highly dubious, on account of the other thirty seven people on the bus blindly accepting the scam, we relented and paid the cost. Funnily enough, it turned out the guy on the bus had been adding an extra 50 baht on: the real scam price was 1,200 and the cheeky bugger was scamming his own scamming bosses. When when they found out they gave him a
well-deserved bollocking, which he then transferred onto Jamie for having exposed his antics. Quite unnerving when you are about to arrive in a country infamous for senseless gun crime.
We fared better with the money exchange ruse, refusing to play their reindeer games and, having crossed the border into Cambodia with little added adventure, we re-boarded the bus and set off for Siem Reap. Now, the roads in Cambodia have been greatly improved over recent years but still remain absolutely terrible (the running joke from the Scam Bus Boys was "Last year very bumpy - now just bumpy!"). It's rumoured that one of the Cambodian Airlines bribes the government to keep them this way and if this is so, they are mean little people indeed. The roads are mere dirt tracks, riddled with holes and the source of the swirling dust clouds that billow out behind any passing vehicle. What's more, our bus had no suspension, and we had the pleasure of several hours of Cambodian massage on our soft, young backsides.
"Fortune and glory, kid; fortune and glory."
And so we got to Siem Reap late (expected), caved in and accepted the Scam Bus's suggested out-of-town
guesthouse (expected), slept well (not expected) and checked out bright and early in search of better digs. Which we found in the shape of the Red Lodge, a wonderful French Colonial Villa, hidden down a dusty dirt track, which has been converted into what must be the top contender for our Best Guesthouse Of The Trip Award. The building was beautiful; the staff were helpful; there was free breakfast (all day, I might add); it was full of people who were just really cool. All it all I would sum it up as "top". Our first full day in Siem Reap was spent bumming around, recovering from our trip into Cambo and preparing ourselves for three full days exploring the lost temples of Angkor. Indiana Jones 4? Not-so-loosely based on me and J.
All in all we spent three days exploring Angkor. For the first two we hired the services of a friendly tuk-tuk driver ("Driver!") to take us on the two primary routes around the various temples. The first day covered the major sites, including the infamous Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (an expansive walled city containing many smaller temples) and the Tomb Raider Temple - not its original
moniker but the one it has assumed since featuring in Angelina Jolie's 2001 action adventure of the same name. If you cast your mind back to that film, assuming you ever had the pleasure, you might remember a scene where old Lara follows a small girl (who just may be a young Lara) through the ruins of a temple, within which the roots of a large tree are entwined with the ancient stonework. Got it? well that's the one we visited.
On the second day our guide took us on a longer circuit, taking in smaller temples which, though less impressive on the whole, still included a few diamonds in the rough. Finally, we spent our third day riding bikes out to the Land Mine Museum, which promotes the efforts of a local Khmer man who has dedicated his life to removing the many unexploded land mines which still litter Cambodia's countryside, before pedalling on to a nearby temple, set high upon a hill, to watch a sunset (which never really delivered - thank you, clouds).
It is often said that a picture paints a thousand words and it could not be truer in this case. And so
I've decided to forgo any lengthy descriptions of the various temples in favour of adding a few more photos of them to this blog, so that faithful readers can appreciate the spectacle themselves. Needless to say all three days spent exploring Angkor were excellent. Before I came I envisaged that this would be a highlight of my trip and in no way did it disappoint - despite all the touts and tourists, Angkor's beauty, majesty, and mystery is still nothing short of fantastic.
Siem Reap - Special Thanks
Aside from the temples of Angkor, the local town of Siem Reap which serves as the area's tourist hub provided much enjoyment over the five days we spent there. Special thanks goes to:
*The Boom Boom Room, which has five locations across Cambodia, operating an Ipod-upload service. Come in, take a look at their catalogue of music, make your selections and have them uploaded at 50 cents a pop. J and I added 20 albums in Siem Reap. Excellent, though it would be better still if they would accept requests - success has lead to laziness I fear.
*Jill and Laurel, two Canadians we met at our
hostel and spent a couple of fun-filled nights with. On the first, the girls tought us a most excellent game which involved sprinking salt on to your arm (slammers had been and gone) and then holding an ice cube against it. Some sort of science leads to an intense burning (salt lowers the freezing point of water, perhaps?) which causes, well, burns. Which in Jamie's case lead to a blistered arm, which then lead to a peeling arm, which will now probably lead to a scar for life. What have we learned? Little perhaps. Later that evening he was convinced to slip into something a little more comfortable by the girls - see the attached photo and accept my apologies in advance. Jill also managed an all-time top quote - when we told her we'd met a female Canadian Army recruit on the border who claimed to have had sex in a tank, Jill replied 'she had sex with a tank?' Maybe you had to be there...
*Lauren and Jenna, an Australian tea-ist (a master of tea by profession, I kid you not) and an English nurse we met at the same hostel and with whom we shared a
Temple Gate
Incredible? conversation that Lauren would later liken to "Four people sharing a wonderful dessert, all taking small mouthfuls because they don't want it to end". Sparkling, then.
Phnom Penh
We approached Cambodia's capital with a certain amount of tepidation, for it has a reputation as a city where almost anything goes, including muggings at gunpoint. We stayed in the Okay Gueshouse which was, well, okay, and whilst there enjoyed screenings of The Guardian and Adam Sandler's The Longest Yard, which was actually enjoyable on account of Sandler not playing himself, for a change. When we left two days later, I was whelmed at best. I would have to say that Phnom Penh was one of my least favourite destinations so far. I know Jamie would disagree, and that he found it not unenjoyable, but I don't think either of us could fully recommend it. This said, there were several notable experiences.
On our first day we visited the National Museum, which, though set in a beautiful building, was predominately stocked with substandard sculptures which, post-Angkor, were not particularly exciting.
On our second we visited the Killing Fields and S-21 prison. This must be seen as the highlight
of our time in Phnom Phen. The Killing Fields refers to a large section of land, outside the city, containing the disinterred mass graves of Cambodians killed by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. As you tour the now empty graves it is not uncommon to spot ragged clothes and human bones protruding from the rough ground. In the centre of the fields, a large stupa has been erected, containing the 8,000 skulls of the Cambodians that were killed and dumped in the graves that have been exhumed. As horrific a sight as this is, perhaps worse is the knowledge that the vast majority of the mass graves are still untouched.
I have chosen not to try to provide any deal of information about the Khmer Rouge in this blog, primarily because I am not knowledgable enough to do so. For those who wish to learn more, perhaps a good start would be this page, which provides a basic understanding of one of the most shocking acts of genocide committed within the last century. Jamie is currently reading First They Killed My Father, the published memoirs of a young girl who grew up under the regime,
Tunnels
Endless and he heartily endorses it.
Having visited the Killing Fields we moved on to S-21, an ex-Khmer Rouge prison within a converted high school in central Phnom Penh. Again, this visit was predictably harrowing (although somehow less so due to the vast quantities of tourists which gave both S-21 and the Killing Fields a detached, almost unreal atmosphere), as was the film which accompanied it. The many former cells had been left in much the same condition as they were in when the prison was liberated, the bodies of the dead replaced by graphic photographs.
Although The Killing Fields and S21 were upsetting, there were lighter moments during our time in the capital city:
*Feasting on a deep-fried Tarantula which we bought from a roadside stall. While we stood umm-ing and aah-ing about whether to try one Kentucky Fried Arachnid, a car load of locals stopped by and ordered a bagful of the buggers...
*Popping down to the lakeside for a few drinks and meeting Jill from Siem Reap, who should have been in Laos. Neither her, nor Laurel, nor the three guys they were on the bus with, had realised that there were no ATMs in
northern Cambodia and so, arriving at the border with Laos sans money, they found themselves stuck. And Jill volunteered to travel all the way back to the capital with all 5 bank cards to take out cash. Ditzy, huh? What was worse was that not one of the three guys they were with offered to do the trip and she ended up stuck on the bus, sat next to a local guy who spent the whole journey stroking her arm and at one point showed her a video of him having sex with some other girl. J and I promptly mounted our high horses and suggested she might take the dangers of traveling alone as an attractive female a little more seriously...
Oh and we declined the chance to go shooting guns. But only because it was too expensive - a few bucks cheaper though...
Bartenders? And a Thief: Jamie and Louis Hit Sihanoukville
Sihanoukville is Cambodia's premier beach resort. Sihanoukville is also, as far as I am aware, Cambodia's only beach resort. We arrived in high spirits having had the place strongly recommended by previous travel buddies (the London/Krabi boys, for those with great memories) and
ended up staying for a whole week, despite the fact that the beach itself was littered with litter (although, in hindsight, not so bad - recently we arrived at the Vietnamese holiday town of Nha Trang, and found a dead, hairless dog in the middle of the beach, gathering flies). We spent out first night in a little hotel called GST, a few roads back from the beach, chilling out and enjoying satellite TV: I watched a movie about a fat, orange man with a ponytail, fighting evil, toxic-waste-dumping Texans. It was excellent, of course.
Early the next morning we bugged out of GST and headed down to the beachside so score some better digs. Having investigated numerous options we settled on the Serenity Bungalows, which were situated at the far end of the beach, with wonderful views of the rocky bay, large clean rooms, and an alluring whiff of a DVD collection. The Krabi/London boys had already impressed on us the enjoyable nature of the nightlife in Sihanoukville, in particular highlighting the charms of The Frog Shack: a small bar, run by a Swede and his local fiance, which was the current 'place to be'. And so on
our first night we made a beeline for The Shack, meeting and recruiting Jenna and Lauren from Siem Riep on the way, and established ourselves as 'kind of a big deal' in Sihanoukville. As our week there was mainly spent sleeping, eating, drinking and beaching, some bullet-point highlights are called for before this blog comes to a close:
*The owner of Frog Shack, Peter - an excellent Swede with good taste in music (The Knife are top and will be downloaded when I get home).
*The time when I got a little-bit-electrocuted in Frog Shack, leaning against an brightly flashing optical cable. Jamie, upon finding out, just had to have a go...
*Almost signing up to become bartenders. But not.
*Buying a Casio Calculator Watch at the local market.
*An old (gay?) man named Charlie asking to paint my portrait...
*Eating at 'The Snake House' - the tables were glass-topped cages which contained large snakes.
*Having my wallet and J's bag stolen from the dorm in Utopia, a large, yellow bar-come-guesthouse, the first night we switched to staying there..
*Finding a PS2 at Utopia.
*The giant bar fight on the last
night. Apparently started by the squabbling of rival bar owners, it led to around a dozen people (boys and girls) being bottled. Much chaos ensued with everyone being hounded out onto the streets and going home in large groups for safety. Good ol' Cambo'.
Outro
We left Sihanoukville one fine morning, me with a chocolate brownie in my grubby mits (they made them fresh at Utopia), J with a bag of Beef Jerky, and biked up to the bus station to catch our ride to Phnom Phen. And that, as they say, was that.
Until next time...
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