Lost In Cambodia

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Phnom Penh

So onto the bus with a stinking hangover (as ever as everyone always wants to celebrate your last night!) on my way to the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. After crossing the border it soon became apparent to me that I was really going to like this place. The landscapes suddenly become brighter and more luscious, it’s almost like someone has taken southern Vietnam and splashed it with a tropical brush, it has this intense but relaxed kind of Alice In Wonderland feel to it, truly surreal.

I had done some research and found there are two main areas in Phnom Penh, lakeside and riverside. The lakeside sounded more ‘backpackery’ so I headed down there to find this amazing little backpacker ghetto where all of the guesthouses had big communal areas built out on stilts over the lake, ideal for just kicking back and taking in a few sunsets. The lake itself is an absolute dump strewn with litter but this is Cambodia. Litter is a big problem in Cambodia, at the roadside on every part of every road I travelled along is a constant stream of waste, this is the least developed country I have ever been to and it is very apparent in every sense but for some strange reason I found this makes it all the more intriguing and endearing.

So I spent day one in Phnom Penh at the two must see sights if you really want to understand these people and what this country has been through, the killing fields and S-21 which is the detention centre used during the genocide. I won’t go into too much detail here as history isn’t really my thing but to put things into perspective 1/3 of the country’s population was brutally eliminated under the Khmer Rouge regime led by the infamous Pol Pot up until 1979. The key targets for the Khmer Rouge were Teachers and Doctors and pretty much anyone with any intellect due to them being those people who were more likely to pose a threat. It is really sad to learn about the truths such as how these people were executed, a lot of the time it was just bludgeoning to death to save on precious ammunition, some people were even thrown into the mass graves (400 or so people) whilst they were still alive. There are plenty of other horror stories such as how the executioners would make family members kill each other or make them watch, it’s just beyond belief and to think this is pretty recent history really adds to the strength of the emotions running through the body while you‘re walking around here. The thing that really struck me is how amazingly peaceful it is walking around, beautiful sunshine, birds twittering in the trees, it really is the ultimate contrast.

An amazing thing to learn is that the people who were doing the killing and the families of the victims all now live together in perfect harmony, hopefully this will help you understand when I say these are the most wonderful people I have ever come across, everybody will tell you the same. I am still trying to figure out what it is exactly that has made these people how they are today, is it a sense of relief or possibly that they were so used to having to keep they’re spirits up in hard times that now life is better they understand that time is wasted when not you’re not smiling?…. I don’t know. Seriously, you send one smile out and get 10 back, if Thailand is ‘The Land of Smiles’ then this is ‘The Land of Glowing Grins‘. I sense a lot of people think that because people in such places could learn a lot from us in our more developed nations they sometimes look past the fact that we can also learn a lot from them.

Sihanoukville

So after an emotional day I opted for a lazy day out on the deck and then headed south to Cambodia’s answer to Thailand, Sihanoukville. So Sihanoukville has three areas, Victory Hill (or Weather Station Hill as it’s sometimes known), Town and Serendipity. The Lonely Planet suggested that Victory Hill was the main backpacker hangout though it had gotten a bit ‘girlie’ of late and Serendipity was the new up and coming area to check out so I headed down to Serendipity. I let you know now that I ended up staying 2 weeks in Sihanoukville, the beaches are gorgeous, the seafood fantastic and of course I’m in Cambodia so the people were just wonderful. The days were spent chilling on the beach and the nights at Chiva’s Shack, the local party place on the beach. Most of the travellers all partied at Nap House which I did do for one night but I didn’t come all this way for that. I ended up meeting some amazing local people, visited they’re houses and met their families, this is why I like to travel alone for the most part, I was totally lost here and it was amazing. It really is hard to get lost these days with the world becoming as small as it is but Sihanoukville gave me that feeling and I will never forget it. There are many beautiful islands just off the coast here that you can go and spend a few nights on, many of which with pristine beaches and no inhabitants though I didn’t bother venturing out to them as it would have been a bit too quiet for me! On my days in Sihanoukville I would often nip down to Otres Beach in the day (riding motorbikes on sand tracks is good fun!) and hangout there as it was really quiet and it needs no further explaining but to look at the picture below.

One day I ventured over to Victory Beach and I can tell you that the Lonely Planet must be a little out of date as to say that Victory Hill is becoming ‘a bit girlie’ was an understatement. It’s a tiny little settlement of only a couple of streets but you couldn’t walk for 5 seconds without a girl letting you know how handsome you are. As this is quite a big topic in Cambodia I found it very interesting chatting with some guys down on the beach that obviously stay on Victory Hill for a reason, really nice guys and good to gain some insight into the complex world of Cambodian ‘hostesses’. In fact when I returned to Phnom Penh after Sihanoukville I met a really nice old American guy of the same ilk to the Victory Hill guys who was an author and had written a book about the whole scene, a signed copy and a very interesting read, things are not always exactly how they seem… though of course sometimes they are.

So a couple of days before I had eventually planned to leave my Cambodian Paradise I step out of Castaways on Otres Beach to find that my motorbike had vanished… oh no! I was pally with the English Father and Son that ran the place so got a lift back ok but what was I to do about the bike!? As soon as I got back I checked the documentation and it looked as though I was going to be stung with an $800 fine plus 10 days rental and fines for the helmet and lock! It was getting on in the evening so I decided to hit the bars and go and discuss it with my Cambodian mates. Apparently this happens quite a lot and often it is the companies that rent the bikes that organise for them to be stolen though I doubted this in this case as it was a fairly established company. I was told it was no good going to the police as they would just ask for a ‘finders fee’ of $50-100 and then not even bother looking for it, this is totally in context with everything else I know about police in less developed countries so I decided not to inform them and see what I could do about the hit. I had had two dealings with the police previously in the last few days due to a) not having a helmet on and b) having my lights on in the day - which is actually considered best practice in Europe! Both times a $1 fine haggled down from a mighty $3 and a good bit of banter with a couple of very well humoured policemen just collecting some pocket money, I told one of them to buy his wife a new dress and he was in hysterics! So a couple of the local girls offered to come down and help out with the translation and bartering and after quite a long morning we ended at a sum of $500 all in, I was in fact rather happy with the almost 50%!r(MISSING)eduction, these things happen, on to Siam Reap via Phnom Penh a little lighter I go!

So I spent a couple of days in Phnom Penh generally floating around markets and parks and then hitting ‘The Heart of Darkness’ in the evenings, though it sounds like a Hell’s Angels hangout it’s actually the main club in the city where all the hip young cats like myself are found and did get rather too busy so much so that you could barely move on the D-floor, they don’t know what they were missing!

Siam Reap (Angkor)

For those of you who don’t know Siam Reap is situated directly next to the ancient city of Angkor, mostly famous for it’s showpiece Angkor Wat, the largest religious building (Hindu) in the world. I had been getting very excited about Angkor Wat as everybody who I know that has been there and those that I had met along the way had told me it was absolutely breathtaking. I spent day one in Siam Reap having a look around the town, as you can imagine it is INCREDIBLY touristy, and by that I mean mainly holiday makers, not us prolonged gallivanting types. The centre of town is 100% devoted to tourism with such attractions as ‘Bar Street’, not as vulgar as it sounds there are jolly nice restaurants, it’s very clean (quite a shock!) and it had a slight European feel to it, not the Cambodia I know and love!

I had agreed with one of the dudes at my guesthouse to take me around Angkor on his motorbike the next day so I was up bright and early and we made the 20 minute ride to Angkor Wat, it was only on the stroll up to the outer wall filled with anticipated excitement that I bring my camera out to find that I’ve left the battery on charge in my room! Doh! A few laughs from my moto driver and a very quick and somewhat exciting round trip soon saw I was locked and loaded and completing my approach across the huge moat once again.

So Angkor Wat is quite a sight, the detail in the carvings are impressive but the sheer scale is bewildering. I became a little disappointed as I was expecting to get some wonderful photos but unfortunately there was scaffolding up which ruined the scene a bit and also I couldn’t actually fit the whole building in even with a 25mm wide angle lens! That gives you an idea quite how monstrous this thing is! So after a while of walking around with my jaw on the floor marvelling at the beast we headed further into the city of Angkor and to Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom was a lot smaller but much busier with it’s shapes and carvings, totally symmetrical it has many towers which have faces carved into the stone looking out in each direction. I really like this building and the way it seemed to spring up from nowhere out of the jungle. So time for lunch and a welcome chillout in the hammocks for a bit as it was damn hot and then well fed and rested I headed to the final temple of the day, Tha Prahm. I immediately found it familiar and you probably would have done too if you have ever endured the Tomb Raider movie as this was heavily used in the filming. You can see why this place was used, it’s perfect. The temple is a ruin and huge trees with amazing roots intertwine with the structure to give you the privileged feeling that it has only just been discovered. This was my favourite of all the temples to walk around, it may not be as grand as Angkor Wat but the adventurous way it feels lost in the jungle was wonderful.

So you could spend a couple of weeks just walking around Angkor with so many amazing structures that seem to be just lying around over such a vast area, I’m sure some people have dedicated their whole lives to studying this mystical place. I was planning to spend at least a couple of days but to be honest it is such hot work traipsing around and I had seen quite a few temples in the few months previously so I decided to leave it at just the one. I learned a bit about the history of how all of this came about and it seems to me that apart from being for the obvious reason of worship that the structures were basically just a big dick measuring competition between the various rulers over the space of a few hundred years, boys will be boys.

So once I’d finished up for the day my moto driver asked me if I fancied going out with him and his mates to some local bars in the evening, just what I wanted as Bar St. was far too commercial and full of pale-skinned wannabe temple hunters donning sun hats and bum-bags. So these guys pick me up on their bikes at 8pm and we went and met their boss and then convened with another group of moto drivers who had also invited their customers out, 3 English lads on leave from teaching in China. We went to a few bars around town and then ended up at a very strange and rather empty little club with some awesome breakdancers (though I was pretty sure it was past their bedtime!) but a lot of fun was had nonetheless.

So from the heartache of Phnom Penh to the tranquil days and hectic evenings in Sihanoukville to the marvellous city of Angkor I thought back to my initial feelings when I was rolling into this country and realised that Cambodia had fulfilled and satisfied me throughout in a way that was somehow instantly obvious as I arrived. Cambodia has a long long way to go economically (though I fear the tourist industry will soon boom so get there quickly!) you can be sure that it will all happen with a huge sense of camaraderie, a healthy helping of corruption and a face aching smile…. to be honest it just knocked Laos off the top spot for me!

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Photos

Phnom Penh
Guesthouses on stilts over the lake

The Killing Fields
Rememberance monument full of skulls of the deceased

S-21 (Detention Centre)
100s of people crammed into these little rooms

Chiva's Shack
The ONLY place to be

Hungry?
Yes they are tarantulas!

Mey
My friend in Heart Of Darkness who helped me sort out the motorbike issue!

Tha Prahm
Tomb Raider Temple

Bar Street
Siam Reap

Out with my moto driver
Siam Reap