Asian Invasion Part III - Cambodia

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After getting up at the crack of dawn to say goodbye to my elephant and a tearful farewell to the Mahouts at Ta Klang elephant village, we departed Surin and headed for the Cambodia boarder. There were two options to travel overland to Cambodia- the nearest boarder was at Chong Jom/O Smach. We'd read on the FCO website that there could potentially be trouble near that boarder so we decided to go for the safer, but less direct route through Aranya Prathet/Poipet. We travelled on local buses and bought our tickets direct at the bus stations so it was decidedly cheaper than some of our other journeys of equal length. It took 4 hours to get to Chorat and a further 5/6 hours to get to the boarder. We had planned to go all the way to Siem Reap in a day but instead we chose to find a hotel and we all stayed in one large bed for the bargin price of 120baht each.



The next morning we got a tuk tuk to the boarder and changed some money into American dollars. Cambodia uses both Cambodian Real and American dollars. The prices for things mean that you pay the same whichever currency you chose to use. It's just easier to use dollars as the listed prices are nearly always in dollars but they will give you back your change in Real which you can use for tuk tuks and in shops or at the markets. When we went through the boarder we had to pay a 500baht fine for overstaying our visa by one day- woops! Better than Thai prison by a long shot..... When we were through no man's land and on the Cambodian side we had to get our finger prints done and pay more money (100baht and 20 US dollars plus two passport pictures). A man had been trailing us and had been helpful in directing us where to go. He said there was a free shuttle bus to the main bus station. We'd heard all sorts of stories about this boarder and the scams that happen there and this was probably one of them- basically they get you to go to this bus station which is just for tourists and try to convince you to get your money changed into Real. Then they put loads of you in a minibus and get you to pay 10 dollars approx to get to Siem Reap. We decided to go with it as it wasn't expensive but we didn't get our money changed despite the man's encouragement as we'd been advised against that previously.



Once in Siem Reap we got into the Cambodian version of the tuk tuk - similar to the Thai version but way less room. With all our bags on there as well I had to sit on Amy and Tina's lap! We took a video to capture the moment of craziness. We ended up staying at a couple of places in Siem Reap. The first was called the Angkor Western Lodge- on first inspection it had looked really nice but we soon realised it was really dark and dingy and we nicknamed the bathroom 'the rainforest' as the ceiling constantly dripped. After two nights in that horror show we moved up the road into the New Bequest Angkor. This hotel was much nicer- one of the nicest we've stayed in on our travels. It was clean, big enough for three, nice bathroom and had aircon and a large flat screen TV with satellite. During our time in Siem Reap we explored the town. We were staying near to the epicentre where all the bars, restaurants and the market are. We went to a bar called 'the old wooden house' which had a lovely seating area with hammocks, loungers with plush cushions and large cushioned platforms suspended from the ceiling. We also tried the Butterflies Garden as recommended by the Lonely Planet. It was a restaurant/bar with a covered garden and outdoor seating where butterflies flew around among the foliage. They did nice cocktails. We went to the day and night markets where we all bought the traditional Cambodian 'Kromer' scarves. On our third day in Siem Reap we paid a tuk tuk driver called Paulin to take us to the Angkor temples for the day. We paid about $5 each for the transport and then it cost $20 for one day entry to the temples. We woke early to catch the sunrise at stunning Angkor Wat- we knew it could be a bit hit and miss depending on the weather but this occasion was definitely a hit! After taking pictures, walking around Angkor Wat and laughing at the crazy monkeys roaming around, we headed over to Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom was big with 6 seperate sites to explore. The Bayon with all the carved stone faces was very impressive. We did a few smalled temples as well as Tha Prom (where they filmed Thomb Raider). In my opinion this one was the most visually impressive, with giant tree roots forcing their way through the crumbling stone and green moss clinging to the ruins - it reeally felt like you were in another world!

Our next stop was the capital of Phnom Pehn. The bus journey was horrendous- 7 and a half hours on a boiling hot bus because the aircon appeared to be broken. The roads in Cambodia are not the best either so at times we were bouncing around like crazy. The Cambodian countryside was nice, very green, waterlogged with water buffalo, palm trees and shanty towns all over the place. Once in PP we chose a hotel near the river and went for some food. The next day we went on a trip to Choueng Ek (15km outside of PP) otherwise known as the killing fields. This was where the Kymer Rouge used to take Cambodians to execute them during the Pol Pot regime (1975-1978). Before I travelled S E Asia I had been more or less blissfully unaware of what happened in Cambodia during those dark years. I had read the Lonely Planet history synopsis and also read a true account of what happened to a little girl "Loueng Ung" called "First they killed my father". We paid $5 for an audio tour of the site. It was a truly harrowing experience and we were all in tears as we walked around. I can appreciate how doing something like that is not to everyone's taste but for me I felt it was an important experience - to remember Cambodia's past is to learn from it and honours the victims whose lives were taken so inhumanely. At the end of the tour was a stupar where they housed the skulls of many of the victims. You were able to lay an offering down and say a prayer if you wished. That afternoon we went to S-21, or the torture prison, where victims of the Kymer Rouge were interrogated- often tortured to the point of confessing crimes they never committed. The prisoners were kept in cramped, squalid conditions and their final destination would more than likely be the Killing Fields which they would travel to under the pretense that they were going to a working camp. The prison was an equally harrowing experience, especially as they had many pictures of the faces of the prisoners and accounts of what happened to them. It was a strange day, we all felt emotional by the end of it. Before we left PP we found a lovely roof top bar at the top of a hotel where we enjoyed cocktails overlooking the royal palace, a wat and the river.



Our next stop was Sihanoukville where we stayed for 6 nights (including a one night trip to nearby Bamboo Island). It's a cool beach resort- we stayed in the New Sea View Villa near Serendipity and Occeuteal Beaches. The beaches were nice, but we had to watch out for the persistant hawkers who never take no for an answer. There were lots of little kids selling braclets and women trying to thread your leg hair (don't do it)! I made the mistake of telling one lady maybe later and when she saw me having a pedicure by another lady she stormed back to have a go at me- it's impossible to keep everyone happy so if you don't want to get into trouble my advice is just don't get involved in the first place! There was a definite party-vibe in Sihanoukville and we had a few good nights out. All the beach bars have sunloungers that you can hire for the price of a drink and at night they bring out the huge satellite chairs for diners to enjoy- watch out for people setting off fireworks on the beach. Some of the bars we liked best were the Nap House (really friendly French/Cambodian owner who downloaded the songs we wanted him to play), Dolphin Bar was lively and JJ's had a good fire show every night. There are lots of islands you can visit from Sihanouville. We chose Bamboo Island which was very quiet, a lovely 4 km beach and huts on the beach. On the 15th Oct the Cambodian King passed away. Out of respect the bars and clubs were not allowed to play loud music anymore which definitely killed the party buzz. On our last day in Sihanoukville Amy ate a bad tuna sandwich and was really sick with food poisoning. Like a true trooper she still got on the bus to Kampot in the morning. Tina had a cold and my ears had started to feel quite painful so we were all in the wars!



In Kampot we checked into 'Blissful' guesthouse. The owner was a friendly guy from Manchester. We payed just $2 for a three person dorm room. The outdoor area had lots of hammocks to lounge away the hours in which is what we all needed. The true selling point for this place was the Sunday Roast that me and Tina enjoyed. It truly could have been (dare I say it), the best in Asia! We had a a couple of lazy days in Kampot recovering from our various illnesses. Amy was still feeling dodgy and was barely eating much, just very plain food. Tina was getting over her cold and I was in a world of pain with my ears. I could barely sleep on our first night it hurt so much so I got up at the crack of dawn to walk to the pharmacy where I got some antibiotic drops. By 2pm that day they hadn't really taken affect so I decided to go to the medical clinic. They were really good there, spoke enough English to help me and I had a full examiniation at the ENT clinic, I even got to see inside my ears! The doctor wrote me a prescription for some oral antibiotics and ibruphon but the only thing that really scratched the surface was Amy's co-codimal. I think I got the infection from the cold virus we'd all had and swimming in the sea at Sihanoukville so just be careful of putting your head under in the Gulf of Thailand! Kampot itself was very small, with French colonial influences. The market was disgusting- don't go there. We watched a nice sunset over the Mekong river one evening.

Our Cambodia experience had been pretty up and down. I would say the best thing about Cambodia is the people. Despite their dark history, the people are some of the smiliest, happiest and nicest you will come across- a truly welcoming nation. It was going to be intersting to see how Vietnam compared!

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