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Published: March 3rd 2013
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HE SAID... Looking back on our travels in Cambodia, I wish I’d given myself a bit more time to research the trip beforehand. We were sitting in the back of a
remork as we navigated a narrow back street in Phnom Penh when a name on the wall of a derelict building suddenly caught my attention – Kampuchea. It had been painted over many times and countless billboards had covered it over the years, but it still endured. Some letters were barely visible, but here it remained, defiantly lingering despite years of decay. It almost had the feel of Shelley’s Ozymandias (
‘Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’). Yet as quickly as it appeared in front of us, it was gone. Our
remorkjolted around a tight corner and the building was behind us. For the smallest of moments I was perplexed. I knew of this place, yet I couldn’t position it. Then the penny dropped. With more than a hint of embarrassment, I realised I was in Kampuchea. Throughout my childhood (1975-79), Democratic Kampuchea was the headline story of countless news bulletins in Australia – and yet here I was, confronted with a name I should not have forgotten. I
didn’t capture the wall in a photograph, but I’ll never forget its impact.
Of all my travel reflections, this has been the most challenging to write, due in part to my discomfort in sharing thoughts that are not all positive. It didn’t help that I struggled with the flu for a few days in the middle of the trip, but I managed to get through each day with the help of cold and flu tablets and some very powerful and fast-working aspirin. However, the journey was amazing and, as always, we arrived back enriched from our shared experience of another culture.
So here goes… I couldn’t help but feel Cambodia is a country disappearing. It was strange to travel in a place with so much foreign ownership and so little civil and/or national direction. There were times when I felt the country would no longer exist in 30 or so years, subsumed by its neighbours or by rich, far-off lands. If only there was a concerted effort to adopt the Cambodian Riel and excise the US dollar.
I also couldn’t help but notice that unregulated tourism and rampant development are stripping Cambodia of its natural and cultural
beauty. I know this is hypocritical on my part – I was a tourist and therefore just as much to blame as every other foreigner traipsing through the stunning beauty of Angkor Wat and Sambor Prei Kuk. However, it was difficult to travel through Cambodia and not make comparisons to neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, where the impact of tourism has not been as harmful to their national identity.
My final concern relates to the seven-day funeral ceremony for Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihanouk. We were in Phnom Penh in the midst of this nation-wide memorial, and it had a very positive impact on our experience of this fantastic city. However, a recurring question was at the tip of my thoughts: After living through the mid to late 1970s, how can a country mourn a King who – at the very least – refused to condemn the Khmer Rouge during and after its tyrannical and murderous rule?
Thankfully, there were more than enough highlights of this intriguing country to dispel my concerns, and the following are a few standout memories:
• Sitting in bars along the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh, basking in the early
evening atmosphere;
• Touring the outskirts of Battambang in a
remork, visiting local families making rice paper, rice noodles and sticky rice in bamboo;
• Riding a bamboo train in Battambang;
• Cooking and eating a fantastic
fish amokwith a local family in Battambang;
• Travelling the Sangker River between Battambang and Siem Reap in the smallest of boats;
• Witnessing a sunrise (almost) over Angkor Wat;
• Marvelling at the serenity of the brick temples and dry forest surrounds of Sambor Prei Kuk;
• Wandering through small rural villages and watching typical days unfold before our eyes;
• Sipping gin and tonics in the late afternoon sun;
• Lazing on the beaches of Sihanoukville and Koh Ta Kiev island; and
• Quenching my thirst with Khmer iced coffees and ice cold Angkor beers after a day of travel in Cambodia’s searing heat.
SHE SAID... The collective lows and highs of Cambodia’s brutal history, its current economic current situation, its beautiful people and gorgeous landscapes, make it difficult to sum up our experience of the country in a few words. I knew very little about Cambodian history before this trip. However, now that I know a little more about it, one thing really stands out for
me – even given its turbulent and violent history, it really struck me that the people were extremely friendly, very mellow and quite happy. They could be forgiven for being bitter and resentful.
Cambodia is a very diverse and fascinating country to visit. It has a remarkable natural and manmade beauty. However, the bombed out landscapes interspersed among rural villages remain as a horrible reminder of what human beings are capable of doing to each other. There is widespread poverty, and a very large proportion of the population live without electricity, running water or sanitation. This sits in absolute contrast to the small minority of very, very wealthy Cambodians. I saw more high-end luxury cars on the streets of Phnom Penh than I’ve seen anywhere else. I also saw more poverty on the streets of Phnom Penh than I’ve seen anywhere else. Travelling to Cambodia also forces discussions on child labour and paedophilia. I won’t re-iterate what I’ve written in other blogs, but I will re-attach the link to
Childsafe International’s website, in the hope that I could spread the word about their work.
Even though much of Cambodia seems to be in varying states of decay, it was also
in varying stages of development. However, not all the signs of development are encouraging signs of progress. Some of the building and construction is so obviously shoddy (even to my untrained eye), but the real sting in the tail for Cambodia’s future is knowing that most of the profits of new hotels, resorts and restaurants are going offshore.
In 19 days we sampled the diverse offerings of Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, the Angkorian temples, a little village near Sambor Prie Kuk, Kampot, Kep and Sihanoukville. My memories of the trip are full of...
• the flat landscapes of coconut trees and sugar palms;
• the many riverside towns;
• children playing in the rivers;
• the Royal Palace and the King’s funeral;
• the spectacular ancient Angkorian and pre-Angkorian temples;
• ancient Khmer buildings;
• remnants of French colonialism;
• old pagodas;
• gaudy modern temples;
•
remorkrides through cities and countryside;
• little thatched huts;
• wooden stilt houses;
• skinny but pretty cute cattle; and
• rice fields in rural villages where time seems to have stood still.
I loved the food and cherished opportunities to meet local people and be impressed by their spirit, graciousness and optimism after such a brutal past.
I fell
in love with Phnom Penh very quickly. The graceful temple and pagoda rooflines stood out against the French colonial architecture, river boats came and went along the waterfront, and there was a style reminiscent of a 60s French film on Indochina. There were also the produce markets, street vendors and bustle of scooters and
remorks that left you in no doubt you were in Cambodia. Even though I don’t think I would consider re-visiting any of the other towns we travelled through, I would go back to Phnom Penh in a heartbeat. I could also very easily be persuaded to spend a couple of lazy weeks on any of the untouched islands off the southern Cambodian coast!
We had very few bad meals on this trip (I could count them on one hand). The food was usually fantastic whether from a cart pusher, market stall, local cafe or upmarket restaurant. I loved the dishes of
fish amok (fish seasoned with lemongrass paste, coconut and chilli, and steamed in banana leaf) and the various varieties of seafood stir fried in green pepper sauce. I’m already missing my crunchy fresh morning baguettes and my afternoon fruit shakes and coconut juice. We
ate our weight in tropical fruits like sweet green bananas, pineapples, mangosteens, lychees, rambutans and watermelon. Sadly, it wasn’t hot enough for mango season, but I was able to indulge in my favourite fruit snack – green mango with salt and chilli. I’m sure Andrew is missing his Khmer iced coffees and Angkor beers.
We packed in quite a lot of travel and activities on this short journey through Cambodia. However, I have two small regrets – not trying fried tarantulas and not walking into Ba Puon Temple. I know I was sick on the day we visited Skuon and chose not to try deep fried spiders, but it’s a missed opportunity that I may not come across again. I suppose now would be the time to warn any arachnophobes wishing to travel in Cambodia – beware! There's no avoiding seeing these fried but still rather large eight-legged creatures piled up on the side of the street. I’m not arachnophobic in the least, but I know a few people who are, and this would have been a major freak out moment for them. As for not visiting the Angkorian Ba Puon Temple, I really wish I had been able
to just walk in for a few minutes (and overlook the fact that there were tourists of plague proportions crawling all over it). I keep telling myself that the heat, tiredness and number of people must have been pretty bad for the whole group of ten of us to not show the smallest bit of interest in it.
Even though we visited Cambodia in the cool season, the heat was still merciless on some days. The second day of the Angkorian temple visits was probably the worst. I also had to keep in mind that we were taking doxycycline malaria medication, which made us more photo-sensitive than usual. Up until the very last minute, we hadn’t been sure about taking malaria medication (even though our much trusted doctor recommended them). However, in hindsight I think it was the wise thing to do considering I came home with 23 mosquito bites on my stomach, arms, legs and feet. The bastards even bit me in my ear and between my toes, and that’s with 40% deet insect repellent that I applied religiously! I have always been a mosquito magnet.
It seems the general sentiment is that people should visit Cambodia
before it becomes as much of a tourist mecca as Thailand. I can see this argument, but given the very poor infrastructure in place, and with no obvious or cohesive plan on how to better cater for the tourists who are already flocking in droves to Siem Reap – my opinion is that the current tourists need to be managed much better, and long term sustainable plans need to be put in place before they even start to consider attracting more tourists. I think some strategies to redirect profits to the local areas would be an obvious starting point. Well, that’s my two cents worth on that.
On a broader note, even though we loved experiencing Cambodia, both Andrew and I found ourselves comparing it with Vietnam and Thailand – sometimes favourably, other times not. We really dislike comparing different places, and we were surprised that we did so on numerous occasions. The only reason I can find for this is that we are now quite familiar with South East Asia and we are starting to see the shared cultural nuances and regional similarities coming through. As a result, we have decided that our next trip needs to be
somewhere that would be ‘brand new’ for both of us, preferably with a distinct culture we know very little about. The search has begun! 😱
In the meantime, we are absolutely enjoying our red pepper from Kampot (so much so that I need to find a local supplier!). And as we head into colder weather, the beautiful
kramas (traditional chequered Cambodian scarves) we bought in Sihanoukville are being worn with much love.
Lea Haoy people, and may all your travels be the stuff of legendary stories (or great travel blogs)! 😊
Flying ships on this trip... Jetstar Airways (Hobart– Melbourne);
Singapore Airlines (Melbourne– Singapore);
Silk Air (Singapore– Phnom Penh– Singapore);
Singapore Airlines (Singapore– Melbourne);
Jetstar Airways (Melbourne– Hobart).
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Mert
Meryl Dunton-Rose
Red peppercorns
Now how did you get those in?? I was so sorry to leave all my European spices and herbs.