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Published: January 31st 2010
As the snow was falling on the Heathrow apron we were given a quick shower by the de-icer before departing for a much warmer and sunnier Bangkok, and just in time it seemed as Britain was soon to grind to a gritty halt as a result of all the snow.
But before I get started, this might be a little long for some so I have written an exec summary for those less interested in the very gory details. As a country, Cambodia is superb. It has Africa's ageing infrastructure, as much corruption as any 3rd world country, more litter in more places than I have EVER seen (along with the accompanying smells), but possibly the friendliest and loveliest people I have ever come across! They never stop smiling, they seemingly have no thugs, no hoodies, no graffiti, no road rage, no resentment, no lingering hatred and no outward anger. They just have smiles and happiness and live in a country that I believe has enormous potential that can be realised with not even the smallest bit of change. As one Cambodian we met said: "We don't own many nice things, but we are full of happiness inside!" It does sound cliche'd I know, but they really are unbelievably genuine and friendly. This country will go places, government permitting, in the next 20 years! Watch out world. A visit to Cambodia comes recommended! Apologies for the lack of pictures - I need to get to grips with our camera and will upload the pics asap.
So back to the long version...On getting in to Bangkok we walked what seemed like miles in a zombie timezoneless state (we were now 12 hours different from 5 days before) before getting to immigration where we lined up like prisoners on parade as ever so slowly the immigration officers issued visas and let us in. The one bonus with spending an hour in immigration is that you don't have to wait for your bags, instead they are waiting for you like dogs awaiting their owners to return from work, just without the drool and the jumping.
So on the "Express" ( 45 minutes in to the city centre) bus we hopped. Two hours and a seemingly endless traffic jam later, which included spending 20 minutes at one set of traffic lights, we arrived at our stop and made the short walk to our guesthouse, Rambuttri Village, situated near to but very thankfully not on Khaosan Road. Checked in and bags dumped we headed out for some food from the thriving night market which felt like shopping in a sauna. Pad Thai was offered everywhere as were ice shakes and several other drinks. Bars were packed with expats and tuk-tuk drivers, cars and bikes clogged the streets. As we headed down the street we came across a food stand selling fried ants, grasshoppers, spiders, locusts, scorpions (I'm guessing quite spicy and probably with a stinging afterburn?) and numerous other animals. Interesting indeed and I do try to taste the local food before dissing it but I'm going to need some time on this one. We'll see when we return there in 2 months time!
The next day we went for a walk after breakfast and were soon given the Bangkok low down by a happy local. Before we knew it we were in a tuk-tuk off to see Standing Budha, Lucky sitting Buddha, and Sleeping Buddha, then on to what we thought was tourist information but turned out to be a travel shop, and then on to a taylor who we didn't quite like and so left. I am sure the Thai guy had good intentions but the travel shop and tailor weren't quite what we were after.
Anyway, later that day we realised our little digital camera was AWOL. Rats, not a good start. Having retraced our steps without success we accepted that it was gone. On later reflection, however, I actually think Pam threw it away. It was an awful camera and nothing like it's older brother, the Pentax Optio S4 which was like manner from heaven and could be operated quite easily and took excellent pictures under all conditions. The S7 was junk and we have loved not having it!
Anyway, we celebrated by having a nice street side lunch of mystery munchies. Plastic chairs, plastic tables, seated on the pavement in amongst the hustle and bustle we ate our soup that contained, we think, liver, "meat balls", spinach, celery, chicken, tongue, and pork. Yes, quite a mixture and I'm sure none of them correct but welcome to our world. It was very tasty and very filling though so 80p later we headed off as two contented travellers.
On our walk we stumbled across a street market for locals i.e. no westerners were there, and so took a wander. At this point, I'd like to point out that the average Thai person must be about 5'4" and I am 6'2". Pam at somewhere around 5'4" fits in ok. So ducking and diving (the head wound has healed now) and jumping out of the way of the motorbikes (yes, it's like seeing someone drive through a shopping centre on a motorbike!) we headed through the market...live eels, live fish, live frogs (they had lids on the baskets and it sounded like a muted popcorn maker was trapped in the basket), raw meat, raw not-sure-it-is-meat, fruit, veggies, clothes, and so the list goes on. Very interesting, in parts very smelly, and in parts a bit gut wrenching but still great fun.
The next day we headed back to the airport (bus took 1 hour this time) for our short flight to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. We checked in and grabbed some lunch which consisted of Dim Sum and Thai Green Curry. This food was brilliant and was probably the best Thai Green Curry I have ever had (sorry Trayoo - yours is the best outside of Thailand).There was also a Dairy Queen for those with Canadian connections! Anyway, I checked in to the gents before boarding only to come across a Thai guy who loved, and I mean loved, his hair. He was combing his hair for a long time, with the precision of one of those microchip making machines, and then, to top it all off, not only did he have his own comb which amused me anyway, but he had a "comb protector". This guy must have been in his early 20's and I can only hope that womankind loves him as much as I think he thinks they love him otherwise he is heading for disappointment.
So onto our Air Asia flight we get (note to all low cost airlines - these guys have the right customer service model for low cost airlines!). What a pleasure to fly with them! Anyway, cruising towards 38,000 feet we get handed our landing cards together with what I thought were information papers for Cambodia. Wrong, 4 forms and 35 minutes later (health form, visa form, arrival card, customs form) as we were just about to touch down I finished the last of them. Talk about in-flight entertainment for a 45 minute flight! Getting through immigration here was a much smoother and fun process...a bit like cattle being let out to new pastures. There was lots of moo-ing and jostling past the infra-red health scanner, where the screen looked like the jungle scene from Predator, whilst grabbing our yellow "all clear" slip, then on to dispose of $40 and our passports along with a passport picture, and then onto the old trading floor to cry out for our passports when the picture pages were waved around in front of the excited crowd. It was like organised chaos...and that dear readers is how it works here. We grabbed our bags and headed out to find our Tuk-Tuk pickup which was easily done and so we headed off to our guesthouse...Me Mates Place.
Jumping jackflash...beep beep...duck...beep beep...incomingggggggg....beep beep...bump bump... beep beep...oncominggggggg.... beep beep...look right...beep beep...shite look left...beep beep....shite just close your eyes and start praying...stop street??? No??!..beep beep!! That was the first 5 seconds on our journey into Phnom Penh which lasted about 30 minutes and got ever more crazy. The only bonus is that the top speed is about 30km an hour in amongst all this chaos and so one never feels threatened once you have worked out the rules. I'll spare you all of them, but the one I like is that it's ok to drive into oncoming traffic so long as you beep a lot, travel slowly, and keep to the side of the mayhem. The other I like is when your turn approaches you can start to drift into the oncoming traffic from about 50-100m out, beeping as you go, of course, dodging cars, bicycles, motorbikes, and tuk-tuks and hey presto you have turned, everyone is alive, and you're on your desired street. My favourite though, and I can just hear Murray Walker screaming GO! GO! GO! like he did almost every Sunday afternoon for about 40 years as the grand priox started, was the countdown at the traffic lights. Yes, it shows how many seconds are left for the green, and how many on the red. So with 3 seconds to go, engines rev in to life, all the motorbikes jostle for position having weaved to the front of the waiting pack, and then they're off like the start of the under 6 cross country race!! Who needs theatre when you have this! Thank heavens they don't have this in South Africa though...every intersection would become a guaranteed death trap.
Anyway, we arrived at our guesthouse where we were met by Monty (Python), Tony (Montana) and later Rambo! All Cambodians, but they obviously find people remember these names far easier...Ikeepmyteethinajarbesidethedeb can be quite a mouthful. We were shown our room and then headed down the street in the fading light to try and get our barings. At the end of the street was the main river through Phnom Penh where they seem to be doing some regeneration work and one of the only clean places in all of Cambodia. Beautifully paved and with grass patches (very scarce!!), flowers, and trees and umpteen people walking, running, jogging, waving arms, playing badmington, young couples cuddling, children playing (idyllic it does sound so just add in hooting, engine noises, and 30C of heat), and...Cambodian aerobics!
This warrants it's own paragraph...it can only be described as a cross between aerobics, a meeting of the limp limbed society and Baywatch. There are no gym outfits, gym memberships, sweat towels, no big boobed, small bummed woman, and certainly nothing vigorous. In 30C heat you'd expect some sweating but such was the tempo and vigour-NOT of the movements that not a drop of sweat was seen. The Baywatch connection would be that everythings seems to happen in slow motion but without the swimming costumes or muscular bodies. Still, everyone was having fun but not quite my cup of tea and I'd hate to let my Thursday morning body pump instructor loose on that lot.
Anyway, it was getting dark and so we headed back as we'd heard that the streets were best not roamed at night (totally unfounded from what we saw in all our time there). The following day we headed off to S21, a former school turned torture centre under Pol Pot, and then the Killing Fields near Cheung Ek together with Kate and Jantina (2 Dutch girls we met the night before in the hostel) for a cultural day. Well, what a day it was. To think that in 1975 this sort of stuff still happened, and is still happening even today in other countries around the world, is rather sickening and very sad and leaves one feeling rather dispirited with the human race. Both the museum and the killing fields were pretty graphic and although it turned the stomach several times it at least got some of the feeling across of what it must have been like to endure the Pol Pot regime. By early afternoon we'd all had enough and were bordering on depression so decided to head back. Before doing so our tuk-tuk driver asked if we wanted to go to an orphanage and take some rice with us. Fine we said and he then asked if we wanted to take 100kg or 50kg of rice with us? Blow me down but that seemed a lot to us but we thought what the heck it can't be much. Anyway, we got to the rice shop which happened to be the smartest building I'd seen in Cambodia up to then (alarm bells ringing) which was manned by the first plump woman I'd seen in Cambodia too (more bells ringing). As it turned out, the rice was $50 a bag which my research tells me is 50% or more above what it normally sells for. We haggled for a while but eventually gave up as it was just all a bit awkward but it did leave a very bitter taste in ones mouth. I'd rather have bought a true $50 worth of rice than $30 worth with $20 commission going to who knows who. Unfortunately though, one of my fears in Cambodia is that the fat, I mean rich and corrupt, are getting richer, whilst the poor struggle on.
Well, on getting to the orphanage we were warmly although somewhat clinically greeted whilst the 50kg's of rice was whisked out of the tuk-tuk like a covert operation before one could say fried rice. And that was where the anger started to subside. The kids were great and in no time we were playing football, volleyball, a sort of shuttlecock style hacky-sack, taking turns with the sunglasses and even having full on photoshoots. It was great fun and the kids really did seem very happy and at least being given a chance in life. Our spirits were well and truly lifted after what was until then a very morbid but enlightening day.
In the evening we went and visited Wat Phnom, a Buddhist temple near our guest house ($1 entrance fee - everything is $1 in Cambodia it seems) which was nice and we also got to see one of the elephants walking around. We declined the offer to be taken to a shooting range to fire any one of a number of rasther unfriendly and dangerous guns; as an aside, and given the friendliness of the people and the countries violent past, this seemed very ironic indeed but it was advertised in many tuk-tuk's and we were often asked by people if we wanted to go shooting.
Later we ate at a very local "eatery" down a side street from the guest house. The food was different, but very tasty (steamed rice, curry, ginger and beans, eggs and pork in soya sauce, Chinese tea), and although the place seemed to be pretty filthy the food turnover was high enough to be more than safe. Many people actually just stopped in and took their dinner home in a bag as they headed home after work. All the food was in the cooking pots on a table out in the street in front of the house. We got a few interesting looks as I doubt many, or even any, westerners eat there but everyone was very friendly as always, the food was very yummy (stomach was fine the next day) and the lack of verbal communciation was not a problem at all and at $2.50 for 2 of us was extremely reasonable!
Rather than hint at it throughout I thought I'd cover the filth off in 1 paragraph. The filth in Cambodia is unrelentless and they have been badly cursed by the invention of plastic. It is everywhere, and I mean everywhere. If you thought the country side was safe, think again. I saw more litter in Cambodia than I have seen in all my life, probably 1,000 times over. There are, amazingly, some clean places though - government buildings, a few public areas, and the Lexus garages. If Cambodia does not do something about it soon, it is going to choke itself to death in the next few years and I really don't think that is an exageration. We have since heard of some provinces in Laos that have banned the use of all and any plastic and I think Cambodia needs to do the same throughout the country. On reflection, we surmised that the reason for the littering is because of the strong historical link to fresh/organic produce and subsistence living - and this is not meant to be offensive or disrespectful, just our opinion. Let me explain...if historically one has picked up bunches of whatever food one desires, tied together by bamboo leaves, river weed, whatever, it is no surprise that when you have leftovers you just chuck them on the ground/out the window/into the ditch. If it were bamboo leaf, plant roots, leaves, etc. it merely gets eaten by the animals or degrades within a couple of days and becomes new fresh soil. Most of the products the Cambodians buy for housing materials (traditional houses) are organic and so nothing survives the elements if left unkept or treated. Enter plastics and other modern packaging and supplies...one can't just throw them on the ground and hope they degrade in 5 days. It is more like 25 years! Maybe one can see where I am going with all this but it really is a problem and probably the worst I've seen in all the places I've visited.
The following day we headed to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, taking our first Cambodian bus ride. It proved a good one with a bottle of water, face towel, and garbage bag served up at the beginning of the journey. This was total luxury and not at all what I was expecting! So off we went. Driving out of Phnom Penh was slow. As a big bus we filled most of the road and were nowhere near as agile as the tuk-tuk's, motorbikes and cars, all of which are easily able to mount the curb, drive down the pavement or just go offroad altogether. At a traffic circle the size of half a football field some motorbikes just mounted the curb and drove straight across it along the brick pedestrian path, squeezing into the traffic on the other side. No point in queuing if one can just jump over the counter now is there. Beep beep. It felt like we never got out of Phnom Penh for several hours. Houses and shops lined the road, which is exactly 2 cars wide, no shoulders, for what seemed like hundreds of kilometres. In reality it probably wasn't that far as we rarely got above 30km/h. We soon learned that 150km in Cambodia is a long way and a good half day's travelling. The road was extremely bumpy and full of obstacles which included, but is not limited to, pot holes, riverbed crossings, tuk-tuk's, people, cows, dogs, chickens, pigs, motorbikes, bicycles, trucks, cars and Lexus's. I did actually see one sign that said max speed 90km/h...I NEVER wanted to be on the bus or in the car that that applied to! Anyway, on the bus they had a TV and it wasn't long before it was playing the latest Cambodian hits. Now even without knowing the lyrics this stuff was as soppy as it gets. The songs were always love songs, but bordering on Shakespearian romance! I'm no big fan of the hip thrusting, body bearing, loud screaming and death threatening music that gets pumped out in most places now but I can't say I sign up to the other extreme either. But to top it all off, and maybe this is from developing extreme conservatism from having spent too many years on the underground in London, but half the bus started to sing along. It was like travelling on the Karaoke bus - good for them I say - If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!!
Whilst on several of the bus trips, and with Pam catching a few zzzzz's, I was able to observe some of the road ethics and culture. As a game I started playing Road Trumps during these quiet spells. This game is about working out who gives way to whom and under what circumstances. What you are about to read took several trips to compile and has a 60-70% success rate which in gambling terms is pretty good. Road priority goes as follows:
1. Oncoming construction lorry (so everything gives way to this truck)
2. big bus (so everything below gives way, but not oncoming construction lorry)
3. Lexus (Lexus gives way to oncoming construction vehicle or bus wanting to overtake Lexus but not to minibus wanting to overtake)
4. minibus
5. cars and other 4x4's
6. cows
7. same direction construction vehicle
8. motorbike
9. tuk-tuk
10. bicycle
11. pedestrians
12. dogs
Lexus gets it's own category given their high numbers in Cambodia - for every 2 passenger type vehicles I reckon 1 is a Lexus. Everyone who has money seems to have one. I would invest in Lexus shares if I were an investor in Cambodia!!
Back to the journey...Along the route, and in the cities, many of the shops seemed to be the front to what was actually a families' house with most of the living quarters upstairs and the kitchen below at the back. Quite a handy set-up and not that different from the old European style high streets, but when they are located only 2-3 metres from the national road they are very very noisy and incredibly dusty and dirty. With most people just owning bicycles or motorbikes though it made a lot of sense to be located along the main roads as this is where all the trading happened and where transport was easily accessible.
We eventually got in to Siem Reap after the advertised 4 hour bus ride (plus 1.5 hours - we later learnt that in Cambodia you need to add 1.5 to 2 hours onto every advertised bus journey). We were dropped off in a secure bus depot which was a relief as it was tuk-tuk carnage outside the gates and neither of us felt like being mobbed by the 5,000. Thankfully the bus company had "authorised" tuk-tuk drivers who were permitted inside and our guy, Raj, was extremely pleasant and helpful. He whisked us off to our guest house and offered his services to us for the next 24 hours of sightseeing. This we accepted and he did very well, first with getting us to the sunset at Bayon, and then with sunrise at Angkor Wat and around all the other temples. Our guesthouse was superb and they made the best Coconut Amok in town! It truly was delicious and we'll be looking to replicate that one back in Canada! It was actually served in the very coconut from which the coconut juice came.
Siem Reap itself is unbelivably well set up for the tourist and is growing at a rate of knots with a new hotel seemingly going up on every street corner - there is a lot of money in this town. Purchasing tickets to the temples is also an extremely slick process with the whole exercise taking less than 5 minutes once all the booths are opened at opening time. Then it is like a tuk-tuk race to get to the chosen temple first to get the best spots!
Sunset at Bayon was pretty disappointing to be honest. The sunset itself was fine but the actual setting was like a circus with 1,000's of people all crammed onto a couple of rocks with a view of not a whole lot. Sunrise on the other hand was a far more pleasurable experience. On arrival we were offered a chair for $1, with a hot drink of your choice. Money well spent when the exercise was going to last well over an hour. Sunrise was stunning and with near front row seats we had a stunning view. It was wonderful and tranquil with ones mind drifting back to what it might have been like many hundreds of years ago and then...HEY RORRBBBBBBBBBBBB, ARE YOU OUT THERE???? I won't ask you to guess the nationality suffice to say this guy managed to kill the mood in all of 1.5 seconds!
We spent most of the rest of the day exploring the different temples but by mid-afternoon we were all templed out and had seen enough fallen down buildings to last us quite some time. To the architects, archeologists and anthropologists (Charles, Tom, Ben and Ben) this place would be a haven but for us mere mortals a day is plenty. In the evening we got dropped at the night market and we hadn't walked more than 20m when we saw Dr Fish. I'd heard about this in other bloggs but didn't really think I was keen to do it. Andway, Pam double-dog dared me and after careful consideration and taking into account the "free" beer I figured it was worth a go, even though the girls didn't manage to put even their hands in. For those not in the know, essentially these fish eat the dead skin off your feet! Can't say I'd want to be one of them! So feet wiped down (at least they have some mercy on the fish!) I swung my legs over and prepared to lower them into the water. Woaaaa....not even a foot from the water and the fish are circling like sharks waiting to be fed. Jumping jack flash what have I done...these things are going to eat me alive. Heart rate at 180, sweat dripping I slowly lower them into the water, heels first, wooshhhhh, the water goes nuts as they swarm towards my feet...u#$@& these little shites nip. Out the feet come, sweat now pouring, body tense, heart rate dangerously high. I don't like touching non-furry animals let alone have them eat me alive. I lower my feet again, woooosshhhh splashhh again the fish charge like warriors on drugs, nip nip, out my feet come again. There is now quite a crowd, people baying to see someone eaten alive from the feet up. I must soldier on, the pictures on the posters are of happy people, this must be possible. I lower my feet in again, wooshhhh splashhh, the frenzy errupts but I keep them in, the little scheisters munching away at my dead skin. My hat, there isn't a spare bit of skin not being eaten and I have 100% fish feet. I manage to get my feet all the way in to the water, sweat still pouring off me, my beer long gone, my heart rate still flying. I am not a good advert for Dr Fish. Hold on, new guy comes up, flicks shoes off, wipe down, over he goes and in...what is this...his wife says he did it yeserday - and he wants more of this torture I ask? Needless to say, the fish agreed they'd done a good job on him the night before and few swim over for a second helping, instead feasting on my tastier and deader skin. And then his wife, who didn't try the night before, swings over and drops her feet in! Suddenly my feet are abandoned, as if one of the fish farted a really bad dead skin fart, and all of them, bar the dead ones floating in the pool (killed by indigestion perhaps?) are munching on her feet, now by far the tastiest thing in the pond. So 5 minutes in to my ordeal I was still alive, beer finished, and heart rate back to normal, and actually quite enjoying the whole experience. Even Pam got in to the act in the end and she suffered similar traumas to I although with more ticklish feet giggled a whole lot more. Oh, and my feet really were smooth after having 100's of little cheese grater like mouths munch on them for 20 minutes - nothing a walk on the beach couldn't do though! The rest of the street market was pretty dull by comparison, aimed at the upper end budget tourist and not really the backpacker, and so we soon called it a night and headed for some shut eye.
After Siem Reap we headed back to Phnom Penh to arrange our Laos and Vietnam visas, look around the city and then head on to Kep down on the south coast. The bus trip back was nowhere near as good as the one on the way there. We also got accosted at some of the stops by kids selling everything, including dead, and even living spiders. These tarantualla like things are quite the delicasy I believe and deep fried taste a lot like chicken. Not for me though thanks, not yet anyway. Whilst in Phnom Penh we visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which were very impressive, along with several of the exhibitions. I also tried my hand on one of the traditional musical instruments with a band of musicians. Can't say I was any good at it but it was great fun and good music. We had roadside noodles for dinner that night next to the river and were soon surrounded by 4 very energetic and excited kids...they weren't after me, but blondie! She's quite the hit in Cambodia and has even managed to stop babies crying just by smiling at them (except when she wears her glasses which are very unusual around here!).
And so off we went to Kep (close to Kampot). It is a small seaside village where the wealthy used to take their holidays before the Khmer Rouge burnt the place to the ground. There is many a mansion where nothing but the shell remains, with walls blackened and huge gardens that are now largely jungle. However, it seems that it is on the rise once again with several houses being rebuilt, jungle gardens being cleared and walls being erected. The town itself is very small and quaint, with a lovely set of restaurants built on stilts reaching into the ocean with an uniterrupted view of the sunset. We enjoyed a superb dinner in one of these which would be right up there with many other stunning places in the world. We also did a trip out to Rabbit Island whilst in Kep and this is where we may have missed a trick. It had 20-30 bungalows on it, a pristine coconut lined white beach, and the most relaxing of atmospheres. Had we known, we'd probably have spent each of our nights in Kep out on the island! We also did a great walk around the island which, although involving some trail breaking in parts, was a great adventure and a nice bit of exercise. Our day trip to Kampot the following day was pretty bland and so we cut it short. However, it meant that we got to enjoy lunch with the locals under one of the picnic huts that are constructed along part of the coast line. The huts are essentially a raised platform with a thatched roof, a matt on the floor and 2 very comfortable hammocks. It was a nice lunch of prawns although pretty hard work as they required a fair bit of gutting before being consumed. We also discovered what I just termed "twisties". They look similar to a koeksister but I think are basically just platted rolled rice that has been deep fried and then sprinkled with some kind of icing sugar. This was our first sweet in some time (desserts don't seem to be big here, which is not neccessarily a bad thing) and so went down a real treat! We did see a few interesting things travelling on the back of motorbikes in Kep...3 pigs, alive, strapped to the back of the bike by their trotters, all upside down and another that had, and this is no lie, about 50 chickens tied together by their feet all tied to the back of a bike, alive. I would not want to be any kind of animal in Cambodia - they really don't get a very good deal!
After Kep we headed back to Phnom Penh for one final night. We spent it cruising the night market which was superb. We had a great dinner (I can't tell you what we ate...at all) but it was all very tasty and we ate from the busy stand! We also saw a Cambodian music concert that was on the go. Well, for the dance moves please refer to the section on aerobics near the beginning, it was virtually the same! The singing was, well, pretty good by one and pretty awful by the other! Thoroughly entertaining though and it was fun to see all the locals dressed up to the nine's dancing along to it all. I also managed to pick up a $3 watch, which was very similar in looks and operation to my Casio when I was 10, to replace my sports watch which died a sad death whilst swiming out on Rabbit Island - electrical item victim number 2. We also picked up a bottle of palm wine which is like a dessert wine and rather tasty as well as a $3 t-shirt (was $4 but Pam the blond bombshell is a hidden haggler!) which is now the most comfortable one in my bag.
Although this happened on separate trips it makes for an interesting tale as it doesn't often happen to me. Whist walking the streets of Phnom Penh a man blurted the usual "you want tuk-tuk?" to Pam and I. We continued walking and politely declined only to have him pull up alongside me and in a pseudo American accent say " You want marajuana? You want dope?". I thought this was quite funny, especially the accent. Anyway, I put it down to the 4 weeks of patchy and straggly facial hair that I had accummulated. However, on a later trip to Phnom Penh, and now clean shaven, the same thing happened so at least we know Cambodians don't discriminate on the basis of beards.
Our next stop was Kratie on our way up to Laos. It was meant to have more character and be more interesting than Stung Treng, which is a little closer to the border, but I am not sure that is the case. We went to see the dolphins which are famous in the area but unless one comes up right next to your boat it is very much like looking at ice-bergs...you only see 10% of what's on show. Nonetheless the tuk-tuk ride there and back was good and we got to see plenty of village huts and a temple (unfortunately without the nice sunset as it had clouded over).
And off to the border we headed. I'd read plenty of stuff about the Cambodia-Laos border crossing and so was a little nervous of what might follow. Our trip started in a mini-bus, we then got dropped on the side of the road about 2 hours later, along with our "escort" where we waited 15 minutes before out of nowhere a bus appeared and bundled us in. I was starting to feel like a fugitive being smuggled across the border by this stage. The bus driver looked like a rockstar and drove like an F1 driver in a hurry, or maybe that should be a very fat lady running too fast and getting a speed wobble. Well, it was sit tight, hold on, and say your prayers, not to mention the quickest bloody trip we had had in 2 weeks. We were there in a flash, offloaded and ushered to the 4 men in the wooden hut. Departure cards completed, we handed over our passports, stamp stamp, check check, $1 each please. We gleefully paid this fee given the horror stories we had heard but able to only find one $1 note paid 5,000 Riel for the other...no change, no receipt. That's the way it works and so off we headed into no-mans land. On getting to the next box hut we were given our forms, only 3 for Laos, filled them in, were ok'd by the health official (didn't do anything other than collect the form and hand us a business card with a health emergency number on it) and then off to get stamped in. Stamp stamp...$1 each please. By this time we'd found 2 $1 notes and so paid the fee without the fuss or risk of no change, even though in both cases they had a suitcase of cash, most likely all destined for the after work drinks party. And that was the end of our trip to Cambodia. Very definitely memorable and very glad we spent more than our originally planned 7 days in the country. Now for Laos...and don't forget to SMILE!
General observations...
- I have been amazed at the number of backpackers travelling with laptops, most of which are Apple Mac! You'll be relieved to know that the dreadlocks, dirty clothes, and smelly bodies do still generally exist so some things haven't changed.
- on the whole the Cambodian population seems to be incredibly young and vibrant, largely due to the mass slaughter of 25% of the population during Pol Pots reign of terror.
- litter aside, the Cambodians seem to be a very resourceful nation and make things work with what they have.
- the Cambodian equivalent of the English pub seems to be what I would just call a TV cafe. They are the size of a corner shop or a small pub, on the road of coarse, with 10 plus chairs all set up facing the TV screen. Food and beverages can be purchased but it didn't seem to be a necessity.
- Cambodian weddings - now these are quite different and choosing a venue even more so. It seems that a wedding, and wedding reception, both take place on the pavement, or as near to the pavement as possible! One merely sets up a gazebo, as many chairs as are required, hires a bad band or DJ, play REALLY loud music, cover most things with really colourful cloth and hey presto we're good to go. I am sure there is more to it than that and I am no doubt doing it an injustice but from the many weddings we saw this seemed to be the norm.
- everyone in Cambodia seems to be busy doing something and being productive. There are some beggars but for a country as poor as Cambodia it is quite remarkable. Furthermore, many of the beggars are missing body parts which in a manual labour society makes their plight more understandable. The desire to be productive is very encouraging though.
- the kids here are all extremely friendly and one is always warmly greeted with waving arms and a very big smile. And everyone else is just as friendly and evrywhere you go people smile and greet you - all very refreshing.
- everyone seems to be well dressed, from the very rich to the very poor. They definitely seem to take pride in their appearance, just not that of their surroundings.
- moms and grans seem to run the show - so maybe not so different from the West!
- in our early days in Phnom Penh, several people helped us across the street! Sounds odd, but we didn't know where to start when we first got there but now we're pros! We've seen many tourists getting helped across so it's obviously just one of those things they do to make people feel welcome.
- the Cambodians smell very nice. I know it is an odd thing to say but in some countries the people can smell rather bad - one bus trip in Tanzania springs to mind in particular.
A couple of admin bits here...
Mom's and Dad's - we've undertaken no dangerous activities yet, if one excludes the bus rides and crossing the streets, and we've been applying lots of sunscreen!
Thanks to all those who have sent us messages and comments! It's lovely to read them all, sorry we're so bad at replying though!! Maybe we're spending too much time just writing the blog! Please keep writing though!
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Jon and Sal
non-member comment
Classic stuff
Guys - classic stuff. Just as well I drive a Lexus. Enjoy the trip!