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Published: April 24th 2009
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Entering the Wats
Making our way into the spectacular temples of Angkor Steve's rumblings:
Our arrival in Phnom Penh was full of mixed feelings, having recently read 'First they Killed my Father' (good tip Bickford) the dark empty streets seemed ominous. However this may have been due to really poor street lighting, and the new year, which is celebrated here by going home, for which most people head for the countryside (perhaps one of the remnants of the Khmer Rouge era?). It was hard to gauge how the city must appear normally, as most shops were closed and there was little traffic through the day, although the parks were packed at night. The now familiar city architecture of south east Asia - comprising of 2-3 storey buildings the ground floor being the shop/living room/car park all at the same time, with a small mezzanine level - lines most of the streets. In places small children play in large piles of rubbish, the disfigured and amputees move from bar to restaurant trying to scratch a living. As well as visiting the killing fields and s21 (a school that was used as a 'security prison' by the Khmer Rouge), we found Phnom Penh a difficult and often heart rendering experience. The people we met
however generally were very friendly and wore large smiles.
Siem Reap proved to be a very different experience, the city clean and fairly well kempt (presumably mostly for the benefit of the vast tourist population). The temples were amazing, despite an earlier warning from an American gentleman that they were "ruined", and we would be much better going to the rebuilt version in Thailand!! Our main difficulty remains the heat, often up to 40c in the shade, spontaneous human combustion feels like a daily threat! Our next move to Battambang lead us to visit some amazing Buddhist/Hindu caves, mostly due to getting lost looking for the killing caves, and wandering into some really helpful monks.
Due to more Visa probs (the Laos embassy having a long new year), we decided to head for Bangkok... a simple bus journey. It all started well as we left the bang, dodging around the seemingly home made vehicles (part motorbike/tractor/truck used as taxis!!). Then the bus swapping started eventually leading to our luggage being on a completely different bus, which then went on to beat us to the border!!! Luckily our luggage was safe, however we had been left to find our own way
through the border after being pointed in the general direction. Lucky for us they had tipped off a nice man (who we were initially very suspicious of) on the other side to come and collect us, and drop us off at our Bangkok bound bus. A few short hours later and lots of bus racing (imagine F1 bumper cars) we landed back on the Khao san... it felt like home... a very hot one, full of drunks but nice.
Vik's ramblings:
It's soooooooooooooooo hot, I almost can't write, but will have a go. The heat is staggering, even my eyelids perspire. But we're battling on (It helps that we don't have to go to work!!). Anyway, will try to say something vaguely interesting rather than just talk about the heat. Maybe the heat is interesting...we love talking about the weather after all...but probably not. Will move on...
We disembarked the karaoke bus and arrived in a night-time Phnom Penh. A somewhat dubious selection of hotel (opposite the rather brilliantly named 'Knickers & Liquers'. We didn't venture in.) and our Cambodian experience was under full sway. An experience that felt more of an endurance at times. Reminders from the dark
times of the Khmer Rouge still dominate, and as well as the many 'sights' (that are both compelling and distressing) are all the people that are still, so many years later, trying to piece life back together again. Even a casual conversation at a bus stop demonstrates that the atrocities are still freshly felt; a man that was returning to Cambodia for the first time in 35 years having left just before Phnom Penh was taken. He lost all of his family - three brothers and three sisters. And he told us in the most ordinary way. But then such a story is nothing extraordinary here. I found myself often glancing around, amazed that people have the capacity to recover from such events.
But there was much to celebrate too, and we met some brilliant people carrying out really inspiring projects (most notably perhaps, a Swiss doctor, armed with a cello, building hospitals for children!). And of course, the incredible temples of Angkor Wat fame. Although the day didn't start particularly well, having cycled the many kms to get there (another good tip Bickford - although a bit of a struggle in this flippin' heat!!) only to discover that the ticket office was (rather ludicrously placed, we thought) back in the town. I was exhausted before we even started the temple-hopping (and you certainly need some stamina for that). And then an altogether brilliant end to our stay in Siem Reap, watching Everton make it to the final of the FA cup. Unfortunately it was only after we had purchased our pitcher of Angkor that we realised that the sign above the door that read 'thank you for supporting local Khmer enterprise' was not referring to the beer (think knickers and liquers...). We relocated.
And then back to Bangkok. I felt a wave of affection as we arrived back, so turns out I must quite like it here after all! Although I'm still a bit defeated by the size of the place. And the heat. Oh, and in case any of you are worried due to the state of emergency that has been declared in Bangkok for the last two weeks, it has just been lifted. It says so on the BBC. Don't think they'd heard there was any emergency here on Khoa San Rd!!
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hey primo
hey primo... just looking at your blog, getting really jealous ;-) hope you are enjoying your trip! hope to see you one day somewhere!!! take care, hugs to Vik.... cristina