Cambodge

---

Hello all!
I'm now in Sihanoukville on the South coast, quite near Vietnam; after Siem Reap I headed for Phnom Penh (the capital), where I spent two boiling nights at a really cool guesthouse, before hitting this coastal party town.
Phnom Penh itself I thought was unremarkable- another 'bustling Asian metropolis' as the Lonely Planet would put it. I never really understand this adjective 'Asian'- what does it mean? Siberia is Asian, as is Iraq or Tokyo or Bali, what do they have in common?! Anyway, this was made up for by my guesthouse which was really cool. There are two backpacker centres- on the River and on the Lake, mine was one of the many that cluster around the lake (which is unfortunately having an island built in the middle of it under slightly suspect circumstances) but nevertheless it was very chilled, with really cool people. Outside it was a really rabbit's warren of alleys and streets meaning that actually it was most relaxing just to shoot some pool and have some beers with my fellow travellers.
It was lucky the guesthouse was relaxing as the main 'attractions' (wrong word) in Phnom Penh are the ghastly sites left behind by the Khmer Rouge. I won't go into massive detail (look them up on Wikipedia) but essentially it was probably the most radical communist regime in History, which, in 1975, took control of Phnom Penh and Cambodia and forced the entire population into the fields to work to create a self-sufficient agrarian 'Utopia'. A third of Cambodians died during their 4 year reign of terror. In PP you can visit one of the prisons where 'enemies' (which constituted anyone with an education) were tortured and one of the killing fields, where they were murdered. It was utterly horrific, in the prison (a former Junior School) you can still see splatters of blood on the ceiling and the faces of the inmates and teenage guards (who were killed after a month so they wouldn't talk) stare at you from huge displays. It was extremely sobering and I find it difficult not to see almost everything and everyone in Cambodia through a 35-years-ago prism.
After that emotionally draining trip I left PP for here, which is a shameless part resort and, I must say, is brilliant fun. I spent two nights partying and drinking for heading for Otres beach, 5 miles away, which is absolute paradise and totally chilled out. Unfortunately it's also paradise for sandflies, who love my skin and my arm is now so bitten it feels a bit like braille.... Nevertheless great chilled times there. Sihanoukville partying was great fun although at one point this very drunk Spanish woman got a little attached; at first she was just chatty and friendly- fair enough- but by the end of the night, for some unfathomable reason, she refused to speak to anyone but me and her boyfriend had vanished. I was too polite/terrified to leave her so ended up going on a bit of a wild goose chase searching for this boyfriend who, as I predicted and she initially dismissed, was in fact in their room watching telly. Unburdened of her (she was now embroiled in an argument with her boyfriend) I returned to the party.
I was staying in a dorm, which was interesting- I was on the top bunk and have a touch of the dreaded Delhi Belly which meant quite a lot of stealthy sneaking in the dead of night- not so easy after several vodka buckets...
Off to Saigon tomorrow, going to be a long one, maybe 12 hours. I've warmed to Cambodia a lot since Siem Reap, the tuk-tuk and moto drivers are a total pain in the arse still but I've met some really friendly people since then. Yesterday, as I went on a walk and woman asked if she could join me (Yes, I had suspicions about where this might be going...) and we just had a really nice chat and she was friendly and really interested about me and the UK and my travels, which was lovely (though I was bloody knackered at the end, a bit of a case of mad dogs and Englishmen...).
I'm really excited about Vietnam, especially the North, although I'm probably going to have to be a bit quicker than I have been hitherto, now finding myself, unbelievably, in my third week!

---

Comments

[annie ruff]

phonm penh
Dont get me going Fergus, this horrendous time in their history, revolting, a disgrace to civilisation and the world sat back and let it happen. That revolting dictator made Hitler look like a novice. I have read many books on that period of history, totally depressing but strangely intriguing, the holocaust, 2nd world war, hiroshoma, but I do think where you are now has a particularly gruesome history in dictatorship but no doubt a beautiful but haunting landscape. Human beings eh, loved your latest blog, dont stop getting pissed...by the way got rid of the russians, french on their way, but the pennies building up now. lots of love Annie x