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Published: August 15th 2010
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And so we entered Cambodia on a slow boat up the Mekong. For us veterans of over a dozen land border crossings and all the confusion that goes with them, doing one by boat was a refreshing experience. And, on a slightly geeky note, the Vietnamese exit stamp on our passports has a (tiny) boat symbol, while our entry stamp has a little car (we came by land from China). For those of you out there with a Vietnamese stamp, have a look. For the rest of you, well I warned you it was geeky.
Phnom Penh
So onto Phnom Penh, where a visit to S21 and the killing fields was arranged. Cambodia is the second country on our tour with history of a recent genocide. While the impact on the people of such a loss is very similar to what we saw in Rwanda, there seemed to be additional and deeper ramifications following the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. The policies sought the removal of economic structure and society. This means that thirty years later the country is still recovering from a regime which lasted little over three years. The year the Khmer Rouge was overthrown is referred
The Killing Fields, Phnom Penh
A stark reminder of what happened here to as year zero and you can see why. Yes Cambodia is poor, with similar levels of poverty to what we saw in Malawi, but what is slightly different is that as recently as the 1960’s Cambodia was a relatively vibrant country.
Many of us might refer to our secondary school as torture, to the punishments that were regularly carried out or the unfairness of detention. The former secondary school S21 is all of the above. It was taken over by the Khmer Rouge as a detention / interrogation centre and ultimately a place of outright torture. It is now a museum dedicated to help better understand the Genocide. From there, detainees were taken to the killing fields just outside the city where thousands were killed and buried in mass graves. There are still many skeletons located here and a monument dedicated to the memory of those that died houses many of their skulls. In contrast to similar memorial sites in Rwanda these locations are very blunt and stark in their messages.
Kampot
Next stop for us was Kampot where we hung out at the Magic Sponge, a bar / hostel run by a father and son
Dave, Niall & Dee
Enjoying another lovely dinner in Sihanoukville team from Tallaght, south Dublin. We had a great few days chilling out and scouting out the surrounding countryside on some motorbikes. On one tour, Fiona had the thrill of being passenger to Gary-with-the-longest-rasta-dreadlocks-between-Tallaght-and-Cambodia. Sat behind him, she had to hold on tight.
Sihanoukville
Then further up the coast to Sihanoukville to meet our friend Dave (who is a regular reader and has left many comments). With Dave to lead us we sampled some of the best and also cheapest local Cambodian food. A bounty of fish, beef, chicken, rice and noodles washed down with several too many beers. Now our Dave is formerly an antiques dealer with a somewhat Lovejoy-esque charm. This also makes him a bit of a history buff. So off we went on a tour of the local historical and architectural sites of the area that you “won’t find in any tourist guide”. And we can kind of see why to be honest, the church was nice Dave, but Niall is still a little bit dubious as to the attraction of the train station?
Siem Reap
Final stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap, tourist capital of the north, home to the amazing
Angkor Watt
Where's Dee? Angkor Watt temples and also the delightful Polly. Polly is working with the UN in Siem Reap, and a great girl to show us around the various bars in town. We had a fantastic few days in her company. And it was here that Dee was lucky enough to have her birthday. While she was dispatched to enjoy a spa for the afternoon. Niall and Fiona set about booking a restaurant, rounding up a party crowd which Polly ably helped with and arranging a Tiramisu birthday cake (wisdom tooth was now fully recovered thankfully). Many cocktails, buckets and beers later and we stumbled home. Although where the half eaten Tiramisu disappeared to at 4am from the bar fridge none of the night club staff could say for sure.
But the real draw here is Angkor Watt, a vast location housing dozens of ancient temples which are all that remain of an historic city that was once the largest on the planet and was home to over one million people at a time when London was a barely fifty thousand. It is now a magical combination of an ornate ancient city and the jungle that has grown up all around
Dee, Polly, Niall and Fiona
Enjoying a lively birthday party! it in the intervening 700 years.
Neighbours…. Everybody Loves Good Neighbours!
Finally worth a mention was the view from our hotel room. As we were on the first floor, we had a wonderful view of the crocodile farm next door. It made it a bit interesting when we used the hotel swimming pool knowing that less than 6 feet away swarmed a very hungry army of reptiles. It wasn’t until our last day that we tried to visit the crocs and were informed it wasn’t a farm at all, but just a local that kept them in his garden. Dumbfounded, we forgot to ask what happens in the monsoon season when it floods??
And so from Siem Reap we said goodbye to Polly and our friendly neighbor crocodiles and boarded the bus west to the Thai border and Bangkok. Final updates to follow on our Thai adventures soon.
All the best,
Niall and Dee
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Edgar Cowan
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Crocs
Lots of great shoes and purses eh! Trip is wonderful. When do you get back to civilization...if ever?