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Published: September 22nd 2012
Day 91 Saturday 15
th September to Day 95 Wednesday 19
th September 2012.
Cambodia – A contrasting 5 days from Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam to Phnom Phen to Siem Reap in Cambodia to Bangkok in Thailand.
Days 91 to 95 saw us travel through Cambodia. For Europe 5 days is a long time in one country, but for more recent countries, 5 days is quite quick. You can pretty much drive across Cambodia in less than 12 hours from the Vietnamese border to the Thai border.
Day 91 saw us leave Vietnam on the Mekong Express Bus as in our last blog posting. After some discussion with the Tuk Tuk driver to explain that we only wanted one Tuk Tuk, we were on our way to our hotel. We always try to travel together to prevent us being separated in a foreign city. Who knows what can happen? On the rare occasions where we have had no choice, Hunter normally comes with me and I send Jackson and Harrison with Melissa so they can protect her!!! But in Cambodia Melissa doesn’t need protection. I’ll share that story shortly.
Driving through the streets of Phnom Phen, in one
Tuk Tuk, with the 5 of us and our backpacks we certainly stand out. Quickly we draw attention at our hotel and get many offers from Tuk Tuk drivers for the following day. We tell one drive that we will be back out of the hotel the next morning at around 9am if he’s interested. He was!!!
We headed out to dinner and stopped at the ATM on the way. We didn’t realise that Cambodia uses US Dollars. This made everything so easy when bartering and buying food, drinks etc. We could relax the part of our brain that has been doing currency conversions for the last 3 months, at least for a few days anyway. The Cambodians are amazingly friendly and the service is outstanding. We found this everywhere we went, ate or drank. But they are not as keen to make ‘a sale’ in the markets like in Vietnam or especially China. Remember in China they physically hold you (with good humour) for you to buy something. Here they just let you walk off. We weren’t really for this!!!
At around 9:30am the following morning, after a great breakfast in a beautiful setting by the pool,
we left our small quite tropical oasis and headed out to the street. Sure enough Johnny is waiting for us and offers his services for the entire day for US$20.00. A few days later we realise that we might have paid a few dollars too much, but Johnny was great.
We showed Johnny where we wanted to go and off we went scooting through the traffic. First stop – The Killing Fields.
A few people we have spoken to have warned us that this may not be suitable for children, a bit like the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh. Melissa and I from the start of this trip have wanted to show the boys as much as possible including the good and the bad side of mankind. The War Remnants Museum and The Killing Fields are a part of their education that they will never learn in a text book. So many parents shelter their children for way too long and they grow up into naïve young adults that cannot deal with the big world around them. We want our children to be balanced and be able to make a difference and by learning as much
as they can outside of school will enable them to do so.
The entry price to The Killing Fields, about 30 minutes by Tuk Tuk from Phnom Phen, includes a spine chilling audio tour that really explains the horrific events that occurred here under Pol Pot in the 1970’s. How millions were killed all over Cambodia, including many foreigners from many countries including Australia, is just beyond us. Basically if you were a threat to Pol Pot’s vision you were killed. This included teachers, doctors, lawyers and your simple peasant farmers.
After being arrested, truck loads were driven to The Killing Fields and were mass murdered. Even hundreds or maybe thousands (they are not exactly sure) of Pol Pot’s own soldiers were murdered for questioning his regime. The audio tour gave the boys time to reflect on the history of such a sad place. Even Hunter understood the basics of what had occurred here less than 40 years ago.
Even today, after heavy rains, human remains are still surfacing and every month the caretakers during the wet season collect bone fragments and clothing from the mud. In 2006, a monument tower was built to pay respect to
the millions killed and this now houses hundreds of skulls of men, women and children. As there were so many bodies, they have only displayed the skulls. The tower houses 10 levels of skulls in display cases displaying the tragic side of the human race. Even worse is that these barbaric leaders are still ruling around the world today, but because these countries don’t hold any real importance (oil) to the west, not much is said and done.
We soon headed to other parts of Phnom Phen including some of the local markets and then to the Royal Palace. Once we arrived at the Royal Palace I was required to buy a t-shirt so I could enter as I only had a singlet on. It cost US$2.00 as was no big deal. What is a big deal is watching the poor display of behaviour of other tourists when they are told that they are required to dress more appropriately to enter a royal and religious building. Sorry, but the Americans are generally the worst offenders and complain why they have to follow certain rules in another country. With all the recent riots in the media lately over a certain
movie, why can’t Americans just be quiet? They’re not doing anyone any favours including themselves by complaining!!! Funny, we didn’t hear any Americans talking in the War Remnants Museum back in Ho Chi Minh. Maybe they didn’t want to stand out.
Our boys are now very good at respecting other belief systems and behave very well when required. To our boys Buddha is more of a garden ornament than an idol for a religion, but knowing that, they remain very respectable which is great to see.
Having just read an article on foreign aid and how much CEO’s are paid, it was interesting to hear Johnny explained to us that an Australian tourist, who has been to Phnom Phen a number of times and stays in contact with Johnny, bought his motor bike and tuk tuk for him so he can be his own boss. Before that he was driving for someone else. This Australian has spent $1,400 of his own money and had really made an impact on the life of one man, his wife and young son. Sir, Team Free and I’m sure other blog readers salute you.
We didn’t have too much of an
opportunity to enjoy our own private pool in our $38.00 a night room as the next day we headed for Siem Reap. On board the bus to Siem Reap was another family with 3 boys. They had been travelling for 2 days since leaving Australia. Talk about throwing their kids in the deep end with a bus from Phnom Phen to Siem Reap on day 2 for their first ever overseas trip. They were a nice family, even though they follow Collingwood, and were certainly impressed with our adventure up until now.
We are now experts at organising Tuk Tuk’s in new cities to our hotels. Within 30 minutes of arriving in Siem Reap, we had checked in to our hotel and the boys were at the pool bar drinking ‘coke on the rocks’. We organised the same Tuk Tuk driver for the following day to take us to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. These are the main ones we wanted to see. You could spend months seeing all 300 temples in and around Siem Reap. The price agreed upon was based on what the hotel had advised us. It was $8.00 from 8:30m to 12:30pm, then
$2.00 for each hour after that. We decided that 4 or 5 hours would probably be sufficient having seen many large temples, palaces, squares, walls, cathedrals, monuments, statues, museums and castles over the last 3 months and the boys (and Melissa and I) were keen to get out of the Cambodian heat and back to the pool ASAP.
This was a good decision as the following day it was pouring with only some small breaks in the weather. We quickly found some $1.00 ’wear once’ rain coats. The temples are H U G E. Looking at a map without a scale didn’t prepare us for the enormity of the area. I see why you need a driver to drive you from one site to the next.
Angkor Wat is the most famous, but not the biggest. The entry fee was $20.00 each, Harrison and Hunter were free. Lucky we took a photo copy of Harrison’s passport, as not one of the many checkpoints throughout the area believed he was only 11 and taller than many Cambodians!!! Once inside Angkor Wat we wanted to climb to the top of one of the temples. Unfortunately, Melissa and I were both
dressed inappropriately. Yes, we had singlets on and this time there were not t-shirts to be purchased. That’s not going to stop Team Free.
OK……here it goes. Hunter was too young to climb so Hunter gave his t-shirt to Harrison and Harrison gave his to Jackson and then I wore Jacksons. Jackson and I went up first for a look. Impressive!!! We took a few photos and then I went down so I could give Melissa Jacksons t-shirt so she could then come up with Harrison who was wearing Hunters t-shirt. They then asked to see Harrison’s ticket that shows he’s 12 and over and can therefore climb up. Melissa said I had all the tickets and was somewhere dry with Hunter. They then let Melissa and Harrison go up and join Jackson. The step climb has now been made easily with some timber stairs. Up until recently you would have been required to climb the actual stone steps. I’m not sure that they would allow this on such a wet day.
We visited the other areas as planned. This included Ta Prohm where the famous ‘Lara Croft – Tomb Raider’ Tree is. It’s certainly interesting to see
the Man V’s Nature battle going on here. Nature will always win eventually. These trees that have grown over the temples are over 300 years old.
Once again we saw the ‘child’ hawkers which is disappointing. When I asked one of the older ones, around 11 or 12 years of age, why he isn’t at school, he quickly responded with a well-rehearsed answer ‘holiday today’. Our boys handed out some pencils that we had to give to the kids and before you know it there are 20-30 kids all wanting pencils with kangaroos and Australian flags on them.
Now to the story about Melissa not needing protection. When we came out of the last temple our Tuk Tuk drive wanted his money. All of it. Now, our kids know the old saying ‘Don’t pay the ferry man until he gets you to the other side’. Well this ended up with a stand-off. I gave the guy about 20 seconds to start driving or we are out of there. 20 seconds later I’m walking!!! I don’t have any time for anyone who wants to try and scam a guy, especially with his family. Melissa, on the other hand had
decided to stay and sort it out. A bit like the UN!!! Anyway after about 5 minutes of discussion, Melissa worked out that he wanted more money and he wanted it now. Melissa was not going to have any part of this and has now attracted a crowd of about 20 other Tuk Tuk drivers and woman hawkers. A policeman wandered over but didn’t want to get involved. Meanwhile I’m, about 20 metres away with the boys and they are wondering if I’m going to go over and help Melissa. I explained to the boys that Mum lived in Bahrain in the Middle East and can certainly handle a dodgy Tuk Tuk driver in Cambodia. If need be I could be there in about 5 seconds. But this was good for the boys to see plus Mum was about 5 or 6 inches taller and about 10 kg heavier than him. 15 minutes later it’s still going on and I had worked out that half the Tuk Tuk drivers could see it was a scam and he was just going to take off with our money and the other half were telling us that we need to pay him now.
Finally he agreed to be paid back at the hotel. When we got back I paid him the agreed amount which worked out to be $10.00. I explained to the boys that this wasn’t about the money; it’s about the principle of the deal we made at the beginning of the day with the driver.
30 minutes later we were having our feet eating by all these tiny little fish and drinking a nice cold drink and the hassles with the Tuk Tuk driver were soon forgotten. Melissa was the most popular by miles and had dozens of fish eating the dead skin from her nicely pedicured feet. The boys thought it was hilarious. We were back out to dinner that night eating some of the best valued food we have had. Vietnam, China and Cambodia have definitely given us our best value for money.
The last day in Cambodia saw us organise 2 taxis to the Thai border about 2½ hours away. This cost $27 per taxi or we could have had a 15 seater for $85. We decided on two taxis. They followed each other and before we knew it we were at the border. This
is the first border that we have had to walk over without having anything on the other side to pick us up. This was always going to be one of the harder crossings Team Free would have to encounter during our trip. Well what a pleasant surprise and after a 10 minute walk across the ‘no man’s land’ between Cambodia and Thailand we were in Aranya Prathet, Thailand. There were plenty of people that could have scammed us to buy visas, transport or drugs, but they didn’t. Whether it’s because we are a family or look confident and know where we are going or maybe a combination of both. We soon located a van and a driver to take us the remaining 3 hours to Bangkok directly to our hotel.
We paid a total of $138.00 from door to door in less than 7 hours. You can pay $10 per person and go by public bus and then by train from the border to Bangkok. Yes, we would have saved $88.00 (Scott, Johnno and Ralph) but would have taken 12-13 hours. The power of travelling as 5.
Like most border crossings, you notice the differences immediately from one
country to the next. It’s the wealth/poverty that you always notice first. The roads are better, the cars are better, people are dressed better and the beer is more expensive, but the Thai’s seem just as friendly as the Cambodians.
The night we arrive at our hotel The Hangover II was showing on HBO. Welcome to Bangkok. Welcome to Thailand……..
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Reg & Helen Free
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Cambodia
Another exciting time you are having. Thought you were joking about your pedicure feet Melissa until I saw the photo. The fish must have liked the pretty red toenails. ha ha. Enjoy the rest of the trip as it will be ending all too soon for you. Love you all heaps. xxxxx