Cambodia

We crossed into Cambodia via a pretty relaxed border on the Mekong River - it all seemed pretty casual - pop up and get your passport checked if you like, have a game of volleyball, head back to your boat....!

After another hour or so cruising down the river taking in the various views - mainly blokes washing their cows in the river and the local kids running to the riverbank to wave at us, we arrived at the bus station where we got a bus to Phnom Penh.

Amazingly, we managed to find a decent enough guesthouse almost straight away and then went out for a walk around town. Aside from a few bars down by the river, there really wasn’t much about in our area, so after a meal and a beer or two, we retreated back to our guesthouse where Lauren insisted on watching the opening fixtures of the premier league on the telly well into the night.

The next morning, we were up reasonably early to go and visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - a former high school, now museum, which was turned into a concentration camp (Security Prison 21) and used from 1975 - 1979 by the Khmer Rouge.

The museum still had many of the original implements of torture used at the prison and many very gruesome pictures of the methods used by the Khmer Rouge. We forgot our cameras, so I got these two pictures off wikipedia, the one below giving the rules of the prison. Strange to think that I was alive (just) when this as happening.

That afternoon, in the mood for something a bit cheerier, we went to the lake and had a jug of beer whilst enjoying the view, before heading for a curry. Going for an Indian in the backstreets of Cambodia seemed like a good thing to do at the time, but it was all a bit much for my tummy. Heading home, our tuk-tuk driver was told in no uncertain terms to ‘step on it’. (The accelerator, not my tummy - that would have been messy).

Gluttons for punishment that we are, the following day we made a trip to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, about 15km’s from Phnom Penh. This was where about 17,000 people were killed during the Khmer Rouge’s regime - a lot of them from the Tuol Sleng Prison. The site itself is still pretty gruesome, with a lot bones and clothing coming out of the ground nearly everywhere you walk. There is also a relatively new Buddhist stupa, to commemorate the dead, which contains more than 5,000 skulls recovered from the site - you can get quite close and can see evidence of people having being killed by hammers because the Khmer Rouge did not want to waste bullets. Perhaps the worst bit of the site was the Chankiri Tree, against which the soldiers threw children and babies to kill them - horrific stuff.

Things got a lot better in the afternoon, however. Upon returning to Phnom Penh we were walking around the streets looking for something to eat (being careful not to stray out of dashing distance from the guesthouse), when I spotted a whole cow being roasted on the street! Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite ready, so I made a mental note of where to find the beast again, and returned for supper - it was bloody lovely. It came with some other stuff which I didn’t know what to do with, much to all the locals’ amusement. Apparently I was meant to make a sauce for the beef myself using the stuff they’d given me, but they found it highly funny whatever I did! Luckily my gut stood up to the test.

The next day we were on an early bus to Sihanoukville, a seaside town in southern Cambodia. As with everywhere in Cambodia, as soon as you get off the bus, you get surrounded by tuk-tuk drivers all shouting at you, wanting to take you to ‘my brother’s hotel - good price!’ or some such scam! Getting the price down is a pretty simple affair - just slowly walk towards the exit of the bus station and hear it drop - on this instance, our price for a tuk-tuk into town dropped from $6 to 50 cents each! (The main currency used in Cambodia is the US Dollar - indeed that’s all the ATM’s dispense!). Anyway, once in the area we wanted to be (Serendipity Beach), we found a decent guesthouse pretty quickly.

Sihanoukville itself was ok, but nothing spectacular. We went for a walk along the beach and stopped at a couple of bars in a desperate attempt to get rid of the plethora of kids trying to flog us bracelets along the way! One kid was particularly persistent, even challenging me to a game of pool - if he won, I had to buy a bracelet at $2! Luckily, he was a pretty poor hustler (and only about ten years old!).

Aside from spending time relaxing on the beach, we went on a great boat trip around some islands off southern Cambodia - some pretty good snorkelling and great scenery made for a good day - even if the boat broke down for about forty minutes on the way home, leaving us stranded in the blazing sunshine!

After Sihanoukville, we headed east towards a small town called Kampot - again, not a lot to do there, but we spent a great three days relaxing by the river, where I enjoyed the best bbq ribs ever, with a fantastic sunset.

The rest of our time here was spent cycling, eating more and trying to avoid the snakes which seemed to be very keen on gathering outside our guesthouse! One afternoon, we spotted the gardener bludgeoning one to death with a spade - apparently these snakes were actually particularly nasty - luckily, we managed to avoid getting bitten!

Our guesthouse was also home to a six-year old Cambodian boy who was quite amusing. He spent his days running around whacking the guests with a badminton racket trying to get people to play with him!

Following on from Kampot, we took a gruelling 11 hour bus ride to Siem Reap - home to the Temples of Angkor. On our first day, not quite yet prepared for a full day of looking at temples, we headed into town, where I had a foot massage.

This involved putting my feet into a paddling pool full of small fish who nibbled away at all the dead skank on my feet for over half an hour! After eight months on the road, the feet were pretty rank, so luckily the fish got a good meal!

That evening, in order to get us into the mood, we went up and attempted to watch the sunset from one of the temples. Unfortunately it was too cloudy for a decent sunset, but I did get this cracking shot.

The rest of the day was spent looking, and eventually finding a bar which showed England wrapping up a fine Ashes victory!

I leapt out of bed at four o clock the next morning, our last full day in Cambodia, eager to meet our tuk-tuk driver who was waiting outside our guesthouse to take us on a day’s trip around the Temples of Angkor. After a short ride, we arrived at our first temple, Angkor Wat, where we watched the sunrise - it was pretty crowded, but it was spectacular.

After a look around, we headed back to our driver, ready for the next temple. He was rather astonished that we’d been around the first temple so quickly, but happily drove us onto the next one, Bayon.

Bayon was spectacular, and we walked around this one slightly more slowly so as not to give our driver the impression that we weren’t appreciating it fully.

And so the day continued - After Angkor Wat and Bayon, we went to Baphoun, then Elephant Terrace & Temple, followed by Preah Khan, then Ta Keo (quite good as to get to the temple, you had to climb an absolute death-trap of steep, steep steps), then Ta Prohm and finally one other - making it a new record - eight temples in one day!! By the final temple, we were absolutely exhausted and our tactic of a quick look around, followed by sitting and reading our books inside the temple walls for half an hour was giving the driver the desired impression that we were now spending the appropriate amount of time looking around each temple.

All in all we both thoroughly enjoyed Cambodia - certainly a lot more than I thought I would. The people were really friendly - very happy to see westerners, especially the children who loved waving at us and practicing their English!. The food markets were fantastic, and the Temples of Angkor beautiful, if rather tiring on a boiling hot day.

So a big thumbs up for Cambodia, and now for Thailand part two…