Cambodia: Emerging from the past....
Hello there!
A week to go until Christmas and also our final day in the lovely country of Cambodia. I think therefore that it's time for an extended session in the internet cafe again!
Before I begin though I'd just like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I guess the work's Christmas parties have all been and gone and you're now desperately scouring the shops for those final few Christmas presents. I bet the rain, the wind and the grey skies are making frequent appearances too for all those back in the UK. After 10 months away do I wish I was there? Nope, not really!
Well, we've been in Cambodia for a little over 2 weeks now and on the whole it's been quite a wonderful experience. So, I guess I ought to let you know what we've been up to...
We left Bangkok and Thailand on Saturday 2nd December and it was a most unpleasant day. We had reserved a couple of tickets on the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia with a travel agency on the infamous (and quite awful) Khao San Road. We were told to be back at the travel agent's on the day of departure at 08:30 and the bus would pick us up from there. Incase of emergency we are given a mobile number. We arrive early but by 08:30 we are still the only people about and the agency is closed, the shutters down. At 08:40 we phone the number -
"Don't worry, is coming!" we get told curtly before the phone is put down.
At 08:50 a man comes huffing and puffing round the corner to announce he's here to put us on the bus before turning and charging off up the street again. We, of course, have 20 billion tonnes of baggage to carry so we lose him almost immmediately only to see a head and an arm beckoning from some far-off alleyway in the distance. What followed was a knackering 20 minute wild goose chase around the streets in the pursuit of a man who seemed to be doing his utmost to lose us. Eventually, dripping in sweat and just about ready to collapse we find ourselves standing with a few other sweaty foreigners on the slip-road to one of the main highways through the city.
"Ok, and now we wait." he announces. So we wait.
At 09:30 our bus finally arrives at this rather unconventional bus-stop but thankfully it's of the modern, comfortable, air-conditioned variety. It takes 4 hours to the border on a smooth road, the journey interrupted only to replace a wheel after we get a puncture about half way. At the border we get transferred to a little shuttle bus which ferries us to Thai customs. After an exit stamp in our passports we walk across no-man's land to the Cambodian customs office. One entry stamp later and we board another shuttle bus to take us to the bus-stop. Public transport is not allowed to cross between Thailand and Cambodia so we have to take a Cambodian bus the remainder of the way to Siem Reap. There were 16 of us on the big air-conditioned coach to the border. There are still 16 of us on the little mini-bus to Siem Reap. It is of the sort with little fold-down seats up the central aisle to fit more people in and no air-conditioning. Two of the tourists with us have 15 bags between them. The bags are enormous too, containing what seem to be wind-surfing boards and all the accompanying paraphenalia. All the bags have to go in the bus with us. There is no baggage hold under the main cabin like the other bus and not even a roof-rack up on top. It is cramped and with no air-conditioning and an outside temperature in the high 30's it is stiflingly hot. The road is a bright red haze of dust disappearing off through the trees and turns out to be full of grooves and bumps and holes. Every time a vehicle passes (maybe once every 5 - 10 seconds) a great cloud of choking, bright red dust engulfs us. The inside of the bus becomes thick with dust and heat. Nobody can see or breathe. People rub their eyes and lapse into coughing fits. Beads of sweat pour down everyone's chins and land in their laps. And we soon smell BAD!
The 7 hour journey to Siem Reap can't finish quickly enough. We stop off about halfway and I take a picture of Lynn. She is covered from head to foot in thick, red dirt. Despite the fact that I know I look the same, I am in hysterics at the sight of her and struggle to hold the camera still. She looks like a coal-miner when they emerge into daylight showing just white teeth and white eyes, everything else hidden by dirt and grime.
At 22:30 we get to Siem Reap, find a tuk-tuk driver who's prepared to take us to our hotel despite our scary looks and, once checked in, we can atlast indulge in a much needed shower. 15 hours after we were stood outside the travel agent's on Khao San Road in Bankgkok we finally crawl into bed to sleep.
The next day we have a wander around Siem Reap. It is a lovely, little town but due to the fact that one of the man-made wonders of the world - Angkor Wat - lies on it's doorstep, it is also being developed and expanded at an alarming speed. Tourists have really begun to rediscover this beautiful country in the last decade and it is now a major feature on the expensive package tour itineraries of South-east Asia. As a consequence, 5-star hotels are being built at such a rate that the half of the town nearest the small airport already looks more like Beverley Hills than the traditional, other half of the town.
We have arranged for our tuk-tuk driver to come and pick us up at 16:30 to take us to get our tickets for Angkor Wat. Most of the package tourists get the 1-day pass to Angkor Wat and do the whistle-stop tour of the main temples before jetting off to their next destination. We opt for getting a US$40 3-day pass to give us time to fully appreciate this amazing site. The 3-day pass starts tomorrow but if you buy the ticket after 17:00 the day before then you get a sunset visit thrown in for free that evening!
I wasn't aware before arriving here just how big Angkor Wat actually is. Get this - the full site is over 100 square miles. That's ONE HUNDRED square miles!!! The main temple complex that people associate as being Angkor Wat is actually just the primary temple but there are many, many more in this vast 9th Century city. I won't go into too much detail about the numerous temples and sites we were priveleged enough to visit during our 3-day tour of Angkor Wat. For those who have been lucky enough to come here you'll already know the extraordinary beauty and scale of these places. For those who haven't been, I guess the names will mean nothing but our favourite sites were Bayon with it's huge, stone buddha heads; Ta Prohm which is incredibly photogenic due to the enormous 'strangler fig' trees that are growing within the ruins but in doing so are slowly detroying them by tearing the stones apart with their thick roots and also we really liked the temple of Ta Som. Ta Som is another impressive construction with an enormous tree growing out of the roof of the east gate. It will soon collapse in on itself as the tree slowly engulfs the intricate stonework but until then it is a photo classic!
In total I took somewhere in the region of 1,000 photos in those 3 days. If you want to book a week off work maybe I can show you them all when we get back home! In the meantime I'm still hoping I can find an internet cafe that will let me add some to this blogsite so I can show you 2 or 3 but since I've been looking for such a place ever since we left New Zealand, I wouldn't hold your breath.
Whilst in Siem Reap we also took a boat trip to Lake Tonle Sap which lies 15km south of the town. The lake is enormous, more like an inland sea really. The sky was terribly dark and gloomy when we left for the lake but our tuk-tuk driver assured us it would not rain. Ten minutes into the trip the heavens opened.
There are many rivers and tributaries into the lake and picturesque stilted, wooden houses line the banks. Kids play in the water and livestock graze on the grass whilst parents prepare dinner or mend bicycles under the house. We stopped off at a floating catfish and crocodile farm on the lake before heading back to shore. Thankfully for the catfish they shared separate pools to their toothier farmyard companions!
Back at the hotel that evening it started to rain again. There is a hurricane in the south of Vietnam and here in Siem Reap we are just about on the edge of it. The rain is being lashed into the side of the hotel by the strong winds. As I'm lying in bed, the rain and wind are so strong outside that I imagine I can actually feel the water landing on top of me. To my horror I suddenly realise it's not my imagination at all - I CAN feel the rain landing on top of me! I look up to see water coming through the big airvent as if I'm standing under the bathroom shower and it's going all over me and the bed. It is also running down the wall in rivulets and spreading out across the floor. We drag the bed across the room to safety and throw everything from the floor on top of it and then Lynn goes to get the manager. He soon comes to our rescue armed with 2 chairs and a towel.
"Put your bags on chair", he announces, "then you have bed free for good night's sleep!"
"He's bloody hoping!", I think. The towel is spread out in the wettest part under the vent. Thankfully the storm lasts little more than half an hour before we cautiously climb into bed and go to sleep, hoping that we won't get rained on again before we wake up. Luckily we don't.
On Friday 8th December we head to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city and 5.5 hours to the south-east. The bus is modern and comfortable and thankfully so is the road. We have reserved a room at "The Walkabout" in central Phnom Penh, a bar/restaurant/hotel which our guidebook describes as "friendly and popular". With certain single, young men we discover that it is! Later on that evening we come to the conclusion that we are probably the first people to rent a room here for the full night instead of just an hour or two! It's actually a nice room costing only US$12 and providing you don't mind the banging headboard and giggling noises coming from the surrounding rooms it's not too bad a place. We have air-conditioning, satellite TV, a fridge and a private bathroom. Lynn and I rename it "The Putitabout" on account of it's nightly activities and with the bar being a 24 hour one it really is all night!
The next morning we eat breakfast amongst the foreign men and their recently paid for Cambodian "girlfriends" whilst we wait for our taxi driver to arrive. He phones to say he'll be half an hour late because he's stuck at the airport so we pass the time trying not to talk to a completely insane French bloke who's intent on talking to us. The conversation is 95% wild gesticulation and flying globules of spit on his part and 100% nodding, ducking (to avoid the spit) and looking uncomfortable on our part. Thankfully our driver soon turns up and we make a hasty exit. We find out later that the mad Frenchman is the owner of "The Putitabout"!
We have a day of sight-seeing ahead of us today and the first stop is to the National Musuem. The exhibits have only the briefest of information to accompany them - where they were found and approximately when they were made - so we don't really gain much from the visit. After that we head to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which are remarkably similar to the beautiful royal palace and temple in Bangkok. They even have their own emerald buddha that, again, you can just about see through binoculars!
Third visit of the day is to Wat Phnom, a temple on a small hill in the heart of the city. The steps leading up to the temple are lined with beggars and most of them appear to be landmine victims judging by all the missing limbs. It is a sad fact that Cambodia is still littered with landmines from the Vietnam war and every year, even now, 30-odd years later a significant number of new casualties are added to the long list of landmine victims. We spend only 2 minutes at Wat Phnom which I rename "Wat For?" The temple is significant purely because the city was named after it rather than vice-versa but otherwise I don't think it's worthy of a visit. Infact, it is the first "attraction" that I can recall visiting where I didn't feel the urge to take even one single photograph!
Next stop is 15km southwest to 'Choeung Ek', better known as 'The Killing Fields'. In the early to mid 70's Cambodia was taken over by an ultra-communist group called the Khmer Rouge led by the infamous Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge were responsible for some of the most horrific atrocities ever witnessed. This peaceful orchard called Choeung Ek was the execution ground for torture victims from the S-21 Khkmer Rouge prison. There is now a big memorial tower on the site which contains the cracked and bludgeoned skulls of over 8,000 victims dug up from the mass graves found in the area. Walking around this peaceful park I found it really hard to comprehend that only 25 - 30 years ago, and still within my lifetime, such barbaric acts were carried out here. We found a tree that was labelled up as where the Khmer Rouge tortured children in sight of their families before killing them and then the rest of the family. Despite the fact that over 8,000 bodies have been exhumed, many more still lie buried in unmarked mass graves in the ground. Rather disturbingly as you walk around you see rags and crumbling bones protuding from the grass.
In all nearly 3 million people (25% of the population) died during the Khmer Rouge years, many through disease and starvation which is what I really remember seeing on TV when I was a child.
After our sobering visit to Choeung Ek we return to Phnom Penh and visit the 'S-21 Torture and Interrogation Centre' itself to give it it's full, former name. Now renamed the 'Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide' this former Khmer Rouge prison is quite the most moving place I think I've ever seen. A former High School, the Khmer Rouge surrounded the place in high fences and electrified barbed wire and turned it into one of the most brutal torture prisons ever. In total more than 20,000 innocent victims were taken and tortured here before being led to their deaths in the Killing Fields. When the Khmer Rouge were finally defeated and this former prison was discovered by the outside world 14 dead prisoners were found in their cells, tortured and beaten and left to rot. The place has been left almost as it was found back then. The former classrooms that were turned into cells still remain as they were. In some there are still the iron beds surrounded by the chains and torture instruments and on the walls of each cell is a picture of the body that was found in it when the door was opened. It really numbs you to see something like this and defies all comprehension as to how anyone could do this to all these innocent people.
The Khmer Rouge were very methodical in their records and kept accounts and photos of all their prisoners. Some of the classrooms now contain hundreds and hundreds of photos of terrified prisoners, arms tied behind their backs, having a last photo taken before being led off to be exterminated.
It was a truly terrible place and to be able to walk around such a building knowing what went on within it is chilling. If such a place were to be found in England I imagine it would be torn down and a memorial put in it's place but having something like this left as it was found really hammers home the awful truth of what people are capable of doing to each other.
The next day we head to the office of the Mehkong bus company to buy ourselves a ticket to the coast and discover just a couple of buildings away the most wonderful little Irish bar called 'The Green Vespa' and shock of all shocks - this one's actually owned by an Irishman! We stop for lunch and a chat with the owner and find out that every Sunday he cooks roast and this week it's roast pork. I know what I'll be having for dinner tonight then. That evening we return and I have the most heavenly roast pork (with crackling!), roast potatoes, cauliflower and carrots all swimming in a sea of lovely gravy. Oh, how I've missed my roast dinners! The owner asks where we're staying and when I mention "The Walkabout" he bursts out laughing.
"How the hell did you end up there?" he asks.
"It's in our guidebook!", we reply, "It says it's friendly and popular - how were we supposed to know they didn't mean friendly and popular they mean't "Friendly" and "Popular"?!!!"
We went back to 'The Green Vespa' for lunch the next day before heading 10 metres up the road to get the bus to our next destination, Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is on the south-west coast of Cambodia and we arrive after a very comfortable 4 hour journey. We check into the Orchidee Guesthouse for 4 nights. It only 2 minutes walk from the sea but also has it's own swimming pool if we're feeling particularly lazy.
The next day we head to the Vietnamese Consulate to apply for our visas. In Phnom Penh this costs US$43 and takes 24 hours. In Sihanoukville it costs US$33 and when I asked what time we should return the guy told us to have a seat, our visas will be ready in 10 minutes. How's that for service? It certainly makes a mockery of the week we had to wait in Sydney for our Indian visas! In the afternoon we defy laziness and take the long 2 minute walk down to the beach for a swim in the sea. I have to say (and I know this is going to make you jealous!) that I have never been in a sea as hot as this. Seriously, the word "warm" just doesn't do the temperature justice. This sea was luxuriously "hot". Actually that should really be "HOT" - in capitals!!!
The next day is spent entirely at the beach. We grab a couple of sun-loungers under a big palm parasol and settle down to a strenuous day of reading books, fresh coconut drinks and regular dips in the sea though unfortunately they don't have the usual effect of cooling us down here! The beach is 3km of palm-fringed soft white sand and is quite idyllic. The final stages in the building of an international airport are currently underway here in Sihanoukville and before long the tourists will be flocking to this little-known paradise from all over the world. I'm sure if I come back in 10 years the town will have changed out of all recognition from what it is now.
The following morning we enquire at the hotel about renting a couple of scooters. It costs us US$5 each for a Honda 125cc and we put US$1 worth of fuel in the tank which just about fills it up! We spend the day pootling about the town and nipping from beach to beach to decide which is the best (ours!) as there are half a dozen in the area. Mid-afternoon we head back to the hotel to relax in the pool which feels freezing compared to the sea!
On Friday 15th December we head east to the little town of Kampot. It's a former colonial retreat from the time when the French ruled Cambodia. Nowadays it looks tired and neglected and most of the French style buildings are in need of a bit of restorational work. We stay a couple of days and discover another great bar owned by an Englishman and called 'Rusty Keyhole'. The bar that is, not the owner. Well, he might be called Rusty Keyhole which would certainly be amusing but I think it's just the bar's name! I have barbecued pork ribs in a secret sauce (but which Lynn and I reckon is soy sauce and HP sauce) with jacket potatoes and it is just heavenly. I announce that as the meal was so good I'm coming straight back down tomorrow evening and having exactly the same thing again. Which, incidentally, is what I did!
In the daytime we hired a couple of scooters though this time they were in a terrible state and set off to explore the countryside. The scooters were delivered to the hotel for us and barely had enough fuel in their tanks to make it to the local petrol station to begin our outing. Infact, Lynn's didn't - it died out after 20 metres and she had to push it! None of the gauges worked so we had no idea how much fuel we had anyway. Or how fast we were going. Or for that matter how far we went that day. Anyway, the local petrol station was quite funny. It consisted of a roadside stall where you bought petrol in 2 litre pop bottles. We put 2 litres of "Sprite" in each of our tanks and that managed to see us through the day! We set off for the town of Kep which is supposed to be really nice but we didn't think much of it. Well, there wasn't much to think about to be fair. Kep consisted of a mucky little beach lined with wooden stalls selling cans of pop and locally caught seafood and half a dozen hotels and that was it. After a quick drink we decided we might aswell go. We tried to find some limestone caves which are supposedly the main attraction in this area but we couldn't find them even with the aid of a hand-drawn map given to us by the hotel owner. He had written all the names on it in Khmer so that we could show any locals and they could point the direction out to us but nobody seemed to know. After an hour going back and forth we gave up. They can't be THAT great we decide if nobody can even tell us where the bloody things are!
Yesterday, Sunday 17th December, we headed back to Phnom Penh from Kampot and checked into the 'California II Hotel' (not sure what happened to I but there is no California I hotel in Phnom Penh!) which thankfully has a slightly better reputation than 'The Walkabout'. Being a Sunday we thought we'd better return to the 'The Green Vespa' for our Sunday roast where we were greeted like long lost friends. After 2 roast lambs which were mouth-wateringly tasty and several beers we headed back to the hotel. I attempted to watch the Everton Vs Chelsea game on the TV but being slightly inebriated I only succeeded in falling asleep slumped over in the wicker chair.
And today? Well, as you know I will have spent all day in here typing out this little story. It's now 17:30 so there's just time to nip next door for a quick foot massage and then we're off to 'The Green Vespa' again where I'm having steak with melted blue cheese on top. Ohhh, all my favourite foods from home in the space of a week. Such bliss!!!
Tomorrow we are booked in for the 06:00 bus to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam where we shall be spending the next week. On the 23rd December we shall be joined there by my Uncle Chris and his son, Ross for what should hopefully be a cracking 2 week trip up through Vietnam to Hanoi.
So until then, have a good Christmas and enjoy your New Year's celebrations!
Rich
A week to go until Christmas and also our final day in the lovely country of Cambodia. I think therefore that it's time for an extended session in the internet cafe again!
Before I begin though I'd just like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I guess the work's Christmas parties have all been and gone and you're now desperately scouring the shops for those final few Christmas presents. I bet the rain, the wind and the grey skies are making frequent appearances too for all those back in the UK. After 10 months away do I wish I was there? Nope, not really!
Well, we've been in Cambodia for a little over 2 weeks now and on the whole it's been quite a wonderful experience. So, I guess I ought to let you know what we've been up to...
We left Bangkok and Thailand on Saturday 2nd December and it was a most unpleasant day. We had reserved a couple of tickets on the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia with a travel agency on the infamous (and quite awful) Khao San Road. We were told to be back at the travel agent's on the day of departure at 08:30 and the bus would pick us up from there. Incase of emergency we are given a mobile number. We arrive early but by 08:30 we are still the only people about and the agency is closed, the shutters down. At 08:40 we phone the number -
"Don't worry, is coming!" we get told curtly before the phone is put down.
At 08:50 a man comes huffing and puffing round the corner to announce he's here to put us on the bus before turning and charging off up the street again. We, of course, have 20 billion tonnes of baggage to carry so we lose him almost immmediately only to see a head and an arm beckoning from some far-off alleyway in the distance. What followed was a knackering 20 minute wild goose chase around the streets in the pursuit of a man who seemed to be doing his utmost to lose us. Eventually, dripping in sweat and just about ready to collapse we find ourselves standing with a few other sweaty foreigners on the slip-road to one of the main highways through the city.
"Ok, and now we wait." he announces. So we wait.
At 09:30 our bus finally arrives at this rather unconventional bus-stop but thankfully it's of the modern, comfortable, air-conditioned variety. It takes 4 hours to the border on a smooth road, the journey interrupted only to replace a wheel after we get a puncture about half way. At the border we get transferred to a little shuttle bus which ferries us to Thai customs. After an exit stamp in our passports we walk across no-man's land to the Cambodian customs office. One entry stamp later and we board another shuttle bus to take us to the bus-stop. Public transport is not allowed to cross between Thailand and Cambodia so we have to take a Cambodian bus the remainder of the way to Siem Reap. There were 16 of us on the big air-conditioned coach to the border. There are still 16 of us on the little mini-bus to Siem Reap. It is of the sort with little fold-down seats up the central aisle to fit more people in and no air-conditioning. Two of the tourists with us have 15 bags between them. The bags are enormous too, containing what seem to be wind-surfing boards and all the accompanying paraphenalia. All the bags have to go in the bus with us. There is no baggage hold under the main cabin like the other bus and not even a roof-rack up on top. It is cramped and with no air-conditioning and an outside temperature in the high 30's it is stiflingly hot. The road is a bright red haze of dust disappearing off through the trees and turns out to be full of grooves and bumps and holes. Every time a vehicle passes (maybe once every 5 - 10 seconds) a great cloud of choking, bright red dust engulfs us. The inside of the bus becomes thick with dust and heat. Nobody can see or breathe. People rub their eyes and lapse into coughing fits. Beads of sweat pour down everyone's chins and land in their laps. And we soon smell BAD!
The 7 hour journey to Siem Reap can't finish quickly enough. We stop off about halfway and I take a picture of Lynn. She is covered from head to foot in thick, red dirt. Despite the fact that I know I look the same, I am in hysterics at the sight of her and struggle to hold the camera still. She looks like a coal-miner when they emerge into daylight showing just white teeth and white eyes, everything else hidden by dirt and grime.
At 22:30 we get to Siem Reap, find a tuk-tuk driver who's prepared to take us to our hotel despite our scary looks and, once checked in, we can atlast indulge in a much needed shower. 15 hours after we were stood outside the travel agent's on Khao San Road in Bankgkok we finally crawl into bed to sleep.
The next day we have a wander around Siem Reap. It is a lovely, little town but due to the fact that one of the man-made wonders of the world - Angkor Wat - lies on it's doorstep, it is also being developed and expanded at an alarming speed. Tourists have really begun to rediscover this beautiful country in the last decade and it is now a major feature on the expensive package tour itineraries of South-east Asia. As a consequence, 5-star hotels are being built at such a rate that the half of the town nearest the small airport already looks more like Beverley Hills than the traditional, other half of the town.
We have arranged for our tuk-tuk driver to come and pick us up at 16:30 to take us to get our tickets for Angkor Wat. Most of the package tourists get the 1-day pass to Angkor Wat and do the whistle-stop tour of the main temples before jetting off to their next destination. We opt for getting a US$40 3-day pass to give us time to fully appreciate this amazing site. The 3-day pass starts tomorrow but if you buy the ticket after 17:00 the day before then you get a sunset visit thrown in for free that evening!
I wasn't aware before arriving here just how big Angkor Wat actually is. Get this - the full site is over 100 square miles. That's ONE HUNDRED square miles!!! The main temple complex that people associate as being Angkor Wat is actually just the primary temple but there are many, many more in this vast 9th Century city. I won't go into too much detail about the numerous temples and sites we were priveleged enough to visit during our 3-day tour of Angkor Wat. For those who have been lucky enough to come here you'll already know the extraordinary beauty and scale of these places. For those who haven't been, I guess the names will mean nothing but our favourite sites were Bayon with it's huge, stone buddha heads; Ta Prohm which is incredibly photogenic due to the enormous 'strangler fig' trees that are growing within the ruins but in doing so are slowly detroying them by tearing the stones apart with their thick roots and also we really liked the temple of Ta Som. Ta Som is another impressive construction with an enormous tree growing out of the roof of the east gate. It will soon collapse in on itself as the tree slowly engulfs the intricate stonework but until then it is a photo classic!
In total I took somewhere in the region of 1,000 photos in those 3 days. If you want to book a week off work maybe I can show you them all when we get back home! In the meantime I'm still hoping I can find an internet cafe that will let me add some to this blogsite so I can show you 2 or 3 but since I've been looking for such a place ever since we left New Zealand, I wouldn't hold your breath.
Whilst in Siem Reap we also took a boat trip to Lake Tonle Sap which lies 15km south of the town. The lake is enormous, more like an inland sea really. The sky was terribly dark and gloomy when we left for the lake but our tuk-tuk driver assured us it would not rain. Ten minutes into the trip the heavens opened.
There are many rivers and tributaries into the lake and picturesque stilted, wooden houses line the banks. Kids play in the water and livestock graze on the grass whilst parents prepare dinner or mend bicycles under the house. We stopped off at a floating catfish and crocodile farm on the lake before heading back to shore. Thankfully for the catfish they shared separate pools to their toothier farmyard companions!
Back at the hotel that evening it started to rain again. There is a hurricane in the south of Vietnam and here in Siem Reap we are just about on the edge of it. The rain is being lashed into the side of the hotel by the strong winds. As I'm lying in bed, the rain and wind are so strong outside that I imagine I can actually feel the water landing on top of me. To my horror I suddenly realise it's not my imagination at all - I CAN feel the rain landing on top of me! I look up to see water coming through the big airvent as if I'm standing under the bathroom shower and it's going all over me and the bed. It is also running down the wall in rivulets and spreading out across the floor. We drag the bed across the room to safety and throw everything from the floor on top of it and then Lynn goes to get the manager. He soon comes to our rescue armed with 2 chairs and a towel.
"Put your bags on chair", he announces, "then you have bed free for good night's sleep!"
"He's bloody hoping!", I think. The towel is spread out in the wettest part under the vent. Thankfully the storm lasts little more than half an hour before we cautiously climb into bed and go to sleep, hoping that we won't get rained on again before we wake up. Luckily we don't.
On Friday 8th December we head to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city and 5.5 hours to the south-east. The bus is modern and comfortable and thankfully so is the road. We have reserved a room at "The Walkabout" in central Phnom Penh, a bar/restaurant/hotel which our guidebook describes as "friendly and popular". With certain single, young men we discover that it is! Later on that evening we come to the conclusion that we are probably the first people to rent a room here for the full night instead of just an hour or two! It's actually a nice room costing only US$12 and providing you don't mind the banging headboard and giggling noises coming from the surrounding rooms it's not too bad a place. We have air-conditioning, satellite TV, a fridge and a private bathroom. Lynn and I rename it "The Putitabout" on account of it's nightly activities and with the bar being a 24 hour one it really is all night!
The next morning we eat breakfast amongst the foreign men and their recently paid for Cambodian "girlfriends" whilst we wait for our taxi driver to arrive. He phones to say he'll be half an hour late because he's stuck at the airport so we pass the time trying not to talk to a completely insane French bloke who's intent on talking to us. The conversation is 95% wild gesticulation and flying globules of spit on his part and 100% nodding, ducking (to avoid the spit) and looking uncomfortable on our part. Thankfully our driver soon turns up and we make a hasty exit. We find out later that the mad Frenchman is the owner of "The Putitabout"!
We have a day of sight-seeing ahead of us today and the first stop is to the National Musuem. The exhibits have only the briefest of information to accompany them - where they were found and approximately when they were made - so we don't really gain much from the visit. After that we head to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which are remarkably similar to the beautiful royal palace and temple in Bangkok. They even have their own emerald buddha that, again, you can just about see through binoculars!
Third visit of the day is to Wat Phnom, a temple on a small hill in the heart of the city. The steps leading up to the temple are lined with beggars and most of them appear to be landmine victims judging by all the missing limbs. It is a sad fact that Cambodia is still littered with landmines from the Vietnam war and every year, even now, 30-odd years later a significant number of new casualties are added to the long list of landmine victims. We spend only 2 minutes at Wat Phnom which I rename "Wat For?" The temple is significant purely because the city was named after it rather than vice-versa but otherwise I don't think it's worthy of a visit. Infact, it is the first "attraction" that I can recall visiting where I didn't feel the urge to take even one single photograph!
Next stop is 15km southwest to 'Choeung Ek', better known as 'The Killing Fields'. In the early to mid 70's Cambodia was taken over by an ultra-communist group called the Khmer Rouge led by the infamous Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge were responsible for some of the most horrific atrocities ever witnessed. This peaceful orchard called Choeung Ek was the execution ground for torture victims from the S-21 Khkmer Rouge prison. There is now a big memorial tower on the site which contains the cracked and bludgeoned skulls of over 8,000 victims dug up from the mass graves found in the area. Walking around this peaceful park I found it really hard to comprehend that only 25 - 30 years ago, and still within my lifetime, such barbaric acts were carried out here. We found a tree that was labelled up as where the Khmer Rouge tortured children in sight of their families before killing them and then the rest of the family. Despite the fact that over 8,000 bodies have been exhumed, many more still lie buried in unmarked mass graves in the ground. Rather disturbingly as you walk around you see rags and crumbling bones protuding from the grass.
In all nearly 3 million people (25% of the population) died during the Khmer Rouge years, many through disease and starvation which is what I really remember seeing on TV when I was a child.
After our sobering visit to Choeung Ek we return to Phnom Penh and visit the 'S-21 Torture and Interrogation Centre' itself to give it it's full, former name. Now renamed the 'Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide' this former Khmer Rouge prison is quite the most moving place I think I've ever seen. A former High School, the Khmer Rouge surrounded the place in high fences and electrified barbed wire and turned it into one of the most brutal torture prisons ever. In total more than 20,000 innocent victims were taken and tortured here before being led to their deaths in the Killing Fields. When the Khmer Rouge were finally defeated and this former prison was discovered by the outside world 14 dead prisoners were found in their cells, tortured and beaten and left to rot. The place has been left almost as it was found back then. The former classrooms that were turned into cells still remain as they were. In some there are still the iron beds surrounded by the chains and torture instruments and on the walls of each cell is a picture of the body that was found in it when the door was opened. It really numbs you to see something like this and defies all comprehension as to how anyone could do this to all these innocent people.
The Khmer Rouge were very methodical in their records and kept accounts and photos of all their prisoners. Some of the classrooms now contain hundreds and hundreds of photos of terrified prisoners, arms tied behind their backs, having a last photo taken before being led off to be exterminated.
It was a truly terrible place and to be able to walk around such a building knowing what went on within it is chilling. If such a place were to be found in England I imagine it would be torn down and a memorial put in it's place but having something like this left as it was found really hammers home the awful truth of what people are capable of doing to each other.
The next day we head to the office of the Mehkong bus company to buy ourselves a ticket to the coast and discover just a couple of buildings away the most wonderful little Irish bar called 'The Green Vespa' and shock of all shocks - this one's actually owned by an Irishman! We stop for lunch and a chat with the owner and find out that every Sunday he cooks roast and this week it's roast pork. I know what I'll be having for dinner tonight then. That evening we return and I have the most heavenly roast pork (with crackling!), roast potatoes, cauliflower and carrots all swimming in a sea of lovely gravy. Oh, how I've missed my roast dinners! The owner asks where we're staying and when I mention "The Walkabout" he bursts out laughing.
"How the hell did you end up there?" he asks.
"It's in our guidebook!", we reply, "It says it's friendly and popular - how were we supposed to know they didn't mean friendly and popular they mean't "Friendly" and "Popular"?!!!"
We went back to 'The Green Vespa' for lunch the next day before heading 10 metres up the road to get the bus to our next destination, Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is on the south-west coast of Cambodia and we arrive after a very comfortable 4 hour journey. We check into the Orchidee Guesthouse for 4 nights. It only 2 minutes walk from the sea but also has it's own swimming pool if we're feeling particularly lazy.
The next day we head to the Vietnamese Consulate to apply for our visas. In Phnom Penh this costs US$43 and takes 24 hours. In Sihanoukville it costs US$33 and when I asked what time we should return the guy told us to have a seat, our visas will be ready in 10 minutes. How's that for service? It certainly makes a mockery of the week we had to wait in Sydney for our Indian visas! In the afternoon we defy laziness and take the long 2 minute walk down to the beach for a swim in the sea. I have to say (and I know this is going to make you jealous!) that I have never been in a sea as hot as this. Seriously, the word "warm" just doesn't do the temperature justice. This sea was luxuriously "hot". Actually that should really be "HOT" - in capitals!!!
The next day is spent entirely at the beach. We grab a couple of sun-loungers under a big palm parasol and settle down to a strenuous day of reading books, fresh coconut drinks and regular dips in the sea though unfortunately they don't have the usual effect of cooling us down here! The beach is 3km of palm-fringed soft white sand and is quite idyllic. The final stages in the building of an international airport are currently underway here in Sihanoukville and before long the tourists will be flocking to this little-known paradise from all over the world. I'm sure if I come back in 10 years the town will have changed out of all recognition from what it is now.
The following morning we enquire at the hotel about renting a couple of scooters. It costs us US$5 each for a Honda 125cc and we put US$1 worth of fuel in the tank which just about fills it up! We spend the day pootling about the town and nipping from beach to beach to decide which is the best (ours!) as there are half a dozen in the area. Mid-afternoon we head back to the hotel to relax in the pool which feels freezing compared to the sea!
On Friday 15th December we head east to the little town of Kampot. It's a former colonial retreat from the time when the French ruled Cambodia. Nowadays it looks tired and neglected and most of the French style buildings are in need of a bit of restorational work. We stay a couple of days and discover another great bar owned by an Englishman and called 'Rusty Keyhole'. The bar that is, not the owner. Well, he might be called Rusty Keyhole which would certainly be amusing but I think it's just the bar's name! I have barbecued pork ribs in a secret sauce (but which Lynn and I reckon is soy sauce and HP sauce) with jacket potatoes and it is just heavenly. I announce that as the meal was so good I'm coming straight back down tomorrow evening and having exactly the same thing again. Which, incidentally, is what I did!
In the daytime we hired a couple of scooters though this time they were in a terrible state and set off to explore the countryside. The scooters were delivered to the hotel for us and barely had enough fuel in their tanks to make it to the local petrol station to begin our outing. Infact, Lynn's didn't - it died out after 20 metres and she had to push it! None of the gauges worked so we had no idea how much fuel we had anyway. Or how fast we were going. Or for that matter how far we went that day. Anyway, the local petrol station was quite funny. It consisted of a roadside stall where you bought petrol in 2 litre pop bottles. We put 2 litres of "Sprite" in each of our tanks and that managed to see us through the day! We set off for the town of Kep which is supposed to be really nice but we didn't think much of it. Well, there wasn't much to think about to be fair. Kep consisted of a mucky little beach lined with wooden stalls selling cans of pop and locally caught seafood and half a dozen hotels and that was it. After a quick drink we decided we might aswell go. We tried to find some limestone caves which are supposedly the main attraction in this area but we couldn't find them even with the aid of a hand-drawn map given to us by the hotel owner. He had written all the names on it in Khmer so that we could show any locals and they could point the direction out to us but nobody seemed to know. After an hour going back and forth we gave up. They can't be THAT great we decide if nobody can even tell us where the bloody things are!
Yesterday, Sunday 17th December, we headed back to Phnom Penh from Kampot and checked into the 'California II Hotel' (not sure what happened to I but there is no California I hotel in Phnom Penh!) which thankfully has a slightly better reputation than 'The Walkabout'. Being a Sunday we thought we'd better return to the 'The Green Vespa' for our Sunday roast where we were greeted like long lost friends. After 2 roast lambs which were mouth-wateringly tasty and several beers we headed back to the hotel. I attempted to watch the Everton Vs Chelsea game on the TV but being slightly inebriated I only succeeded in falling asleep slumped over in the wicker chair.
And today? Well, as you know I will have spent all day in here typing out this little story. It's now 17:30 so there's just time to nip next door for a quick foot massage and then we're off to 'The Green Vespa' again where I'm having steak with melted blue cheese on top. Ohhh, all my favourite foods from home in the space of a week. Such bliss!!!
Tomorrow we are booked in for the 06:00 bus to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam where we shall be spending the next week. On the 23rd December we shall be joined there by my Uncle Chris and his son, Ross for what should hopefully be a cracking 2 week trip up through Vietnam to Hanoi.
So until then, have a good Christmas and enjoy your New Year's celebrations!
Rich
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