Welcome to Cambodia. A view of Angkor Wat, the lost city of the Khmer's from 800AD to 1400AD. Amazing place!
Date: 2ndth March
Well, after white water rafting we were SUPPOSED to catch a boat to the Cambodian border, then catch the early fast boat on its way to Phnom Penh. As you may well have guessed we didn't make it!
It appears trying to get into a waterfall on a raft 3 times took too long, so we missed all the boats to the border, except 1, and he wanted $50US to take us! HAH!! So we stayed in the border town for a night. Strange thing was the border town didn't have a guest house, so we almost had to return to island we stayed at the night before. BUT then, a local guy pointed out there was an "expensive" guest house down the road, so we thought "bugger it" and trundled off. After a 5 minute walk we ofund the guest house, got the pricve down to A reasonable $7 a night and as I went for a bath in the river with the guys, Anna went for a shower. Later, over a strange conversation with one of the family, we found out our Laos language wasn't working too well... hmmm...
After supping a couple of beers and watching the whole family watch karaoke DVD's for 2 hours, we went to bed.
"Sorry my friend! $50US for 2 or for 5! You have to wait for 3 more tourists!"
Great.
It was also at this point we noticed we noly had about $50 betqween us to get us to Phnom Penh. There aren't any banks or ATM's or VISA opportunities in Cambodia till then. Oh dear! That means no food and no accomodation on the way. Oh well, we'll have to see what happens...
"It's SATURDAY! Overtime, yeah?!"
Yeah, right. Cheers.
And then it was into the speed boast, which are really just colourful planks of wood with very large engines on them. Who's sat behind me, but the Colonel from last night!
After an hour of hair-raising speed down the Mekong, dodging trees, rocks, sandbanks and fishermen at top speed, we finally arrive at Strung Treng in just enough time to have missed our connecting boat by 2 hours. Fantastic. we now have $30US to get us to Phnom Penh and we're supposed to make an unexpected stop in a village with nothing going for it.
So, what we did was...
find ourselves a pick-up truck, 7 other tourists, a couple of armed guards (the police commissioner of the region, no less!) and we set off on a 5 hour journey down one of THE worst roads in Cambodia! I have never seen pot-holes that you could fit a hole vehicle in before! The dust got everywhere, the sun beat donw, burning us all to a crisp within a couple of hours, but it was all worth it for the sights of some of the untocuhed villages and happy kids waving at us from bamboo shacks. We were a bit shaken and I think Anna thought we might die on more than one occasion. BUt although it is reputed to be one of he more dangerous raods in the country (concerning bandits!) we had no trouble and got to Kratie by evening.
Happily, we met a small child, who owned a guest house or 2 AND knew a gold
merchant/jeweller who would change travellers cheques. We only paid 3% commission too! Thank the Lord! After we got the readies, we kinda splurged on food, we hadn't eaten for about 24 hours and had sparingly sipped water for the last 10. We were due a feed.
Next mornig we rose early (again) and CAUGHT the boat to Phnom Penh. Finally.
We didn't have too long here as our time is running out, so we quickly organised a trip (Well Anna did. I sat near a loo as my stomach had just started to erupt like a small Mt Etna) to the 2 things we wanted to see, "The Killing Fields" and "S21"
S21
The fun part of S21 is getting there. As soon as you set foot outside your guesthouse you're basically attacked form all sid by "MOTODRIVERS"!! They promise you the world and his wife for $2 and the chance to show you the most harrowing part of their recent history.
The Killing Fields
Thsi is perjhaps the most notorious place in all of Cambodia. This is where the prisoners (mostly from S21) were taken and both beaten , then killed (usually) before being buried in small but deep pits. Walking around here, the atmosphere is very grim, as you may guess. In the centre is a memorial to the victims, a collection of skulls bones and clothing, dug up in 1980. Horrible. And the pits have remained empty of soil since the removal of the remainsd in 1980; in some clothing still remains in the dirt.
Although neither of these place are a fun place to see, it's important in order for us to realise what the locals went through and hence their struggles and personalities of today.
You can also, after visiting these places, go visit the "Shooting Range", where for US dollars, you can shoot the gun of your choice. THat means pretty much anything that you can hold in your hand, including rocket launchers for abotu $300! In Cambodia, anything goes!
Anyhow, Phnom Penh isn't what you'd call a beautiful city. It's set on the banks of the Tonle Sep river and there are a few nice temples and the the golden royal palace. None of which we actually visited. We did visit a few pubs and best of all, I found a cafe that served APPLE CRUMBLE AND REAL ENGLISH CUSTARD! How could I refuse?!
We only spent a couple of days in the city before catching the fast (but safish and comfy) boat to Siem Reap, the gateway city to Angkor Wat.
As we're in the middle of the dry season, the boat can no longer reach the coity limits, so you basically get onto a smaller boat when you reach these amazing floating villages at the north of Tonle Sap lake. The wee boats then gets you down to the end of the river where there are literally hundreds of locals eagerly anticipating you getting off the boat and joining them in the 18km ride to their guesthouse. It's not too bad (except for the clamouring of people asking for your business) as you get a free 18km taxi ride. They also sell you tours on the way, their way of making up the loss of the trip to the boat docks.
BUT, the one thing thats really on your mind at this moment of dis-embarking, is getting the hell away from THE SMELL!!
It's like nothing else I've ever smelt. They do a lot of fishing around here, so the first recognisable smell is rotting fish. But this just underlies the other interesting nasal experiences yet to come. There is no sewage treament here, so guess the next one. Then they don't seem to understand "garbage" or it's removal from around your dwellings.
Me (Carl) being slightly obsessed with ancient cultures, persuaded Anna that a 3 day pass was the only way forward and so after seeign the sun dip behind a cloud, we set off back to the guesthouse knowing that we had another 3 sunsets to watch before leaving...
I shan't bore you all with the details ("Why the change I hear you ask?!" Bloody cheek!) but the whole temple complex is truly magnificent. To think these guys built such a huge complex over the years from 800AD onwards is Fantastic. In fact, the local people don't believe they did, they were apparently built by either aliens or Demis-gods.
Angkor Thom (nothing to do with his majesty Thom Yorke)
After 3 days of glorious sunshine and unbearable heat, we finally left the ruins in a clapped out mini-bus, along the northern road to Thailand. Although not even close to the dis-repair of the "pick-up road to Kratie", the road is still pretty bad and after a few (5-ish) hours of bouncing around on an un-cushioned seat, breathing in half of the dust of Cambodia, we finally got out at the border and walked to Thailand.
Link to next chapter...Thailand.. The Return of the CHEDI!
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Text by: Carlos
why not, You may ask. The answer was simple. We'd already crossed the border into Cambodia, and were not only now speaking a whole differwent language, but were sharing accomodation with the colonel of the local Cambodian Army, who came over to chat with us. GULP! Nice fellah actually. Told us how much to pay for everything, the best way to get to Phnom Penh and that he'd happily accompany us as he was also going the next day. Cheers Mate!
Next morning we walked back to Laos and tried getting one fo the 3 boats available at for the border crossing.
Then, the tourist bus from Don Det arrives... with exactly 5 tourists. We're still stuck! However, after a little bargaining and hedging our bets, we convince the captians of the boats to take 7 of us on 2 boats for $10 each and we finally head off for the border control.
The border here is still a little unofficial, so instead of being sent through with a smile and a wave, you have tio sit down for 20minutes whilst they stamp your passprot with several different stamps (the wrong ones in the German guys case!) and then hold onto your passport until you pay $5 each.
Kratie
Phnom Penh
After you've paid your money (we paid extra $1 for air-con car!) you're driven out to what used to be a school, beofer the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975. Then it was turned inot the more sinister "Death camp, S21". The place has been pretty much left as it was since the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia in 1979, except there are now phoots around the walls of the victims. And it's very disturbing, especially to hear of the atrocities committed from old guards and prisoners alike. Phnom Penh>
After all that we decided to mgo ashopping in the centre, got hassled by one-legged men, selling War books, hassled by women trying to sell us anything whatsoever and then hassled by MOTODRIVERS when we tried to get home! Anna has been close to thumping quite a few of them! BUt then they're just so friendly, smiley and dmaned helpful! What can you do. Siem Reap... 7th March
The animals live around the huts, so the smell of pigs, their food, their dung and well, the smell of pigs generally, and of course chickens. Add a generous helping of diesel fumes from the 50 minibuses running their engines, and a strangely compelling taste of local cuisine left on the oven too long and your almost there. Now, multiply that smell by about a hundred and fall over faint. Disgusting!
In the face of the steamingly horrid smell, we jumped into the first mini-bus on offer and set off the 18km to the city of Siem Reap (means "Defeat of the Siamese") and hopefully a comfy bed.
And starngely, after all this place is world famous, the centre looks like a road of tourist shops and guesthouses/hotels. So for $5 we found an exellent place to stya for a few days, and also a couple fo MOTO drivers to guide us around the ruins. In fact, by 4.30pm we'd already been whisked away by our drivers to watch the sunset over "Angkor Wat" the most famous of the temlples. Angkor Wat
Highlights...
...Bayon (inside Angkor Thom)
...Elephant and Leper king Terraces (also inside Agkor Thom)
Angkor Wat
Banteay Srei (Anna's fave... mostly beacuse it was built for dwarves!)
And so many others! I'll bore you with pictures at some time in the future!
Leaving Kampuchea
What am I doing here??
Who am I??
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