Cambodia

Entering Cambodia at the Voen Kham/Dom Kralor border, it was not a surprise to just come across a wooden hut and a barrier for immigration and customs. What was surprising was the border guard perusing through a "black list" for each country and seeing Gary Glitters name at the top of the UK section. Thankfully we all got through easily, even the travellers that didn't have a visa - you just need 20 dollars and a passport photo.

We were welcomed with torrential rain and as a result of the vehicles being swapped at the Laos border our now very dodgy vehicle (slick tyres) was leaking terribly and we were squeezing in a few locals on the way - so much for "VIP" transport.

Kratie

We decided not to stop in Stung Treng as we were warned that the road to Banlung is never ending at this time of the year - the day's weather being a perfect example of "wet season". So we piled back into the minibus after our "30 mins" lunch break, which ended up being 2 hours. We reached Kratie late afternoon and quite happily booked into the guesthouse where the mini bus dropped us off. You Hong Guesthouse is clean, has cheap internet, travel info, a restaurant - seemed a bargain at 5 dollars. For a few others on the mini bus a stay in Kratie was forced upon them, the driver refusing to continue to Phnom Penh. A local mentioned that it's the new scam although having said this, the next night the passengers arriving from the border did leave for Phnom Penh but probably wished that they hadn't - we were later told by one of them that it was not a pleasant journey, the driver was wanting to get forty winks on the way and regularly needed a shove..

We hired bicycles the next morning and cycled along the river front for 16 km's or so to Kampi- very pleasant scenery and lovely to be greeted by so many people. Clearly the Cambodians are as welcoming as the Lao people. We hired a boat for 5 dollars, the purpose of our boat trip was to track down the Irrawaddy dolphins. Although it did not look promising at the start we actually came across the dolphins within 30 mins.

Apparently there are only between 80 - 100 of these fresh water dolphins left in the Mekong. Previously they were hunted for their oils and were used as target practice during the control of the Kymer Rouge. Now things such as pollution, boat traffic, over fishing threaten their existence.

Although we were chuffed to actually see the dolphins, it's not quite the same as dolphins out at sea, riding the surf - these guys simply bob up for air every so often - have got lots of fin shots, nothing else! Well worth the trip, especially if you can get out into the water when no-one else is around - I think we were just lucky with the timing.

Half way into the ride back to town we stopped at one of the 'French-Colonial' style houses to say hello to the cows that live there - the locals seem much more content to live in traditional wooden houses, rather than the concrete ones.....I guess the cows are also pleased with that arrangement. Or maybe they don't have an-udder place to go. See, I said it would be funny from time to time.

No other plans to do anything else in Kratie, the town/market area is pretty unappealing.

Phnom Penh

Next morning, 'pleased' to be woken at 4.48am to some repetitive chanting through a loud-loudspeaker - it went on until we bothered to get out of bed and went for breakfast. It carried on, but glad we asked our host what was going on (it seemed similar to what you hear in an Islamic country) - apparently it's a tradition after someone has died.

The VIP bus took us to Phnom Penh that morning, with a curious scifi/kungfu movie to enjoy along the way. Didn't understand a bit of it.

Arrived at the bus station near the railway station, and couldn't believe the number of people (tuktuk/moto drivers specifically) queuing up to get a fare from the passengers on the bus. Not scary as such, probably more irritating, but no problems and we soon got a $1 ride to the 'Okay' guesthouse, which is actually pretty good. Again, a cheap room ($5, private bathroom/ceiling fan/no bugs) and good food here, Movies shown throughout the day and evening, generating a good crowd.

The guesthouse is well placed and just a 10 minute stroll to the 'main' area along the riverfront, which is quite pleasant and nicer than we expected. Whilst we were aware of the need to be a little extra careful (security etc) in Phnom Penh, the nice lady from the Kiwi Bakery (great pizza, but a medium is plenty for 2, unless you want cold pizza for breakfast) showed us what happens to tourists walking along the riverbank after dark - cue 'knife to the throat' action.... We took a tuktuk home that evening!, and put our valuables in the safe.

Next morning we walked up to the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, former school and infamous 'S21' site. The Khmer Rouge turned the school into a prison/interrogation site, where more than 17000 people (men, women, children) were held and tortured, before being taken out to the extermination camp at Choeung Ek - 'The Killing Fields'. There were many such places as S21 across Cambodia.

Difficult to know what to say about S21, perhaps 'hell on earth' would still fall short of what it may have been like for the 'innocent' people held there. Particularly gruesome are the torture rooms, containing a metal bed and shackles, as well as old photographs of the last 14 people to be killed there before the Vietnamese arrived. The blood stains, still clearly visible on the floor.....walls.....ceilings. Appalling, and only 30 years ago - more appallingly, the world today doesn't seem to have moved on much further....in fact, have we moved on at all?? Answers on a postcard....

Anyone interested in knowing more about this, and what happened in Cambodia in the 70's, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum

Feeling thoroughly depressed, we walked, in silence, to the Russian market, which is named so as it was a place that the Russians shopped in the 80's - a big place, but stall after stall selling the usual stuff. And it was like a sauna in there.

Later in the afternoon, went on to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda - very ornate and interesting - the gardens also very peaceful, despite a fair number of tourists.

Chuckled lightly at an Adam Sandler film that night.

The next day we followed up the Genocide Museum visit to head out to the Killing Fields themselves, 13km out of town. Thankfully the site has been kept thoughtfully basic, but it still is a horrible place, as you walk your way around the numerous mass graves. In 1980, 8985 bodies were exhumed from 86 graves, but many more graves remain untouched. Sorry to be graphic, but we learn that people ferried from the prison to here were shot (if they were lucky), but most struck on the back of the head and had their throats slit - many were buried alive.. Perhaps more sickeningly, the fate of children came with being beaten against a tree. I'm sure that there are many other sickening acts that we remain oblivious to. The main 'exhibit' is a monument to those who were killed, containing thousands of skulls and a pile of clothes.

Just as we left the KF site, our tuktuk driver asked us if we were interested in going to the shooting range (AK-47's - $1 a bullet, $200 for a go on a rocket launcher...) nearby - sounds interesting, but doesn't seem quite right....

Needing a feelgood hit, we took up the tuktuk drivers offer of going to a local orpanage (Poor Street Children and Orphan Training Centre, run by Pat Noun). Armed with a bag of pens and exercise books we arrived to the biggest smiles of the day. We managed to speak to quite a few of the children, their English is pretty good - they seem a very content bunch, despite their troubled (whichever way you look at it) upbringing. There's about 140 kids there, all ages, though not all seemed to be around - they can come and go as they please. Really glad we came, though left feeling very spoilt by the way we live - hence we gave a man and his family who live out of a shopping cart some money for dinner. A mere drop in the ocean.

Sihanoukville

Poured with rain through most of the journey to the South Coast and Sihanoukville - felt a little scared that our onward journey to our next hostel would be on the back of a motorbike, in the rain and strong wind. Of course, here telling the tale, so it wasn't all that bad.

Stayed at Makara Guesthouse, which is a hop and a skip from Occheutal (something like that!) Beach. It's a nice place, good rooms ($5, private bath, fan etc), and again, good food.

Still raining after lunch, but light enough to take a walk. in waterproofs, along the empty beach. Apart from a couple of dogs.

Next morning the weather was better, well, dry at least. The beach was still quite quiet and the water a little choppy, but nice warm water.

Hadn't been settled too long before the various sellers came our way - massage, bracelets, manicure, food etc

Spent a couple of hours in the sun before taking a walk towards the other side of the bay, and Weather Hill Station. We were offered rides by various moto drivers along the way, all fairly surprised that we were walking a supposed 8 km's. We got there eventually, through monkeys and grumpy dogs, and yes, it must have been about 8k's.

Managed to track down a tasty Indian (restaurant) for lunch, and arrived just in time to see the heavens open fully. Also found a couple of dusty cans of A&W Rootbeer (yum) in a supermarket. The Curry Pot restaurant is great, though we had to wait a while for the food, but glad to get freshly cooked stuff, well worth the wait.

Walked the main road back, and picked up chocolate M&M's on the way - perfect end to the afternoon.

Day 3 in Sihanoukville and it wasn't long at the beach before we were rained off - unfortunately, we really did get the timing wrong for Cambodian beaches, and wet season! Chris played some noughts and crosses with a sadistic youth who had a pet crab-on-a-string. We managed to free said crab. Also witnessed a mass 'baptism' in the water - lots of jolly songs, and dunkings.

Weather dried up a little later and we enjoyed late afternoon watching the sunset, eating some fresh pineapple. Chris bought a book about Pol Pot's regime from a man who lost a leg, probably (his English not so good), to a landmine. One of many hundreds each year who continue to be maimed (most don't actually kill, that's not what they're supposed to do) by landmines. It seems that most of the landmines affecting daily life out here are American made/laid (these things can stay in the ground for decades and remain fully active), but not sure what they are doing to sort it out.

Day 4 - more rain, though managed to get some time on the beach. The storm clouds making the water a curious turquoise colour. Still plagued by people wanting us to buy their souvenirs.

We had planned to spend more time down here by the coast, but our run of luck with the weather made up our minds to head off the next day. Would have been nice to do one of the trips to the neighbouring islands, but didn't look like the weather would be changing much, so decided to head off, to Kampot.

Kampot

Despite being a fairly popular spot on the tourist trail, there doesn't seem to be a public bus/private bus that goes from Sihanoukville to Kampot, so we take our chances in a shared taxi, for the 2 hour ride.

The road is fine all the way and the trip pretty uneventful, though a bit of a squash. with 4 of us in the back, 2 in the front passenger seat and finally the driver sharing his seat with one other.

Stayed at the Mealy Chendra guesthouse ($4, private bath, fan - pretty grotty, but friendly staff and a good place to book tours and transport. Food fine). The gh is a massive building, and could be sooo much better and a real attraction in the area - maybe they have plans. There's still no roof restaurant, that's mentioned as 'upcoming' in the 2004 Lonely Planet.

Kampot itself is fairly mundane within the town itself, though the buildings/architcture very interesting and we enjoyed some time sitting by the river, looking out to the hills. Huge downpour in the afternoon - haven't seen so much rain for a long long time.

The main draw for us going to Kampot was a visit to Bokor Hill Station. 9 of us squeezed on to a pickup for the interesting, but gruelling 2 and a half hour journey up the bumpy track to the summit (about 1080 metres). The Station itself is a collection of abandoned (but still standing)buildings from early 20th century (either 20's or 40's) and built as a retreat from the heat at sea level. The main attraction is the abandoned hotel, which was an amazing building in its day, but an interesting building to search through now - in fact, a little spooky - it's supposed to be haunted...

Had a really nice picnic lunch in, what would have been, the hotel lobby, before heading off to the abandoned Catholic church, then on to the waterfall. Not quite the falls we were expecting, but pretty big and we had to walk across (knee height) water on slippery stones just a few feet from the edge of the first step of the falls - both of us a little apprehensive, about dying.

One thing that helped the day so far was the rain keeping away - perhaps it was all used up yesterday. It did start to split a little on the way down, but it did keep our minds off the pain and discomfort of the bumpy track back down. At the time of writing (5th October - this was about 10 days ago), Chris still has a big bruise on her big bum - I check it every day.

As we said, not much else in Kampot for us to see, so back on the local bus (the long way around) to Phnom Penh, just for one night and to break up the journey to Siem Reap. Didn't do too much in PP, before moving one early next morning to Siem Reap.

Siem Reap

5 hours on the road to SR, but glad we had booked ahead our stay at the Hello Guesthouse, where we got a free pick up. We thought it was mobbed when we first arrived in Phnom Penh, but 10 times worse here. Soon spotted our name on a card and on our way.

The Hello gh is very clean, family run, The folks there are very friendly and helpful - food good too, though a little more expensive than its sister guesthouse (Okay) in Phnom Penh. Treated ourselves to hot water and a tv this time - $6 a night.

That afternoon, we visited the Landmine Musuem, a small set up by a guy who devotes his time to help clearing landmines in Cambodia, and around the world. He, Mr Aki Ra, seems to be a celebrity in Landmine circles. The museum is also a home for 16 youngsters affected in some way (mostly the direct effect of a landmine explosion) by mines.

Despite its basic set up, the museum has lots of information about the work of the mine clearers and the site itself has hundreds and hundreds of deactivated landmine casings hanging around. There is also a list of the 42 countries who have signed up to the 2004 landmine agreement - the US not yet on there, amongst other notables....

Met a brave little chap who had lost an arm, but still smiles and tells us his favourite lessons are maths - he also enjoys playing volleyball with his mates at the home.

After the museum, our tuktuk driver took us to get our pass for Angkor Wat area for the next 3 days ($40), but it allows us to get in after 5pm today.

Went to Angkor Wat itself, but the overcast weather does very little to help the building stand out, although it's still an awesome sight and clearly standing by its credentials of being the world's biggest religious site. Of course, for attraction number one in Cambodia, there will also be a mass of tourists.... Didn't stay too long this evening, ahead of the prospect of the next 3 days visiting temple after temple (sorry, don't mean to sound too 'anti' ).

First full day in Siem Reap and instead of hiring a tuktuk for the day (the dozens of temple sites are very spread out, covering many many square km's), we went the environmentally friendly route and took cycles. Purely by chance, Paul's had working gears and Chris's had a squeeky chain.

We won't go into boring (aah, relief) detail about each of the temple sites we visited, but each had its own charms and is a really fascinating place, even for those (Paul) who quickly tire of temple-stuff. Highlights for us - the Bayon at Angkor Thom, the Elephant Terrace. All in all, we covered about 38km's on the road, and completed the 'big' circuit, stopping at most of the sites.

The nightlife in Siem Reap is surprisingly active, and it all seems to happen around the Bar Street area. This street is closed off to traffic at either end in the evenings, so a good place to stagger around in safety. Oh, and you don't have to look far to get a draft beer for 25 cents! Great curry at the Kama Sutra restaurant, if not a bit pricey.

Day 2 and we spend the morning relaxing in the rare sunshine at the Angkor Holiday Hotel. where we get nigh-on exclusive use of their pool and gym - no-one else seems to be around. A very nice way to spend the morning, and a snip at $5. In the PM we grab a tuktuk to take us back into the temple area and specifically to Angkor Thom, Ta Phrom, and hoped to catch a bit of sunset at Angkor Wat - no chance, clouds go against us...again!

Day 3 and the final day of our Angkor ticket - we (strangely) agreed that we should take a tuktuk all 80km's out to Beng Mealea - Paul didn't think this would be a good idea, after the weather we had been having. You can guess what happened soon after we set off, though the rain was quite cooling...

This temple really is like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark - thoroughly overtaken by trees growing within the stone remains. Kind of swizzed into getting 2 guides to show us around, but glad we did as they took us through some tough terrain, that we would have otherwise missed. The book suggests that you need a morning or afternoon here - it really is a cool place, but an hour was sufficient. Perhaps Paul was just too excited about getting back onto the tuktuk.

Next stop, an hour away, at Banteay Srei - this site supposedly built by a woman - certainly the most intricate of all the sites, beautiful carvings.

Last stop (excluding a final visit to Angkor Wat - mostly blue skies this afternoon) we get to Banteay Samre and some peace and quiet, with us being the only ones there, except one other tourist. I say peace and quiet, but we did have a gang of kids around us wanting to sell their postcards, bracelets, scarves etc.

Day 4 - nice and easy, back to the swimming pool at the Angkor Holiday Hotel, and the place to ourselves. In the evening, we met up with a great Aussie couple, John and Angie/Sydney who we met on our Bokor trip. Enjoyed gallons of cheap beer (25c!) to wash down the free popcorn.

Lots of rain to finish the day and the tuktuk ride back was more like a boat trip, along the flooded road.

Day 5 - last full day here and wasted too much time trying to find a fast internet cafe amongst all of the 'Super Fast Internet' cafe's. Not much else, but a bit of shopping (Chris bought some 'spoons' ffs! !) and some cake-age.

In the evening we went along to 'Beatocello' - a music/health situation lecture, given by a good Swiss man, Dr Beat (pronounced Bee-at, though it was 'funny' to want to refer to him as Dr Beat, just like Gloria Estefan did) Richner. The Doctor gives a weekly cello performance in the lecture hall, as well as sharing a ton of interesting information on the current health situation in Cambodia - he essentially runs 3 hospitals (mainly for children), and in turn has saved many, many, lives. In fact, he seems to be quite a celebrity, and was once named 'Swiss of the Year'. Deservedly so, it would appear. Very glad to have come along tonight - his cello playing is magnificent, and we also have learnt about the sorry state of affairs the health service is here and, amongst other sorry stats, that 65% of the population have TB. It surely wouldn't have helped that, following the slaughter during the Khmer Rouge regime, only 6 doctors were left in the country..... The hospitals run solely on donation and with the express remit of 'non-corruption' - more info at www.beat-richner.ch or www.beatocello.com

Again, finished the day with cheap drinks with our Aussie friends.

Day 6 - The Journey From Hell And Back - Siem Reap to Bangkok...

After travelling through Asia with so few problems, we half expected our coach journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok to be equally good, though we were aware that the the main road out to the border was the worst in the country (the world?!).

So, the day didn't get off to a great start, the coach was about an hour late - always a pain when you're up far too early for that sort of shenanigans. A few yards up the road, one of the passengers, who was picked up earlier, mentioned that it had already broken down twice and, despite protestations, there was no other bus and we had to suck it and see. Well, the first 90 minutes weren't too bad, despite the bumpy and narrow road and we took our first pitstop. We weren't sure what was happening, but about 20 minutes later the bus was pushed a little way down the road to then be jacked up. Another hour later, and various parts of the bus dismantled, we were told that the bus wasn't going anywhere, however, a substitute minibus was dragged in from somewhere (of course, we had to pay extra). So, about 2 hours after stopping, we hit the road again...

20 minutes into this leg of the journey, and there's a grinding noise, the front left of the van pitches down and we are heading for the river that follows parallel to the road. Thankfully no splash, but it was pretty close, and thankfully nothing else was coming our way that we would have veered straight into!

Off we get, expecting to see a simple blowout, but no, we see the front wheel snapped off at the axle! And we're now in the middle of nowhere, but at least it's not raining....yet.

With few options and hours of travel still to go (we gotta get to the border before it shuts at 8pm), two of the guys start to hitch and we soon get a clean and empty pickup pull up to see what is going on. Many thanks to our new Cambodian friends for agreeing to take us all (8, plus a ton of luggage) to the next town, about 40 kms away. Despite hair and lungs full of red dust from the road, we are glad to be on the move and get dropped off at the local bus terminal, though we're still 60 kms from the border.

Seems that most longer distance buses are finished before lunchtime, so we hire the services of another pickup driver - I thought we'd have the pickup to ourselves, and paid another couple o' bucks for, hopefully, the final leg to the border.

We get ourselves packed on and, just before we start to move, a crowd of locals gathers round and then starts to climb onboard with us. From a Westerners point of view, the pickup was already crowded and dangerous with just us aboard, however, from a Cambodian perspective, there was ample room left. For another 18 folks!

Literally pinned in place, we move off and hang on for dear life!

The first 40 kms didn't seem too bad, but the last 20 dragged and the blood drained from fingers, toes and backsides. Of course, a situation wouldn't be complete without desperately needing a piss.

Despite all the opportunities during the day for things to go 'really' wrong, we did finally make it to the border, covered in even more dust and aching like the victim of a good kicking.

At last, something adventurous to write about (what's above, that is) and the remainder of the journey was pretty good and a VIP coach waiting for us on the Thailand side. Nearly deafened by Chronicles of Riddick on the way, but got into Bangkok safely, about 10pm. After leaving Cambodia 15 hours earlier. Glad to be alive.

Paul and Chris