Cambodia
With just
over a week to see Cambodia, an action plan had to be made. First we would check out Phnom Penh on the
eastern side, then down to Sihanoukville for a bit of chill time during
Christmas, & back up to Siem Reap for New Years.
We have been
lazy with planning lately & so arrived in Phnom Penh with a minimal idea of
where to head for appropriate accommodation.
We had heard of a beautiful lake where there would be Guesthouses galore. But when we rolled into the area, it seemed
deserted - buildings which looked abandoned & lazing tuk-tuk drivers. After taking a look at one of the rooms
available, we realized something wasn’t exactly right. With no real choices, we booked in with a
reasonably priced hostel & went down for some lunch. The manager then explained why the area
looked the way it did. Just 6 months
ago, the place had been the thriving backpacker hub we read about. That was until the lake was leased out to a
Korean company who had plans for a high profit business park. In just a few months, they had backfilled the
entire lake, driving tourists away & forcing guesthouses& restaurants
to shut their doors. Our “lake &
sunset view” room now looked onto a mud pit.
The
following day we organized a half day tour with one of the drivers, happy to
have business. Whizzing through the
local streets, we could see that it could have been a beautiful place, long
before we arrived. The fresh water
canals were now black & barely running, clogged by heaps of garbage &
the trees lining the streets were stained with dust. I don’t want to be negative, but it was not a
nice place & our “sites” for the day added to our gloomy mood.
First was a
stop at S21, one of the many prisoner camps set up by Pol Pot’s officers for
anyone suspected of treason, & in his mind, everyone was a suspect. The cells were still stained by pools of blood
from hours of torture & inevitable death.
Photos of endless prisoners hung from the walls. One room was dedicated to soldiers of the
Khmer Rouge telling their short story of participating & why they feared to
rebel. There were signs posted reminding
the “tourists” that this was no place for jokes or even smiles.
We then made
our way to the Killing Fields on the outskirts of town. I suppose that Phnom Penh had consciously stopped
development towards this area. It was a
place of horrible things. Before walking
through the fields, we stopped at the museum.
Here were also wall hangings of the high ranking officials. Below their photographs were small
biographies, including death reports, most of which were of natural
causes. Pol Pot himself was not tried
& so he too died of natural causes while under house arrest. Some say that an eye for an eye would not
have undone anything. After reading all
the horrible stories, sometimes I think maybe it could have helped. Maybe he should have been forced to sit &
listen to the feelings of the survivors...
But would a man of his kind actually listen? Who knows? It just feels like he got away with it.
You cannot
prepare yourself for the Killing Fields.
On the surface, it is a beautiful park; Big trees, tall grass, walking
paths & a temple erected at the centre.
But on closer inspection, the trees were used to kill the children,
beneath the grass were bones & teeth rising up from mass graves, pathways
were where the victims marched their last steps, & the temple was filled
with skulls, a 3 storey monument to the dead.
Walking back
to our driver, there was a strange feeling.
He looked to be in his mid to late 30’s which meant he was involved,
somehow in the war. Did his parents take
part with the Khmer Rouge? Were they
killed because they wore glasses? Did
their family escape? Asking was not
possible. So instead, we sat for lunch
together & enjoyed conversation about his kids & favourite local
dishes.
After an
emotionally draining stay in Phnom Penh, it was time to head somewhere to relax
the body & mind.
Sihanoukville
was set on the southern coast of Cambodia – a place for chilling out. Christmas had filled up guesthouses forcing
Ben & I to sneak ahead of other backpackers, running to receptions here
& there hoping there’s one more room left.
It worked... Next door to us was
Monkey Republic, a pub to end your day with chats & a game of pool. Word had been spread about an island in the
south that has little to no development.
We spotted immediately, the notice on the wall of M.R. that they had
just opened the doors of their bungalows on Koh Rong. Perfect.
We booked in for $15/ night & had the rest of our days in
Sihanoukville waiting with anticipation!
Sihanoukville
was nice. It was not the quiet secret
that people had been talking about, although it looked like it used to be. There were still a few beaches that were a
long walk from the main town centre which is exactly where we like to go. Inconvenience keeps a place quiet. And that is exactly how we intended on
spending our Christmas Day! Otres was
set up just east of the main beach area.
A short, bumpy tuk-tuk ride & we were on the virtually empty
sand. Minimal effort was made by us to
create sand “beach chairs” & a little less effort floating in the sea. Our day ended with a classic Christmas
dinner, complete with cranberry sauce!
Sounds a bit weird, but just a nice home cooked dinner during the
Holidays helped to ease the home-sick blues.
Plus, we were able to connect on Skype with our families, truly
awesome! Gramma “B” even made an
appearance.
Off to Koh
Rong... What could koh rong? (Cheesy
joke, I know).
After an
hour on the water, we spotted our new home.
WOW! Making our way off the
rickety “pier”, we strolled down the beach, empty with the exception of the
local fisherman & a colony of stray dogs.
The walk down, we were giddy with excitement. Our hut, brand new, was set only a few feet
from the shoreline! Freshly lacquered,
new bedding, & pillows made from the feathers of an angel. It was glorious! We hadn’t stayed in place that nice in ages...
The spiders were a bit, hmmm, how should I put this? HUGE!
But a small price to pay.
A few of us
decided to take the next day and explore our new home. A rough hike up & down small cliffs would
bring us to a beach that was claimed by the ones who know of it, to be the best
beach around. We had to see this for
ourselves. Following the painted arrows,
we marched on through the jungle until we came down a cliff and the trees
opened up to reveal, the best beach around.
This was by far, THEE BEST BEACH I have ever seen. It was the best for many reasons. The first: Crystal clear, waist deep water
that went out for at least 40 feet. Secondly,
the clear water showed nothing but sand on the ocean floor... No weeds, no rocks, nothing. And the top reason that this 7km stretch of
gorgeous beach was by far the best...
There were maybe 10 people there - Amazing, absolutely amazing. The unfortunate part is that the island –
which is the size of Hong Kong – has been purchased by two developers and will
be turned into the same old tourist destination eventually destroying the
reason it is so sought after. But we are
glad to have been there to see it before that happens.
Our second
day on the island was spent chilling out & enjoying the company of new found
friends - Ray, Kiren & Gary from England, and Eemma, from Ireland. Ben & Ray played the same 8 year old pool
shark in Sihanoukville, & both were shamed when this kid ran the table on
them! HAHAHA. They’ll never live that
down.
It was time
to move on. The boat back to mainland
was quiet. We all sat facing the island,
watching it fade away, the sun falling behind.
I hope that some of you will get to experience that beautiful place.
Our final
stop in Cambodia was the great temples of Angkor Wat. Eemma & Gary would meet us at the bus
station & together we would dip in & out of many guesthouses until we
found the one. For $10 a night between
two, we were set up in a large, very clean room with t.v. & balcony! I love travelling!
That same
day, on very little sleep, we hired a tuk-tuk to take us to as many temples as
we could handle. It is insane to think
that the whole place was hidden by overgrown jungle. We toyed with the idea that we were the ones
to discover the grounds while lost on a hike.
People had told us, once you see one, you’ve seen them all. I disagree.
I could have stayed there for weeks exploring the little nooks &
crannys. But lack of time & sleep
had us retiring early, but not before “Spider Girl” could flog off a million
bracelets on Ben! His excuse is that any
young Cambodian, who knows more about Canada than a 31 year old Canadian,
deserves to have her whole stock bought out!
Fair enough.
Next morning we would wake before the sun to
see it rise over the main temple, Angkor Wat.
Mistakenly, Ben & I thought we would be the only ones wanting to see
temples at this time... Dead wrong. The
herd rushed through the gates to secure a good seat. Immediately, we thought, there must be a
better way to see this & left the main area, heading back to the moat. We found it.
The sun came up from behind the main stone gate, throwing it & a few
high temple peaks into reflection on the moat.
It was gorgeous & quiet. (How
many times can I use “gorgeous” when speaking of Cambodia?!)
Our driver
sped off before the crowds left the temple & rushed us to our next site,
Byon. We were two of four people in the
whole temple. Ben quickly ascended
heading for the top of the temple where eerie faces smiled upon its
visitors. And I, once again, was lost in
the mysterious cracks. It was a spooky
feeling wandering around totally alone.
It felt like we were back in time, living in the temple. What a special time that would have been. But quickly, the temples filled up. That doesn’t matter... We had our 20 minutes
which were grand.
Back in the
city, we reunited with Gary, Eemma, Ray & Kiren (who had just arrived) to
experience New Years Eve Cambodian style!
Our evening started off with a classic plastic chair, street dinner. Each of us ordered a dish & dug in. Unfortunately Gary & Eemma did not stick
with us after dinner, so just the four of us went out on the town. The streets quickly filled which made it
impossible to reach the other side. To
get anywhere, you had to wedge yourself between a few people & go with the
flow. Where ever you ended up, you
stayed for a bit, then, see where fate takes you next. Ben got the bright idea to defy this logic
& crowd surf to his destination.
Fairly unsuccessful, his wife thought she’d give it a try. Apparently Cambodians haven’t gotten the memo
on how to assist in crowd surfing, or maybe because I tower over the 5ft
locals. I was quickly returned to concrete
& paid for my attempt the following day.
For Ben’s & my own sake, that is the last time.
Cambodia,
you were so good to us! We will be back!
