When planning our trip, it seemed outrageous to me that we could go to ten or eleven countries in six months or less. So, I was originally thinking about skipping Cambodia as it is geographically easy to get from the south of Laos to Saigon, and I had never heard from anyone who had been to Cambodia. After more research and hearing from a friend at Oxfam who recently traveled there, I realized it was a must see. With the promise of beautiful country sides, the bustling city of Phnom Penh, rich history and of course Angkor Wat, there was just too much to miss. So here we are, on the soil ofthe ninth country we've entered in three months, and I'm not regretting my decision at all.
Cambodia also came at the right moment as Don Det in the south of Laos was a bit of a disappointment. It was just too touristy which made what probably used to be a beautiful island into an over-crowded and dirty place. The Lao people were also very unpleasant probably due to tourists being unpleasant to them. We also had a bad experience with a tour group there and were just ready for something totally different. Cambodia proved to be the well needed change.
We started out in Kratie, a small town in the east of Cambodia along the Mekong river. It was a bustling little town with a big market place and lots of people.
In our Lonely Planet book it said there was a tour called The Mekong Discovery trail where you could bike along the Mekong and then volunteer to help out local villages to learn about their way of life. Unfortunately, the website didn't work, and the office didn't exist. Instead, there was a giant billboard along the river with the different trails of the Mekong discovery trail and by finding the name of the trail we wanted to go on, we found a website that had the pdf! So this is the trail we took starting on the east side at KRATIE and heading north in a big circle:
We woke up at six in the morning and after buying big sandwiches for breakfast and sticky rice in a bamboo tube for lunch, we headed out on rented bikes (all for about $5 each) along the eastern side of the Mekong. After an hour and a half of riding along a busy road lined with houses and huts we reached the spot where you could see rare Irawaddy Freshwater dolphins. To get a boat to see them would cost $10 each, so we decided to take a break on the riverbank and try to see them from there. This was not cool with a cop who happened to come by (or was called by his boatman friends). He told us that if we sat there any longer we would be fined for not having a boat ticket. Probably not really a law, but I'm not one to argue with guys in uniform in foreign countries. So we got back on our bikes and continued heading east. We eventually hopped on a ferry where we got giggles and confused looks from the locals who probably don't see many tourists taking the local ferry.
The west side of the Mekong was totally isolated, and we saw only one or two cars on our whole three hour ride. But we did see lots of people hanging out underneath their huts to evade the hot sun, men on motorbikes selling cockles and kids swimming in the river. Like our last bike trip, all the little kids ran out of their houses to say hello to us which made the whole trip worth it. For lunch, we didn't know how to open our bamboo tubes, so we sat down where some kids were gathered, hoping they could show us how to open them. They crowded around us as we sat down, and after miming to them various ways we thought we could open the tube, they just giggled and ran away and shook their heads at us. So I cracked mine open and Jake peeled his like a banana and we sat and ate the coconut sticky rice while the kids stared at us.
When we decided to buy a sugar cane drink (the bag Jake has in his hand in the photo above) from the adults that were sitting near us, I grabbed the camera to take a picture of the sugar cane grinder, and the kids went nuts! They started posing and then would laugh so hard when I showed them the picture I had taken. I took a video too and they thought it was so funny! They must see cameras every so often as they knew exactly what to do. Like I had surprised them with my camera, they surprised us by saying their english ABC's and 123's unprompted. They were eager to impress how much English they knew! I was sad to leave them, but it was getting to the hottest part of the day, so we had to head home so we wouldn't be stuck biking for the whole day.
By the time we made it home I was so dirty and exhausted, but satisfied about what turned out to be a great bike trip. It was nice to do a trip on our own instead of having a tour guide and paying extra money for it. The tours are nice, but I just want to experience these things on my own sometimes and the tours tend to baby the tourists a bit, telling them where to go, what to do and preparing food for them. I like the feeling that I'm exploring something on my own, and it's hard to get that when you always have to follow the tourist path.
After Kratie, we headed to the capital city of Phnom Penh, which was just spectacular. It had lots of markets, lots of spots to eat food and lots of people. Because of the recent history of genocide in Cambodia, there were also two genocide museums to learn more about what happened and to commemorate those who suffered. We separated the museums into two days so we wouldn't be overloaded with information or grief in one day. We went to Teol Sleng or S21, the interrogation prison of the Khmer Rouge first. It was an old highschool turned into a prison and was quite creepy.
The second day we went to the Killing Fields where we placed flowers and incense at the commemorative Pagoda and saw the mass graves of the executed people. It's always hard going to these things, especially because it happened in the 70's so most of the older Cambodia's who survived can remember it. I found it hard to ask the Tuk Tuk driver to take us to the fields, but tourists go there all the time and he kept suggesting we go to the shooting range after to play around with machine guns. We had to tell him three times that shooting a gun is the LAST thing we wanted to do after visiting a genocide museum, but it eased my mind because then I knew it wasn't too much of a sensitive issue, at least for him. In the photo below you can see the commemorative pagoda behind the feild of mass graves.
At the end of the Audio Tour we took, there was also a very haunting song about Phnom Penh which Jake couldn't get out of his head! And there is a nice video of it on youtube you can view here if you want something to listen to while you read:
http://youtu.be/gu6HpVo5oUI
After re-stocking on cheap clothes at the market, we headed to Sihanoukville in the West of Cambodia to hang out on the beach once again. The Mekong is great, but I was anxious to put my feet in the ocean again. I was worried before we left that I might not enjoy Sihanoukville though because we had heard about how busy it is and how over run it is, and as you should know by now; I hate places that are filled with tourists more focused on cheap drinks than understanding a country for what it is. Which is exactly what is was, but we found a small beach called Otres Beach, which was secluded and for those wanting relaxing holiday. It was a great couple days as we got to know the Canadian bartenders at our resort, and had some delicious food.
A funny thing about the beach was that there were "mobile spas" or women walking the beach offering spa services who made you promise if you wanted a massage you would find them first. I think I pinky sweared at least three women for three different spa services, just in case I changed my mind. Since Jake and I hadn't succumbed to the massage in any of the countries we've been to, we broke down and paid six dollars for a massage. We couldn't resist!
The women would also sit down beside me and talk to me about everything and anything. One woman told me about her wedding, and one told me about how a tourist told her to "Go away" and she was upset but told him off by telling him "this is my country! don't tell me to go away!" and we would always joke about how they cover themselves from head to toe even in 35 degree heat so they can stay white, while tourists sit in the sun to get dark.The people in all other countries were not like this and would only talk if you bought something, and it is so nice to talk to the locals, even if it is about small things.
There were also little kids that would come up and sell bracelets, and Jake and I ended up hanging out with two small girls named Dana and Kim, as they saw the ipod and demanded to play games. I played Pictionary with Dana using the sketchpad on my Kobo, but instead of drawing objects, she would draw scenes of tourists getting caught in the rain everytime. "This is a girl with blonde hair walking through the market in the rain" or "This is two tourists in the rain and one is happy about the rain and one is sad." I think she was happy that the rainy season was coming like all those Canadians out there anticipating spring time. It's funny how comfortable the kids get with the tourists right away. They just sit right beside you and answer all your questions without hesitation. I think they like it better than walking up and down the beach selling things.
After Sihanoukville we went back to Phnom Penh to meet up with Scott and Cat, two of Jake's friends from Ottawa. They had been travelling and working in New Zealand since November and then travelled to Vietnam for a couple weeks and through Cambodia to Thailand. So we made sure our paths crossed so we could check out the temples of Angkor Wat together. We spent a night in PP swapping stories and playing cards (It was nice to play different games than just the two player card games Jake and I play!) and headed to Siem Reap the next day.
We then spent the next three days checking out all the ancient temples. We spent about six hours there the first day driving around with a tuk tuk driver nicknamed the Speed Asian because of a logo on his helmet. We spent another six hours on bikes the next day. At one of the temples a police officer showed us all the cool spots to take photos and took group shot after group shot of us! We were kind of nervous because of the rumours of corrupt cops and thought there was a scam involved, but he just asked for a $5 tip and that was it, not bad for some sweet photos!
We made the mistake of staying a bit too late at the temples that night though and got stuck biking home in the pitch dark with flat tires on both Jake and Scott's bikes. The next day, we sacrificed sleep to check out the Lonely Planet must-see activity to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I won't say it was completely worth it as there were so many people there and we were all really tired (and Scott and Cat had to take a flight to Bangkok that day!) but we got a good picture (above) before checking out the temple from the tomb raider movie. As you can see, we are were all fit for the job:
I don't want to go over details and details of every temple, but I have to say that Angkor Wat is definitely something everyone should see. (Although please refrain from wearing your singlet with a naked woman on it and please wear a shirt that does not expose your leopard print bra-These are temples people, not the bar!) Each temple has a different story and different features and there is just so much to see. Seeing the ruins and the reconstruction of the ruins, it shows you just how important it is to preserve these pieces of history.
On a separate note, I was surprised at how the amount of people selling things outside of the temples was not as bad as in Bagan, but maybe it was because of the Khmer new year or maybe I'm just used to it now which might be the case. I was half way through haggling with a four year old for postcards when I realized how ridiculous it is that I was haggling with a four year old, and that maybe I really have adjusted to the ways of bartering here.
Now we are back down to two. We spent some time in Siem Reap over the Khmer new year, and there isn't much to do for tourists, so we are just laying low. We haven't forgot our bad experience of travelling on Chinese New Year so we stayed a couple extra days to avoid the hassle. Below is a photo of Siem Reap all decked out for the New year:
We then went back to Phnom Penh, and the New Year's festivities are still going on. Yesterday, while sitting on the lawn of the grand palace, we were invited to have a picnic dinner with a woman and her three kids! We ate hard boiled eggs with a sort of developed baby duck inside, and little meat skewers. The woman didn't speak much English, and we don't speek any Khmer, but miming things out can be quite funny sometimes, so we had a good time. I was so touched she invited us to celebrate the New Year with her, and I am so grateful. What an experience! We are definitely leaving Cambodia on a very happy note. Here they are!
And for something totally different. we're off to Saigon tomorrow! Happy Khmer New Year everyone!
