We spent a wonderful few days in the Cameron Highlands, doing very little apart from a visit to the local tea plantations and a short jungle hike with Satya, our very enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide. This bloke would probably put the SAS to shame on his in-depth knowledge of jungle survival!
After the Camerons, we headed to Pulau Penang, in northern Malaysia. We hung out in Georgetown for a few days, taking in some of the its' colonial history, as well as sampling plenty of the local food and beers. We headed out to Penang Hill, where a 30-minute cable car ride (it's a big hill!) takes you to the top, with epic views over the island and the surrounding Melacca Straits.
After Penang, we got the overnight train back to Bangkok. Another top Thai train, with comfy bunk beds and to-your-seat meal service. The dawn views over rural Thailand are spectacular.
Back in Bangkok and on the Khao San Road again, we met up with Anna, our buddy we met in Cairns, as well as her mate Ben and brother-in-law Ian. After a few days of serious loafing about involving little more than food, beers and a little light shopping, we set off together for the Kingdom of Cambodia, and it's capital, Phnom Penh (PP).
On arrival in PP, we met up with Anna and Ben's mate, Claire. Claire's been in PP for a while now, teaching English in a local school. She organised a fleet of motos (scooter with driver) to take us back to our hotel in the city. Then the rain came down, big style. So there we all are, in our raincoats, each on the back of a scooter, our rucksacks balancing precariously in front of the driver, driving into PP in the driving rain. At this point, it becomes evident that there are no rules of the road in Cambodia. You just kind of drive where you want, taking the shortest route and using the horn as much as possible.
We arrived at our hotel, all very nice and air conditioned, with a fantastic balcony view of the domed art-deco monolith that is Central Market. After being introduce to two of Claire's top Khmer (Cambodian) mates, Mr. Hong and Mr. Sam, we heading off for some serious alcohol abuse round at Claire's flat.
As we wanted to see the city the next day, me and Clare made our excuses early and got a good night's sleep in. The next day we did a walking tour of the city, taking in many of the beautiful places, such as the Royal Palace, National Museum and the Mekong riverside. We met many locals on our travel, from street kids selling water (2 for 1 dollar - everything in Cambodia sold on the street seems to be either 1 or 2 dollars), land mine victims (one had 2 missing legs but could still walk impressively well on his false ones), shopkeepers and random other people. They all greeted us with the biggest smiles you've ever seen and a hello. They all wanted to know where we were from (even when Clare said 'Wales', sometimes the kids would say "ahh, capital Cardiff"!). Some even just came up to touch us on the arm, as if they didn't think we were real.
Later, we headed round to Claire's again for a party. This involved sitting on the floor in a circle, eating loads of food, drinking beer with ice (fridges are a rarity in Cambodia) and saying 'cheer, cheer' a lot. We met loads of really nice Khmer, many of whom spoke fantastic English, and had a brilliant time getting drunk with them and learning some of the local language and even dance moves!!
The next day was going to be harrowing. We knew it from the start. First, our moto drivers (Mr. Hong and Mr. Sam), took us to the Killing Fields, a few miles outside PP. A peaceful spot now, but in the late 70's, this is where the Khmer Rouge killed thousands of men, women and children who allegedly opposed their regime. In the centre of the Killing Fields is a white tower containing the skulls, arranged by sex and age, of the victims. As you go round, you cannot help but be moved to tears by signs reading such things as 'by this tree, children were beaten to death', and seeing fragments of clothes still sticking out from shallow graves.
After the Killing Fields, we moved on to S-21, the notorious former prison used by the Khmer Rouge to imprison and interrogate (i.e. torture) 'suspects' opposing their regime of the late 1970's. The torture rooms are still there, including the instruments of torture and the bed frames to which the victims were shackled. Each interrogation room has a large grisly photo of a victim that met their end in that room. In addition, there are rows and row of makeshift prison cells (S-21 was actually a former school, which makes it even more sick when you think about it) and endless rows of mugshots of the prisoners held there, the vast majority of which were 'liquidated' here or at the Killing Fields.
Anyways, it's fair to say that after seeing that lot, we weren't really ready to party any more. The next day, after a quick trip to the picturesque Wat Phnom, a temple on top of PP's only hill, 27m high), we took the bus to Siem Reap, home of the temples of Angkor. Halfway there, our bus made a toilet stop at the Cambodian equivalent of a motorway services. Except this one didn't sell dodgy overheated 'all day breakfasts' or curled-up sandwiches, it sold platters of deep-fried tarantulas and duck embryos. Needless to say my stomach was turned enough not to try. Suddenly those curled up sandwiches were mighty appealing.
In the evening, we arrived in Siem Reap. When we got of the bus, Mr. Mut, our friendly tuk-tuk driver, was there holding a sign with our names on. He took us back to our hotel in the middle of another bad-ass rainstorm. Later that evening, we met up with Ian again, and planned our trip to the temples of Angkor.
The next day, Mr. Mut was there bright and early to pick us up and take us to Angkor. After buying our passes at the entrance, we spent the day doing the mini tour, taking in the walled city of Angkor Thom (with its' strange Bayon) Ta Prohm, (the shambling temple where Tomb Raider was filmed), many other temples, and finally, the big one, Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat is supposedly the biggest religious building in the world, and it certainly looks it. It sits in the centre of a walled compound over 1km square, surrounded by a 190m-wide moat that makes Western castles look paltry in comparison. You walk up to the central temple along a 200-odd metre long causeway with your eyes transfixed on the 5 central domes forming the centre of the building. Inside, you can climb up 3 storeys to the uppermost inner sanctum of the temple, with fantastic views over the rest of the building and the surrounding jungle. Around the outside of the temple are intricate carvings, depicting stories of battles, gods, heavens and hells.
At this point, I need to mention that there's also a lot of street kids and land mine victims around the temples. To be fair, most of them aren't begging, they're selling t-shirts, books, cold drinks, bracelets and other random stuff, most of which we bought in abundance. The ones not selling stuff become impromptu tour guides, and one deaf kid even made a living by picking seed pods out of peoples clothes and drawing pictures of flowers.
That evening, we went to a bar, close to Mr. Mut's village with Ian for a few beers and to watch the sunset. We had a great time chatting with the locals and getting drunk again. Later, we headed into downtown Siem Reap for a great feed and more beers on the appropriately named 'Bar Street'.
The next day we did the 'Grand Tour', taking in many more temples, including the remote, but very beautiful Banteay Srei. This temple is so intricately carved, it is believed that it was created by women rather than men, as the men would not be capable of such intricacy. Later in the day, we walked up Phnom Bakheng to watch the sun set over Angkor Wat. After sunset, and in a fit of laziness, we took an elephant ride back down the hill, which was great fun.
That evening we met Chris, an American doing a tour of SE Asia. We took him down Bar Street, where the local Angkor beer slipped down easily along with pizza (there's only so much rice and noodles a man can eat in a day!)
Our final day in Angkor took us to the landmine museum. This is where former Khmer Rouge boy soldier and local landmine-removing legend Aki Ra has built a orphanage and school to take care of local child landmine victims. The museum has many interesting exhibits and some great photos of Aki Ra and his team at work removing landmines, mainly with bits of stick and screwdrivers. It's all very impressive, but harrowing nonetheless, with stories such as the boy who lost an arm and a leg to a landmine sharing his dream of becoming a boxer one day.
The next day we left Siem Reap in a taxi for the border with Thailand at Poipet. If the road had been paved, it should only be a drive of an hour or so. But this is not the case. The story goes that an unnamed airline is bribing unnamed officials to delay the proper building of the road to make sure the tourists continue to fly into Siem Reap. Well, not for tightarses like us. Our 4-hour trip along the 'boulevade of broken backsides' was another real eye opener, with our friendly taxi driver cheerfully apologising when we nearly run off the 'road' for the umpteenth time or played chicken with yet another truck. Eventually we reached Poipet, and after the border formalities, we were back in Thailand. After another coach ride, we arrived back in Bangkok, where we are now. Tomorrow we fly to Luang Prabang, Laos.
In summary for me folks, Cambodia is both beautiful and harrowing, where the smiling people mask the tragedies that have deeply affected this country in recent decades. The people seem to deal with it in the only way they can, living for today as if there may be no tomorrow. Get drunk tonight, and worry about tomorrow if and when it comes. Cheer, cheer.
Photos to come soon. My fingers ache too much now.
-Si
