Well today it was time to say goodbye to Cambodia and we originally thought we may have to be saying goodbye to a large part of our clothes as well. We got up early and as quick as we could went down to find out where our laundry was and ….. building up the tension …… even more so (lol) … yes, they had found it, hoorah! It was quite a wrench to leave this country, we had met even more top people on our travels here and we had really taken the place to our hearts, if only the people would be a bit more careful with where they throw their plastics it would be even better.
Even the manikin at our hotel seemed to say ‘Goodbye’ – though it looks more like ‘Sorry you cannot come in here – I have your laundry’!!!
Today we would be taking quite a trip not just to get into Thailand but also to get to final destination of Prachinburi, our stopping off point so we could get from there to Khoa Tao National Park. We would have a couple of days touring the Park but it is a huge place so two days is not really enough to even scratch the surface but we would hopefully get a good feel for the place. The Cambodian side of the trip, although it seemed a bit laboured and quite chaotic actually worked quite well. It was a long enough trip and as we neared the border I must admit that it did look a bit more ‘Wild West Frontier-style’. There were casinos, some dodgy looking hotels and the like and you almost expected to see a couple of gunfighters walking towards each other down the main street. However, we were soon enough at passport control and although it took a while to get our papers all sorted, it all went well enough and soon we were walking back into Thailand!!
Once in Thailand we first had to lug our bags for a good way until we finally reached a small jeepney-style thing, which then took us on quite a drive to a small bus station. Here we got out and told the staff where we were going, they then stuck us back on a different small Jeepney whereupon we were then driven back to the place we had first got on – Doh! Complete and utter madness! Once more back at the start, for the second time, we were then walked to yet another small bus station and after a half hour or so a minibus did appear to take us to Prachinburi. The driver of this minibus unfortunately had only one speed, super-fast so the journey along the National Highway had its hairier moments to say the least.
The journey to our stop was a bit like watching the old Star Trek Enterprise hit warp speed, when I was actually looking that is! Our driver actually dropped us off not at Prachinburi but outside it, at the bus stop on the highway, so we had to wait a while before grabbing a Jeepney to take us to our hotel, which was positioned on the road into town.
Once at our hotel though the fun did not stop there. Here, it turned out, no-one could actually speak English and, worse still, they seemed to have no idea of our booking. So we then had to ring the hotel’s manager, whose grasp of English was only slightly better than his staff’s but he managed to convey to me that he had us down but only for one night and that was not tonight but tomorrow night. So I asked him to actually come to the hotel and explain it all to me as by now, I was getting slightly frazzled. We had a cuppa and once he turned up it seemed they had found us a room! They probably asked other people to double up!
The day’s adventures did not stop there though as Liz went for a shower to freshen up and I for a bounce on our bed simply because I could. Now I know the Thai people like a hard bed but after my bounce had nearly broken my knees I peeled back the wafer thin mattress to reveal that the rest of the bed was made of concrete! My amazed gasp was only halted by Liz’s screaming as she had nearly been scalded by the steam that was pouring out of the shower head! So off we went to complain to the manager who said they would get it fixed whilst we cut our losses and ventured out.
We did not have to travel too far as round the corner from the hotel there was a place doing a steamboat BBQ which was really nice and had plenty of meat, noodles and broth for us to cook it all in. It would have been even better if we could have a beer with it but no, the beer was off and we could not understand due to no-one at the restaurant speaking English either. Being English, we were not to be so easily dissuaded though and after eating went (literally) down the road, risking life and limb, to the 7/11 to see if beer could be purchased there but lo and behold they would not sell us any either. So it was back to the hotel and our lovely ‘comfy’ concrete bed! The only thing we could do was laugh but what a flipping strange day it had been!!
For today we had booked an afternoon tour of Tonle Sap, the great lake of Cambodia but as our morning was pretty much free we decided to take a walk into town and get done some of the ‘bits and bobs’ which we did not get done yesterday, due to our self-induced ‘illness’. So for our chores we posted some letters to our younger relations back home. We keep trying to send them postcards and leaflets so they can see the places we have visited along the way, we also grabbed some shopping, bits for the trip later today. It was not too much longer though before, chores done, we returned back to the hotel in order to wait to be collected.
Our minibus soon enough arrived and then we were whisked away to pick up the rest of the group, some of the hotels we stopped to pick up passengers were certainly a bit more salubrious than ours! Anyhow, once full we zoomed off … our guide took us to a shop just a bit further up the road, to see if we wanted to buy some trinkets! This was most definitely not what we had signed up for, no lake just a bloody souvenir shop!
This time when we set off it was the real deal but it was quite a trek in the minibus to get to the boat on the river which then took us to the village of Kompot Pluck. As we landed at the village the first thing we saw was the houses by the river that we were travelling on, these were built on stilts that stood really high above the waters we were on.
When the waters rise you cannot see any of the stairs!
Reaching our destination we first saw the colourful pagoda, this was built on the highest patch of ground the village had to offer and both the pagoda and the village looked as though they were celebrating something. These thoughts were confirmed as we went into the village and after speaking to the locals our guide explained that the villagers were celebrating the rains coming to the lake. Although they cause the great flooding, the rains are also a time of great benefit to the area due to the extra fishing that can be done – more fish = more money = more honey, a local saying round those parts! Some of the children and adults in the village were all dressed up in their Sunday best whilst others simply seemed to have no ‘best’ but they all seemed to be enjoying the day.
The village holding their own parade – priceless!
For me and Liz, the children were the absolute best, in particular a young girl who tried out her conversational English with Liz and then a bit further up, a couple of lads playing football allowed me to have a kick around with them. I think I taught them a couple of tricks or two from the ‘beautiful game’ as it is played in Engerland but perhaps I only taught them not to give their ball to an old guy to make a fool of himself with. Then later as we were later travelling along onboard our boat we passed a little lad who seemed quite distraught and was weeping away with just his shirt on and yet he was peeing at the same time – he was just a picture of misery – top class act eh!
My feet are a blur but still not impressing the kids – Doh!
After our visit of the village it was time to get back onto our small craft and off to Tonle Sap proper. Once on the lake they take you to a small floating cafe to stop for a while and here there were photos on the walls showing just how high the waters come when the rains come to town. In the village we had visited the street we walked down would no longer be there, it would simply become a waterway showing just why the houses’ stilts are as high as they are. Even now, far from its highest, the lake is still pretty impressive and looks like an inland sea. You cannot actually see the other side you simply trust that it is somewhere out there. It being the start of the rainy season you could see the clouds beginning to gather and although the trip was advertised as the Sunset tour, there would be no sunset seen tonight it was just far too dark and dismal and brooding … seriously brooding. Whenever it was going to hit it would hit hard, very hard. So we started off back just as the initial spatters started to rain down.
On Tonle Sap the clouds love to do a bit of brooding!
As we went home we passed the village once more and imagined how they would be celebrating, to us it was just rain, to them it was the annual release of abundance, of life. We returned to the safety of the minibus and our driver had to keep his wits about him as our vehicle was having trouble keeping traction on what was becoming a very muddy track. On our journey back we got chatting to a really nice Swiss-German family, the son of whom had studied in England and it was really disappointing to hear his tale of how he had been beaten up simply because he was from a different country. He seemed such a cool guy and yet ignorant people back home had been violent towards him. It was all so very wrong and saddened me so much that we were here having to apologise for our countrymen and their stupidity.
Once back in Siem Reap we had a bit of a change for our nightly meal in that we had pasta and very nice it was too. It would be another big day tomorrow as we would be leaving Cambodia to go back to Thailand so, with this in mind, we dare not stay out too late. However, once back at our hotel we were a bit worried to find out that the hotel might have lost our washing and it seemed they could not get in touch with the person who had signed it into the laundry! We ended up having to arrange to have an extra early call so we could find out what was going on and get packed with whatever we had left – Gulp!
After yesterday’s exertions exploring Angkor Wat by bike today should be a far more leisurely affair. We were to be collected from our hotel by a Mr Sky, of all names, by Tuk Tuk in order to go and see some of the further away landmarks and temples of the complex. To be fair I am not so sure our legs and bum parts could have taken too much more of the bi-wheel variety of transport, so it would be nice to add an extra couple of wheels and a motor and a driver and zip about the countryside.
It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day and after breakfast we outlined our route to Mr Sky who also had a few good ideas of his own, as he had probably done this trip a million times before. He seemed up for the challenge, and once we had got ourselves sorted and as comfortable as two sore backsides could be in the back of his transport we tukked off. It was going to be another good day for more temple watching and this time, at quite a bit of distance from Siem Reap but this should be much easier on our bodies … lol.
My wife in front of one of the ‘smaller’ temples – Pre Rup
Our first stop of temply goodness was at a small temple called Pre Rup which we had to do on the way out and we would not be passing it on the way back. To get there we passed by one of the the two great reservoirs – East and West Baray – that used to used to serve the complex and all of those who used to live in the area. This temple was a nice little place with towers that reminded me of those at Perambanum near Yogyakarta (Indonesia). Although small it was also quite high which gave our legs a bit of a workout – hoorah! – but at the top it was quite an amazing view. It was quite impressive but did not take long to get round the place and see all we could see so it was soon enough back down the steps and back into our Tuk Tuk to be sped away off on the long and somewhat bumpy journey to Banteay Srey.
This simply stuns me and all of the temples have such a high standard of craftsmanship. And this is what it looks like a thousand years after it was carved – how good would it have looked back then I wonder?
This has two reasons to be on everyone’s Angkor tour map, first the stone is somewhat pinker than the stones used in other temples and its carvings take the level of intricacy to an even higher level – so Top Temple-tastic! However, the place was also one of the busiest we had been to, there were quite a number of (what I thought were) Chinese tourists, some dressed in Buddhist style but they were quite annoying as they just kept standing in front of us when we tried taking photos and yet we would move out the way when faced with similar situations. The sellers were a bit of a pain as well both children and adults kept trying to sell us stuff – whatever next eh! I am normally quite placid in these areas but even I started getting uptight. The temple ruins really lived up to their billing and although the place seemed fuller than usual there was more than enough room for us to escape the crowds. The decorative carvings on the door lintels and on either side really do have to be seen to be believed.
Man in a band, playing a leaf – possibly a leaf solo – only in Cambodia! lol
After this the next place – Kbal Spean – which was quite a bit more of a challenge, we did not know what to expect from the temple but whatever it was going to be like it was going to be a 2km walk before we would even get to the place. The walk was really nice through the jungle on a well trodden path but with all manner of strange creatures being seen along the way. Once there though there was no temple but instead carvings in the river and the waterfall, representations of male and female imagery, still quite a lovely place.
Here the ruins are a bit more elusive but nonetheless beautiful
At the waterfall too there were loads of little butterflies flying about and landing on us it was a really nice and chilled out place. Underneath the waterfall an Indian family were having a bit of a soak but kept all their clothes on. It was strange but besides them having their clothes on it could have been anyone having a laugh and a splash, sometimes the similarities between the cultures we have seen on this trip just make me smile on the inside as well as the outside. So after a 4km round walk we arrived back to our driver who took us to a ‘cheap’ roadside place he knew for a bite to eat.
Man wedged between two boulders!
Well the restaurant did not turn out to serve particularly cheap or particularly good food but it was okay enough and filling I suppose but it was quite a nice place to stop for a bite, so you take the positives where you can I suppose.
I think this man sums up two words – atonement and courage
Then it was off to the place we really wanted to see – the Cambodian Landmine museum. This is really well worth a visit – it centres around a man called Aki Ra, who when he was younger used to plant the landmines for the Khymer Rouge who then later went on, when the hostilities ended, to single handedly (and with homemade self-fabricated tools) start to remove the mines and the bombs from those areas which most needed it, some of which he had planted. This is a real good story about a single brave man trying to atone for his errors and the films on show about him, show him to be a real humble man as well. All over the museum are examples of the ordinance that was dropped by the USA on Cambodia during the Vietnam War (The Secret War) in order to cut off the Vietnamese from travelling the Ho Chi Minh trail. The shear amounts of bombs dropped is simply staggering and whilst there may be elements of bias in the reporting, the figures would still be high, far too high to be dropped on what was an innocent country. It is strange that terrors such as these do not seem to result in people being charged for war crimes and the like but what do I know eh!
We told the kids in our family that the temple was being destroyed by a dinosaur or the Loch Ness Monster – they were not deceived – Doh!
Mr Sky took us to a couple of smaller temples but, once again, this time the best temple was definitely the last – Banteay Kdei and that was even though the weather was starting to worsen. Once again this was a temple built on ground that the trees had decided to reclaim, true Lara Croft or Indiana Jones looking stuff. Still it had much more to offer than simply the trees as the architecture was interesting, it had a small central stupa and a two storey building with round almost Greek looking columns – everything everywhere else in the complex has square columns. Whilst here we stopped and watched a blind man playing his instrument with his two sons and it was absolutely amazing, really nice just to stand and admire both the sound and the family playing. At the end of viewing this temple the heavens really did start to open and, as ever they do this in truly awe inspiring (and soaking) style! Being under the cover of the Tuk Tuk was a nice way to travel back to the hotel in such weather though, Mr Sky even provided us with blankets to cover ourselves with and we looked truly geriatric in it!
Cool sounds from charming people
At night after a bit of a wander round we stopped at one of the restaurants near the marketplace and treat ourselves to a Cambodian BBQ. This was a bit like the Malaysian steamboat, you have a central heater with a set of meats round it that you cook yourself over the heat. Again, this is served with various noodles and vegetables and sauces, so the meal is whatever you want it to be but ultimately it is delicious. We had a couple of oddities, some crocodile (not unlike chicken) and some dogfish, which was a very meaty fish but it was quite an experience.
After the bite to eat we then retired to one of the pubs near Pub Street where we could hear some live music, some moderate rock so very good to nod our heads to. Here we had a few beers, a bit of a jig and a few more beers and a bit more jigging before having a couple of finishers before waddling off home, slightly worse for wear at close to 3am. Not so sure how early we shall get up tomorrow but who knows!
Today it really was our turn to leave Kamnet, his great family and the mighty town of Battambang which had been our home for the past week or so. Today we would be taking the coach west to our next destination of Siem Reap. Now on paper this did not seem too arduous a journey but once we had said our Goodbyes to his family, Kamnet then seemed to take an age to get us to trundle us along to the bus station, he was actually trying to show us new places and the like. Now I myself would like to think that his actions were because he was as upset at the parting of our ways as we were feeling and that perhaps he would miss us as much as we were going to miss him and his family who had been so very welcoming to us during our stay.
With Kamnet’s help we finally managed to get our bus tickets and board our transport though once inside the transfer bus it seemed the owners had a very strange idea about how to seat people but we were soon enough on the coach proper and winging our way to Siem Reap and all of the magic and mystery of Angkor Wat – Huzzah! We actually arrived at our destination much quicker than we thought we would and the place seemed a lot busier than we had become used to whilst on the outskirts of Battambang at Kamnet’s house, so it had our heads spinning somewhat.
This artist would finish a painting before the song would finish!
As always happens at a new town, the Tuk Tuk driver that took us from Siem Reap’s bus station to our hotel offered to take us to the Angkor Wat complex in a couple of days time. I think that because everything had worked out so well with our last offering from a Tuk Tuk driver that we decided, after the usual bit of bartering, to take the driver up on his offer. The guy seemed nice enough and his English was very good too, so one excursion already booked, we then settled into our latest hotel. The place was very impressive and was all decked out in a very dark wood (mahogany) as was much of the furniture so it was all quite something to see. So after a short wait for our room to be readied we went up and settled down for a bit of a rest before then venturing out for a short walk.
The lady the circus story was all about!
The walk was simply that, a bit of a stroll down to the river whilst dodging the manic traffic and the town’s just-as-manic people! The river was a bit brown and looked very mucky so it was only worth a quick look before we turned around and went back to the hotel. Once there we booked our entertainment for the evening, a trip to the circus. It actually looked like no circus that we had ever seen before – no clowns, no animals even – so after a bite and a bit more extensive resting we were fully refreshed and ready for our trip to the circus, Cambodian style!
The show turned out to be totally brilliant and it even had Liz in tears in a couple of places due to it being so simply moving, it was such a powerful piece. The circus players told a story of the Cambodian lady who had founded the Phare Circus and her life which included the time the Khmer Rouge were in power. She had taken in orphans and then taught them the arts – painting, music and circus juggling and the like. These were the very things that the troop were enacting using these disciplines. The tumblers would be there gymnastically tumbling, balancing and juggling, whilst another of the performers would paint a scene of the events which the scene was portraying and the music would be going on in the background which added to the drama of the piece. Some of the paintings were even painted upside down and you did not know what the subject was supposed to be until the artist switched the painting over at the end. The portrayal of the time of the Khmer Rouge was particularly poignant especially after us managing to see Tuol Sleung and the Killing Fields.
Ta Da! It actually looks as though the guys are cheating at basketball!
After the performance we then went outside with the crowds and after searching through the Tuk Tuk drivers on the front we eventually found our guy who took us back into the centre of town so that we could have a bit of a wander about and take in the sights. The place was absolutely packed and unfortunately the tackiness somewhat reminded us of Blackpool back home. Once in the centre we did a bit of people watching whilst eating a Cambodian take on a Mexican meal, the watching was far more interesting than the eating to be fair but there you go. We relaxed further by having a few beers of our own whilst we gave the crowds a bit more watching, lots of small groups of gents and ladies were roaming about looking a bit worse for wear … lol, whilst we were doing our best not to join them.
After yesterday’s exertions which had really taken its toll on us both physically and emotionally – I had needed to be forcibly pulled out of the ‘nervous man on moped’ yoga position I had taken up during the night! – today started off at a much easier pace as we were to be going for a little cruise down the big river and did not have to be ready until the afternoon for it, so we even had the chance of a little lie in – hoorah!
So when our batteries were fully charged we got up and after a cold shower (the hotel had still not fixed the shower – brrr!) and dressing, we went off foraging in search of breakfast to the cafe that we were supposed to be meeting our guide at a little later. As the rendezvous time approached our guide turned up at the cafe and he seemed a nice enough young lad and he had a good command of English too, as well as introducing himself to us he also introduced us to our riverboat companions, a couple from the Catalan region of Spain. They also seemed very nice and spoke to us in their broken English which was much better than our broken Spanish – what is it with languages being broken all the time and who puts them back together?
To be fair, it took me a while to get into this pose but the artist seems to have caught it just right!
We boarded our vessel which was a wee covered riverboat and as soon as we got settled in our guide told us a bit more about himself. He was quite a cool fellow and an artist too and perhaps it was the artistic temperament in him coming out but he did have some strong opinions about modern day Cambodia and the corruption that he feels underlies the day-to-day events in the country. He felt that it was actually holding the country, in particular the younger people of the country, back. Along the way we chatted to the Catalan couple who were really nice and although there was a bit of a language barrier between us they seemed really interested in our travels and impressed by what we had done. They told us about themselves and their travels as well which was quite interesting.
Our first stop though was at a farm and although our guide bigged it up, it really did not live up to the billing. For a start, the farmer was not actually present so the guide had to describe the crops which he even had trouble finding, so it was quite difficult to envisage and get a taste of what went on at the farm.
I am not a person who takes lots of people photos as I think it intrudes upon a person but this is a beauty!
The next stop though turned out to be much better and more interesting as we stopped at a small village which, like all villages, had its own temple. It turned out that our guide had studied meditation at a temple such as the one we were walking around, so we explained to him about our failed attempt at meditating in Bangkok and to be fair he did not seem very impressed at all! He is obviously a man who takes his meditating very seriously! We then wandered round the village school which had a real nice feel to it, the kids, as they do at schools the world over, had decorated the school with stick figures with too many or too few fingers and lop sided smiles and heads that were all out of proportion but it was just beautiful to see. The last village place was the market which even though it had shut for the day was a simply delicious find. A lady stallholder there was having her place altered and she was quite old but was really cool to talk to (through our guide), she seemed to be ordering about the big burly blokes who where doing her bidding which was quite funny. There was also a family preparing for a bit of a gathering to take place much later in the day, the marinades they were making up for the meat smelt really delicious. I would have loved to have stayed and even dropped many hints to the family but whether it lost something in translation or not, they gave out no invites … lol.
Despite my best attempts at showing what an entertaining person I was, I would not be going to the ball tonight!
The trip had been quite a success overall and we thoroughly enjoyed it. As we went back to Battambang we saw a fisherman, or rather his head just above the water level using a net to make a catch, it looked quite an extreme way to make a catch but there he was. I don’t think I would have done it in the murky waters – a bit spooky for me – but if you have to put something on the table, who knows eh!
Here fishy, fishy, fishy!
Trip over we said goodbye to everyone and went back to our hotel to have a drink and ready ourselves for the night. On the night we had arranged once again to meet the director of the school (and part time tuk tuk driver) Kamnet, who seemed a really nice guy. Although he probably needed money for the school he was quite happy to give us room and board in return for some voluntary teaching of English at his school, so we signed on the dotted line and would be spending the rest of the week at his place starting tomorrow. After our meeting with him we treat ourselves to an Indian meal, which (and it is getting boring saying it) was delicious. If in doubt pick an Indian meal is a mantra well worth following when we have been travelling. Whilst scoffing we discussed what we were letting ourselves into as it had all come about pretty much by chance but again this is what sometimes has made for the most interesting parts of our trip thus far, so hopefully this would be another side-adventure to go alongside the main attraction!
Today we had been railroaded into taking a trip with one of the guides from our hotel. This was more one of those things that you find yourself on the receiving end of rather than actually wanting to go but there you go. We needed a translator to say ‘No’ in Cambodian. We were to be going on a moped tour today and I would once again be risking life and limb on the back of a moped whilst Liz would be on the back of our guide’s moped. After meeting us at reception our guide assured us about the safety of riding a moped here but for me it would have been much better if he had simply warned everyone else on the road instead and, if possible, removed some of them from the road or at least ask them to stay inside!
Anyhow off we zipped and the first obstacle we had to overcome was the square outside the hotel, the place where just the night before we had observed the Cambodian version of Death Race 2000 take place (Gulp!). Although possibly not recommended, I put my successful traverse of the town square down to me keeping at least one eye closed at all times whilst praying and/or venting expletives, as I said, my way is not recommended for everyone!
My good self in a state of shock, the only thing I could move was my thumb, later the other hand had to be surgically removed from the moped handle!
We went everywhere in the locale and visited everything there was to see, first up was a bit of a ride out of the town to Aek Phnom. To get there we had to ride along a road that was still in the process of being constructed. Well it seemed to be almost in the process of being constructed as there were no workers to be seen. The mud the road was presently made out of had been ‘flattened’ so it was quite an interesting journey by moped or so I thought in-between my screams! An added difficulty to my moped riding inadequacies was the amount of grit and sand being driven up by the wind but I actually did not think that ‘not being able to see’ was a disadvantage so instead I opted to ‘use the force’! Aek Phnom temple when we got there was part temple and partly a jigsaw of a temple, it must have looked some place in its heyday but this was not it. However, some of the lintels above the doorways were still in good condition and showed off the amazing craftsmanship but as well as the damage caused by the Khmer Rouge a recent tremor has also wreaked havoc on the site. Not all of the site had been affected as the large Buddha statue nearby still looked in good condition and it looked as though the authorities were taking ongoing steps to renovate the place which is always good to see.
My wife and her homage to Buddha
After our temple stop, we remounted our faithful chargers and sped off to a place by the main road where they were making rice paper discs. It was an entirely handmade process so was very involved but also very interesting to see and it often seemed somewhat dangerous so here we also stopped to have a bite to eat – some fresh and some fried spring rolls both of which were absolutely delicious and as good as their Vietnamese counterparts. Continuing on the food theme we then stopped for a brief stop at a fish paste making place, here they were drying out the fish outdoors by the roadside. Many fish, many flies. The place definitely had a ripe smell about it but no-one besides ourselves really seemed to care, however it was all we could do not to plug our noses! Not really sure what we would have used, possibly yak dung!
If this was ‘smellovision’ your eyes would be streaming – the guys on the mopeds fell off when the wind changed!
Next up a brief stop at another Wat this one had a large burial barge standing in a ‘garage’ building by the side of it. The Wat itself was very colourfully decorated and once again in the paintings there are a lot of vivid sky blues, reds and golds and the decoration was itself very intricate but we did not stay around for a great deal of time before we zoomed off again. This time we stopped off at another roadside eatery selling sticky rice in bamboo. Good thing we had how to eat it explained to us by our guide as the bamboo simply looked black and charred. All you had to do was split the bamboo and scoff away and it was all very nice and tasty if also hugely filling and after it, it was two much heavier travellers that got back onto our mopeds. Good thing we never jumped aboard as the tyres would have come under some serious pressure and possibly would have given way!
We then rode through some glorious countryside to Wat Samrong, which as well as being a Wat also had the somewhat dubious distinction of also being a ‘killing field’, a place where people were literally ‘culled’ by the Khmer Rouge. The reliefs in the monument were most graphic showing the gruesome details of what had happened to the victims and in the pagoda were skulls and bones of the victims themselves, entitled ‘The Well of Shadows’. In the nearby field 10,008 people were slain, somewhat sobering to think about that on such a brilliantly sunny day. `
Somehow this image just seems to speak volumes yet does so quite innocently
By now it was getting close to lunchtime so the guide took us for a whistle stop tour to Prasat Bassaet temple but after this he took us to have a stop a good while longer at the guide’s parent’s house to dine on yet more sticky rice but this time served up in banana leaf, oh the stickiness of it all … lol. We were introduced to a few of the guide’s family and Liz went off round the back to see their pigs. All in all it was quite a nice vibe though next up was a trip to a winery for a tasting session. Now coming from England a country that is not exactly synonymous with wine production my first thought was that it would be interesting to try Cambodian wines, that is until I actually tried them! Rather than trying to squeeze the goodness from the grapes, the business seemed more intent on squeezing the money from the tourists. Not that the tourists were the only customers as some locals also seemed ready to part with their hard earned cash but although I am not a wine buff by any stretch of the imagination I could not even taste many of the wines that were on offer! Still who knows, in a few years they may have me eating me words producing great wines but I am not entirely convinced lol.
Our next tourist stop was the area’s most famous ‘must do’, the Bamboo Train. If you do have a look for this attraction on the net you may also come across reviews saying that the ride would most definitely be illegal in both Europe and America – enter at your own risk! And to be fair the warnings are a fair assessment of what is on offer here. The ‘train’ consists of a flatbed bamboo truck with a little wind up engine running on track that has seen better days albeit through some very nice countryside, which sometimes makes up for the fear factor you find yourself feeling most of the trip (Lol). There is a less advertised issue with the Bamboo Train though and that is what happens when you come across a train going in the opposite direction on the single track! Well, at this point one of you, usually the train with least passengers, has to give in and move all of their ‘truck’ off the line so the other (lard-asses) can pass through. The problem here though was that there was only the two of us on our train so we were the ones who had to keep getting off and moving our train off the rails. This happened on a good number of occasions too and after a while it became both repetitive and quite tiring to boot. Whilst I started merely flagging, Liz started to get well peeved by this and like our little train her dander was up. Still finally we actually got up a head of steam and ended up at O Sra Lav, the wee village at the end of the line that you can have a wander round a bit whilst the local children ask you if you want to see a snake (!) but even going at the slowest of strolls it still only took us five minutes before we were round back at the ‘station’ for our return trip to O Dambong but this time we had to dismantle our truck a lot less making our return trip much easier on our bodies.
All aboard the ‘Express’!!! Lol
Once back, our guide did not seem to have missed us much, so we climbed back aboard our trusty mopeds and all set off once again. This time back over the river once more via a rope bridge which was quite a first for me on a moped, then onwards to a few trees where fruit bats nested. They were huge and every now and again one would take off and go for a bit of a fly about and their wingspan, well I tried to find out how big it was but after a whole ‘in depth’ five minute search, could not find the information I was after – thanks Messrs Google and Friends but here are a couple of interesting facts I did find – the Fruit Bat is said to have the best overall vision of all bat species. They also have very long tongues that they unroll when they are feeding and when they aren’t eating the tongue rolls back up. It is tucked away internally around the rib cage rather than remaining in the mouth! – not sure what to make of that last bit!
Well after our first ‘bat stop’ of the day we rode alongside the waterways of the countryside to Banan Temple. There were quite a few tourists about this temple and the climb up to the temple proper was steep to say the least, I have climbed ladders which were easier to ascend! The stone steps were chipped and uneven and this meant in places you had to hold onto the stair rail to stay upright. The hilltop was surrounded by trees and it was a bit difficult to get a view from the hill but every now and again you could see how high up you were. The temple and its shrines were very interesting and we had a goo look around but whilst up there we came across a Buddhist monk who seemed very clued up with his Apple taking snaps and gave me a big smile as I took a photo of him – top monk!
Top monk at a top temple – top day, all round!
Still no time to stop as it was onwards again but to our final temple of the day – I had no idea there were so many things to see round Battambang. For this one we were going to be taken up by professional moped riders so we parked at the bottom in a car park and transferred to sit behind our new charges then up we went. The road up to Phnom Sampeou to see the temple and the killing cave was perilous in itself. We soon enough reached the killing cave where victims were simply pushed down a hole to fall to their deaths there was definitely nothing subtle or forgiving about the Khmer Rouge. Whilst here we saw a memorial to the victims that was made up using their bones. The temple and shrine were quite amazing, however so were the ferocious monkeys guarding the place and they had attitude. Whilst up here, in between photo stops, our guide decided to have a snack from one of the stalls up here – this consisted of larvae and black beetles mmmmm yummy – so strange enough, we decided to try them. Not quite the ordeal that we thought it would be. The larvae things actually tasted like crab so not too bad at all but the black beetles were quite a bit of a chore, those things are made of armour and you have to chew through that in order to get to the meaty goodness inside which is not all that great to tell the truth. I felt afterwards that I had used more energy chewing than in the actual consumption of the insides – now if that could catch on …
My wife with Ringo, she never did have a lot of time for the Beatles!!
This was still not the end of the day, I told you it was a full one, we were next off to the Bat Cave – bat stop number two! A cave in the side of the hill from which the bats emerge as the Sun goes down, millions of bats fly forth taking ages but it really is quite a sight seeing them setting off outwards and upwards. They go out to hunt mosquitoes and I for one saluted them as they went by, go good bat-friends and please do well in your hunting, cull those bloodsucking vampires! And that was it, this had been the final act of the day, well almost, if you leave out almost getting killed on the moped ride home … argh! The trip home in twilight was nerve racking to say the least and I simply had to trust to my God (whoever the hell that is!) to guide me across the many busy crossroads that barred our way on the way home – this totally shredded me emotionally but finally I made it home. At one point in this nightmare I seem to remember I was waiting for Liz and the guide by the side of the road, simply sat quivering astride my ‘ped’ but we made it home, we finally made it home.
Well although it had been a great and a very full day and, especially after the trial and the hardship of the ride home, we decided that on the night we had earned the right to eat at the Skybar. This place overlooks the river which we expected to have to pay Sky-high prices for but it was not at all pricey and yet served some very good food (and beer) to boot, a most welcome end to what had been a most excellent day.
Well to be fair it all seemed very easy enough before we started just a simple little jaunt from Phnom Penh to a place on the coast called Kep, somehow though we knew it was going to be one of those days. First off after eating our meagre rations of breakfast as quickly as we could, the rather large minibus we were awaiting to collect us turned up rather late. This undersized coach seemed a bit big, though not big enough to actually be comfortable. So we assumed it was just going to be used to transfer us to our real coach. Our first passenger collection, was a South American lad who looked a bit of a free spirit – i.e. possibly under the influence of drugs – and he boarded under the apparent illusion that we were to be stopping for breakfast before there was any real travelling to be done – oh the naivety of youth thought I. It even made me glad for our hotel’s breakfast. Next up we collected three lads and a couple of lasses who all seemed to be from the UK. The lasses were incessantly chattering whilst the lads, although having voices that spoke of a good English background or education were also in the habit of talking the absolute crap that only the drugged or clinically insane talk – and to be fair they could have qualified on both counts. They seemed almost as if they were trying too hard to ‘act’ the part of stoners or maybe it is just my age talking!
Possibly the best person to have on traffic control at a roundabout!
Well it looked as if there was no sign of the great bus changeover that we hoped would signal an ability for us to stretch our legs out and get comfortable but it was not to be. The roads were a bit of a trial and our driver must have had a dodgy meal the night before or earlier in the day as he seemed to be sweating profusely and every now and again would stop off to be sick. At first we did not twig onto what was going on but after one stop off he came back to the bus literally looking like death warmed up, poor fellow. I do not think the roads helped his cause as they were busy and had a fair few potholes to either avoid or fall into depending upon his reflexes. This meant that we were late arriving at Kampot so we had missed our connecting bus to our intended destination of Kep.
The lady who represented the bus company at Kampot gave our ill driver and then ourselves very little sympathy indeed. So we had to wait until the next connecting bus came into town, this was not a particularly long wait but it was a particularly wet one as every now and again it would simply pour it down. Though later than planned we were finally told by the grim lady that our bus would soon be arriving at the nearby bus station. Although the rain had stopped our bus appeared to have parked in the middle of a small lake just outside the bus station but after handing over our tickets we swam across and boarded our bus. Okay I may be exaggerating a tad here but the bus was in a very big and very deep puddle and as we boarded it was trying to rain yet again!
It was a grey journey to Kep but it did not last too long and we soon enough reached the little seaside town which looks out onto the Gulf of Thailand. When we got dropped off our hotel was still quite a walk away so we grabbed a tuk tuk and let it do the work. Our hotel looked good enough and our room was quite nice and comfy so we were happy enough to get settled in. Soon enough though we decided to get out and about as we wanted to see a bit of the town so we put our boots back on and off we went.
Welcome to Kep!
We stopped at one of the many eateries situated by the sea and whilst we ate we watched the storm clouds gathering in the distance over Koh Tonsay (Rabbit Island). Before arriving here, my plan was to go over and have a look at the island as it looked lovely in the photos but from where we were sitting this did not seem at all possible. The island was not the only thing that was going to get wet as the clouds seemed to be heading our way. It did not stop us from having look round the rest of the place though. To be fair it was only a small place anyhow but it looked a nice little fishing town and there was even a small beach then just a bit inland was the big hill overlooking the town. The hill looked very rainforesty. After our small look around the small town we went back to our hotel and along the way we saw a monkey or two scrabbling around the litter looking a bit vicious-like so we kept our heads down and did not stop to chat. It was quite a walk back to our digs so upon our return we kicked back and had a bit of a siesta just to recharge the batteries.
Had to photograph them while they were not looking – sick of the Paparazzi!
Once recharged, for our evening meal we went to try and find a restaurant that our lady hotel manager recommended but we failed miserably so we ended up at this place which looked like a great big treehouse with all sorts of paraphernalia in it. The meal was not bad but the impressive surroundings made it even better and the walk back home in the pitch black, using just the IPhone’s small light was quite an exhilarating experience to end the day with.
My Lovely Wife – soon to look quite a bit more ‘worried’ as we walked back in the dark!
We needed the morning to do a spot of recovering after yesterday’s slightly alcoholic ‘day of rest’ (lol) but we also managed to book a bit of net fishing in on the Mekong for the afternoon’s entertainment which sounded quite novel. However, we had booked it online and it was one of those occasions when you are not sure if the transaction has actually gone through or not, so we walked on to our rendezvous point for the excursion with a little trepidation.
We waited and waited and even went into the restaurant we were told to stand outside to ask if they knew anything about our guide or the company he worked for and they seemed as perplexed as we did – Gulp! So we went back down onto the street to continue our vigil. Just then our guide ran up to us apologising profusely for being so late but it was all okay in the end, we were just happy that he had turned up. So he guided us over to the other side of the busy street, to the riverside and from here he beckoned our fishing boat over.
Us and the guide in our fisher-family’s house/boat!
The boat, which looked to be a traditional design, soon enough came over and our captain put a plank across for us to walk over! Already walking the plank and yet he hardly knew us, it just seemed wrong (was he a pirate I wondered?) but with a bit of a hop, a skip and a scramble we were on board and soon enough setting off over the river to the fisherman’s favoured spot. Our boat was not just the fisherman’s workplace but it was also his and his family’s home. His lovely family consisted of his wife and their two young girls. The eldest little girl was disabled but they were all such a very beautiful family both inside and out. It was a boat with a simple rounded shelter over it and here in this simple dwelling that we were cramped into, they all worked and lived.
On this fishing trip we would not be using a rod and line, no folks this was would be the ‘real thing’, net fishing on the Mekong and believe me it does not get any better than this. Now it all sounded easy enough when our guide explained it to us but, as we were soon to find out, it was far from it, not even in the same country! The fisherman took us to one of his many spots and he then showed us the casting technique using his own big net. You basically gather the net all in together in a special way and then cast it forth by flinging your leading arm outwards whilst remembering to keep hold of the rope attached to the net so that it does not end up in the river along with the catch!
Here fishy, fishy, fishy!
The fisherman then handed me over his ‘baby’ net, this as you can imagine was a good deal smaller than his own net and weighed a fair bit less too but that did not seem to help me out much. Either he is not that great at teaching or perhaps I am not that great a learner because I found it much more difficult than he had made it look. Liz and I both had a few goes and my only saving grace was that at least Liz was no better at throwing the net than I was, in fact she looked a bit more of a sure bet for following the net into the water. We had a few more tries and even managed to catch a couple of small fish along with some appetising cockles and snails (Not) and the odd sneaky twig or two but our fisherman easily won the competition for catching both the most fish and the biggest fish but even then the fish he caught still seemed somewhat small compared to what I expected, remembering that this was his livelihood.
Good thing I gave him a few pointers!
Through our guide we asked the fisherman and his wife a few questions about their life on the Mekong. First question I had to ask was how long he had been fishing for and he had been at it from the age of ten! No wonder he was slightly better than me but I could not believe that this guy had been fishing for just so very long. I also asked if pollution of the river was having an effect on the fish and the size of the catch and I suppose we already knew the answer to that one and not just because we personally had failed to catch anything. The fisherman told us that year upon year the amount of fish and size of fish were reducing and it was becoming more and more difficult for them to make a living or even to land enough good fish for them to eat. The fisherman’s wife also told us a bit about their elder daughter who suffered with a form of meningitis which had caused her brain damage but what she had lost in terms of mobility she more than made up for with her smile and her laugh both of which were just lovely. In fact both the little girls were lovely and their parents must have had to think long and hard about whether or not to keep the daughter with meningitis as the support system for families in Cambodia who have children with physical or mental disabilities is almost non-existent. They must really have loved both their daughters as the girl with meningitis needed so much extra care and medicines and that would pose a big problem for the entire family – amazingly good good people.
Even Jesus would have had trouble sharing our catch!
As a devoted muslim, the fisherman left us to change from his fishing ‘attire’ into his Sunday best in order that he could then pray, which he did at the bow of the boat whilst we played with the little girls. The guide explained that the fisherman’s wife would cook us some fish later but that it would be fish the fisherman had caught earlier. If it had been left to us eating our ‘catch’ it would have made for a very measly offering indeed, all of it together would not have made a sandwich for a mouse! The lady then started to get her cooking stuff together which all just seemed to appear from various cubby holes in the boat’s deck, the area where at night they slept. Our guide told us that they even had a cooker and fryer below deck which they could use from above as well.
Two top little girls!
When he had finished praying the fisherman changed back into his working gear and then let me have a go with the man-sized net. I really was no better with it but overall we had not done too badly it was just that the fish were obviously just a bit too clever for us! Fishing over, we watched the wife getting our meal together whilst she kept the girls entertained so we had some time to have a bit of a chat with the guide. It appeared he was in the process of trying to better himself by going to university to study which made his guiding sideline all the more important. He explained the importance that Cambodians place in learning English, it all seems a bit strange to us with it being our mother tongue. We then had our fish which was really tasty and by this time were hungry and appreciative of our meal. The whole afternoon’s experience had been great and the family were just so very heart warming, you knew that their life was one which though simple, hardships would be commonplace but it did not stop them from being the very best people they could be and that to me was just amazing. We left them some money just as a bit of an extra thank you as our boat neared the mooring place and we bid them all a very warm goodbye. Once on land it just remained for us to say goodbye to our guide, he had been a great fellow and a good laugh as well.
This was our last full day in Phnom Penh and for us the entire place had been full of contradictions but it was a really good start to Cambodia. We followed the river for a bit of a walk before heading back to the hotel. It was an early night for us as tomorrow we would be moving on and like all bus journeys in South East Asia it would probably take its toll.
We woke up to another mediocre but quite filling breakfast care of our hotel and as we were finishing up our driver for our tour arrived to whisk us away. Today we were hoping to see Tuol Sleng, a former school that was turned into a jail where victims during the time of the Pol Pot regime were held and tortured and now it was the Genocide Museum. Then we would be seeing Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields). We were not really sure what to expect from either experience but travelling about taking in all that a country has to offer, both good and bad and we felt that these were experiences that would help us get under the skin of the country. Also, because it is not something from the dim and distant past and it is not something ‘close to home’ for us, just how would it actually affect us?
The journey to the museum through Phnom Penh was quite an eye opener in itself. People seemed to have two modes of transport here, the moped (or a variant of) or they drove very large brand new cars. This was not what we expected to see at all and not something we had picked up during our earlier walks about the capital. The city was very busy and in places the traffic almost at a standstill but our guide made good use of the various alleyways and shortcuts, including the novel use of petrol pump forecourts and this way we kept making progress towards our goal.
Tuol Sleng
Upon reaching Tuol Sleng our travelling guide dropped us off so we went in and asked for a tour guide to take us around the facility in order that we may understand a bit better what had actually gone on there. The place was formerly a school that had been, during the Pol Pot regime’s takeover of the country, converted into a jail. In each of the former classrooms were photos of the former inmates or exhibits and paintings of torture. Some of the photos were taken when Pol Pot’s men had been overthrown and showed people killed in the process of being tortured and left when the guards fled and these photos were simply gruesome to see. However, for me it was more the photos of those people who had turned up and were photographed whilst being processed to then undergo torture, these people looked forlorn and lost. The eyes of these ‘inmates’ looked to have no hope, it all having been extinguished, these photos were the ones which I personally found the most harrowing. The eyes of these people simply seemed to be asking, imploring the question – why? We did not take any photos inside as it simply did not seem right for us to do so. As well as explaining about the various rooms and the stories behind what went on in them to the inmates, our lady guide also told us a bit about her own story. Her mother had fled with her and they had both walked all the way from Phnom Penh to Battambang taking three months which is a huge enough undertaking as it is but the roads they walked were littered with dead, many being the old, the infirm and children who could not cope with the mass exoduses that Pol Pot was enforcing. Pol Pot was an intellectual who took over the country and yet despised intellectuals in any form, it is incredible to consider that even the wearing of glasses could mean that a person could be thought to be of intellect and could end up in the jail. As she told her story it was quite an emotional experience for her and she shed tears as she reminisced.
She then took us to meet a couple of survivors of the camp, one guy, Bou Meng was an artist. The camp chiefs used his skills for propaganda posters and the like. The other man was a handyman called Chum Mey who could fix things so he too kept his life because he had another skill that the bosses could use. They were both selling books of their own personal recollections so it seemed right to buy one from each. They both were two really nice guys who seemed to understand just how lucky they were to be alive as so many others that they had had contact with in the jail had not survived. We then went to another classroom to watch a film about the two authors and a third man who had been a guard at the jail. The guard knew the gravity of what he had done and during the questioning in the documentary you could see he was truly frightened but it is difficult to tell whether or not he was truly apologetic for the part he had played.
We were then left by our guide to have a look around on our own a bit and it was just such an odd place, you could blink your eyes and it was all just a school again until you blinked again and took in the suicide nets placed so that the camp commandants were not cheated of their ‘sport’ of torture.
We left the museum and then met back up with our travelling guide who had been patiently waiting outside the museum for our return. Once ensconced aboard his transport we were off to Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields which was still quite a way from the town centre. At some points in the journey it seemed as though we were travelling through a building site or two but I may have misinterpreted the ‘character’ of the place!
Memorial Stupa
We entered the ‘Fields’ and here for a bit on top of the admission fee you can hire one of the audio guides and once again I would recommend this, as it really does bring the place to life. However, do not be surprised here to see people actually breaking down in tears as they walk round the place. Most of us, I say ‘us’ as we were very much included, we were all walking about simply looking stunned. The stories on the audio guide make for some really compelling listening, coupled with the place itself and the feeling that there is an aura if you like, of death about it, made it quite an emotionally draining experience for us. The centrepiece of the place is a rather imposing large tower that contains various bones that were found on the field site. Lots of leg and arm bones but of course the most gruesome to see are the skulls, there is something about it all which is not right but so very apt if you can understand my meaning. But although the tower is the centre of the Fields and the main symbol there is a tree there which has a most horrific history as it is the one where the guards would take mother’s babies from them and whilst holding their little legs would beat each of them to death against the tree. We expected our trips today to challenge our senses but not quite in such a way as it did here at the Killing Fields.
The Killing Tree
After this we needed sustenance so stopped at a very nearby cafe and both had ourselves some very nice noodles before heading off back to our hotel. It is quite strange to recount it all now but we did not have the energy to do much for the rest of the day, the attractions that we had visited during the day had simply take that much out of us!
We got up not too late and popped downstairs for the basic free offering that was to be breakfast, it was okay but only just. We then strode forth for our day of Phnom Penh sightseeing, it was a really nice stroll and the weather was good too but again the moto riders kept bugging us keen to pick up a fare or two.
Top attractions
It did not take us long though before we reached the Grand Palace temple complex and to get there we passed by some other impressive looking buildings as well. The complex is made up of a good number of buildings so we decided to leave the renowned Silver Pagoda until the last. After yesterday’s rain today was shaping up to be a hot and blue skied day. So being hot and the fact that getting there had warmed our heels somewhat our pace now slowed to a crawl as we walked round the complex’s other wats and buildings. These were still quite something to see and some of the statues, frescoes and ornate masks were really very interesting and beautiful works of art. The gardens too that held everything together were also very immaculately manicured but as it was getting on we thought we had better go to the Silver Pagoda. We had just reached the building when a bodyguard came over and told us the place was shutting so we had to leave! Not sure if we were suffering from operator error here but we had actually managed to missed the silver tiles in the Silver Pagoda! Nothing had seemed to be very well signposted if you know what I mean – that’s my excuse at least for us missing the star attraction! We were not happy chappies after this but it was far too hot to get riled so we left the place in our most huffy ‘huffs’ and went to get a drink each to cool and console ourselves.
View of the Palace Grounds through the undergrowth
Once hydrated we then went round the corner to the National Museum. This is another really good looking terracotta red building with a huge elephant (statue) stood outside (so you cannot miss it … lol!) and although we could not really understand a lot of the signs that were placed alongside the exhibits you could not help but admire the craft and workmanship of the Khmer artefacts themselves. The museum’s rectangular building created a courtyard which had really nice gardens and ponds. Photographing the exhibits inside the buildings was not allowed but in the courtyard you could take photos and some of the exhibits just wondered into shot, sort of like stone photo-bombers! Oh dear!
From here we had planned to go to Wat Phnom but our way took us past Wat Ounalom so we went in to have a look. Here there was a sign which informed us that donations were gladly received – above a strongbox of course – but I would have been far more likely to part with my ‘hard earned’ cash had the Buddhist monk ‘on duty’ as it were, not been playing upon his iPad. Maybe it was just a meditation app he was tapping away at but somehow the whole thing did not sit right with me. I still was not quite affronted enough not to take photos and though I did not capture the guard-monk I managed to take a few snaps showing the beauty of the carvings both on wood and stone that the place held.
So after this detour we eventually reached Wat Phnom but here the monks were taking things much more seriously and carrying out ceremonial duties. These duties involved much chanting and the ringing of bells as well as some of us tourists there were quite a few locals too waving incense sticks and some appeared to have bought birds from nearby sellers which were then released by the monks. By the side of the Wat there also appeared to be some sort of Cambodian dalek and as most things here this was very colourfully decorated!
Exterminate! (in Khymer)
By this time we were getting bit weary so made our return trip back to our hotel but Liz spotted a hairdresser and I was in having my hair length reduced before I could say ‘hang on is this a pair of scissors I see before me’ (Macbeth … almost). It was one of those that Liz still did not seem entirely happy with afterwards perhaps it was a bit too short but I was happy enough so back to our room to grab an hour’s kip before returning out into the night air.
After a bit of a wander we ended up at the night market. This was quite an entertaining place, partly for the people watching opportunities but also because it had a stage on which child dance troops would perform traditional dances in traditional garb. Liz decided she wanted to take the entertainment on to the stalls and did a bit of haggling over a pair of leggings which I could not tell whether they were long shorts or short ‘longs’, either way they were nice pair of ’?’ and quite reasonably priced too.
Kids entertaining at the Night Market
We strolled back along the riverside before stopping at an Indian restaurant and had a very nice meal and a couple of beers before heading back. It was quite funny watching the small ‘gangs’ of local children selling their woven bracelets and trinkets and more than a couple of times we had to shoo them away, they were like little business men and women but ones who like to play tag as they sold their wares! Before we headed off to bed we booked a driver for tomorrow to take us to Tuol Sleng jail and the killing fields that we had heard and read so much about so we shall see what tomorrow has to bring.
lizandpatsexcellentadventure 