Moving on -Cambodia

Cambodia & Trip from Ko Chang 13-15Jan 2009

Moving onwards from Ko Chang to Siem Reap in Cambodia was the next phase of the trip; we pushed off from the Whitesands town by mini bus to a small harbour and probably missed our driver’s ferry- judging by the speed he has been driving up and down the steep (!!! ) hills, I assume so. It strangely didn’t make too much difference to our trip plans and we had a wait in the cold (22-23 Celsius) for the next ferry. Our little mini bus was a little on the full side and we were pleased when some of the passengers were reshuffled onto another bus. Amusingly we came back to find a French couple in our front seats, so we took position to the back – no problem surely? The French couple decided after all their seats at the back did have their names on, perhaps as they were more comfortable at the back and demanded them back, very effectively isolating themselves for the rest of the trip with a bus load of travelers who were a little bemused by somewhat infantile behavior! Sleep was the best option for the rest of the trip, avoiding watching the increasingly risky overtaking of pretty much anything else in the road and very hard braking which involved pulling the handbrake to assist… The scenery was absolutely stunning, with the hills rising out of plains surrounded by very organized agricultural activity. Rice harvest and what looked to be Yam harvesting were in full swing, making the road more interesting. Watching the traditional harvesting gave an impression of what back breaking work so many of the people have to deal with and provided such a stark contrast to the tourist centres and Bangkok.


The border was an interesting affair, working on the premise of don’t believe anyone we were slightly concerned when dropped off near the border into a Visa agency. However, without further charge or ado, we were filling in forms for the Cambodian Visa, sticking our passport photos onto them and then eating lunch and relaxing before being taken to the border for our short walk across. The town of Aryanthaqpath and Piot Phet on the other side were remarkable different. Various websites had warned of touts, but our travel service was effective in herding us through and putting us on a bus, although attempts were made to sell alternative services such as Taxis to Siem Reap. The taxis would be doing the trip in less time – 3 hours instead of 7. We stayed on the bus and a surprisingly good road for a while till we reached the out of town Bus Terminal, which is where we transferred onto a very similar bus for the rest of the trip. The bus we took was only for tourists travelling on what was apparently a government sponsored bus ride- later strangely this turned out to be utter tripe funnily enough. The road and landscape to Siem Reap was interesting. The devastation of 100 years of conflict and oppression make for fascinating travel. Our road was slightly bumpy- and was being raised to be usable during the wet season- the extremely flat land was great for rice growing, and more than once the bus avoided the threshing of rice at the side of the road. Sadly we didn’t get any photos of this. Bumping around a partially built road was interrupted by stopping at a dinner place and the arrival of a new guide. In good English, we were given a run-down of the more recent horrors and new government development work. The road we had been on is year 3 of 5, but things like border conflicts with Thailand can slow progress. On arrival two hours later the bus pulled not into the main bus terminal but a hostel called the Hilton Angkor and we were asked to have a look around- rates were 6 USD per room per night. They also offered tuk tuks to anyone who had booked elsewhere which we had. Our hostel had come with free pick up service so we took advantage and were picked up five minutes later from the main road around the corner. The Khmer Inn Hostel is where we stayed. Highly recommended: 7.5 USD each for a double per night.
Driving through Siem Reap on the way in gives an idea of just how tourism dependent the place is – there are countless very large hotels and double or triple the number of hostels. Dependency on tours tacked onto Thailand holidays spells trouble when internal frictions close airports in Bangkok! MT

Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom 14th Jan 2008

Bright and early we collected our pedal bikes and headed off like the famous 5 weaving in and out of the traffic on the dusty roads. The sun was shining and with possibly the oldest and funniest bikes ever, complete with granny basket and ding dong bells, we had a blast cycling the 6km to the temples. It was nice to feel like we were transporting ourselves in the same way as the locals, rather than sitting like deities on top of tuk tuks or air conditioned buses. We arrived at Angkor Wat and proceeded to get surrounded by some extremely ballsy and cheeky kids demanding we buy their inflated price water/pay to leave our bikes there, buy bracelet, etc, etc. Entertaining for about 10 seconds then very annoying! We found somewhere to have a quick breakfast, and then entered Angkor Wat. Even though I have been before, the experience was equally dramatic and the place really does seem to have a feeling of calmness and serenity. At least it was peaceful until we got out the tripod and experimented with group pictures, the funniest which included Oli on Bart’s shoulders, making him about 7 foot something…
Back on the bikes and off to Angkor Thom, which covers the largest area of all the temples. It is amazing to think that the area covered by the temples is bigger than Siem Reap itself. And to think it was only rediscovered in the 1850s by a Frenchman – what a feeling that must have been walking through the jungle and coming across such a treasure. We stopped off at another temple on the way and walked up the hill to see the spectacular view from the top. Unfortunately you can no longer climb the steps going directly up and there has been much erosion, however the path was pretty and we spotted many spiders’ webs which were obviously of the much denser variety, like the type you get for a Halloween party. Despite looking very closely we could not see any tarantulas, which was partly a relief, partly a disappointment! At the top, we also discovered bullet holes in some of the rocks, which we imagined to be from the Khmer Rouge era.
Before entering Angkor Thom, we ate a delicious lunch of noodles and fresh tea cooked on the side of the road for 1USD. It seems that you pay in dollars and get reel as change as their currency is pretty worthless except for small exchanges. The highlight of Angkor Thom was undoubtedly admiring and climbing over the huge tree roots that were slowly overtaking the temples. Also the setting for the Hollywood movie, Tomb Raider, we were amazed that you could climb into the decrepit ruins and scramble over the world heritage site. Parrots squawking in the trees overhead and the chirping cicadas added to the exotic ambience of the temples.
We cycled home (about 40 km in total for the day) and went out for Chinese food as we were all starving. I had a massage in the evening, the others went to a bar and met this very funny Cambodian waitress who had no qualms in expressing her exact thoughts, i.e. shouting out people’s sexuality and laughing out loud. I should also mention that the previous night we saw a moped with three people on it – one in the middle bleeding with bandages, the front one driving and the back person holding the drip which was attached to the poorly passenger – mobile ambulance galore – amazing. JG