Cambodia (Sihanoukville)
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| Welcome to Cambodia |
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| Live but drugged pigs, lightly shaded (or pre-seasoned?) going for a bike ride |
Made our way easily across a sleepy little border
post, with a little help from our friendly guide who explained that the process
was so smooth and the passports she’d previously collected from us got
pre-stamped without our ever seeing or talking to the border guards with the
help from a little bribe money. Also, apparently you’re technically supposed to
have some proof of immunizations thing but not having it is fine with a little
help from a dollar bill. Welcome to Cambodia I suppose. This view was further
reinforced a couple days later in Sihanoukville (a.k.a. Snookyville) when I had
to directly pay my first police bribe of the trip. We were driving around on
motorbikes when we encountered a police checkpoint engaged in the process of
pulling over every single Western driver and “fining” them for not having an
International Driver’s License (or if you had that for not having a Cambodian
one or for your lights/turn signals not working or whatever else they could
think of). So that was a couple bucks and for some reason no receipt for the,
apparently negotiable as it started at 5 dollars apiece, fine was forthcoming.
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| Some fire-show action |
Sihanoukville is a lively beach town with tourists
and expats aplenty and all the beachfront bars nightlife enthusiasts could ever
want. Definitely should be a fun place to spend the Christmas and New Year’s
Eve period. Sampled a bit of the nightlife, arranged long-term accommodation
for our return on the 23
rd of December and got in a bit of quality
beach time. Some travel friends of ours are staying there for an entire month
and got a little apartment a bit outside of the main tourist drag but close to
a good beach and we stopped by for a little housewarming. Met their Cambodian neighbors
who despite not speaking very much English were extremely friendly and
welcoming and came out for a night on the town with us after some drinks. We
ended up sitting in chairs in the back of their white work van as they shuttled
us to a local nightclub. Got some drinks at the club and were happily dancing
away when suddenly they stopped the music and shuffled everyone off the main
dance floor to clear a big space. The pumping nightclub music was then replaced
by some slow music and a few couples had a slow dance in the middle while
everyone else watched. Soon after that was stopped and some weird and
completely incomprehensible local play started up on stage. What a weird
transition, but everyone else seemed to like it. Didn’t stick around for the ending
though and off we went in the van to the beach bars with our new friends. Fun
night.
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| Weirdness |
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| Chilling with our new Cambodian friends |
Although my experiences with Vietnam and the locals
there were generally positive I can see why so many people compare Vietnam
unfavorably to Cambodia. Cambodians do seem a lot more genuinely friendly and
approachable and not so single-mindedly focused on separating you from as much
cash as possible. I think part of it too is that in general there seem to be
more and more fluent English speakers here, especially the younger generation.
On the other hand there is also a lot more visible poverty and street children
begging. Both countries suffer from an attitude towards rubbish disposal that
involves just throwing your garbage anywhere or disposing of plastics and
anything and everything else via burn piles. So anyway, a quick but satisfying
preview of Sihanoukville and Patrick and I were off to the capital of Phnom Penh.
Phnom Penh
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| A sample of Phnom Penh's charming nightlife.... |
Phnom Penh at
first glance appears a pretty standard SE Asian capital though noticeably less
developed and modern than its Thai and Vietnamese counterparts. Re-met up with
our Dutch friends there and found a tuk-tuk driver for the next day to give us
a tour of some of the city’s interesting cultural sites. Unfortunately the
royal palace was evidently temporarily off the tourist list as the King had
recently died and an official mourning period was still ongoing. This left us
with the rather macabre and depressing experiences of learning more about Pol
Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime and its genocidal excesses. The “Killing Fields” was
in a really well done and quite moving audio format where you wandered around
the area silently, listening on headphones to some of the history of this
particular massacre site (one of many in the country). Definitely not cheery, parts
of it are heart-wrenching in fact, but nevertheless worth seeing and learning
about. SE Asia is full of periodic reminders that people can be real assholes
on a big scale. Well, at least America isn’t so obviously and directly
implicated in this particular tragedy, unlike the Agent Orange victims, etc.
The Killing Fields were then followed up by a tour of the notorious Khmer Rouge
S-21 prison specializing in the torture, detention and forced confessions of
regime enemies (many of them former employees, but also plenty of likely
innocent men, women and children) prior to their transport to be executed.
There are mugshot style photos of many of the victims on display and it was
really hard to look at them and imagine what they went through and the cruelty
they experienced. Of the roughly 14,000 prisoners that went through S-21 only 7
managed to survive, 2 of whom are still alive today. When the Khmer Rouge took
Phnom Penh, within a week they had forced
all
of the some 2 million residents (many of them refugees from the years of civil
war) out of the city on forced marches into the countryside to become communist
agricultural peasants. Craziness.
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| Tree Khmer soldiers allegedly used to kill babies by swinging them against it |
Did two nights in the capital and then booked tickets
onwards to Siem Reap for a bit of R&R and the temples of Ankor Wat,
thankfully a bit of local culture and history not involving the mass killings
of innocent people.
Siem Reap and Ankor Wat
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| Sunrise at Ankor |
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| Siem Reap by night |
Siem Reap is definitely geared towards the hordes of
tourists and backpackers that flock here to see the Temples as it’s flush with
various competing night markets, lots of neon signage and the popular “Pub
Street.” We arranged a couple tuk-tuk drivers for the next day and, somewhat
reluctantly on some people’s parts, asked them to pick us up at 5AM so we could
get there in time for sunrise. Turned out to be quite a big turnout for the
sunrise and the banks of the little lake facing the main Ankor Wat temple was
packed with people taking pictures and jockeying for position as the sky
started to lighten. It was definitely a beautiful sight as the towers slowly
became visible to the background of a pink-tinged sky, though, maybe due to
particular atmospheric conditions, not quite as spectacular as I’d pictured it
in my mind. Spent a good, long, hot day touring the various main temples,
climbing steep staircases and paying respectful homage to the filming site of a
big scene in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie. Some really interesting
carvings and statuary were seen and incense offered to Buddha in the hope of
“good luck, long life”. The scale and sheer number of temples and temple
complexes is staggering and we really only scratched the surface by visiting
the bigger ones on the more well-beaten paths. Not something you’d go to
Cambodia and then want to miss. We then proceeded to celebrate our viewing of
the wonders of Ankor Wat with a rather big night on the town. The next couple
days following this were spent escaping the rather oppressive heat and humidity
of Siem Reap by staking out lounge chairs next to a nice pool at a nearby fancy
hotel. A good massage and round of mini-golf were also indulged in. Next stop
on the journey is the town of Battambang as we start to make our way back down
towards Snookyville, with tentative plans to get back early and spend a few
days on the islands off the Southern coast.
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| Claim to fame: scene from Tomb Raider filmed here |
Battambang
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| The founder of Battambang who found a magic stick and became a king |
Battambang is a fairly sleepy,
mid-sized Cambodian city off the normal Cambodian backpacker itinerary. The
legend of the founding of the city involves some prince and his magic stick
(undoubtedly the inspiration for the 50 Cent song) and is commemorated by a
large statue. The main attraction seemed to be a tuk-tuk tour of various sights
and attractions surrounding the city and so we duly arranged a driver and
headed off. Our first stop was a crocodile “farm” hosting murky pits packed
with crocs destined to be skinned and sent off to Thailand. The tour apparently
included the opportunity to literally poke the crocs with a stick, something
our driver seemed to take a bit too much pleasure in doing. Pretty impressive
how they go from perfectly still to instant vicious motion, thrashing and loud snapping
of jaws. Not that anyone can blame them considering we were jabbing them with a
pole. Also got to go to the croc nursery and hold some baby crocodiles. Those
squirmy little things are pure muscle.
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| Crocs being poked with a stick |
The second stop was the “bamboo
train,” which though no longer in regular or useful service is maintained as a
tourist attraction. It turned out to be a one-way track plied by “trains” which
were bamboo platforms mounted on wheels with a small engine. The ride was
extremely loud, bumpy and jarring and interrupted periodically by return
traffic which by some obscure formula necessitated either one or the other of
the trains to stop and lift their contraptions all the way off the track so the
others could pass. After about an hour of travel we arrived at the endpoint,
some huts in the middle of nowhere selling the usual array of tourist-trap
crap. We indulged in a cold drink, wandered around for a bit and then got back
on for the return trip. Ta-da! It was actually so bad it was almost hilarious
and at least led to a running joke about the experience being the can’t-miss
highlight of the entire trip up to that point.
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| Bamboo "train" |
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| Cute little baby croc |
There was also a temple complex
touted as the “mini-Ankor Wat” which while maybe not as impressive as the
actual was still a nice place to wander around and spend an hour or so. The
tour also included a stop at another, inevitably depressing, Cambodian
historical site: the “Killing Cave.” More skulls on display and a truly
horrifying story from our driver about how people were chucked to their deaths
from the top of what was basically a bit over some rocks. It included his
second-hand account of how all the locals were made to watch these killings and
basically forced to somewhat condone the killings at least through their fear
and silence when asked if anyone objected to the “justice” about to be carried
out. Khmer Rouge times were obviously not a great time to live in
Cambodia. I actually read a book,
purportedly a biography of Pol Pot, hoping to get some insight into what
motivations could have underlay such senseless depravity coming about but it
was actually a struggle to read and not at all illuminating. While detailing
lots of internal Communist party politics and other rather dry facts the 300+
pages basically boiled down to, “Pol Pot was extremely secretive, didn’t talk
or write much about his internal decision-making process and no one really has
any idea what he was thinking or why he did what he did.” Though at one point
in his later years he did acknowledge that, “Mistakes were made.” So, there’s
that at least.
Our final stop as dusk approached
was near the mouth of a bat cave which at some invisible signal spilled out a
never-ending seeming stream of millions of bats flying out for dinner. Truly
unbelievable how many there were and they really did just keep coming and
coming; we left before the flow had even begun to taper off. From a distance
driving away it looked like plumes of smoke floating across the sky. Brought a
smile to my face thinking of all the mosquitoes that would meet their doom that
night.
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| Bats, lots of bats! |
We ended off the Battambang
adventure by getting an amazing massage from a blind lady (though the initial
positioning phase
was a bit awkward) and
then wandering around and sampling some truly odd food. Someone ordered what
was thought to be a fruit and yogurt type dish and which ended up being this
weird soupy concoction with ice flakes and potatoes in it and which tasted
rather strongly of onions. Yum. Decided we’d seen all there was to see and
although we weren’t due back in Sihanoukville for a few days still for our
Christmas and New Year’s reservation we headed back that direction anyway to
spend a few days on a quiet little island off the Southern coast. One other,
dark and macabre, thing of note was that on our bus ride out of there we came across
the immediate aftermath of a horrible accident. A motorbike had somehow hit a
bus head on and the bike was wedged underneath the grill with its rider lying
prone nearby. Despite his unhealthy looking pose my immediate wishful thought
was, “I’m sure he’s just unconscious and will be fine and they’re just waiting
for the ambulance.” An illusion immediately shattered when someone
unceremoniously dragged him by the feet out from under the bus revealing and
leaving a very large bloodstain originating from his head region. Definitely
something I wished I could unsee. Can’t believe people drive around without
helmets in these countries and a quick dampener on my enthusiasm for riding
bikes myself.
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| A sampling of delicious Cambodian cuisine |
Koh Rong
Koh Rong was a small stretch
of beach and definitely a contrast to the anticipated upcoming wild chaos of
Sihanoukville. Spent a few pretty relaxed days there. Hung out on the nice
beach that was our doorstep, went on a little fishing expedition with a group
of Dutch girls who, despite Patrick’s frequent reminders, kept reverting
exclusively to speaking Dutch. Fishing in Cambodia is weird. For whatever
reason they don’t seem to ever throw back anything that’s caught, no matter how
small and presumably almost worthless as food. So we ended up with a ton of
tiny grilled fish for lunch. Had to eat like 6 to get a full meal… Oh yeah,
passed out on our hostel couch one night after a whiskey or few and woke up the
next morning pretty much entirely covered with our hostel’s cats and kittens.
So, that was nice. Not much else of note to my recollection: unfortunately all our pictures from this time disappeared with the subsequent loss of Patrick's camera in Snookyville one night. Which basically means IT'S LIKE THE WHOLE THING NEVER EVEN HAPPENED!
Sihanoukville (Part 2)
Back to
Snookyville and this time for a couple of weeks to celebrate the end of the
year festivities. Me Patrick and the Dutchies were all staying in the same
guesthouse and looking forward to some beach and relaxation time. Ended up
being lots of nights out at the beach bars, lazy days spent both at the beach
and as often as not at a nearby swimming pool. Definitely got a lot of reading
done and had a generally good time but to be honest started going through a
period of homesickness during my stay here and so maybe didn’t enjoy it as much
as I could have. Got a little boring being in one spot for that long maybe. The
beach scene in Sihanoukville is a bit off somehow too, not sure really how to
explain. For one thing the constant stream of children trying to sell you
things, especially fireworks got pretty old after, well immediately actually.
Child: “Want to buy
fireworks?!” Me: “No, thank you though.” Child: “Why not?” Me: “What? Because I
don’t want any fireworks.” Child: “Why?” Me: “….?! NO! GO AWAY!”
That was one constant of the time
there: fireworks being shot over the water pretty much non-stop all night,
every night. While the local’s and other Asian tourists enthusiasm for Western
New Year’s was impressive it was also a bit confusing, especially considering
that it started two weeks before the actual event and never let up the entire
time. I’m sure white tourists were into it too guess, just not us.
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| Can't have a good party without balloons... |
We did have a nice gift exchange
with a big group of friends around Christmas and that was nice even if it
didn’t completely alleviate my homesickness. I got a bottle of absinthe…yay? My
mood probably wasn’t helped any by the fact that I’d somehow and somewhere
managed to acquire a long line of insect bites along one forearm that looked
like raised blisters/pustules and beside being itchy were rather deforming
looking.
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| A bottle of absinthe...just what I wanted for Christmas |
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| The tame beginning to the a booze cruise that subsequently got much wilder and more topless |
Don’t mean to make it sound like it
was all that bad or anything. The nightlife was good and wild, I was with good
friends and there were some highlights such as a booze cruise we went on which
approached Spring Break levels of wild debauchery. New Year’s Eve itself ended
up being a weird night as well. We’d pre-bought tickets to what was supposed to
be a good party but waited a bit too long with the pre-gaming to head out and
so ended up spending the actual stroke of midnight wandering around the street
in heavy traffic trying to find this party. Was pretty funny really. Apparently
the locals end their celebrations exactly at midnight, since there was a giant
traffic jam on all the streets as everyone simultaneously decided to head home
at that exact moment. Turns out no one else could find the party either and it was
basically empty anyway we were told and so just headed for the beach club scene
and then later did a reset and re-celebrated in a different time zone.
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New Year's Eve: Cambodia style!
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So yeah, the time in Sihanoukville
while on the whole enjoyable felt a bit weird for various reasons and by the
end I was quite ready to move on. Me, Patrick and our Dutch friends decided to
go to another small and quiet nearby island for a couple days to recover from
the Snookyville madness and then planned to head into southern Laos, which I hadn’t
managed to make it to in my first foray into that country.
Koh Ruh (Bamboo Island)
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| A little bit of paradise |
Koh Ruh’s a little offshore
Cambodian island available for those wishing to escape hectic Sihanoukville.
Even smaller and more laid-back than Bamboo Island. Just one restaurant/guesthouse
main building and a row of cabins right at the beach edge. Definitely is nice
having the beach at your doorstep. Got lots of reading in hammocks and relaxing
done. Pretty much never gets old doing that and was a good peaceful way to spend
some time after the craziness of Sihanoukville for the Christmas/New
Year’s period.
