Rice and Rock Concerts

How does a traveller make the journey from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, around 300km north. Fly? Booked out. Boat? Dry season, lake too low. Bus? Forget about it, after the amount of travel we’d done already we were not spending six or seven hours on a bus, that and Steve was suffering from a vicious hangover (they get really bad over here!) Motorbike? Steve would probably fallen off from the aforementioned illness.

No, we splashed out and got driven up in a car to ourselves. A fairly interesting journey through rural Cambodia ensued and despite no one in the car feeling too healthy it was great to see the agricultural side of things.

Whilst we haven’t been slumming it in hostels over here, we haven’t been splurging either, so to arrive at the Somadevi Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap and have busboys open the door, grab the bags and arrange a cool drink whilst our checking in was done was absolutely magic. The swim and refreshing beer from the pool bar wasn’t half-bad either.

Setting the alarm for 4.40am while on holidays seemed like a crime of the most heinous kind, but to beat the majority of buses to the Angkor Temples it was necessary. In a fashion unbelievable to the taxi industry in Adelaide, we walked out of our hotel at 5.10am and stepped straight onto a tuk-tuk which we booked for the day for $15. The promised sunrise over Angkor Wat didn’t eventuate, but we at least took advantage of the smaller crowds and slightly cooler temperatures. After touring Angkor Wat until around 8am we headed back to our hotel for a shower and a buffet breakfast, which by now should have a framed photo of Steve as their guest of honour, as I’m not confident even Homer Simpson could have out-eaten him.

The rest of the day was spent touring the other temples in the complex, and buying souvenirs at triple the price we should have paid.

Our next day in Siem Reap highlighted the fact that whilst they play host to the Angkor Temples the city itself actually has very little to offer. A good selection of restaurants, bars and cafes makes it very lively, but you are surrounded by venues that have priced themselves out of the reach of the locals. Siem Reap is therefore very much the tourist town, with thousands of westerners flying in and out, without exploring further than a day or two at the Temples.

It's well worth the trip to Siem Reap to see the Temples, but for us we found the town really had little else to offer than what the tour buses are there for as well.

Our last surprise in the town was the mandatory 'Passenger Service Charge' of US$25 to leave the airport, a bit rich considering the ticket already included the numerous taxes that they get away with worldwide.

Please enjoy the pix, and feel free to comment on anything.[gallery]

OK, awake now!

Apologies to all about the lack of post attached to the pictures, but I recall it had been a very long day.

WeÕre now in Sapa, in the North-West of Vietnam, and weÕll try to work our way back chronologically from the first post.

If I double up on anything I apologise, but whilst writing this is Sapa, IÕm not sure when it will get posted as there isnÕt any internet up here. (edit - now in Ninh Binh, south of Hanoi - still chasing an internet connection!)

We arrived in Phnom Penh after the very slow boat trip up from the Vietnam-Cambodia border, and took a tuk-tuk straight to our hotel. Cambodia has such an horrific past and as a tourist who wants to enjoy the rejuvenated splendour of Phnom Penh and the amazing temples of Angkor, we owe at least a courtesy to the people to recognise the recent atrocities that the country suffered.

An inner city high school in Phnom Penh before the Khmer Rouge arrived quickly became Security Centre 21 (S-21.) The Khmer Rouge turned the school into a prison and torture centre for citizens who were on the radical communist hit-list; educated, urban, foreign, literate, wealthy, etc. More than 20,000 people who were detained and tortured at S-21 were executed at the nearby Killing Fields. As if the killing of that many people wasnÕt horrific in itself, even more mortifying was the use of play equipment from the school as torture implements by Pol PotÕs men.

The Khmer Rouge in their strangely efficient documentation of torture and execution took photographs of every person executed from S-21, and the curators of the museum that now occupies the buildings of the school turned torture centre have displayed photographs of the victims. Looking at the faces of men, women, children, and even babies was staring into the faces of the condemned. TV, movies and the news can imitate death at their will, but never before have I stared into the faces of people that knew a quick death was the best they could hope for. I left silent and numb, but felt I now had a far better understanding of the country that Cambodia is now, 30 years on.

Our tuk-tuk driver, called Lucky, picked us up and took us to the Killing Fields on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. At S-21 we could see the faces of the victims and at the Killing Fields we could see their bones. As mass-graves are uncovered every year the bones are exhumed and placed in a multi-story stupa on display to visitors to the Killing Fields.

There is no silver lining to the cloud; the country was ÔliberatedÕ by their old enemy Vietnam in 1979, and pushed the Khmer Rouge into the provinces. The country was left devoid of any infrastructure; farms were ruined by aggressive practices, doctors, lawyers, engineers, nurses, teachers, professors, builders, translators, tourism staff; all were killed. There was no art, dance, music or theatre left in the country.

After my previous few pars it sounds like I spent my time in Cambodia horrified and upset, but strange as it may seem, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, I was ashamed that no country bar their neighbour Vietnam saw fit to stand up to the Khmer Rouge, or that the Vietnam War that Australia took part in was the very catalyst for the creation of Pol PotÕs guerillas. It feels like every other car on the street is a Toyota or Lexus with a decal of one NGO or another, and whilst itÕs great to see the International Community investing time and money into the country, itÕs a shame we didnÕt involve ourselves earlier and prevent the genocide.

We immersed ourself in the capital not even 30 years since the evil regime had been removed from power, and we found ourselves in a bustling, thriving, beautiful, developing city. The people were honest, generous, loving, and though all were affected by the atrocities they were moving forward and living for today the best they could.

The city boasts a great array of bars and we would have seen more of them if it wasnÕt for a) the potency of their drinks, and b) the cheapness of them ($1 Beer, $2.75 Long Island Iced Teas.) Phnom Penh seemed to attract a different traveller to those we have come across in most of Vietnam, whether it is the fact that it is more expensive, and doesnÕt have as many direct flights, but there seemed to be less package tour operations and more independent, intrepid travellers.

IÕve got a lot to catch up on with this blog, so IÕll finish Phnom Penh here and edit some photos and get it all online. Oh, and for the record, I went with the crepes with chocolate sauce. Twice.

The internet is really struggling here, so once we return to Hanoi on Friday arvo I will bring things back up to speed with photos.

Friday night in Siem Reap, Cambodia and I’m busy updating the blog; what’s wrong with me! The day began with an alarm at 5am to wake us for a sunrise at Angkor Wat, but, unfortunately for us heavy cloud prevented any colour appearing behind the amazing temple.

The early start is responsible for my weariness though, so I’ll post photos today, and post an update in the morning.

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Sitting at the Bodhi Tree guesthouse in Cambodia debating whether to have the Pancakes with honey, coconut cream and fresh fruit or the Crepes with ice cream and chocolate syrup, with a traditional coffee seemed like the perfect place to update the blog.

It's wednesday morning and we're in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We arrived into Saigon, Vietnam on Saturday night and after dropping our bags into our hotel we jumped on the back of moto's and headed to a local restaurant to meet Shannon.

Sunday in Saigon consisted of a little bit of shopping in Ben Tanh market, a haircut, massage and shave, lunch, drinks at the Rex, then dinner.

One aim of this trip was to get off the beaten track when it came to food, and we certainly succeeded when we all tucked into a plate of Banh Xeo; Vietnamese rice flour crepe, stuffed with bean sprouts, prawns and pork. The four of us ate like kings with genoruse serves of spring rolls and plenty of cold cans of tiger beer, and the bill tallied about 300,000 dong (about 20 dollars.)

An early start Monday took us to the local bus station where we boarded a Ford Transit van to get us to Chau Doc on the Mekong, near the Cambodian border. On the video (not attached) you will see me repeatedly complaining about the fact that the only 3 westerners on the bus got by far the smallest seats on the bus. By the time we arrived in Chau Doc 6 hours later I wasn't sure if I would be able to move for the rest of the week. Nothing like a combination of half a bus seat for a day and a vicious hangover.

Lizzie and I followed Steve (who was surprisingly intrepid on this occasion) to the river where we found ourselves drinking shots of a clear alcohol, made from ground deer antler and chinese herbs. Tasted, um, interesting, especially when followed by the grilled meat, which may have been duck, pork, chicken, fish, or another local animal.

Tuesday morning we boarded our boat in Chau Doc bound for Phnom Penh; an urgent knock on the door from Steve alerted us to the fact that our boat decided to head off half an hour early, so with no breakfast or coffee we jumped on a boat. Little did we know that Lonely Planet can be miles off when it comes to travel time. Four hours quickly became six and half, and the scenery whilst beautiful and amazing for ten minutes quickly became the river equivalent of crossing the nullabor plain.

Our hotel in Phnom Penh is great though, and was a welcome sanctuary for us weary travellers. Not 15 minutes had passed and we had sat down with a can of Anchor beer each, and a red curry to quiet the angry stomach. A few $1 beers and Long Island Ice Teas at the FCC at the river and our night was complete.

We're heading to Siem Reap Thursday and we'll be able to give our impression of Cambodia then.[gallery]