1st - 6th July - Cambodia
Our journey out of Vietnam into Cambodia was thankfully far less eventful than our journey into Vietnam!
The bus took us where we had booked to go without leaving us in any random places to deal with. Didn't we do well - booking with a company that does what it says it does!? We had a little fun trying to avoid the swarms of Tuk Tuk drivers when we arrived "- Hey lady! you need Tuk Tuk, I know good hotel, I know cheap hotel, Hey lady!" One chap followed us for ages and got chatting with the usual football spiel when they find out you're from England - he kept spotting us from a distance over the next few days and found it amusing to to Tuk Tuk over and keep asking, "hey English man, you still not want Tuk Tuk??", especially when it was raining!
Our first few days were spent in Phnom Phen. The first thing that struck us was the poverty in amongst the wide French style boulevards, that no longer look as they must once have done. It was so depressing to see so many young children, grubby, poorly clothed, some with amputated or seriously injured limbs, some with very young babies slung over their shoulders, begging from whoever was around. Some sold books, postcards or newspapers, others just held their hands out. It was so horrible to see how so many children have to live their lives in such awful conditions.
We carried on our tour of war time history and visited the S21 prison, that had been a secondary school until Pol Pol and the Khmer Rouge took control. Again, another thoroughly disturbing visit but somewhere you can't not see if you're here. Filled with photographs of the thousands of victims from the Pol Pot regime and stories of the tortures that were carried out here so recently, it left us both stunned and quite numb feeling as we walked back through the streets. We also visited the Killing Fields, just outside Phnom Pehn, where many of the massgraves of those murdered have been found. It was very difficult to comprehend that such terrible terrible things happened there to adults, children and babies, whilst we were both growing up, oblivious, in quaint little Somerset, worlds apart. - yet still, today, humans are treating each other with such contempt.
Our next stop was Siam Reap - home of Angkor Wat (and many more!) - one of those places that crops up in all those books which tell you what not to miss before you die!
We had a hugely sweaty and then rainy tramp around some of the smaller wats during our first afternoon. Stunning and ancient, the temples were built by the Khmer Kings between the 6th and 12th centuries. Not much left of some of them, as you'd expect, but then also an amazing amount of detailed artwork still remaining on so many.
I got a bit snap happy, as were all the other tourists and now we haven't got much of a clue about which bits of random stone came from which temples!
A pigs tail start the following morning (twirly) at 4:45 meant that we got to see the sunrise over the towers of Angkor Wat - along with heaps of other early birds! It was pretty packed but after a hearty breakie at about 7ish, all the other tourists seemed to thin out into the rest of the area. Again we trundled about, studiously reading from our guide book and taking lots of pics.
We also clambered up to the top of the cental tower which was hideously steep - apparently only the King and the High Priest where allowed up here, although I'm not sure anyone else would normally want to risk their lives on such a sheer stone staircase, with steps made for Oompa Loompas. Think 'The Wall' in Avoriaz (huge steep black ski run covered in mogles the size of mountains) and multiply the scare / adrenaline factor several times!! Fortunately, as I heaved my quivering body over the final step, there were two sweet little girls waiting for me who gave me incense to offer to the Buddha. I graefully thanked him helping me get up there in one piece but bloody well forgot to ask him for help on the way back down! Arse! I think he heard as I remembered though and he took care of the old knees along with all the others who pooped themselves as they looked over the edge!
The Landmine Museum was our last stop. We had been amazed not to have seen any publicised information about landmines as we were so aware that it is such a significant issue in Cambodia. However, we've since learned that the Government had at one time closed the museum we went to, and many other governments with such problems don't raise their profile for fear of putting off the tourists! Fortunately we found this small museum which is run by a man who actually laid many of the mines himself when working for the Khmer Rouge, but now has taken it upon himself to work on their removal. The facts and figures of those injured and still being hurt are huge. He also has many children who have been hurt by the mimes living with him and his volunteer supporters at the museum, and hearing their stories added to our feelings of intense saddness for this country.
We left on Wednesday, driving for 8 hours along a majorly pot-holed muddy track, which is also the main route to the Thai border. Poor James was squished in the back of the minibus on a seat that unhitched itself with each bump and is still having trouble feeling his buttocks! He did manage to scoff a bug of some description from a nice young girl selling them at one of our pee stops! Nice! A long wait at the border, while many others paid to get through the back door on the quick route, and we finally made it to our next bus headed to Bangkok. 12 hours turned into 17 hours but not bad for our track record.
The bus took us where we had booked to go without leaving us in any random places to deal with. Didn't we do well - booking with a company that does what it says it does!? We had a little fun trying to avoid the swarms of Tuk Tuk drivers when we arrived "- Hey lady! you need Tuk Tuk, I know good hotel, I know cheap hotel, Hey lady!" One chap followed us for ages and got chatting with the usual football spiel when they find out you're from England - he kept spotting us from a distance over the next few days and found it amusing to to Tuk Tuk over and keep asking, "hey English man, you still not want Tuk Tuk??", especially when it was raining!
Our first few days were spent in Phnom Phen. The first thing that struck us was the poverty in amongst the wide French style boulevards, that no longer look as they must once have done. It was so depressing to see so many young children, grubby, poorly clothed, some with amputated or seriously injured limbs, some with very young babies slung over their shoulders, begging from whoever was around. Some sold books, postcards or newspapers, others just held their hands out. It was so horrible to see how so many children have to live their lives in such awful conditions.
We carried on our tour of war time history and visited the S21 prison, that had been a secondary school until Pol Pol and the Khmer Rouge took control. Again, another thoroughly disturbing visit but somewhere you can't not see if you're here. Filled with photographs of the thousands of victims from the Pol Pot regime and stories of the tortures that were carried out here so recently, it left us both stunned and quite numb feeling as we walked back through the streets. We also visited the Killing Fields, just outside Phnom Pehn, where many of the massgraves of those murdered have been found. It was very difficult to comprehend that such terrible terrible things happened there to adults, children and babies, whilst we were both growing up, oblivious, in quaint little Somerset, worlds apart. - yet still, today, humans are treating each other with such contempt.
Our next stop was Siam Reap - home of Angkor Wat (and many more!) - one of those places that crops up in all those books which tell you what not to miss before you die!
We had a hugely sweaty and then rainy tramp around some of the smaller wats during our first afternoon. Stunning and ancient, the temples were built by the Khmer Kings between the 6th and 12th centuries. Not much left of some of them, as you'd expect, but then also an amazing amount of detailed artwork still remaining on so many.
I got a bit snap happy, as were all the other tourists and now we haven't got much of a clue about which bits of random stone came from which temples!
A pigs tail start the following morning (twirly) at 4:45 meant that we got to see the sunrise over the towers of Angkor Wat - along with heaps of other early birds! It was pretty packed but after a hearty breakie at about 7ish, all the other tourists seemed to thin out into the rest of the area. Again we trundled about, studiously reading from our guide book and taking lots of pics.
We also clambered up to the top of the cental tower which was hideously steep - apparently only the King and the High Priest where allowed up here, although I'm not sure anyone else would normally want to risk their lives on such a sheer stone staircase, with steps made for Oompa Loompas. Think 'The Wall' in Avoriaz (huge steep black ski run covered in mogles the size of mountains) and multiply the scare / adrenaline factor several times!! Fortunately, as I heaved my quivering body over the final step, there were two sweet little girls waiting for me who gave me incense to offer to the Buddha. I graefully thanked him helping me get up there in one piece but bloody well forgot to ask him for help on the way back down! Arse! I think he heard as I remembered though and he took care of the old knees along with all the others who pooped themselves as they looked over the edge!
The Landmine Museum was our last stop. We had been amazed not to have seen any publicised information about landmines as we were so aware that it is such a significant issue in Cambodia. However, we've since learned that the Government had at one time closed the museum we went to, and many other governments with such problems don't raise their profile for fear of putting off the tourists! Fortunately we found this small museum which is run by a man who actually laid many of the mines himself when working for the Khmer Rouge, but now has taken it upon himself to work on their removal. The facts and figures of those injured and still being hurt are huge. He also has many children who have been hurt by the mimes living with him and his volunteer supporters at the museum, and hearing their stories added to our feelings of intense saddness for this country.
We left on Wednesday, driving for 8 hours along a majorly pot-holed muddy track, which is also the main route to the Thai border. Poor James was squished in the back of the minibus on a seat that unhitched itself with each bump and is still having trouble feeling his buttocks! He did manage to scoff a bug of some description from a nice young girl selling them at one of our pee stops! Nice! A long wait at the border, while many others paid to get through the back door on the quick route, and we finally made it to our next bus headed to Bangkok. 12 hours turned into 17 hours but not bad for our track record.
posted by Polly and James at Monday, July 11, 2005
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