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Well hello all, we had a spare minute so we thought we should update you on what we got up to in Cambodia (especially as we have been in Vietnam for 3 weeks now).
Before I delve in to what exactly we got up to in Cambodia I have to put in a little aside. As most of you know we have been joined by my little brother Zig, it is of course, a total pleasure to have him here and we are both very happy to see him. BUT, there is a downside…. Basically most of my friends have been telling me for years that I am ‘an old man’… which I have always denied…. Unfortunatly it has become very clear to me in the last few weeks that this is, in fact…. True!!!!
What follows is a few examples of all the thing I have found myself saying over the last three weeks (for those who don’t know, please be aware that Zig is only 18 months younger than me)
“Zig, no we can’t ‘just get into the back of some random guys jeep’”
“Zig, just don’t go walking off.. Cambodia is covered in land mines you know”
“ZIG, get that prostitute out of our room”
“Zig, for god sake don’t hang out of the taxi window during Saigon rush hour”
“Zig, stop singing football songs”
“Zig, this is not a lads holiday to Magaluf you know”
“Zig, must you try and climb every tree and temple in sight!!!”
Well I have basically come to the conclusion that all my friends are right and I am actually in my early forties already!!!
Any way back to the story, after about six hours on a bus from Bangkok we arrived at the Cambodian border crossing.. as with most Asian border crossings there was the usual plethora of forms to sign, officials to pay and waiting to be done. Upon arrival in the Kingdom of Cambodia we are given a choice, either spend 8 hours on a crappy bus that ‘might’ break down (might = definitely in Cambodian) or shell out the $60 for a Taxi that only takes four hours to travel the 100 miles to Siem Reap. Although we didn’t really want to spend the money we opted for the taxi which was only $15 when split between the four of us!!! We were actually quite on edge at this point as we really did not know what to expect from one of the poorest countries on Earth and one that has got a truly shocking recent history. Our edgy feeling was not aided by the fact that the driver was stopping every 2 minutes to hand over fist fulls of cash to various shady looking characters.. it is also worth noting that the Cambodian road system is nothing short of terrible and we think that the four hour drive may have done lasting damage to our spines. I ask you... when does a pot hole stop being a pot hole and just become a canyon in the road, some were as big as large ponds!!!
We arrived in Siem Reap about 10pm, checked into our hotel and spent the next morning planning what we were going to do. Siem Reap is the town that is closest to the ancient Khmer ruins of Angkor and is the place that we used as a base for the next 4 days. The temples of Angkor are spread over and area of 50km but in the centre there is a large group of temples that covers an area of about 8 square km. We hired out mountain bikes and bought a three day pass to explore the temples. In the three days we visited about 15 different sites and what we saw was nothing short of Breathtaking!!!!
I cannot emphasize enough just how amazing this place was. 1000 years ago when the Khmer empire was at its height they managed to build the most amazing series of temple complexes, both Pete and I could not believe what we were seeing!!!!!!
Each site was completely different and offered something unique. Some temples were huge, grand and much the same as they would have been when they were built. Others were left in ruin (these were the best) completely overtaken by the forest and vegetation that really made you feel like you were discovering these places for the first time. The very strange contradiction of Cambodia is summed up by a remark that Pete made “1000 years ago the Khmer people built the most extensive and impressive temple sites in South East Asia….. now, they cant even lay a road!”.
The decision to hire bikes for these three days was a great decision and we all really had a lot of fun even though we were covering at least 30km per day. The third day was capped off by watching the sun rise over the main temple of Angkor Wat, this was an awesome way to end the three days and really did impress upon us just how amazing this place was!!!
We had now been in Cambodia for about five days and we were all really impressed with just how nice the Cambodian people were. Everywhere we went we were greeted by friendly and helpful people and all of us were excited to be moving on and seeing the capital Phnom Penh.
On the morning of day six we boarded a bus and made our way toward Phnom Penh. This was not an especially large distance to cover but the unrelenting Cambodian roads made the journey last most of the day. We arrived in the capital under the cover of darkness and as per usual when we arrived we were mobbed by about half a dozen moto and tuk tuk drivers all attempting to hurd us toward their particular mode of transportation. After paying over the odds we arrived at a hostel that we picked at random from the guide book and checked in. Unfortunatly they only had one room left so we had an extra bed brought in and pushed the three double beds together to make one super bed for the 4 of us to sleep in. (this would become interesting later)
Day 7 was dedicated to exploring Phnom Penh and we made our way round the usual palaces and pagodas. This was all fine but we were in for a shock when we arrived at a place called S21.
For those who dont know, during the 1970's Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. This regime was oppressive in the most extreme sense of the word. The Khmer rouge was following a extremely aggressive form of Maoist communism who's general aim was to turn Cambodia into a rural/farming communist state. To this end the Khmer Rouge executed any person that they deemed to be intelectual, this included all teachers, doctors and professionals of any type. Even having glasses was deemed a crime and punishable by death. It is estimated that between 1 and 3 million people were killed during this time. The most disturbing aspect of this was what happened to the Children. Kids were seperated from their families and sent to be re-educated. They were tought that time had started again at 'year 0' and it was their job as pure Khmer citizens to enforce the will of the Khmer Rough.
This is when we arrive at S21. Before people were killed they were often sent to this camp to be tortured. In this camp (which used to be a secondary school) people were subjected to torture in the most vile and inhumane conditions. Without going into too much detail the prison has pretty much been left as it was when it was discovered by the invading Vietnamese, this includes blood stains on the walls and floor. The only main addition was row after row of photographs of the people who went through the prison, this included many women and children. The only thing I can say is that this place left a lasting impression on us and it is something that we wont forget.
Day 8 did not really give us much time to recover as we took a short taxi ride just outside of Phnom Penh to one of the killing fields that people were taken to after S21 had finished with them. At the heart of this site is a pagoda made of human skulls (collected from the mass graves in it). It was erected as a monument to what happened there and is the countries genocide memorial. The site was littered with craters where mass graves had been discovered. As we walked aroung you's still see clothing and bones coming through the earth, it was truly disturbing. That is one thing we have all noticed in Asia, they have a tendency to not hide things, they show it how it is. Apologies for the slightly lengthy discription of the darker side to Cambodia, but its important to say what we saw.
So I dont leave this entry on a really depressing note I feel (after some deliberation) that I should make you aware of the events of our final night in Cambodia. Now, remember I said that all 4 of us were in one room sharing one super sized bed. Well on the evening in question I left the club (Heart of Darkness....groovy!) early and went back to the hotel. After about 30 minutes or so Rich came back as well and said that it looked like Zig and Pete were trying their luck with some locals. After we had fallen asleep I am awoken by Zig and Pete stumbling into the bedroom. Zig whispered "Charlie......Charlie......get up and go sleep in the hall......Rich get up......". followed by one of the girls who walked into our room. I said "Zig get that w**** out of our room now"! Pete then says "Sshhhhh....don't say that.....there just girls.....(But then ponders on this thought for a minute and walks outside)! Zig persists "No Charlie.....there nice girls.....she just wants a cuddle"! Anyway....Pete had realised it was a good idea to ask these girls if they were legit, but how do you ask someone "are you a prostitute", when you think they are'nt knowing it will rapidly end your night? As it happened in his dunken state he could'nt answer that question so he just asked "if you stay do you want money" to which the girl reacted with a sly smile.....needless to say that was enough! He quickly abondoned Zig in the corridor with his new friends....and the dilemma of how to get rid of them now they were in our hotel. The night ended with the two of them escorting them out, and reluctantly paying their cab home!! We have since come to the realisation that anywhere where there is booze, music and drunk westerners is full of prostitutes....if it looks to good to be true then it is!! Now we have gone the opposite way and think everyone is a w****.....I mean everyone.....old...young.....nunns.....no one is off limits. I think success lies in the happy medium.
All in all I think we were in Cambodia for about 9 days and it left an very big impression on us. On the morning of day 9 we boarded a boat on the Mekong river heading for Vietnam... Crossing a border on a river was another first for all of us and to do it on the Mekong was very cool. It was now the 22nd of December and so we were making plans for my Birthday and Christmas (lets just say the tropical paradise we were hoping for didn't work out as planned)
Catch you all in Vietnam...
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