Siem Reap and Ankor Wat (6 nights)
Ok so here's the main thing that Cambodia is on the travelling circuit for: Angkhor Wat, the 6th wonder of the world.
We arrived after a very long and uncomfortable journey, but still managed to get up at 4.30am to go see the temples. In body if not in spirit. Even though the actual Angkor Wat was the largest religious monument in the world, (and pretty impressive it has to be said), there were other temples I preferred due to them having more character such as the Lara Croft tomb raider temple where crumbling stones and awesome trees grown on and in and within and between the slabs. The next day we did it the other way round, getting up later and trying to do the sunset thing but unfortunately it was clouded over and so we didn't get the benefit.
Siem Reap itself is a really nice place. Nate and I ate at a lovely resteraunt which served as part of a bbq (one you make yourself on the table) what Nate declared as one of the best Ostrich he has eaten which is something as his father used to farm them on a rather large scale. Another night we went for a meal at Temple which featured Askora dancing. I enjoy meals with entertainment! Reminded me a bit of when me and my sister bells spent the summer in Spain. We later met up with Don, and then saw the guys and girls from Sihoukeville which doubled with the lethal cocktail buckets, contributed to an extremely drunk evening which basically wrecked me for the next two solid days and nights. I think the unsettled and homesick feeling caught up with me too and I had a good and long (and embarrassing but these things happen) purge of tears, I think a build up of confusing emotions. Perhaps because had I not been intending to change my flight, it was nearly time to go home.
.
Our room had a TV in which was a godsend to watch some movies esp when feeling rough!
After Nate had left for Vietnam to sort his visa extention and pick up his new credit card, I visited the National Museum (12 dollars ouch!) and National Handicapped charity which doubled up as a rehabilitation centre and fitter of prosthetic limbs and physiotherapy, and tried to volunteer at the local childrens hospital, but had the impression they wanted blood or money. Blood I can't do due to having had malaria and money I intended to do anyway online. The children and their mothers had come from 4 provinces and snaked in their colourful clothing around the block - it was quite a humbling sight. Nate and I had gone to a 'free'Bach concert by Dr Beat Richner, the founder of this hospital, called Kantha Bopha. He was also (the amazing people are always multi-talented) a Celloist, and in the past had been a professional musician / singer / actor in Switzerland. This man I just have so much respect and admiration for I could almost cry. Talk about making your life count for something. Indirectly or directly he is responsible for saving the lives of literally millions of Cambodian children. Without Kantha Bopha, 3'200 additional children would die in Cambodia every month. I cannot explain how this makes me feel. To have that passion, that dedication, and to realise one person can make such a difference. The hospitals (there are now 5) are funded only 5 % by Cambodian and 10 % by Swiss governments, the rest in its entirety comes from (tourist) donations. The annual budget of the running costs is now 24 Million USD! Tourism is down in Cambodia due to the global recession, and normally in high season he gives 2 concerts a week which brings in the bulk of the money. It must be a constant source of anxiety. I pray the government starts taking on more responsibility for the welfare of it's future generations. He also has visions for the same hospitals to be available in Africa. That would be something. Free healthcare to all. And without the corruption. Again, something we take for granted in England. Check out beatocello.com for more info or to make a donation (can do online with credit card.)
I have tried to contact a few orphanages on skype with a view to helping out for a few days but esentially its not that easy. Is frustrating. Same with another hospital I looked into you had to send it app letter, CRB, CV, be tested for MRSA etc etc and be there for like a month. Was a shame but I suppose they have to have some structure esp as some volunteers may be more hassle than they're worth.
I spent the evening in my new guest house 'Garden Village' which is a popular backpacker hang-out with free internet and chilled rooftop bar where my dutch friends David Bas and Irish Don stayed. Got a hut for 3 dollars. Couldn't rouse Don earlier in the day who said I could share his room, but later realised I had been knocking on the wrong door! What an idiot!
I met a lovely crowd including an english girl Vicky and her friend Paul. Was just a nice relaxed evening chatting which was good because I was still feeling rather sick (!) but probably would still have been persuaded to go out even though the only thing that had been gettting me through the day was the prospect of having an early night! Vicky was very nice - and I realised most of my travels I have hung out with guys but she was a really genuine and kind person and it was nice to have a proper girly chat. Guys just dont have the same depth of emotions or contemplations (yeah I know big generalisation but from my experience, true). She and Paul (they're just friends) are also going to Vietnam so really hope will see them again. Had been missing Nate earlier in day - have been travelling with him for a solid month now and felt a bit lost but realised there's always other people to enjoy spending time with. I have realised about myself that I love the freedom of travelling independantly but need people around me I have some sort of connection with (ie not just anyone who happens to be there) to make experiences more enjoyable and meaningful. Otherwise whats the point? I think I get the right balance of flexibility and adapting to other peoples plans and ideas but also when I feel strongly about something, going off and doing something I really want to do. But to be honest there is always someone to do it with. Like Don was up for going to the jungle (but no way he'd get his arse in gear to do it alone!) which I am well excited about because it is like wild country and I have been craving a proper adventure trip. Planning on a 4 days trek and kayaking so bring it on! Off to Ratanakiri, the wild wild east....
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Sihanoukville (8 nights)
We arrived in the dark after another bus journey from Phnom Phen, but this time we did good - Nath managed to find a gorgeous sea fronted room for 15 dollars. It has a very large balcony at the far end of the beach so a bit quieter and with cozy sofas. This place is amazing it doesn't fit my preconceptions of Cambodia which I suppose were a bit ignorant but for a developing nation Soukeville doesn't fit the image. For me it reminiscent of Ko Pang Yang, an island off the east coast of Thailand, a chilled stretch of beach featuring bar after bar of fairy lights flickering in the dark. This beach may be not quite so full on as Thailand, but you still see the odd firework or firedancer.
I have had constant tummy pains which I can't wait to see the back of (get it?) but ultimately, I have a beautiful view, the sun in shining and I have a book. I'm a simple girl at heart!
Most mornings I woke up really early for some reason, and went downstairs by myself to sit in the quiet of the morning reading or writing my personal thoughts about things - the ones that dont make it as far as this blog!
There are lots of things to do here and they even have liverboard dives which could be cool especially if im not gonna make it to the Similians after all.
I actually went to the doctors to be tested for malaria and denge fever but I don't have it. Hurray. OK sounds a bit dramatic but when you've had malaria before and you read scary things like left untreated it can cause fatal damage to your internal organs, and your internal organs are actually causing you a great deal of pain, and your in a place like Cambodia, you dont really want to take your chances!! I met a really nice local girl just a bit younger than me who was divorced with a kid who worked at a bar I had gone to for the wireless. She basically said she would take me to the medical centre after her shift on her moto. She is one of those people I dont think I willl ever forget because she was so sweet and smiled and giggles so much, and when she smiled it lit up her whole face and it made you feel privaledged she would be so generous with it. What a different it makes being around joyful people, it youre in a bad mood you certainly couldnt stay in it for long! I wish I was more like her.
My absolute hightlight of this place was undoubtedly an accidental run in with a large family of Cambodians on holiday from Phnom Phen. I hesitantly approached, as initially their hand flapping was anbigious - were they shooeing me away or excitedly beckoning me closer?! They invited me to shaire their snacks, generously plying me with local whiskey n ice which, how could I refuse?! In did vagually cross my mind I had to drive a moto in unfamiliar territory along notorious dirt tracks but at first one didn't seem to be a problem...
I seemed to be the grand object of their interest and even admiration, one lovely man who I think I could marry he was just so lovely, even went so far as to earnestly say they were all honoured to spend time with me, a foreigner. We spoke in broken english but for the most part laughed and joked together it was good for the soul. The girls were quite shy, and I kept catching them look at me upon which they would smile and look away. There was also a very cute baby. The aforementioned man although he looked young, was married with children and he very seriously asked me if I knew of any men who would be interested in marrying his daughter. I explained it wasn't like that in England, people married for love, and it wasn't arranged by their parents. He seemed very anxious for his daughter to make a good marriage.
The setting was beautiful, in a more desolute area of the Otres beach where Nate and I had come the day before, when I had gone windsurfing which was good fun but absolutely exhausting because of the amount of time you initially spend hauling the wet sail out of the water! Anyway, basically I only went there this day to look for a credit card Nate had lost the day before, and was planning on doing various errands like sorting my visa before checking out another couple of beaches. But then they invited me for lunch, which is like a shared meal encompassing 3 small fish, a bag (literally like a sandwich bag) of chicken and ginger, a plate of melon (very popular and cheap here) and rice. All these bags or dishes were spread on a bamboo mat, which doubled as their bed for the night, and it struck me if at a restaraunt, the amount would probably be ample for 2 people. Yet here there were 4 or 5 men, a couple of women (they tended to stay more in the background, possibly because they did not speak such english as the men), and 4 teenagers or children and this seemed normal. It is common to eat with your fingers here. in little tit bits and yet even I was satisfied. It was the most authentic meal I have had on my travels so far. It reminded me of the feeding of the five thousand or something!
As the afternoon wore on I became less aware of much else apart from this cool and random situation I had found myself in, and after a few whiskeys drank out of the end of cut-off plastic bottles, they blared some tunes out of their buses and attempted to teach me how to dance Cambodian style. Men and women alike moved at a slow and steady in a circular fashion, very fluid and graceful, with the emphasis being on free flowing arm and hand movement. As I have witnessed in Laos, the fingers are very articulate and take on a life of their own. Seemingly femanine, it did not negate the mens masculinity in any way, in fact from a Westeners perception I respected them the more for it, but then I do just love men that can dance ;) It turned more fun when we switched and did it western style. More giggles abounded especially by this point one single man had taken a special liking to me and was quite obviously showing off which eveyone thought was hilarious. 'Monkey man' they called him and he was a bit craxy but fun. I just had to keep moving away from him as he got a little close for comfort!
I was then invited to take a swim.Again only one women joined us, the mother who spoke ok english. I think she played quite a prominent role in the group, she may actually have been the grandma - but here its sometimes hard to tell! Very beautiful, with serene eyes and she often touched or stroked me in a motherly way, gave me a shoulder massage and put her arm around me as we walked back from the beach. She was very sweet and I somehow missed these people already, people I would love to have spent more time with and almost felt like extended family. In the water, even though I didn't even understand it! - we played possibly the best game ever, just because of the randomness and the amount of laughter we all had. I think this originated from the childlike behaviour of the whole group, and a sense of innocence and playfulness. I couldn't hep noticing that none of them actually knew how to swim properly, it was actually painful watching one of the men attempting to do front crawl over to a boat I had suggested swimming to. We take knowing how to swim for granted, but probably because we were taught at school.
A good day trip was a 'snorkelling day' which involved boating to three different islands and a kiddies cheap plastic snorkelling pack! Was not impressed and the visability was poor and not great corals but none the less it was a really nice day trip even though it became a bit cloudy later. We stopped for lunch at 'bamboo island' which was absolutely stunning and had a bbq baracuda and potatoe and rice and salad. Got chatting to an English brother and sister Mark and Lisa who were travelling together, who we also hung out with a bit later in the week. One day I scrambed over the rocks with Mark to a gorgeous beach called Sokha which is namely private. This is the sort of thing I love doing, just exploring and not knowing what you'll find when you get there. After a while, I decided I wanted to swim back and Mark bless him insisted on scrambling back rather than take the tuk tuk he originally intended. To be fair, and I'm a strong swimmer, it was quite a way in the sea conditions but a good challenge and I have recently been missing my regular work outs at the gym. Gonna try and do a bit more exercise here on in.
Otherwise, it was just a nice place to do nothing. We went out one night with the guys we had met on the bus and their two girl friends they had met in Vietnam. The club had ridiculously cheap beers - like 25 c I think. I had a really good night but that's because I was in the mood and dancing was involved and I was with a group of people that were a laugh, all very important factors!
I managed to sort my visa we eventually booked an onward coach to Siem Reap. I probably would have got bored being here this long if it wasnt for the fact that I was ill for the first part of it. Had my lazy beach time. Now for the temples.
I have had constant tummy pains which I can't wait to see the back of (get it?) but ultimately, I have a beautiful view, the sun in shining and I have a book. I'm a simple girl at heart!
Most mornings I woke up really early for some reason, and went downstairs by myself to sit in the quiet of the morning reading or writing my personal thoughts about things - the ones that dont make it as far as this blog!
There are lots of things to do here and they even have liverboard dives which could be cool especially if im not gonna make it to the Similians after all.
I actually went to the doctors to be tested for malaria and denge fever but I don't have it. Hurray. OK sounds a bit dramatic but when you've had malaria before and you read scary things like left untreated it can cause fatal damage to your internal organs, and your internal organs are actually causing you a great deal of pain, and your in a place like Cambodia, you dont really want to take your chances!! I met a really nice local girl just a bit younger than me who was divorced with a kid who worked at a bar I had gone to for the wireless. She basically said she would take me to the medical centre after her shift on her moto. She is one of those people I dont think I willl ever forget because she was so sweet and smiled and giggles so much, and when she smiled it lit up her whole face and it made you feel privaledged she would be so generous with it. What a different it makes being around joyful people, it youre in a bad mood you certainly couldnt stay in it for long! I wish I was more like her.
My absolute hightlight of this place was undoubtedly an accidental run in with a large family of Cambodians on holiday from Phnom Phen. I hesitantly approached, as initially their hand flapping was anbigious - were they shooeing me away or excitedly beckoning me closer?! They invited me to shaire their snacks, generously plying me with local whiskey n ice which, how could I refuse?! In did vagually cross my mind I had to drive a moto in unfamiliar territory along notorious dirt tracks but at first one didn't seem to be a problem...
I seemed to be the grand object of their interest and even admiration, one lovely man who I think I could marry he was just so lovely, even went so far as to earnestly say they were all honoured to spend time with me, a foreigner. We spoke in broken english but for the most part laughed and joked together it was good for the soul. The girls were quite shy, and I kept catching them look at me upon which they would smile and look away. There was also a very cute baby. The aforementioned man although he looked young, was married with children and he very seriously asked me if I knew of any men who would be interested in marrying his daughter. I explained it wasn't like that in England, people married for love, and it wasn't arranged by their parents. He seemed very anxious for his daughter to make a good marriage.
The setting was beautiful, in a more desolute area of the Otres beach where Nate and I had come the day before, when I had gone windsurfing which was good fun but absolutely exhausting because of the amount of time you initially spend hauling the wet sail out of the water! Anyway, basically I only went there this day to look for a credit card Nate had lost the day before, and was planning on doing various errands like sorting my visa before checking out another couple of beaches. But then they invited me for lunch, which is like a shared meal encompassing 3 small fish, a bag (literally like a sandwich bag) of chicken and ginger, a plate of melon (very popular and cheap here) and rice. All these bags or dishes were spread on a bamboo mat, which doubled as their bed for the night, and it struck me if at a restaraunt, the amount would probably be ample for 2 people. Yet here there were 4 or 5 men, a couple of women (they tended to stay more in the background, possibly because they did not speak such english as the men), and 4 teenagers or children and this seemed normal. It is common to eat with your fingers here. in little tit bits and yet even I was satisfied. It was the most authentic meal I have had on my travels so far. It reminded me of the feeding of the five thousand or something!
As the afternoon wore on I became less aware of much else apart from this cool and random situation I had found myself in, and after a few whiskeys drank out of the end of cut-off plastic bottles, they blared some tunes out of their buses and attempted to teach me how to dance Cambodian style. Men and women alike moved at a slow and steady in a circular fashion, very fluid and graceful, with the emphasis being on free flowing arm and hand movement. As I have witnessed in Laos, the fingers are very articulate and take on a life of their own. Seemingly femanine, it did not negate the mens masculinity in any way, in fact from a Westeners perception I respected them the more for it, but then I do just love men that can dance ;) It turned more fun when we switched and did it western style. More giggles abounded especially by this point one single man had taken a special liking to me and was quite obviously showing off which eveyone thought was hilarious. 'Monkey man' they called him and he was a bit craxy but fun. I just had to keep moving away from him as he got a little close for comfort!
I was then invited to take a swim.Again only one women joined us, the mother who spoke ok english. I think she played quite a prominent role in the group, she may actually have been the grandma - but here its sometimes hard to tell! Very beautiful, with serene eyes and she often touched or stroked me in a motherly way, gave me a shoulder massage and put her arm around me as we walked back from the beach. She was very sweet and I somehow missed these people already, people I would love to have spent more time with and almost felt like extended family. In the water, even though I didn't even understand it! - we played possibly the best game ever, just because of the randomness and the amount of laughter we all had. I think this originated from the childlike behaviour of the whole group, and a sense of innocence and playfulness. I couldn't hep noticing that none of them actually knew how to swim properly, it was actually painful watching one of the men attempting to do front crawl over to a boat I had suggested swimming to. We take knowing how to swim for granted, but probably because we were taught at school.
A good day trip was a 'snorkelling day' which involved boating to three different islands and a kiddies cheap plastic snorkelling pack! Was not impressed and the visability was poor and not great corals but none the less it was a really nice day trip even though it became a bit cloudy later. We stopped for lunch at 'bamboo island' which was absolutely stunning and had a bbq baracuda and potatoe and rice and salad. Got chatting to an English brother and sister Mark and Lisa who were travelling together, who we also hung out with a bit later in the week. One day I scrambed over the rocks with Mark to a gorgeous beach called Sokha which is namely private. This is the sort of thing I love doing, just exploring and not knowing what you'll find when you get there. After a while, I decided I wanted to swim back and Mark bless him insisted on scrambling back rather than take the tuk tuk he originally intended. To be fair, and I'm a strong swimmer, it was quite a way in the sea conditions but a good challenge and I have recently been missing my regular work outs at the gym. Gonna try and do a bit more exercise here on in.
Otherwise, it was just a nice place to do nothing. We went out one night with the guys we had met on the bus and their two girl friends they had met in Vietnam. The club had ridiculously cheap beers - like 25 c I think. I had a really good night but that's because I was in the mood and dancing was involved and I was with a group of people that were a laugh, all very important factors!
I managed to sort my visa we eventually booked an onward coach to Siem Reap. I probably would have got bored being here this long if it wasnt for the fact that I was ill for the first part of it. Had my lazy beach time. Now for the temples.
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