Phnom Penh

Monday 12 January 2009

Phnom Penh is my last stop in Cambodia before venturing on to Vietnam. Its the capital city but its very different to Siem Reap or Battambang. First of all there is no red dust or as the Cambodians call it Cambodian Snow! Everything is pretty well maintained, its a lively buzzing city. The main attraction to Phnom Penh is S21 and the Killing Fields and behond that is probably the night live. S21 and the Killing fields are a shocking reminder as to what went on in Cambodia only 30+ years ago during the Khmer Rouge rule...most of which I knew very little about before I start this trip

S21 was originally a school but during the during the Pol Pot regime this building was transformed into a prison and a zone of unimaginable torment. The class rooms were all turned into torture chambers and equipped with various instruments to inflict pain, suffering and death. The museum today shows many of the instruments that were used to punish the people and many graphic pictures of some of the 17,000 people that passed through the place.
A little further out side of town is The Killing fields. This is where most of the people who were detained in S21 were executed and buried in large pits. The area now has a large glass building which displays 8000 skulls of victim and their discarded clothes.

Cambodia Highlights

• Best Meal :- Fish Amok
• Best Beer :- Angkor Beer
• A must visit place :- Angkor Wat, Siem Reap...try Battambang also
• A must try when in Cambodia :- Sticky Rice & Black Beans cooked in Bamboo tubes!

Battambang Cambodia

Saturday 10th January 2009
I decide to travel to Battambang to see what it would be like in a different city of Cambodia other than Siem Reap or Phnom Penh. Someone suggested I take a river boat there, as he put it, it was a great experience. I learned a lot from this...A great experience does not necessarily mean a great trip! When I arrive at the port I see a boat that looks loaded with people, I ask someone which boat is mine and he points to the loaded one! The trip is about 9hrs, some nice sights on the way but after an 1hr or 2 you've seen them all a 100 times over. 7 or so hours later its relief to get off the boat. I was lucky enough to get a seat on the bottom level while quite a few people had to sit up on top in the blazing sun...you wouldn't believe some of the red faces, arms & legs at the end of the trip!Pulling up into the city centre of Battambang is some sight...similar to Poi Pet at the border, it has a edge about it. It kind of grows on you on after a while, especially when you see how nice the people are. I had a funny incident on my first night where I left my hotel without any map...in the end I got well lost and after several attempts to find my way back I had to ask for some help. I called in on a few guys playing Chess and asked them to point in the right direction. None of them had much English so one of the guys hops on his mo ped and tells me to jump on...now we all heard plenty of stories of people getting taxi's/tuck-tucks and they taking them to some unknown place and demanding cash from them. Sod it, there isn't much in my wallet so I decide to take my chances. I hop on the back and tell him my hotel name. I've no idea where I am but this guy starts to give me a tour of the town, a few sights like the market & the river front, bars & restaurants. I'm beginning to wonder where this is all going and starting to think...is he going to charge me for this? Sure enough after about 30mins he's dropped me right outside my hotel, I try to give me a couple of dollars but he won't accept a thing and just departs with a smile and a wave good bye...you can't beat that!
In most of these towns/cities everything revolves about the market and this place is no different! It has quite a large market and from 6am to 6pm its all systems go. What ever you want they got it! The plan in Battambang is to spend two days and then venture on to Phnom Penh. We book up to do a day trip the following day. The trip entails going to the Killing Caves, Pagoda and the Bamboo train but in the end we get to see a little more than we bargained. The trip starts out with a tour around some villages and a trip to a farm to see how they grow and harvest the different types of rice. After that its a trip to another farm to see a range of different vegetables that they grow in the area. The guide we have is second to none, great English, has an answer for everything and really witty! We do the other sights with a couple of stop offs for food and at the end of the day they take us to see some cock fighting. It seems to be a big pastime over here...there seem to be cock fighting rings in most villages. At the end of the day we make it to the Bamboo train. This is basically a make-shift carriage (the surface of which is made from Bamboo...hence the name) with a motor attached to it so it can run along a rail track. It is still used by locals today in transferring goods from one village to the next. Anyway we hop on for our trip but we are no more than 5mins into it when something snaps and front two two wheels hop off the track...its a bit of a shock...even to the driver but in a couple he has back on the track and the piece of wood that snapped is now tied up with a piece of string...I'm sure that will keep it together for another couple of trips!!!

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap

Friday 3rd January 2009

As I mentioned before Siem Reap Town Centre is pretty well developed. They have a street nick named Pub Street which has some of the fanciest pubs & restaurants I've seen in Asia so far. If you venture 5 mins to the outskirts of town that all changes. Bamboo huts roofed with galvanised sheets, places no more the size of a large living room. The poverty outside the town is clear to see but if you just came to Siem Reap to view the Temples then you could easily pass through without noticing a thing. Its sad to see, as it doesn't give a real idea of what its like to live here.I get my first view of the Temples later that evening. They are some sight, the grand scale of them all is unimaginable when you consider when they were built. They say it takes about 3-days to see most of the temples but I cut that down to 2 (even finishing early...I'm not sure I took much in on the second day ;-()).

At the end of it all I'm pretty shattered but my motor bike driver suggests we go to see the near by lake,Tonlé Sap, and see the bamboo village & flooded forest.
On the way out of town traffic is mad and as we travel up the room we see what is causing it! A man has been hit and killed by a truck. His body is chalked out on the ground marking his location and there are pools of blood around him. Its a awful sight but no one seems overly shocked, people are standing around taking pictures of the dead man with their camera phone while the police man just stands next to the body...we infact drive right by his feet!?
We can only go so far on the bike before we have to take a river boat out to the Bamboo village. Its a small narrow boat with only myself & a few locals. Its a real narrow river stretch of river before we make it to the village. The village is built up on stilts with the majority of the houses built from Bamboo. During rainy season the water rises up to base floor of the houses but as this is dry season there is no water currently around the village. Its a great sight, houses built 15-20 feet above the ground level!

When I arrive at the village a lady approaches me and ask would I buy some stationary for the local school, I buy a few pens & paper and the lady asks me to personally drop them into the school. After a while my driver suggests to me I should probably hand them out to the local kids as the school itself has plenty of these things, so I agree and start to open the pack of pen's & paper...the kids spot this happening and before I know it there are about 20+ of them around me trying to get their hands on them! They are going nuts at this stage and I'm nearly falling on the ground. I hand out a couple and have to pass the rest over to my driver to hand out...I don't ever remember wanting a copy & pen that much when I was a kid!

After the village we hop back on the boat to go to the flooded forest which is just a few minutes away. From there we venture out onto the lake and me luck is in! Not a cloud in the sky and the sun is about to set...

Fun at the Thai-Cambodian border...?!

Friday 2nd January 2009

One funny thing over here in Asia is that if you book a bus ticket to go anywhere they ask you to be at your hotel for pick-up about 30mins before the actual departure time. This trip to Cambodia is no different! Departure time is 8am and they have asked me to be ready for 7.30...so I arrive at 7.30am. There are lots of other people waiting for the same bus...we wait & we wait...at last a bus arrives at 9am but it seems to take them another 45 mins before they can set off. So the so called 8am departure is now 9.45am! Its comical but a very common occurrence.
The bus driver has agreed to get our visa's sorted at the Cambodian border so as he put it "we can relax and have something to eat"...its all at a cost though. The Visa cost is usually about 900baht and he wants 1200baht for the service...its a lot easier to pay up and let him deal with it all so we all pay up and hand over our passports. Its a nice little earner for him when you consider there are close to 30 people on board, 9000baht...almost ?180 0r 200euro, fantastic when you consider what people over here get paid each month!
Off course the stop off close to the border is his mates place (another very common occurrence!) and sure enough all us tourists are hungry so we pay over the odds for some pretty basic food. We are told our visa's will be sorted within the hour. When our driver returns he has some interesting news for us..."I am sorry but there are no buses going from Poi Pet (Cambodian border) to Siem Reap, you either have the choice of staying here for the night or getting a taxi". Of course there is an absolute up roar and the guy is nearly hounded down. The feeling is We have all paid for our trip in full so why should we pay any more..it just seems to be another money making scam. Anyway an argument between the bus driver and a few of the passengers continues. After a good 40 mins a semi agreement is reached...the bus driver will pay half our fair to Siem Reap, $15. Not everyone is happy, which is understandable...at the end of the day we are all been done out of money. So off we go to the border crossing in the hope that that's the end of all the hassle.

Crossing the border into Poi Pet is a little bit of a shock to the system having spent 4-weeks in Thailand...its like a seen out of the wild wild west, all it needs is the tumble weed blowing down the street! It almost looks as if a bomb has hit the place, parts of the road are ripped up, there is sand/rubble everywhere and the place seems to be covered in a haze of red dust.At this point we are approached by a guy who asks us do we need a taxi and of course we say yes, I am with three others at this stage. He asks me how much I am willing to pay so I ask him how much he's going to charge us. $45! He says. No chance, I'll give you $25 and that's it, I say! He gets a little angry and starts coming down with the usual chat..."you should help Cambodian people, $45 is nothing for you...cheap cheap"! Then its the usual, "where you come from?" "what do you do?" etc you seem to get this everywhere in Asia. When I refuse to take the guy up on his offer he continues to walk with us down the street as we search for another taxi. Its not that I wouldn't pay $30 for the taxi, which is the going price and if anything slightly more but the guy is getting aggressive so no way do I want to give me a penny never mind $30. As we approach another taxi the guy shuns the taxi off saying something in Khmer, the same thing happens for the next 2-3 taxis. We now realise we're never going to get a taxi while this guy is with us so we split up into two groups in the hope that he follows one of us and the other group gets a taxi. Luckily, or unluckily, the Khmer follows me while the other group go in search of a taxi. A few minutes later the guys manage to get a taxi and shout at me down the road. When the Khmer guy sees we have got a taxi he radios his mate who arrives faster than fast on a motorbike. He takes the Khmer guy to our taxi where an argument breaks out between him & the driver...basically we were his business and no one elses. The argument continues for about 10mins and at this point we are just thinking we'll never get out of this place. While they are arguing we sit in the cab and refuse to get out. A few minutes later the Traffic Police arrive to see what the matter is, a few words are said, he gives our taxi driver a clip around the ear and we are aloud to leave...how mad is that!

At this point its all just a laugh and when we see the journey ahead of us its a good job. The road is basically a dirt track for most of it. You wouldn't imagining doing 15mph back home on them but these boys are doing 60+. The dust thrown up from the cars limits visibility to to about 10 meters at times. There are rocks out in the middle of the road, cows, people on push bikes you can hardly see...sure all you can do is laugh!
The last 10km to Siem Reap are like heaven compared to what we've been on, tared roads! We were really expecting something similar to Poi Pet but this is very different. Because of the Temples in Angkor Wat Siem Reap town has had a lot of tourist money flow into it...that doesn't mean its a well off place by any means...you venture out side of the town centre you really do get a feel for the real life around here.We arrive in Siem Reap about 8pm, there isn't much time to do anything other then get some food and plan a few trips for the coming days. These Khmer people are a mad bunch...

Back to Bangkok!!!

Sunday December 28th 2008

Its back to Bangkok for a few days before Jane flys back to the UK. The 4-weeks have gone so fast and it still feels like I've only been away a week or so. For the couple nights in Bangkok we stay down Sukhumvit in a place called Citidines...not for your average backpacker. Its pretty smart to say the least. After trying to keep tabs on your spending accommodation wise it was so good to get a decent room for a few nights.The plan for these few days are pretty much for Jane to pick up the last few odds and ends before she ventures back. One thing that has sickened me so far on this trip is having to spend so much time in Internet cafes...and at times pay them over the odds. So as we are on the shopping trail I decide to pick up a NetBook. I'm thinking it will be money well spent...well that's what I tell myself!On Jane's final day we just have time for some breakfast before venturing off to the Airport. So that's it, I'm on my own from here on in...its kind of odd after been travelling with someone for 4-weeks but that was the plan initially so its time to get used to it.


Wednesday 31st December 2008

When I was last in Bangkok I met quite a few people who said you must pay a visit to Kanchanaburi to see the famous Bridge Over the River Kwai so I decide to do exactly that. Its about a 2hr journey west of Bangkok and we arrive there about 12.30pm. There isn't a whole lot to see other than the bridge & visit some of the memorial sights for those who died during of WWII. The bridge itself is quite impressive but its full of tourist when I arrive. Walking over the bridge is a interesting experience, you can only really walk within the rail way tracks. There is a plank of wood either side of each rail and other than that its a long drop down to the river below! So you can imagine crossing the bridge with people coming in either direction, its a bit of a tight squeeze and no one wants too venture to the edge of the track!

Thailand Highlights

• Best Meal :- Penang Curry...washed down with an iced cold beer
• Best Beer :- Singha...Chang Beer just gets messy!
• A must go place :- Thong Nai Pan...North of Koh Phangan
• A must try when in Thailand :- Mango & Sticky Rice!!!

Koh Tao

Tuesday 23rd December 2008

Arrive in Koh Tao after a very rough crossing on the Catamaran, again people are getting sick all over the place...myself & Jane manage to hold out...just about! We have no accommodation booked when we get to Koh Tao but we arrive early enough to be able to try and find something. Luckily there are a couple of people from Cambridge that we know who are already on the Island so we drop our bags with them while we look for a place to stay. We struggle to find much but in the end we get something, it costs about double what we've been paying so far but we don't seem to have much choice as most places are already booked up for Christmas
Koh Tao itself is a really small island, you could probably get from end to end in about 20mins. The beach front on Sai Ree is minimal when the tide is in (early morning) but opens up nicely as the day goes on. The main activity on the island is either Scuba diving or just relaxing on one of the many beach front Bars & Restaurants.
Our first morning on Koh Tao we decide to book up a Scuba Diving Course for the 27th. For Paddy who struggles to swim its a DSD(Discover Scuba Diving) and the experienced Jane, who's got about 12 dives under her belt, its a Scuba Diving Refresher. As most of you know I'm probably not the worlds best swimmer so I'm a little nervous to say the least...anyway its days away yet so I can relax! Time for some last minute Christmas shopping...

Christmas Eve is spent with the lads from Cambridge on Sai Ree beach. It seems that they celebrate Christmas Eve more so than Christmas Day over here so we book in for a big Christmas Buffet. Its a typical Christmas, we are stuffed to the eyes balls at the end of it...but sure enough there is always room for a beer or two!
Christmas day we decide to hire a Mo-Ped to check out the island and before we know it we are at the other end in about 15 mins. This end is even more chilled out than Sai Ree, which is hard to imagine, also there are very few people and it kind of reminds us of Koh Phangan. From here we venture back up North of the Island where we come across what are probably the coolest beach huts/villa's on the island...they over look Nang Yuan islands (these are three tiny island just off the coast of Koh Tao). The place has only just opened and we stop off to have a drink and take in the scenery. Well Christmas day won't be complete without a mammoth of a meal...we come across a restaurant called Papa's Tapa's which supposedly has the best food on the island. They have a set menu on offer all for ???, well its Christmas so why not, plus dinner was on Jane so lets got all out ;-)
On St Stephens Day (Boxing day for some of you) we get a long tail boat over to the Nang Yuan islands. These are private islands so we all have to pay 100baht when we arrive. Its 100baht well spent! The three islands are all linked to one another via a little strip of coast line and you can walk from one to the other in about 2 mins. They are well worth the vist, even just to get away from the main land for a day.
So this is the big day...my first Scuba dive!!! :-()We meetup for our introduction about 10am and they go through the basics of what you should and shouldn't do while diving...it all seems pretty natural stuff...but it always does when someone is telling you its only when you have to do it yourself it becomes tricky! We stop for lunch for about 20 mins and after which we start the dive. We get kitted out and I'm starting to think what have I let myself in for. We venture into the sea until we are about neck deep. At this point we start going through what they thought us earlier...all going grand so far. Once we get the basics over with we swim out to where we will commence the dive. Once we reach that point we realise the air from our jackets and start to sink to the sea bed...its only about 5 meters deep. On the sea bed they regulate your buoyancy so that you just float above the bed...this is where I seem to have trouble. We start off quiet well but then I seem to start to sink to the bed again, we control the airflow so as I start to float but this time its a little too much and I start to rise to the surface...luckily the instructor grabs me and pulls me back down! This goes on for another few minutes until finally we get it right. After that it was pretty much plain sailing but it still takes a little getting used to moving in the right direction and been able to make your way over coral without touching it. The dive last for about 40 minutes, its been fantastic and something I'd definitely do again. In the morning we depart for Bangkok...10hr journey but the route is pretty good so it sounds a little worse than it actually is.

Kho Phangan!!!

Tuesday December 16th 2008

Its an early start, pickup at 7.30am. Its a drive over to Surathani on the East Coast then a ferry across from there to Koh Phangan. As expected its a fantastic day weather wise and its typical we are stuck in a Hi-Ace Commuter! We arrive at Surathani about 12.30pm, little did we know we have to catch another Bus over to Don Sak before we pick up the ferry. When we arrive at the Pier the water looks very choppy, Jane isn't the best of travellers so its time for the travel sickness pills! She's not the only one, plenty of others are feeling the same effect, many of them getting sick a few minutes into the journey. Its funny but the guys who organise the trip are well prepared, they are handing out plastic bags for people to be sick in left right and centre. First stop on the ferry is Koh Samui, the bigger of the three islands on the East Coast and from here it will be another hour before we reach our destination.On arrival at Thong Sala port its dark and we've not eaten anything other than a bowl of fried rice between us. Now its time to barter for a taxi...they all come pounding for you at the pier..."taxi for you sir!" "taxi for you sir!" We are in a bit of a pickle as where we are staying is North of the Island in a place called Thong Nai Pan and unless we get someone to join us we will end up having to pay what the guide suggest a 1000 Baht. Our luck isn't in and we have to get a taxi on our own. They won't budge from 1200baht so we start to walk away from the pier in the hope they will reduce their cost...it drops to 1000 but we reckon we can probably get it for 800 so keep walking. We approach a couple of other taxi drivers and its all much of a much'ness. Eventually the lady who first offered us the price accepts 800 and we are now on our way. The journey is eventful, we climb some serious hills on route, the 4x4 even struggling to climb them and eventually we reach our destination for 8pm. We are shattered at this stage so we can do no other but check into our hut and grab a bite to eat. The hut is pretty spectacular, about a 5second walk from the beach, all you can hear in the hut is the sound of the waves crashing...not a bad sound to fall asleep to!

The next morning we do a recky on the place, its a very small bay so it takes no longer than 20mins...its probably one of the nicest places I've ever stayed, white sand beach, palms trees every where and most of all the place is free from all the hustle & bustle of Patong! When we get back its time for breakfast, there are only a handful of places to eat, they are not restaurants but little huts, all as good as each other but in time we realise their is one that stands out among the rest, Again & Again Restaurant! When we arrived at Thong Nai Pan we only booked for 2-nights just in case it wasn't the best place to say...but we made the right choice, we ended up extending our stay until the 23rd of December it was such a nice place. A good few of our days in Thong Nai Pan were spent relaxing on the beach, unfortunately the weather was a little cloudy but that kind of suited my pasty Irish skin so I wasn't complaining...as for Jane well I think she would have preferred a little more sun!A couple of days into our trip we meet a lovely lady known by the name of Miss Handsome...probably one of the nicest ladies in Thailand! She runs a place called Handsome Sandwiches, originally opened by Mr Handsome, her son (This place supposedly does the meanest Sandwiches in town, that's probably because no one else does!) She wants to take us to a Thai Boxing night in the Thong Sala on the 19th, 200baht each...it sounds like fun and we've not yet had the chance to see any Thai boxing. So on the 19th we depart for Thong Sala with Miss Handsome, we meet another couple Darren & Dani from Leicester who join us. The night of fighting includes two Title Fights (normal boxing) and 7 Maui Thai fights. The Title fights are rapid, no messing here, they all end in less than 5 rounds with either the man getting knocked out or the ref calling it a day. Then its on to the Maui Thai, first up is an Aussie Lady, really tall, her poor Thai opponent is about half her size so the inevitable happens...the Aussie kicks her ass! After this Miss Handsome takes us back to her Truck where she has brought us some food, chicken with rice! Not alone that she also provides us with ice cold water & coke cola...she a crazy lady, she never seems to stop laughing. After this its back to see the rest of the fights. At the end of the night Miss Handsome drops us back to her place where we request one of those so called famous sandwiches...its certainly worth talking about...you couldn't make one like it if you tried!


December 20th 2008...Well this is it...I've reached the big 30!!! We decide to get up early to try and catch the sun rise along the beach but unfortunately there is too much cloud. We venture back to the Hut and Jane some how disappears...she arrives back with a Mango Lassie in hand...that's the type of service you get when you reach 30! Along with this I get a wine & cheese tasting voucher for when I reach Aus. We haven't a whole lot planned for the day other than visit Miss Handsome who is going teach us how to make Mango & Sticky rice...you have to try it! Then later in the evening we have booked up to go to the half moon party, taxi provided by Miss Handsome!

Towards the final few days of our stay we hired a mo-ped to check out the island. The north side seems to be really laid back, east & west. We come across some really nice secluded beaches and those with a few more tourists but all in all its a really quiet place. At the end of the day we head for Had Rin where all the Full Moon Parties take place, its the main town on the island and mainly draws people there for the party seen. The place itself seems quite nice but certainly has its fair share of tourists. We only stay for the evening to get a feel for the place then its back to the Hut where we pack our bags for Koh Tao!!!