Phnom Penh and the Costa de Cambodia

Phnom Penh and the 'Deluxe' Costa del Cambodia'


After the boat we were all piled into a minivan for the hour and half journey into Phnom Penh. It was a horribly hot journey and had the usual maniac driving and its share of unpaved pothole-full roads. We weren't really sure what to expect of the city but it definitely wasn't to see more Lexus jeeps and convertible mercs than tuk tuks! Just 20 minutes from poverty stricken village where people lived in straw huts on the side of the road we were suddenly immersed in proper city life. Although there was still the poverty, we saw the most begging here we've seen the whole trip.

We got off the bus and hopped in a tuk tuk which brought us through the manic traffic , past large shopping centres, traditional markets, begging children, monkeys, elephants and much more until we arived at our hostel 'Nomads'. We checked in and had a couple of hours before Ben would be arriving on his flight from Bangkok so we went in search of a cool drink to help deal with the immense heat and humidity here. The river was about a 5 minute walk from the hostel and although it had lots of nice cafes and bars the river didn't offer any respite from the heat. Our first impressions of Phnom Penh weren't great and we decided within an hour that we'd just stay here one night and move on the next day. It was a pretty dirty city and didn't really have much to offer. Ben arrived safely, settled into his matress on the floor of our roasting hot non-AC dorm room and we went for dinner. Haven't felt great since that dinner so another reason not to love Phnom Penh!

Next morning joind by Itchy / Toyota our Japanese dorm mate and his fan we hailed a tuk tuk and went to see the Killing Fields where the atrocities inflicted uder Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Regime took place. It was a pretty sobering visit and horrific to think that this was going on for so long without anyone knowing. The museum was an interesting visit but most gut wrencing was the rows and rows of battered skulls they have excavated, the clothes and bones still coming upout of the ground surrounding the mass graves and worst of all the tree still standing which they used to kill babies by hotting them against it. It was not a pleasant visit and we were glad to leave our offerings and go. That afternoon we boarded the 4 hour bus to the 'Costa de cambodia' as it's called to stay for a couple of nights in a small town called Sihikoville. After 3 days away form the coast we were craving a sea breeze and some water that was clean enough to get into!

We spent 2 nights at the coast , visiting Otres beach and Bamboo island. The beaches weren't amazing on the mainland and many had a disgusting amount of rubbish as well as hoards of children selling everything and anything they could but Bamboo Island was definitely worth a visit and a stay if one had the time. Little huts on the beach with hammocks outside and clear waters and hardly another person in sight. we took the standard day tour which included brekkie, lunch and snorkelling , however for just 10 dollars more you could have deluxe snorkelling equipment and be able to buy a beer or even a mojito on board and enjoy it up on deck!! This was the sales pitch the American guy behind the tour desk was giving us. It went something like this (think heavy American accent and fat American):
'So, I'm not sure what your budget is but for 25 dollars you can get the deluxe tour, it had a much bigger and better boat - with a sun deck and for breakfast there are pastries, tea and coffee and donuts. Here's a picture of where you can eat your breakfast. Here's a picture of the delicious 10 plate buffet lunch with all sorts of Asian dishes. It's really awesome. Here's the deck where you can buy a beer and sit upon top on your way back. Her's a picture of a guy who used to work on this tour. he doesn;t work her either anymore. Here's me with the manager (shows us pic of him and manager looking like they're mid yoga session half undressed on top deck!) Here's me having my firts Mojito - of many, chuckle chuckle!! Oh and here's a picture of the DELUXE snorkelling gear - with flippers. Here's some pictures of some of the wildlife you might enounter on the trip (shows us a pic of a dog and a cat and a random bird). Here's the Thong tree where anyone who loses a flip flop attached the other one onto the tree. Here's the tree that says 'No Drugs' , I think it's just under this tree though that rule - chuckles to himself again. And on he went.....!!!!! We opted for the standard tour but were very grateful to him for the amount of entertainment and mileage we've been getting out of his sales pitch since!!

The beach in the town was a cool place to go at night , chilled bars with comfy wicker chairs and cushions, the customery fire throwers and excellent 3 dollar bbq. From here we took the not so deluxe night bus to Siem Reap. Basically 10 hours of bumpping around, not much sleep and some terrible Cambodian music video channel blaring, not to mention some really annoying Irish girls yabbing away in the rows behind us! We arrived in just before 6 am. I was exhausted after maybe getting a coupe hours sleep max.All I was thinking about was getting to our hotel, having a shower and going to sleep.Just as I was walking around the other side of the bus to try and get our bags I encountered a huge muddy puddle.There had been one the other side two but this one looked more crossable. I picked my line and handluggage on shoulder I hitched up my trousers, stretched out my leg and placed my flip flop on what I thought was a solid piece fo ground. How wrong could I be! It was like being in slow motion. My foot sank, I went to grab the side of the bus, couldn't reach, the uneven weight of my bag on one shoulder threw my balance further and within seconds I was spalt in the muddy puddle, absolutely clattered in muck!! I turned around to see Jo and Ben staring wide-eyes and trying not to laugh. They very kindly waited until I laughed first, well what else could one do!Then we all proceeeded to keep laughing about it for a while while they pulled me out of the free , smelly mud bath I'd just given myslef and my bag. Thank God I didn't have my huge rucksack on at that time or I'd had to have been craned out!

The tuk tuk driver looked at me a little quizically as I boarded his clean tuk tuk and the woman at the hostel very kindly helped me wash most of the mud off me on arrival. It was a lot of action before 6.30am! Sien Reap had a nice feel to it, after a couple hours siesta we took a tuk tuk to one of the temples nnear Angkor Wat and watched the sunset, Unfortunately along with 100's of other people and a cloudy sky but we had to try! That evening we had dinner in 'Ecstatic Pizza' which was beside Happy Piza and Happy Herb Pizza! Not sure what kind fo herbs they put in happy herb Pizza but Ecstatic Pizza was pretty good and we coined 'Ecstatic Shake' there by adding Kahlua to our no sugar cocunut shakes much to the amusement of the staff. leaving with full bellies and a sounvenir T-shirt for Ben we hit the night markets and as usual got addicted to the buzz of bartering. One watch for Ben, a skirt for Jo and a bracelet and shotglass for Jane later we returned to our hostel in order to get some sleep before our 3.45 alarm.

By 4am the next morning we are on the road again, this time on pedal power and heading for one of the ta Phrom Temple which we hoped to reach by 5am in order to see the sunrise and hopefully not have to share it with anyone else. After a , fun and sweaty ( even at 4 in the morning) cycle in the dark we reached the temple. It was amazing and having the place to ourselves for almost 3 hours was well worth getting up so early for. We spent the rest of the morning visiting some of the other temples and decided by the time we got to Angkor Wat itself just before midday we were almost templed out if it! having seen the amount of tourists at every other temple that morning we felt really privliged that we'd managed to have a temple to ourselves for so long earlier in the day. A lot of sttep steps and pictures later we emerged form the temple and hopped back on our bikes for the final effort back to the hotel. We just beat the rain and are now having our siesta in the very hot room while a huge thunder and lightning is goinng on outside.