Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Probably the best thing we saw in Phnom Penh was gymnastics at the Olympic Stadium, yes thats right, they held the Olympics here in the 60's. Every sunset thousands of people gather here and dance to distorting bass lines all in the name of fitness. Megan and I joined in for fun, and we got a mixed response...

Fuck, I just wrote this heavy post then the dodgy network here lost it all.

Ok Phnom Penh (PP). Arrived by bus. City. Big. Gritty. Dirty. Unfriendly. Fast. Annoying.

Found refuge in a sweet guest house.

Did the Khymer Rouge thing. Disturbing. Above, very normal looking ex highschool used as Killing and torture prison between 1975 and 1979.

Khymer Rouge entered PP as victors against the countryside bombing US backed govt, but 3 hrs later began implementing year zero, aiming to establish a communist country as quickly and ruthlessly as possible. Result - 2million dead, 1/4 of the population in mass graves in 4 years. Its disturbing to see, does not enhance the feeling at PP. And the feeling of being marketed such a terrible history as a tourist doesnt help.

Below - Killing fields, where most were killed. The details are not up for discussion on this blog. But to understand the Cambodian Psyche, just a bit, you need to see these places.

Enter Battambang, Cambodia

The boat to Battambang. 5 hrs of wow, almost too much really, we were ready to get off our bums by the end. Its the wet season which makes it particularly impressive. Below we drive through kilometres of boatwidth channels through scrub. You have to watch the flick from branches when standing on the roof, that stings, that shit draws blood!
We had these guys under our hull at one stage as we struggled to get past.
We opened out onto these eerily isolated yet plentifully populated water villages.
Battambang itself didnt live up to the hype, at least not on the first day. You really see the effects of the low season here, we just keep seeing the same two other tourists where ever we went! It was a grower though, the next day we hired a moto and hit the dusty dirt tracks. There aint no sightseeing while driving here, its a full on sport negotiating the potholes. Luckily there had been no rain, so there was no mud. Megan learnt to drive one here, no mean feat! We visited hills, caves and more temples, an awesome day. Rural Cambodia rules!

Megan likened herself to this rock. We also saw a big snake, and human remains in caves from where the Khymer Rouge threw the victims of their communist genocide during the late 70's. Bit disturbing that bit is.

Angkor Wat - Siam Riep, Cambodia

Ok so I finally get to the reason most people make an obligatory trip to Cambodia - sometimes its just Bangkok to Siam Riep and back for 2 days - for the Temples of Angkor, of which there are many, the grandaddy, though no the oldest, being Angkor Wat. All built between 800AD and 1200AD or thereabouts. Giant walled cities, crocodile infested moats 150m across, monolithic stone walls propped against each other, and shackled by the slow but savage roots of giant trees.
We did 3 days - one with a guide and tuk tuk, one by ourselves on bikes (the best day) and one on a tuk tuk without a guide. We saw it all without even getting sick of it. The most valuable moments are those spent away from the crowds. Avoid them at all costs, you will learn how. Though you will never escape the crowds trying to sell you jewelery, crafts, scarves and books. The best way to combat frustration with these guys is to strike a conversation about themselves or behave like a clown. Once they laugh they soften up!
The Angkor Wat. Thats the moat. It goes right around. I liked the moat the best.
Deserted areas treated to dusky yellow light - and completly deserted as everyone else goes up a mountain to see it all at once. Dont be greedy, take a little slice somewhere and you will be rewarded.The moat around the ancient city of Angkor Thom. Used to be the main city of SE Asia, 1million people when London had 50,000.

All the temples began as Hindu, so feature all the same gods and mythology as Indian temples. When the Buddhists came to power they happily adopted it all, without defacing it. Quite inspiringly tolerant really.


Tombraider and others were filmed in this one. Very atmospheric, and happily not restored, but left in ruinous beauty.

Rural Siam Riep, Cambodia

Rather than rush off to the temples of Angkor on the first day we decided to soak up the city. I followed my nose one morning to the amazing outskirts of this tourist town and came across a quad biking adventure thing. After biking around the cosmopolitan centre and not so cosmo outer reaches in the afternoon, Megan and I went back and did the Quad thing. We will never regret that. It unlocked rural Cambodia to us, the most memorable place on our trip yet.
The photos here are from that ride, plus the extra day at the end when we took mountain bikes out there on our own and met the locals. Above, this dude took us to his house and cut us down some young coconuts for us to eat and drink. They are a good way to replenish the minerals lost by sweating all the time. He showed us in his house (hut on stilts) too, which had a red tv rigged up to 2 car batteries.
How Dr Suess are those hay stacks!
This photos out of place, but our guest house restauraunt was on the 3rd level and the kitchen on the ground, so orders went sailing down a cable, and meals were cranked back up on this trolley.


A store where we bought candy to rot the teeth of jubilant little Kampuchean kids tirading you with 'HELLO's!!!'
Volleyball is big here, and theres always money on the games. I tried to join in but I sucked.
Frog Squeeze. "No animals were harmed..."

Enter Siam Riep, Cambodia

Well we took the bus from Bangkok to Siam Riep , against some advisory - Its long, its dusty, its bumpy, they rip you off for your visa at the border, you have no chioce of where you stay when you get there... blah blah blah. Heres a how to guide to the journey.

Pre organise your Cambodia Visa (3 day wait). Pay at TAT travel agency. Not TAT licensed agents, actual TAT places. Pay here and its cheaper than taking a taxi to the Cambodia Embassy and back to do it yourself.

Pre book a guest house based on a recomendation if you can, or a guide book.

Have US dollars on you for a couple of weeks. Ignore touts telling you to get cash at the border town. And dont worry, ATMs are in every reasonably sized town in Cambodia.

Buy a bus ticket all the way to Siam Riep (2 buses). Get on the bus. The ride to the border is fast. Satasfaction also comes from watching everybody else on the bus pay heaps on board for a visa "to avoid the queues at the border".

At the intimidatingly different border, even though you have paid all the way to Siam Riep already, they do their best to convince you the new bus will be so miserable, slow and non airconditioned that you should pay for a taxi. (They get additional commission for this). We waited half the time they said we would have to wait for the Cambodian bus, got on it and had an amazing journey through the Cambodian countryside. The road is half improved now, and the scenery is breathtaking. You watch the sun set. They stop for dinner. The windows keep the bus cooler than most 'airconditioned' buses we have been on.

expansive emerald rice paddies set against rich deep and towering monsoon skies.

Cambodia is incredible. It is exhausting. It is dusty, but simultaneously so so green and lush. Its uncomfortable, then suddenly as comfortable as you would be at a cafe on cuba street! Its a real experience, very rewarding, we have had few days where we havnt been blown away. I hope the photos can get some of that across.

Wats etc - Bangkok, Thailand

The wat's around in central bangkok can be done in a day, only just though considering the heat and humidity we were suffering. Excuse my uselessness with naming them, I just dont remember that stuff, its Megans forte. Above Buddha chilling, featuring ornate feet design.
Wat inside the Royal Palace, incredible, with sexy gold and grey combinations




Ín this photo we were 'snapped' twice, if you will. Charged a dollar for this one by sneaky hiding photo money woman. Worth it though? Absolutely! However why am I the woman?
This one is adorned with broken plates and what not that were used as ballasts by Chinese trade ships back in history some time. In the same way you stick shells into sand castles (if you are a girl).

Khao San and China Town - Bangkok, Thailand

We travelled 9 hours from Koh Tao to Bangkok (seems like an age ago now, thats what you get for waiting a month before updating the blog...) and stayed near the travelers apex to SEAsia - Khao San Road. Awesome food stuffs in Chinatown. Bangkok is broken up into an eccelctic set of areas, vastly differing in ethnicities, wealth and function.

This is where so many tourists begin and end their journeys so its understandable it is a shoppers paradise, not so good for us, actually trying to jetison cargo, not accumulate it. It's a primo atmosphere though, just to wander aimlessly and soak it up
Incense to burn in your room for when you want your parents to think you have been smoking when you actually havn't! Jokes on them, haha.
Pad Thais for a dollar or less, the Thai equivilant of a pie after drinking whiskey buckets in one of Khao San's prolific bars.

Cheap and fresh seafood

Above - The view from our room. We splashed out here and got air-con, since there aint much chance of swimming to cool off anywhere here.
Amazing Cat Drawing Woman - who could refuse one of these works, at bargain prices might I add. I hope my one survives the rest of the trip.