Three Nights in Phnom Penh
We took an early bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia which was relatively painless. We arrived in Phnom Penh around noon and spent the afternoon walking around the city trying some of the local cuisine and bars. I called it an early night since we had a long day of travel and a big day ahead of us.
Our first full day in the Cambodia we knew would be a depressing yet an essential part of anyone's visit to the country: the sites of the Cambodian genocide. I took a class in college that went into detail about the Cambodian genocide but I've found that it is not well known by the majority of the international community. Since the atrocities happened only about 35 years ago, the consequences of the Khmer Rouge are still seen today. Phnom Penh is the city where a tourist can learn the most about the genocide with the two main sites being the killing fields and the Tuol Slong Genocide Museum also known as S-21 prison. We had a Tuk Tuk driver first take us to the killing fields-- one of the many locations that Khmer Rouge rouge used as a mass grave for thousands of Cambodians who they thought were a threat to the regime's power. At first glance it just looks like a medium sized field with some trees and huts surrounded by farmland and is actually quite beautiful and tranquil. When you look a but closer, however, you learn that the field has many indentations where mass graves were built, that the trees were used for unspeakable things and that women and children were not sparred from the massacre. The next stop was the S-1 prison which was originally a high school turned into a prison/ torture center/ execution center and is now a museum. This was a morbid site with most of the prisons still intact and a huge thunderstorm started while wewere there which added to the spookiness. I am happy that this was one of the first things we did in Cambodia because it is important to remember the country's sad past while traveling through the cities and countryside.
My first night out in Phnom Penh introduced me to a dark side of modern day Cambodia: Sex tourism. In the daytime I thought that the groups of older white men were visiting the city for the cultural experience but I soon learned they were there for one main reason-- the very young and inexpensive prostitutes. It was difficult to walk down a street or go into bar without seeing some type of this interaction. It was definitely an eye opening experience for me and I unfortunately am now quick to judge any older white man in this region of the world.
My final full day in Phnom Penh I woke up early to go to the US embassy to add pages to my passport which actually was a very easy process. We then spent the rest of the day touring some museums, looking at temples and bargaining at the central market. Andrew also decided to get a haircut at a street stall (it didn't turn out bad). That night we were able to find a bar that did not have any older white men in it and hung out with some friends we had met in Vietnam.
One Night in Sihanoukeville and Three Nights in Koh Rong
We left the next day for the southern coast of Cambodia called Sihanoukeville which is the beach/ vacation destination of the country. I didn't find the city or the beach quite scenic but the nightlife was extremely fun with 25 cent beers. We only spent one rainy night there because our ultimate destination was an island about 2 hours of the coast called Koh Rong. Koh Rong is described as "the Thai islands before they became overdeveloped and touristy". It was a beautiful island with pristine beaches and barely any development-- there were less than a dozen guesthouses (all bungalows) and electricity usually cut off from 11pm to 7am. The island had a really chill vibe and I could see myself wanting to stay there for a week HOWEVER we happened to be there during one of the rainiest weeks of the year. We spent three day and nights on the island and didn't see sun once-- it basically down poured for three days straight (I now know what they mean by the "rainy season"). Luckily, we met a really good group of friends, stayed in a treehouse, ate tons do fresh seafood and enjoyed the lazy feel of the island enough that the bad weather did not ruin our trip. Nonetheless, after three days I was ready to get away from the rain.
Night Bus
To prevent wasting a day of travel we decided to take a night bus to our final destination in Cambodia, Siem Reap. We had taken several night buses in Vietnam but this was by far the most dysfunctional experience. Our bus broke down at about midnight and they moved us onto another bus that was already half full, leaving about 6 passengers with nowhere to sleep. The angry passengers argued with the bus company who acted clueless about the situation, wouldn't give them a refund and made them sit in the isle of the bus. THEN at about 5am our second bus broke down ad we had to wait 2 hours for another bus to pick us up. This last bus did not have reclining seats so sleep was nearly impossible and the air conditioning was broken. I am not one to complain, especially when it comes to transportation, but this was just as bad as it gets. Luckily, 4 hours behind schedule, we got to Siem Reap safe and sound.
Five Nights in Siem Reap
Siem Reap probably ended up being my favorite city in Cambodia. It has tons of restaurants, the amazing angkor wat temples, a huge market, cheap cheap massages and a really fun night life Night life. Our first night out was particularly fun. We hung out on pub street (the main street full of bars and clubs) with the friends we met on Koh Rong (alex, kate and ryan) and our friend Rafael who we had met in Thailand.
The main attraction in Siem Reap are the Angkor Wat and surrounding temples (think tomb raider and/or legends of the hidden temple). Andrew and I decided that we wanted to tour the temples separately: he wanted to leisurely take his time touring the temples on a bicycle for three days while I decided I wasn't ready to get back on a bicycle after my last incident so opted for a one day Tuk Tuk ride tour instead. Luckily, our friends Kate, Alex and Ryan also wanted to do the Tuk Tuk tour so I joined them for the day. The temples were truly amazing. They were enormous and each stone had beautiful carvings. It was crazy to think how much time and energy went into making this temples and it was sad to realize that be Khmer Rouge had destroyed so many of them while in power. Almost as amazing as the architecture were some of the trees that were growing around and/or through the temples.
Since Andrew still had two days left of temple touring, I decided to do a yoga/ meditation retreat in Siem Reap that our friend Rafael was about to do. While I was clearing my head, stretching and relaxing, i received and email from Andrew informing me that he got his daypack stolen from him while touring the temples. He had put the small backpack in the front basket of his bicycle and two men drove up in a motorcycle and snatched it right from him. The worst part was that it has his passport, camera and nook. We decided that since he had to go all the way back to Phnom Penh to get his passport. I would just stay in Siem Reap and we would meet a few days later in Laos.
I spent a total of 2 days and nights in the yoga retreat and enjoyed every second of it. It was run by the nicest Australian man who specialized in stretching and made the experience feel very intimate and homey. There were about 6 of us staying at the retreat, all in our 20s and with minor experience with yoga and meditation. We started our mornings with a 6:30am meditation session and 7:00am breakfast. We then had a few hours to relax, read or explore the town until our 10:30am stretching session (which was particularly good). Afterwards we'd usually end with a bit of mediation and then have the rest of the afternoon to do whatever we wanted. My first day I went into town with Rafael and met some of his friends for lunch. Around 5pm we went to a pagoda to meditate while watching the monks chant and then we had 6:00pm yoga session. Dinner was served around 7:30 and we ended the night with mediation before bed. The owner of the retreat also spinsters many local schools so one option during free time was to volunteer teaching English at one of the schools. I decided to take this opportunity up my second day of the retreat and assisted in teaching a class of 17-27 year olds English for an hour-- this was a great experience because it gave me a glimpse into Cambodian education and also showed me how difficult teaching English is!
My last full day in Siem Reap I did a bit of shopping with some of the girls I met on my retreat (Andrew is very patient with shopping but its always nice to have girls opinions once in a while). I checked into a huge hostel called garden village where I met a really nice group of backpackers who I joined for dinner and drinks. Since my bus to Laos picked me up at 4:00amthe next morning I decided it made more sense to just not go to sleep so that I could sleep on the 14 hour bus trip ahead of me.
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