March 2017

I have been struggling to write my thoughts on Cambodia. I always like to write about the positive side to a country and then maybe add the less positive side to balance the writing.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot to write about regarding the positive side to Cambodia. In fairness to Cambodia, we didn’t cycle that far or were in Cambodia for that many days – 420 kms and 11 days, partly because we didn’t like the country. We spent three days cycling from the border in Vietnam and three days to the border of Thailand and two days cycling around Angkor Wat.

When we entered Cambodia, I thought it was a friendly place, people helped us get across the border and find our hotel in Bavet. However, things were not as friendly in Phnom Penh or Angkor Wat. We felt as if we were being ripped off at every available opportunity. Strange really in the rural areas we were charged a reasonable rate for water and drinks, and we felt that the people were honest. The people who were the poorest were the ones less likely to rip us off.

Cambodia is a small nation 181,035 sq km, with a population of approximately 15 million people, 68% of that population is under 30.

Cambodia is very poor, it is the poorest nation in South East Asia. There is very little industry and the agriculture is very limited. The sad thing is there doesn’t appear to be any help from the government to help people have a better life. The government is reportedly very corrupt.

As cyclists we enjoy getting to meet local people and chatting to them about their country. In Cambodia the interaction between the locals and us was very limited, their English was very limited and of course for us to learn Khmer for such a short time was not practical. We did try to learn a few words, as usual, but even our attempt at please and thank-you and hello etc. was not greeted with any enthusiasm.

We did speak to one person who spoke good English in Phnom Penh, he was a tuk tuk driver and night porter at the hotel where we stayed. He had three jobs, night porter, tuk tuk driver and he had a little bit of land where he grew rice where his family lived about two hours from Phnom Penh, he only saw them one day per week.

What we did learn about Cambodia was from our New Zealand friend Bethy and her friends (in Phnom Penh). We noticed a lack of kids going to school on a regular basis in the rural areas. Bethy indicated that the schools held classes in the morning and in the afternoon. One set of kids would go to school in the morning and another set of kids would go in the afternoon.

In the rural areas we cycled through we noticed very few kids in school. Only one area when we cycled from Kralanh to Serei Saophoan did we notice schools that were full throughout the day. We also noticed in that area a lot more high schools and further education. Whoever was in charge in that area was definitely helping the population.

Cycling in Cambodia was difficult for us, we do like to cycle on paved roads. All the roads that led away from the main highway were dirt roads with red dust that got into everything. The main paved roads were not too bad to ride on, although some of the roads were chip and seal.

I had not been able to find out very much about cycling in Cambodia because most touring cyclists take the northern route over Laos and then into Thailand. Cambodia was the most expensive country to cycle in – it uses U.S. dollars along with the Riel. The prices reflect what you would pay in dollars in the U.S. you pay the same amount in Cambodia. For example a lunch-time sandwich and fries would be $8.00 each, an evening meal ranged from $10 – $15.00 especially if you were eating western food. Of course if you ate local food, it was cheaper, but there were some very scary looking local food. The beer was always cheap. However, the accommodation was reasonably priced, averaging $10 to $20 U.S, but you got what you paid for!

One of the main reasons to go to Cambodia is Angkor Wat, a spectacular area. However, the government may have priced that out of the budget of the average backpacker and touring cyclist. We chatted to one backpacker who had been informed that the corrupt government wanted to discourage independent tourism and only have “package” tours as they can control the money better.

The other reason to go to Cambodia is to go to S21 and the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, although I don’t think your average tourist would want to be reminded of the inhumanity of man to his fellow man. That tour was a very sad and sobering day, something that should not be forgotten.

Pol Pot wanted Cambodia to be as great as the Khmer era when Angkor Wat was built. Did this mean he wanted to have a population that was kept in their place with no opportunity for improvement. If that is the case, he has succeeded. Pol Pot killed 25% of the population and the majority of those killed during his very short reign were educated people.

I expected Cambodia to be poor, what I didn’t expect was the lack of optimism of the people. However, if you know your government is corrupt and you have no opportunity for improvement, unless you work 18 hours a day like the tuk tuk/night porter driver in Phnom Penh, why would you be optimistic.

March 7, 2017

A lovely ride today. Once again we were on the road early to beat the heat. The first couple of hours we had a good tail-wind and the temperatures were nice at about 25 degrees. By 9:00 a.m. the wind abruptly changed direction – head wind and the temperature increased to 30 degrees.

Fortunately, for us it was a short ride and we rolled into Serei Saophoan (Sisophon) at 10:30 a.m.

As we left the hotel, we noticed three Tuk Tuks carrying furniture.  We passed them on three separate occasions.  They would stop to fuel or for the drivers to get a drink and we would pass them with a wave, they would catch up to us and pass us with a wave.

The area is mainly agriculture with acres of rice fields that has already been harvested and is drying along the side of the road or being packed into large bags for shipment.

Yesterday we passed a rice mill for sale, today we passed a new mill that is a joint venture with South Korea. I am beginning to think that Cambodia is being sold out by the government to keep their people poor.  When you see a large building that houses the Cambodia Peoples Party, it does make you wonder.  This building is in Sisophoan.

We did see an auction for a couple of Kubota tractors, there must be money around somewhere. Actually, this area did not appear as poor as other areas that we have cycled through.

There is some land for sale, but I am not sure if foreigners can buy here.

We cycled through a town that had a lot of stonemasons working and small garden centres lined the road. The first stonemason I saw, was working by hand, very intricate work. Some of the others were using a hand-held grinder with sanding wheels to carve the bigger pieces.

Ralf spotted some artillery pieces and noticed that there was an infantry base.

One of the things we noticed on today\’s ride was that there appeared to be more schools and almost every town we cycled through had a small health clinic or hospital.

We had booked the hotel last night and thought that we might have to pay extra for arriving so early, four hours before check-in. The receptionist took me up to the room and discovered it hadn’t been cleaned. She had a discussion with the cleaners, to check which rooms had been cleaned and directed me to the next room (which has a little balcony). She took one of my panniers to help me, when she went to direct Ralf up to the room she carried his helmet! It seems the further you get away from the tourist areas the more helpful the Cambodians are. We didn’t have to pay any extra for checking in early.

We dropped our bags in the room and went straight back down to the small café as they were serving breakfast/lunch. We had a great second breakfast with a good cappuccino. Hopefully, we can get breakfast before we leave tomorrow.

We showered and I rinsed the cycle gear out, once again our nice room looks like the Clampett’s have arrived.  It is a nice hotel but has some strange rules – it also has a list of prices if you damage anything in the room.

We headed out to investigate Sisophon, or Serei Saophoan the Provincial capital of Banteay Province. There are a lot of big government buildings, a large indoor market and one street that is all motor repair shops.

All of the roundabouts have large statues of some god in the centre. At first glance most of them look as though they are giving you the finger, but it is actually the forefinger that they are holding up.

It was hot, both of us were dripping with sweat by the time we got back to the hotel. We checked out places to eat for tonight, not very appetizing, most of the food available was from stalls near the bus station in big pots! Fried crickets anyone, or some very scary fly infested mystery meat.

We went into the market, most of the stall holders were asleep or resting in hammocks above their stalls. A very sensible thing to do between noon and 2:00, when the temperature was over 35 degrees.

We found a small shop that sold noodles, yep it’s noodles again for dinner. We did find some baguettes – noodles and baguette, with a couple of beers, dinner of champions.  I am looking forward to the food in Thailand.

March 6, 2017

Breakfast in the room and an early start today to beat the heat. The temperature was forecasted to be over 34 degrees by noon with a real feel of 40 degrees. We have decided to split the 150 kms to Thailand into three days. We know there are guesthouses/hotels at around the 50, 100 and the border at 150 km marks and we think it is better than slogging out a 100 kilometre day to get into Thailand earlier.

As we left Siem Reap on National Road 6 we saw all the fancy hotels. These are for the people that fly in to Siem Reap “do the temples” and fly out again.

On the outskirts of Siem Reap we saw this “Country Club” entrance. We couldn’t see any buildings down the long road, not sure what was down there, but it had a fancy entrance.

How the other 90% live!

The road was flat and not much to see, apart from a rather nice temple complex that is being expanded.

Along with the heat we had a head wind, we took it in turns to be at the front to break the wind for the other person. The National Road 6, which we are currently on, is worse than Highway 1 in Vietnam. There is no centre median and drivers overtake all the time into oncoming traffic, the speed is faster, the only saving grace was that we had a shoulder to ride on.

We arrived in Kralanh at about 11:30, there is a guesthouse (Sovannaphum) on the outskirts of Town which is supposed to be a couple of years old and a couple of guesthouses closer to the centre. I checked out all of the rooms, we are back to indoor camping again. We cycled back to the first guesthouse, which looked very nice from the outside – $10.00 for a room with a fan and no hot water or $17.00 for the same room with air-conditioner. If you pay for the air-con, they give you the controls so that you can work the machine! It didn’t matter which guesthouse I choose, none of them had hot water. We opted for a fan! The windows open and there are screens on the windows to stop the mossies from coming and eating us in the night. We also have a couple of geckos that will eat anything else that might get into the room. I hope we didn’t make a mistake not getting the air-con, as it is very warm.

After being out on the road in the heat, the cool shower was quite nice.

There is an interesting vehicle in Cambodia.  It has a two-stroke engine and looks like a tractor, but it has a very long wheel-base.  No idea why it is designed this way, but we see quite a few of them in the rural areas. 

The nice thing about getting finished early is that I had time to update the blog with all of those pictures Ralf took in Angkor Wat. Hope you enjoyed your tour of Angkor Wat and surrounding area!

The bad news is that Thailand has recently changed its visa entry requirements for travelling into Thailand over land.  We can only get a 15 day visa at an overland crossing, instead of a 30 day visa if you fly into an airport!  Our flight out of Bangkok isn\’t until April 4, 2017!  We can extend the visa in Bangkok when we get there, but that probably means two charges!  We are going to ask at the border if we can have a 30-day visa because of our flight.  Fingers crossed we get a nice border guard!  We will be in Thailand on Wednesday or Thursday.

We ate our noodles in the room and haven’t moved very much since we arrived.

March 5, 2017

Although we bought a three-day ticket, we only used it for two days. We decided that today we would relax and have a wander around the Town of Siem Reap.

Siem Reap is a transient town, people sleep here and eat here, after spending a day at the temples and that is just about all it has going for it. The pub street is a lively place in the evening and is blocked off to all traffic. During the day it is much quieter.

There is an historic walk that you can do, if you can find somewhere where you can get the map of the walking tour. We couldn’t find a tourist information office to get the map for the walking tour.

The river looks lovely, but in actuality it is disgustingly dirty.  This is the river that Ralf said if I fall in, I am on my own, unless there was a big bucket of disinfectant that he could use after rescuing me.

There is a market which is not as well organized as the Vietnamese markets we went through. Meat, fish, veges and fruit all mixed together. Then of course there is all the stuff for the tourists – “$1 dollar t.shirt, madam/sir, $2 dollar for skirts, please buy something from my stall, what you looking for?” this was the constant cry from the stall holders. Often it was said with such resignation that they couldn’t even be bothered anymore.

We did buy a fruit shake, coconut and passion fruit, for Ralf and passion fruit and lime for me.   When buying fruit shakes, you have to be careful about the ice. If it is one big block and they are hacking pieces off for the blender, don’t buy it, if it is in small “ice-cube size” it means it comes from a proper ice-maker that has used clean water (supposedly) the ice was clean!

 It was a nice relaxing wander around today.

Ralf went into a camera shop to see if he could buy a filter for his new camera. We had checked out the prices in Phnom Penh and were told it would be about $10.00. We asked the price here – $20.00, this was in a store. Ralf told the salesman that he could get it for $10.00 in Phnom Penh. He came down to $12.00. No we would wait to get it in Thailand! Boom $10.00. We thought because we were in a recognized store that we wouldn’t have to haggle, we were wrong. Haggle for everything and everywhere!

We got back to the guesthouse early and I managed to reduce the amount of photos I was going to use for the first day at Angkor Wat and post the blog. The guesthouse is very nice, but the walk to it is typically Cambodian, red, rutted laneways.

After relaxing for a couple of hours we headed back into Town for dinner and a foot massage. Yes we did the fishy thing! The first few minutes was horrendous, then I got used to it and it was quite nice.

Does anyone like Tilapia? Please check that your Tilapia does not come from Cambodia, because these were the wee fish that were enjoying nibbling on our feet!!

My main concern was that I would put my feet into the tank, and they would all float to the top of the tank.

Tomorrow we are back on the road heading for Thailand.

March 4, 2017

Today was a ruinous day, not a day that was ruined but a day where we visited lots of ruins! or as Ralf summarized it \”old grey and black temples falling down everywhere\”

Our first stop was at Banteay Kdei. This complex needed a lot of restoration work. Some of the pillars were definitely on the move, as were most of the structures. The Nagas are mythical serpent beings that originated in Hinduism. In Buddhism, they often are protectors of the Buddha and of the dharma. However, they also are worldly and temperamental creatures that spread disease and misfortune when angered.

After Banteay Kdie we headed to Ta Prohm. This temple is where the movie the Tomb Raider was filmed. The temple is now referred to as the tree-temples. Ta Phrom temple was built in 1186 by King Jayavarman VII and was dedicated to his mother in honour of the goddess of wisdom in Mahayana Buddhism. Most of this temple has been overtaken by the trees.  Ta Prohm has two entrances the east gate and west gate, we were hoping that we would be able to wheel our bikes through the area.  It would have been impossible to lift our bikes in some of the areas.  We had to retrace our steps, other tourists were dropped of at one of the gates and were picked up at the other.

At the ‘famous’ tree we all lined up to take photos, apart from the Chinese who joined other people while they were having their photos taken. Eventually, we were next in-line and the Russian couple ahead of us offered to take our photo, we of course reciprocated.

We stopped at the Bayon Temple in Central Angkor Thom. The Bayon was built in the heart of Angkor Thom a city spanning nine square kilometres. The distinctive feature is the multitude of massive serene stone faces that grace its towers. I think it would be a great place for the Amazing Race, how many faces are there?

I found some building tools near Angkor Thom.  Maybe I can help with the restoration. 

At Angkor Thom in the Bayon there was a very gentle looking lady bestowing blessings on tourists. If you donated, she would pray with you and then tie a small ribbon bracelet on your wrist. I think Ralf got an excellent shot.

We had a nice lunch at one of the stalls near Angkor Thom and then headed back to the guesthouse. We had a good day, wandering around some of the temples.

All this money is being added to coffers in this area, but they cannot afford to help their own people live in good housing.  The large pots are their water source. There really is something wrong with this country.

We headed into Town for dinner. Our guesthouse is about 1.5 kms away from the busy pub street. We passed a statue standing by the side of the river – Lord Lokesvara – the Saviour of the World. The 8 armed form of the Lord shown here is a symbol of the Lord’s many skills to bring souls into enlightenment. King Jayavarman VII placed 108 of these statues in hospitals built all across the Angkor Empire.

As we walked into town we passed the active temple in Siem Reap – Wat Preah Prom Rath.

There is an area in Siem Reap Town that is known as Pub Street, lots of restaurants to choose from with lots of choices  We had a nice meal – the westernized meals are more expensive (about $7.00 U.S) but the beer was cheap .50 cent a draft!

In Siem Reap there are lots of places for massage as well as the fishy massages.

There was a family of Americans, “feeding” the fish and trying to encourage us to do it as well. Maybe tomorrow?!

A nice walk back along the river to our guesthouse. Amazing shot, this has not been enhanced at all.

March 3, 2017

A relaxing start to the day with breakfast at the guesthouse. Then things went pear shaped!

We headed out to the ticket office to buy tickets for Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples, it used to be on the road to Angkor Wat. We found the ticket office, no it is the wrong one, we had to cycle back 4 kms to the new and fancy dancy ticket office. You can only buy tickets at the authorized office. We knew the prices had gone up – almost double what they were before February 1, 2017. Now we know why they needed to raise the prices, to pay for the fancy dancy ticket office.

The prices went from $20 to $37 for a one-day pass, $40 to $62 for a three-day pass and $60 to $72 for a seven-day pass. We were buying the three-day pass. The ticket price includes entrance to all the temples in the Angkor area, which encompasses an area of 200 hectares (500 acres). The three-day pass has your photograph on it and you can use it over a week-long period. I was really hoping that we wouldn’t be disappointed in the temples, as that is a lot of money to spend.

We cycled back to the first ticket office, the “Angkor Tourist Police” checked the ticket and stamped it.

We do not usually cycle on our rest days, but this is an exception to the rule. It is easier and cheaper to cycle to Angkor Wat than take a Tuk tuk. We could have taken the guesthouse bikes, but I really like riding my own bike.

Angkor Wat was the first temple we visited. We locked our bikes together to a fence in a shaded area.

Angkor Wat was built in 1113-1152, it is built in a large rectangle measuring 1.5 km by 1.3 kms, surrounded by a large moat. Although modern day Cambodia follows the Buddhist faith, Angkor Wat represents the Hindu faith. Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world. Approximately one million people lived in this area during its hey day. Remember Pol Pot from Phnom Penh well his desire was to bring back the glory days of this time. He didn’t do so well, and Cambodia is still recovering from his lunacy.

Unlike other temples in the area, Angkor Wat was never abandoned it has been in almost continuous use since it was built.  However, many nations are assisting in the restoration and upkeep of this UNESCO Site.

There are very few signs telling you what you are looking at or what each area represents. You can hire a tour guide to explain things to you, but we were already feeling annoyed that the price had doubled. We felt that there should have been at least a pamphlet or brochure to explain the various temples. Even if they only said the name, the year they were built, and a little bit more information I would have been happy with. A ticket with your photograph on it and encouragement to spend more money on a tour guide.

Yes, we did spot this grafitti carved into a pillar in Angkor Wat!

The temple has three main areas: the moat protecting the central temple. The central area and within that area are several buildings that are smaller temples and “study” areas.

The central temple complex has 800 metre long bas-reliefs running along each quadrant. They depict 37 heavens and 32 hells. The hells on the lower section are in more detail than the heavens above.

The inner temple has a lot of restoration work going on and is more of a quiet reflecting area.

Then the Bakan the principal sanctuary of Angkor Wat’s uppermost terrace – open to the four cardinal points. It is a heck of a climb up, 47 steep steps to the top and there are a limited number of visitors allowed to access the tower at any one time.

We were given a separate pass for this area. When you return the pass at the bottom the next group of “pilgrims” are allowed to climb the stairs.

The stone work is quiet amazing, but then when you think this was built at the same time as some of the great cathedrals in England and Europe, it sort of puts it into perspective. There were great stone masons during that period. The actual building of Angkor Wat was built by slaves, but the stonemasons were the real masters.

After about three hours of wandering around the temple, we left the main temple and got some lunch. Then we headed out on the bikes to explore the area.

Touring cyclists can always recognize other touring cyclists even if they are not fully loaded.  We spotted Chi – the Taiwanese tourer as we were about to leave one of the smaller temples.  Chi is on a \”training\” ride around south-east Asia, before he heads out on a round the world trip.  We asked how many kilometres he had done from Taiwan.  He didn\’t know, he rides as far as he wants to, and doesn\’t record, distance, speed or how high the climb.  His nickname is Snail.  A great attitude.

There is another huge temple called Wat Thom, this covers an area of 10 sq kilometers it was a walled City. There are four gates to this Wat and the walls still surround the temple, albeit a little bit in rack and ruin.

There was one road with lots of small monkeys along it.  I hate monkeys, I always think they are going to jump on me.

We will explore Angkor Thom tomorrow.

We found an active temple.  Ralf went to take photos, I had my cycle shorts on and didn\’t want to be disrespectful.  Although I had my skirt on my rack, I didn\’t want to get dressed.  Ralf got told off by one of the monks because he forgot to take his shoes off while taking a photo of the art on the ceiling.  We chatted to a monk who appeared to be very envious of our bikes!

After exploring the surrounding area, we headed back into Siem Reap. We spotted several smaller temples – for some reason I had to climb the steps up this small temple, Ralf didn\’t want to.  The stairs were steep and the view at the top wasn\’t worth the climb, but it was a fun climb. This is called Baksei  Chamkrong and is the only pyramid temple in the area, built in the 10th Century.  It has sanskrit text on its door jab.

We stopped for something to drink at the lake.  Ralf took photos of these two boys playing a card game and I took a photo of this young girl training the baby how to balance on bike – she will have it down to a fine art by the time she gets put onto the back of a motorbike.

We were going to go back to the guesthouse for a shower, but I suggested stopping in Siem Reap and eating first, smelly and dirty as we were then heading back to the guesthouse for dinner.

We ate at a Mexican place that had 0.75 cent draught beers and nachos for $3.50. Ralf had a Khmer dish which had rice, beef and an egg on top!

We headed back to the guesthouse with our lights on.

Ralf had taken so many pictures it took me the rest of the night to pick some for the blog. I then had to reduce them again, as I had chosen about 70 pictures!

A good day.

March 2, 2017

Before we went to bed last night Ralf headed out to take some photos of the night life.  He spotted this Tuk Tuk that was wheelchair accessible.  We haven\’t really noticed a lot of accessibility in Vietnam or Cambodia. The curbs are very big and the ramps are not designed for a wheelchair.  Often the sidewalks are blocked with scooters or street stalls. South East Asia is not wheelchair friendly, it was a surprise to see this Tuk Tuk.

A really early start today, we had conflicting times to be at the boat terminal. All of the times on the internet said that the boat left at 7:00 a.m., the ticket had written in pen 7:30 a.m. We decided to err on the side of caution and be there for 6:45 a.m.

As we headed along the waterfront, we noticed a lot happening, there were morning joggers, yoga, jazzercise and Tai chi. I wish I had known about the Tai Chi I would have got up to take part.

We were early at the boat dock, we were first ones on the boat with the bikes tied to the back. At least they were not tied to the roof! The boat left a little late at 7:40 a.m. 

The boat was a bit of a rust bucket! I had read recently that the government was trying to get the Company to improve their safety.  There were life jackets on board – two life jackets for 40 passengers.  Although if you fell into the Ton Le River, I am not sure that you would survive – probably get typhoid or something.  Considering what gets pumped into it on a regular basis.

Ralf managed to get a few shots of the dock and the river as we left Phnom Penh.

The boat trip was about 7.5 hours, the boat had to stop a couple of times to clear the bilges and slow down a few times to slalom around the debris in the river.

I slept part of the way.

The river opened up on to Ton Le Lake and then we followed the river again into Siem Reap.  In one area, there were white flags showing the route.

The river was quite shallow in places, but the little river boats zoomed by us.  they reminded me of the scooters on the road – boat scooters.

When we were on the outskirts of Siem Reap ”Port” we spotted a large white building and hoped that was where we would be landing.

Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. There were already boats tied up at that dock, our boat had to find another spot to dock. It was a bit of a trek up and down the stairs, first with the bikes and them with the panniers.

We headed out to find our guesthouse, which is about 1.5 kms outside of the downtown area of Siem Reap and about 13 kms from the dock.

The countryside around Siem Reap is very rural and poor. Tin and wooden shacks on stilts to protect them from the floods and the rainy season.

There was an area where they were growing lotus flowers. Apparently you can eat the pods, but I am not sure what bit you eat or how you eat it. We will have to find out before we leave Cambodia.

We found the guesthouse easily. A lovely big room, very clean, nice big bed with a fridge and TV. The internet is not very good and the water pressure in the shower is a little low. We had a quick shower and headed out for something to eat.

We found a Khmer restaurant that was busy with tour buses. We went in and caused a little bit of a stir with the servers, who always seem to panic a little if they don’t speak English. They sat us down and found a waiter who could speak English who served us with a smile. This restaurant was amazing while we sat and ordered our meal, the restaurant seated and served three bus loads. The tourists would come in from the bus, sit down – 9 to table, the food would be bought out immediately, two meat dishes, big bowl of rice, two vegetable dishes and lychees for dessert. Twenty minutes later they were gone, the table was cleared and reset. Thirty minutes maximum in and out!

 We headed back to the guesthouse, pleasantly full and I was asleep by 9:15.

March 1, 2017

 An early start today, the bus for our tour picked us up at just after 8:00 a.m.

A rather sobering day to day, we visited the Tuol Sleng Prison Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (the Killing Fields)!   If that doesn’t give you food for thought nothing will. The Tuol Sleng Prison prior to its use as prison used to be a high school.

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed thousands of people in a very short four year reign. If they weren’t tortured and murdered at Tuol Sleng Prison Museum (or other prisons throughout Cambodia) then they died of starvation or disease in the countryside at labour camps.

We opted for an English speaking guide at the Tuol Sleng Prison Museum. Mrs Chey was nine years old and lived in Phnom Penh when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came into Phnom Penh, within a day the Khmer Rouge had evacuated everyone from the city, over 2 million people removed from their homes. They were told that they could return in a few days. Mrs Chey’s father was an officer in the army and they tortured and killed him. Her mother and sister were sent to a work camp in Krong Svay Rieng Province and they were able to escape to Vietnam. They lived in a refugee camp for two years. As soon as the Vietnamese Army conquered Pol Pot they were sent back to Cambodia. They had nothing to return to and very little to return with. Mrs Chey got quite emotional when she was telling us that no one has been tried for their crimes. Some of the high ranking officials at the time are still in the present day government. Pol Pot died from a heart attack in 1998. “No justice” she said “No justice”.

A Vietnamese journalist took photographs of the prison when it was liberated by the Vietnamese. There were fourteen prisoners who were killed prior to the liberation, their graves are in the grounds of the prison.

The schools classrooms were divided into prisoners cells by building walls within the classroom. The bigger cells were used as places of torture for the high ranking officials.

The victims were photographed.

The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center is located about 17 kms outside of Phnom Penh. After the prisoners had been tortured and made to sign confessions at the Tuol Sleng Prison, they were transported to the killing grounds. It is estimated that there are over 300 killing fields in Cambodia. Some have been excavated and the bodies found have been reburied, others cannot be excavated due to the landmines that surround those areas.

The prisoners were killed during the night, they were bound and blindfolded and killed and then thrown into a pit. Women and children were also killed here – family members of the men who had been tortured.

This tree was called the killing tree and babies were thrown against it and then thrown into the pit, along with their mother and father.

The Stupa in the middle of the grounds is full of the skulls that were found at this site of mass graves. It appears to be a very gruesome way to display the remains. The government has decided that the Stupa is a memorial to all of the people that were found here.

They have had forensic scientists determine the age of the skull, and how the person was killed. Because these skulls were found in mass graves, they could not distinguish individual bodies. It is very difficult for families to find their own relatives in a situation like this so that they can bury them in a family plot. Although the excavation of these mass graves were done in 1980, bones and clothing are still be unearthed after the rainy season. The museum curators find these bones and relocate them. There is not much else they can do with the bone fragments and smaller bones that keep making there way to the surface.

Both Ralf and I were very quiet on the bus back to Phnom Penh. I don’t think either of us can really fathom how people can do this to their own kind. What makes a man or woman, brutally kill another person. One always, thinks that I would not do this, but does it become a case of self-preservation. If I don’t do this I will be killed? Therefore, I have to do this.

Mrs. Chey said that is why a lot of the guards and torturers were not tried in a court of law, they stated that they were under orders and could not go against the orders or they would be killed. She thinks they should have been tried and should be in prison for their crimes. not living a normal life in Phnom Penh or in the countryside.

The entry fee for both areas was very reasonable at $3.00 each. We paid $3.00 each for an audio tour of the killing fields and Ralf gave Mrs Chey $5.00, for her guided tour.

We spent a quiet and reflective afternoon in the hotel room.

Tomorrow we head up to Siem Reap a much more cheerful trip tomorrow and for the rest of our trip, no more war only peace.

February 28, 2017

 We had a nice lie-in this morning and had breakfast in the little café next door to the Guesthouse.

We went to the bank and got some more dollars to pay for the boat trip to Siem Reap. The ATM dispensed $100.00 bills, we went inside the bank to get smaller denominations. Our number to be served was 3002, the number displayed was 1004! Yikes this could be a long wait, but there were only six other people in the bank! Ralf’s comment “Banks, we are in control and we are going to make you wait to prove it”. Fortunately the numbering system was a little berserk, we were number three in line!

After the bank we headed to the ferry quay and bought our ticket for Siem Reap. It was already heating up, a high of 38 degrees today, we took a Tuk Tuk to the Royal Palace, which closes from 11:00 until 2:00, it was 11:05.

We walked to the Independence Monument along the river and through the parks. 

There are a lot of poor people in this city.  Some sleep on the streets and today we spotted a young boy showering in the garden sprinklers.

There is no more space for building in Phnom Penh, so they are making an island in the river and building skyscrapers and hotels. They are trying to recreate Montreal Island!

It was almost time for the Palace to reopen. I was a little disappointed in the Palace, half of the buildings were not accessible to the public and some of the buildings we could not take photographs. Ralf got a few sneaky shots, but was caught and told not to take photos. This was in the Blue Buddha Pagoda.

On the floor there are 300 silver tiles, there is one Buddha that weighs 4 kgs and is made out of sold gold and has diamonds encrusted in the statue.

I spoke to another tourist about the treasures, and he said that some of the silver ingots should be sold and used to help the poor children on the streets of Phnom Penh. We both agreed on the opulence and wealth contained in this building and how it could be better used. He then shrugged and said ”I guess these are National Treasures” I responded so are the children, he smiled and agreed with me.

Although the grounds were very nice and the buildings that we could see inside were lovely, it was rather an expensive visit ($20.00). Maybe they will use some of the money for the renovations and take down the scaffolding and do a bit of painting.

We headed back to our hotel and the friendly tuk tuk driver we spoke to yesterday started to shout at us for not being at his tuk tuk at 9:00. I was trying to explain that we had slept in and he started to get really aggressive. Calling us lying Canadians and we could fuck off. I was shocked, actually what shocked me even more was Ralf calling him out. He was ready to schmuck the tuk tuk driver. I have not seen Ralf so angry for a long time.

We relaxed for a while in the hotel and then headed out to Bethy’s flat for dinner. What a great evening. It was so nice to catch up with Bethy. She is finalizing her Phd Studies which involves working with pre-school children and dental health. Her final results came in during the evening she has 75% response rate for her data. Way to go Bethy, so proud that you have completed the work that you started.

We had quite the dinner party, two other Canadians, an Australian and two Kiwi’s and Ralf and I. Great conversation and lots of laughs. Thanks Bethy for another great evening. If you are ever in Canada and you need a place to stay, you know you will always be welcome.

February 27, 2017

 Another early start, on the road at 7:15. The weather was much cooler today with slightly overcast skies. If we are going to survive the heat in Cambodia, we have to get started early and finish early – 60 – 70 kms I think will be the maximum distance for us. Today’s high was 34 degrees, but with the overcast skies made the ride much more manageable.

There used to be a ferry that took you over the river at Neak Loeung, but with the assistance of the Japanese they built a bridge in 2015. Apparently, the ferry used to be quite the adventure especially in the wet season.

As I waited for Ralf to come over the bridge I noticed a food stand – could we have a second breakfast. No, I don’t think so, fried crayfish, bugs, crickets and spiders.

The road was much better today, possibly because the Japanese had a hand in building the bridges that crossed the small rivers. There were a lot of temples and interesting villages we passed through today. Almost every house has a shrine on the property.

We stopped every 10 kms to drink and also bought some iced tea again we hydrated well and by the time we got to the outskirts of Phnom Penh we were both feeling good, although I was feeling a little hungry. The temperature peaked at 34 but we were at the guesthouse in Phnom Penh by noon.

We found our guesthouse surprisingly easily. That is because Phnom Penh has a grid system and numbered streets. We knew our street number was 178, and all we had to do was follow the numbers down from 328 after we crossed the bridge. The only problem is that although the streets are well numbered the numbers for the houses do not necessarily follow sequentially. For example Street 178 with the cross street of Norodum Boulevard may have numbers 1-21, one would assume that the next block would be 23 – 33, no they might skip a block of numbers and be numbered 49-54, then the next block might go back to 11-31. It is very confusing to find the actual number of a house or building, but we kept heading towards the river and found number 33 – six blocks from where number 1 -11 was!

There is a minimart in the shop at the front of the guest house. We were told to bring our bikes in and we could bring them into the room, if they would fit. This room is a little small, so we have them locked outside our room.

After a lovely shower, we headed out to explore Phnom Penh. We managed to find out about a ferry to Siem Reap – it will cost $95.00 for two and two bikes, we will book that tomorrow. It is a six hour ferry trip and will save us three days of cycling.  Although we don\’t want to fall in the water – not with the colour of this water.

We also found a Gelato ice-cream place, OMG the gelato was good and not too expensive.  We may visit it again before we leave.

We explored Wat Phnom and Wat Oulanum.  Wat Phnom is located on the only \”hill\” in Phnom Penh.  There has been a temple there since 1306.

Wat Oulanum is a smaller temple, but is more decorative.

The strange thing is when you see monks with cell phones – it just seems odd to me.

As we left Wat Oulanum, a tuk tuk driver asked us where we would like to go.  He spoke good English and was very funny.  We might use him tomorrow to go to Bethy\’s place.

We stopped for a couple of beers to watch the world go by. We had a lovely dinner of pasta and now back in our room updating the blog and relaxing with a glass of Sauvignon for me and a shot of vodka for Ralf. A little extravagant, but we deserve it.

Tomorrow we are having dinner with Bethy. Bethy hosted us in New Zealand, she took us to see the penguins in Oamaru. Bethy is working as a Dentist here in Cambodia and studying for her Phd. We had contacted her to see if she could host us while we were in Phnom Penh, but she has other guests this week. It will be nice to catch up with her and get her insight into Cambodia.