Countries: 2
Cities: 10
Massages: 7
Time away: 49 days
Books read: 8
So this bus journey consisted of sitting and listening to a mix of dubstep, electro, house, motown, indie in one ear and a overly loud Cambodian karaoke soundtrack of ballads in the other whilst having odors of dried fish from the Cambodian lady sat next to me in pyjamas, fun times for most of my senses!
I got off the bus and went to stay in my first dorm which lots of people had recommended, Monkey Republic. There was a reason it was recommended by so many people, its simply an awesome place to stay, backpacker central with acres of chilling out areas, a video room, great music (more on that in a bit) a bar, good food and swarms of people without getting too crowded. Basically it was the place to be!
After getting in and settling down I met my dorm mates, Mekial (sounded like Vehicle) a German fellow, Kat the Estonian who tried claiming she was Jamaican, Gary an English dude, Itch who had just finished his service in the Israeli army, Pepe the Italian stallion of the group who was just an out and out joker, Charlotte who I thought seemed more of a Christine and a crazy Kurdish girl who shall only be known as crying and wanting to eat Pringles. Strange I know but that’s what you get with dorms a real pick and mix. It was an international pick and mix too with a few Brits and the rest coming from all over.
With Sihanoukville you kind of got into a rhythm there, you woke up and had some breakfast with everyone and then either settled down to read in the dorm or your room or even down by the beach, then headed for a nana nap and possibly do one errand for the day i.e. having your haircut, buying a book or doing your laundry but only one mind you, any more and you’d knacker yourself out! Then went to have a BBQ dinner by the beach, then to a beach bar called Dolphin for a few cheap (25 cent cheap) drinks and lastly to JJ’s and if you’ve got anything left then maybe the grimy Utopia. This basically repeated itself for a few days.
Now this might sound strange to stay in one place doing nothing for such a long time yet with the chilled out nature of the place and the people becoming part of your family by going through this daily regime it was hard to pull yourself away. Another huge draw was the immense music played at Monkey. It has been by far the greatest collection of music I have heard anywhere on my travels, possibly ever in my life! In the first few days I was there I heard only 3 crap songs and the rest were simply brilliant, it was so good I feel the need to reiterate this point. THE MUSIC AT MONKEY WAS AWESOME!
One of the days me and Itch went down to the beach to enjoy the sunshine when a group of kids attempted to sell us various bits of tat including friendship bracelets. In order to do so they had some great lines like “open your heart, open your wallet” and “you have girlfriend” “no” “if you buy you get girlfriend” as if the allure of a bracelet is the biggest magnet for females. Most of them were quite cheeky but funny and you could have a laugh with them, much like some of the children at Ankor Wat. However there was one child in particular who tried selling me a bracelet and would not go. He then insisted on playing a game and if I lost I would have to buy to which I stated I wouldn’t buy but I’ll play for fun, of course I won the first and lost the 2nd and 3rd which immediately meant I had to buy from him. Again I told him I wasn’t going to buy and he started pestering me for ages gradually getting to annoyance. It was at this point I said you have two options, you can either go somewhere else and try and get some business or you can waste your time and annoy me, which of course he said he was going to stay and annoy me! For a whole 45 minutes he tried everything in his childhood repertoire to annoy me and I used all the might/patience I’ve experienced from teaching to ignore him and eventually it paid off and he pissed off, PHEW!
Anyway that night me and Itch convinced the others over some gorgeous Israeli food to go to Bamboo island the next day with two other Belgium’s we met called Linda and Febe. We had to do something otherwise it just felt like our time was fruitless. As for our leaving the coast for a while we ended up having a leaving party which meant we were crazy tired the next morning yet in our hungover haze we still managed to mention to Gary “remember to bring some booze to the island and we’ll pay you back later”. It really is amazing how the brain prioritizes things!
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Friday, 24 June 2011
Phonm Penh - Overstay
Countries: 2
Cities: 9
Massages: 6
Time away: 46 days
Books read: 6
The capital of Cambodia, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I got off the bus and like a swarm of flies to a warm cow pat the tuk tuk and moto drivers descended upon us.
After a bumpy journey with a little adventure in the form of getting strange looks every few seconds beacuse Jonny and I were the only forenigers on the bus and stopping off at a local market. and sampling local delicacies of fried crickets and tarantula, which doesn't actually taste that bad, the one thing we wanted after this was a place to reside, not pesterings from money hungry drivers. Jonny needed to contact someone who he knew from Phonm Penh and possibly a place to stay but his battery and luck it seemed was out. Though we had heard about the famous Khmer hospitality we hadn't seen it yet and it is only in those moments when you really need it do they seem to appear, and as such you become so much more grateful for it. We were offered refuge in a shop/restaurant and given free tea and eletricity usage.
This was from people who earnt about $60 a year and to have this just moments after hearing from a driver that this is a dirty, seedy place where old men oome to have their kicks, I wasn't expecting kindness from strangers.
After a while we took the advice of the tuk tuk driver that hung around the longest and went to Longlin guesthouse on St. 19. Nice enough for $8 a night with similar furnishings to Manadlay though the walls were shaky. To make up for this was the balcony area, chilled to the max and thats precisely what I did. The next day intent on going out only for my stomach to back out on me and give me some weird pangs I ended up hanging back and Jonny went to the gym and to visit his friend.
The next day took a similar shape to the last of doing sod all with first intentions of going to see the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.
That night though I met up with Jonny and headed to a random Cambodian place where they served jugs of beer for $2, which you just can't turn down. Somehow being the only foreingners in there for ages we bumped into Adi and Jade who had some new friends (Chad, John and Rich?). It was pretty lucky and I was grateful for it as I now had people who wanted to go to the killing fields and s21.
The following morning I got up early making sure I would have ample time to get to their guesthouse yet after a good 45 minutes going to each dragon guesthouse/hotel there is I just couldn't find it, then a moment of sheer dumb luck I managed to catch them just getting off a tuk tuk near their hostel.
We then went to the only western fast food place so far on my trip, KFC. It was okay but the main point here is that i got to chat to the lads who told me stories and showed videos of their previous days fun in the shooting range. Chads video of him shooting a rocket launcher brought out the real man-kid in me and I just thought about the uber coolness of it.
We started off the trip having a tuk tuk race with some randoms, joking about, betting on it and generally larking around before the somberness ahead, I suppose it was a kind of coping mechanism for us all considering we knew it was going to be a tough day.
We went to the killing fields and this is where you truly get a glimpse of the horrors the Cambodians have been through, definitely don't go if you have a weak stomach. This was all in contrast to the feelings I had just had after the shooting range stories.
The killing fields could from the out set be a general picnic area at first glance but as you step in the errie aura akin to that of a work/death camp in Germany/Poland spreads over you and is evident to all. Hushed near silence fell all around when looking at the monument which housed floor upon floor of skulls, bones and clothing from the deceased. There is far too much to say but it is something that can only be experienced, the worst two were the baby killing tree (Yup even defenceless babies weren't spared) and the pit which once had over 150 headless bodies.
s21 was where tons (20,000+) of Cambodians were tortured and kept before being sent to the killing fields. It was a high school before the bloodshed and at first you can imagine children runnning around and enjoying themselves until you walk into a room with an iron bed,blood stains and steel leg clamps for comfort and then into the ridiculously sized rooms subdivided to a size not fitting for farmyard animals to house these victims.
What I could never understand was why they were tortured, pictures of inhabitants of s21 were in many rooms spreading their stories from men women and children. None were spared in case of revenge attacks. But just what infromation they hoped to extract from these people I don't know.
What I do know is that the Cambodians are an optimistic bunch, with such horrendous history the most part of the country isn't looking for revenge but justice and to move forward. Towards a bright Cambodian future.
After all of this I followed the others to a place I later discovered was called Elsewhere, which had three pools and a bar, the best place to go to after such an emotionally draining day. Not to forget what we had jsut seen but simply to take our minds off it for the time being. There we enjoyed ourselves, played around in the pool even when a rainstorm came along and finally messed around with some of the Cambodian kids that jumped in the pool to do somersalts and play a bit of water catch.
Later that evening Jonny showed everyone his singing skills , we played pool and generally relaxed. This felt like a proper backpackers day, visiting important historical and cultural places whilst enjoying the company of new people and new stories as well as some well earned booze.
Till I left for Sihanoukville I pretty much repeated what I had done on the other days which was not much, either at the hotel or Elsewhere, just reading and reading really. BAnd then I had with the others a great Indian meal...it dawned on me it was time to move on.
Cities: 9
Massages: 6
Time away: 46 days
Books read: 6
The capital of Cambodia, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. I got off the bus and like a swarm of flies to a warm cow pat the tuk tuk and moto drivers descended upon us.
After a bumpy journey with a little adventure in the form of getting strange looks every few seconds beacuse Jonny and I were the only forenigers on the bus and stopping off at a local market. and sampling local delicacies of fried crickets and tarantula, which doesn't actually taste that bad, the one thing we wanted after this was a place to reside, not pesterings from money hungry drivers. Jonny needed to contact someone who he knew from Phonm Penh and possibly a place to stay but his battery and luck it seemed was out. Though we had heard about the famous Khmer hospitality we hadn't seen it yet and it is only in those moments when you really need it do they seem to appear, and as such you become so much more grateful for it. We were offered refuge in a shop/restaurant and given free tea and eletricity usage.
This was from people who earnt about $60 a year and to have this just moments after hearing from a driver that this is a dirty, seedy place where old men oome to have their kicks, I wasn't expecting kindness from strangers.
After a while we took the advice of the tuk tuk driver that hung around the longest and went to Longlin guesthouse on St. 19. Nice enough for $8 a night with similar furnishings to Manadlay though the walls were shaky. To make up for this was the balcony area, chilled to the max and thats precisely what I did. The next day intent on going out only for my stomach to back out on me and give me some weird pangs I ended up hanging back and Jonny went to the gym and to visit his friend.
The next day took a similar shape to the last of doing sod all with first intentions of going to see the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.
That night though I met up with Jonny and headed to a random Cambodian place where they served jugs of beer for $2, which you just can't turn down. Somehow being the only foreingners in there for ages we bumped into Adi and Jade who had some new friends (Chad, John and Rich?). It was pretty lucky and I was grateful for it as I now had people who wanted to go to the killing fields and s21.
The following morning I got up early making sure I would have ample time to get to their guesthouse yet after a good 45 minutes going to each dragon guesthouse/hotel there is I just couldn't find it, then a moment of sheer dumb luck I managed to catch them just getting off a tuk tuk near their hostel.
We then went to the only western fast food place so far on my trip, KFC. It was okay but the main point here is that i got to chat to the lads who told me stories and showed videos of their previous days fun in the shooting range. Chads video of him shooting a rocket launcher brought out the real man-kid in me and I just thought about the uber coolness of it.
We started off the trip having a tuk tuk race with some randoms, joking about, betting on it and generally larking around before the somberness ahead, I suppose it was a kind of coping mechanism for us all considering we knew it was going to be a tough day.
We went to the killing fields and this is where you truly get a glimpse of the horrors the Cambodians have been through, definitely don't go if you have a weak stomach. This was all in contrast to the feelings I had just had after the shooting range stories.
The killing fields could from the out set be a general picnic area at first glance but as you step in the errie aura akin to that of a work/death camp in Germany/Poland spreads over you and is evident to all. Hushed near silence fell all around when looking at the monument which housed floor upon floor of skulls, bones and clothing from the deceased. There is far too much to say but it is something that can only be experienced, the worst two were the baby killing tree (Yup even defenceless babies weren't spared) and the pit which once had over 150 headless bodies.
s21 was where tons (20,000+) of Cambodians were tortured and kept before being sent to the killing fields. It was a high school before the bloodshed and at first you can imagine children runnning around and enjoying themselves until you walk into a room with an iron bed,blood stains and steel leg clamps for comfort and then into the ridiculously sized rooms subdivided to a size not fitting for farmyard animals to house these victims.
What I could never understand was why they were tortured, pictures of inhabitants of s21 were in many rooms spreading their stories from men women and children. None were spared in case of revenge attacks. But just what infromation they hoped to extract from these people I don't know.
What I do know is that the Cambodians are an optimistic bunch, with such horrendous history the most part of the country isn't looking for revenge but justice and to move forward. Towards a bright Cambodian future.
After all of this I followed the others to a place I later discovered was called Elsewhere, which had three pools and a bar, the best place to go to after such an emotionally draining day. Not to forget what we had jsut seen but simply to take our minds off it for the time being. There we enjoyed ourselves, played around in the pool even when a rainstorm came along and finally messed around with some of the Cambodian kids that jumped in the pool to do somersalts and play a bit of water catch.
Later that evening Jonny showed everyone his singing skills , we played pool and generally relaxed. This felt like a proper backpackers day, visiting important historical and cultural places whilst enjoying the company of new people and new stories as well as some well earned booze.
Till I left for Sihanoukville I pretty much repeated what I had done on the other days which was not much, either at the hotel or Elsewhere, just reading and reading really. BAnd then I had with the others a great Indian meal...it dawned on me it was time to move on.
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