I woke up with a start, covered in sweat from head to toe. My clothes, what little I wore of them, clung to my skin in ruffled bunches,and it took me a few moments to remember where I was, and where I was going. Feeling ever so slightly delusive, I remembered - the repetitive 'clack-a-clack' of the train tracks, the heat of the midday sun beating down on my face, the rise and fall of a foreign language around me, and the incessant drone of the thai women who wandered between the carriages selling unusual food from plastic bags, reminding me.
We were on a train, heading for the Cambodian border. After a 4.30am wake up, and a 5.30am train departure - the day felt long already, and it was only 11am. On arrival at Aranyaprathet, the train's final destination on the eastern edge of Thailand, we hauled our overweight backpacks upon us and climbed off the train. Or rather 'jumped off,' in my case, seeing as the train didn't have much in the way of a step between the carriage and the ground.
Instantly we were bombarded by tuktuk drivers, each vying for the role of our driver. "No, thank you," I insisted to several of them who were invading my personal space, pointing to the local bus in answer to their "to Cambodia?" questions. A helpful man on the train from Bangkok had told us to catch the local bus to the Thai border, 15 baht as opposed to the proffered 150 baht from any of the local tuktuk tauts. Fighting our way through masses of motorbikes, tuktuks, and the roaming arms of their owners, we eventually made it to the "bus" which really was nothing more than a large van with an open back for us all to stand in, or sit in if their was space. We made our way to the middle of the van, holding on to the bars overhead and bending our knees to provide better balance against the curves of the road and the weight of our packs.
Pic of the Cambodian border, a little east of Aranyaprathet.
Eventually we came to the Cambodian border - which looked very much like a market. Because it was. Finding our way to the official visa office was tricky, considering every "helpful" Thai to cross our path was busy trying to steer us into tourist offices, to rip us off for as much as they could get. Exhausted, hungry, and in 40 degree heat and carrying a 25kg backpack, I was in no mood for these people whatsoever. A firm "no" and a 'speak to the hand' gesture that prevented them from seeing my face any longer, generally did the trick in stopping them following me. But the border crossing was a hickledy pickledy maze seeing us dart from Thai immigration, to Customs, to the visa office, to Cambodian immigration... all the while side-stepping market stalls and dozens more tauts. It was disconcerting knowing that we couldn't trust anyone, and I was incredibly grateful that I had done my reasearch and knew the process - so I could recognise tourist scams before we fell for them. We also bumped into another two English speakers, likely feeling the same way as us, and - considering we were the only english speakers/white people we could see around - we stuck together.
After finally getting a stamp in our passports, we boarded the government bus to Poipet, now on the Cambodian side of the border, and from there we bartered for a taxi to take us the remaining two hours to Siem Reap - our final destination, and where we all wanted to explore the Angkor Wat temples (think: Tomb Raider). The four of us sat back in the air-conditioned taxi thinking that the rest of our journey would be easy. Think again.
To cut a long story short - half way into our taxi ride, the driver stopped at a local store along the main route to have his car cleaned. We all had to get out the car to wait (even though this was ABSURD!) and the lady of the store told us we had to wait 15 minutes, or "just 5 minutes if we bought something" from her. We pretty much all gave her our two cents worth!! - firmly reminding her that WE were paying for this taxi, so WE would be the ones to decide when we leave. Her attitude went from bad to ugly and she persisted to try and sell us things - but, when we were ready to leave/had enough, we cut her short by getting back into the taxi and telling our driver, promptly - "take us now or we won't pay you."
About 15 minutes before we arrived in Siem Reap (having been on the road for well over an hour and witnessing an array of interesting locals over take us whilst transporting pigs on motorbikes and young men on top of precariously stacked work trucks) - our driver (who could not speak a single word of english previously, by the way!) started on with "the office... I take you to my office." I recognised the tourist scam instantly: this man was going to take us to a tuktuk depot, ask for our money, and then we would have to continue our journey to our hotel by tuktuk and end up paying much more than we had initally agreed to. "No," we all insisted. "To our hotels, or no money." As Karlos said - 'no money' seems to be understood across all languages.
Our driver went quiet. But, lo and behold, he stopped at the tuktuk depot none-the-less. A tuktuk depot that was on the outskirts of the city, down a quiet street, and relatively stranded. He then takes off - leaving us sitting in the taxi with our bags in the boot, surrounded by tuktuk drivers. They all refused to take us by taxi to our hotels, that travel by tuktuk was the only way we would get there from here, and that we must 'pay now.' We all got out and opened the boot, and as I reached for my backpack I told them - if you will not take us, in this taxi, to our hotels we leave now and you get NOTHING. As we begin to put our backpacks on, and they realised we weren't bullshittting, they finally agreed that we wouldn't need to pay until we get to our hotels then, but insisted that we will still need to go via tuktuk.
Karlos gave him a peice of his mind, and then the rest of us laid into these scam-mongering Cambodians and I actually think we took them by surprise. Even our hotel manager had emailled us to warn us about this scam, so we weren't fools.
And so, after telling them bluntly that we knew they were scam artists, that we would be telling every tourist wemeet about them, and that they need to get us to our destination quick smart - we were finally on the last leg of our journey. Before reaching our hotels though, the man accompanying the two tuktuk drivers said: "if we want to tip the tuktuk driver, who won't get any of the money wewill pay for the taxi, we can." I was now fuming. We didn't agree to a tuktuk ride, it was a huge discomfort and inconvenience for usand he was STILL TRYING to guilt us into handing over more money!! I snapped something at him in a tone that may as well have said 'shut yourf*cking mouth before I punch you, you twat" and eventually we were in our hotel. A hot, humid hotel room with the world's mostuncomfortable beds - but more relieved than we had ever been.
*
Apart from the stressful day getting to Siem Reap - I loved it there. Our first night was spent on 'pub street,' enjoying delicious coconut curry, local beer at just US0.50 and the company of some fellow travellers. We then braved the chaotic traffic and crossed tothe other side of town to explore the night markets - where we found many treasures and also managed to watch some cambodian dancing.We could barely walk anywhere without being accosted by people trying to sell you a massage, a fish spa, dinner, or tuktuk rides - butthe people of Cambodia weren't as persistent as the Thais seemed to be, so pretending you hadn't heard them was the easiest thing, and then walking on.
The next day we had another 4.30am wake up - as our incredibly helpful hotel man booked us a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat. Karloswasn't too stoked about the early wake up - in fact, neither was I even though I am a real morning person. But it had to be done. Wecouldn't come all this way and not see the sunrise, as everyone reccommended. And so, this basically involved us having a tuktuk driver for the day - who drove us from one temple to the next, as we wished.
Our driver got us to Angkor Wat just before sunrise - so it was still dark when we first arrived. Hoards of people walked the stone path, and up and down wooden steps to get to the main viewing point - shuffling in the dark like ghosts, silence all around us. We madeour way to a small lake at the foot of Angkor Wat and watched in awe as the sun slowly rose, bringing a beautiful pink colour to thetemple, that became deeper until eventually becoming more golden just before the sun burst up over the top. Before the sun had fully risen over the top, however, we decided to skip ahead of the other tourists and go into the temple itself, to explore.
It was amazing. We walked through the ruins of this ancient temple, which is still in such a wonderful condition that it is almostwhole - and where amazed at the architecture, the detail, and the beauty. The good thing about Cambodia, and indeed this part of theworld, is that there are no rigid health and safety rules - so we could freely walk up and over and through and between the many areas,inside and outside, of the grand temple. The details carved into the walls is also truly amazing - it's hard to comprehend the amountof craftsmanship that went into the creation of this temple - it truly is one of the wonders of the world.
Whilst the rest of the tourists flocked into Angkor Wat, we made our way out again - saying hello to lots of little monkeys on the way, and viewing the temple once again from the front - the sun now high in the sky and creating an unique air of both majesty and tranquility.
Our tuktuk driver was waiting for us as soon as we came out - which amazed me given the vast number of other tourists and theirtuktuks. We were grateful he remembered what we looked like! And he was incredibly helpful - taking us exactly where we wanted to goand making every effort to see we had an enjoyable time. He took us to see Bayon, in the ancient walled city of Angkor Thom, wherewe looked upon large stone faces and felt peaceful, just like millions of other people over the last few thousand years. We also went toTa Phrom, a temple complex that was used to film 'Tombraider,' and I imagined how Daniel Craig would have once been here too... ;-)
Ta Phrom was truly amazing - there are even giant trees growing through the temples, it has been around for that long. The temples were really something to behold. But after several hours of heat, humidity, climbing temples, and sprinting through hoards of localstrying to sell us their wares - we were done.
That evening more time was spent eating local food, drinking cheap beer, and spending time in the night markets. Karlos bought 5large oil paintings for US$130. It was fun selecting art that would look good in our home together, and to think that we would havea piece of Cambodia to take home with us. As one of the market stall holders took Karlos to an ATM machine, on the back of his scooter,I stayed and chatted with the lady who was rolling up the paintings - and it was really lovely to learn how appreciative she was by Karlos' purchase. I realised that US$130 would mean so much more to them, than us.
It was hard seeing the amount of people begging in Siem Reap - young children, shoeless mothers carrying newborn babies, men withoutarms or legs. But at the same time - these people had a life about them that you wouldn't find amongst the impoverished and disabledin the western world. There seems to be a Cambodian spirit of 'do what you can and make do.' And these people seemed to do just that.Despite their living standards seeming below par, to us - the people of Cambodia appeared happy and content in life overall. The men wesaw without limbs had a healthy glow to their faces, and an approach to life that the western world could learn much from. These people seem empowered to us, surprisingly.
And who are we to judge anyway?
**
After a cultural few days in Siem Reap, we caught a bus and 6 hours later made it to Phnom Penh...
It was an interesting bus journey. We were the only white skinned people, and certainly the only english speakers - so whilst I buriedmy head in a book, Karlos joined the rest of the bus watching cambodian music videos and game shows on the TV screen upfront. Whateverwas being said in cambodian didn't matter much - Karlos seemed to be laughing just as loud as everyone else.
We stopped several times to use bathrooms and purchase food from market stalls - I paid the equivalent of $10 for a tube of saltypringles, as I refused to eat the dubious looking meats up for sale. At one place we even saw upside down turtles over hot coals...not really my cup of tea. I'm just not that adventures with my stomach!
Arriving in Phnom Penh, at nightfall, was madness. The driver's assistant got off the bus first, and actually had a STICK to hold backthe tuktuk drivers with. I was the last person off the bus - having sent Karlos ahead to get our backpacks from underneath whilst Igrabbed the smaller items we had with us onboard. By the time I got off the man with the stick had moved on, and so I was on my own.I literally had to put my hands on some of these men and push them aside, just so I could step down off the bus. I get it. They're allpoor and in need of our tourist dollar - but it was really frustrating. Luckily for us, we had organised a pick up with our hotel - soa lovely young cambodian man grabbed my bag from me, we sidestepped the man offering us a day shooting AK-47s, and climbed into ourtuktuk - next to the rubbish dump that smelled like urine, and the man who was sifting through it.
After a very uncomfortable night's sleep, in the hottest hotel room on earth - that had a powercut in the middle of the night resultingin our fan turning off, and me, so hot I was delerious, attempting to have a cold shower only to discover that ran on power too (Ithought I was going to die) - we woke up and read some online information about what to do in Phnom Penh. The first thing I read in a'top ten things not to miss' article was to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (cheery), and another article discussed the recent" brickings" of tourists in the riverside area - a place where we ate dinner the night before, was just down the street from our hotel, and was being described as "unsafe for tourists." This was the first time in our entire trip so far that I felt unhappy anduncomfrtable being somewhere. I didn't want to leave our hotel room - but it was hot and dark (no windows), so we had no choicebut to leave for some fresh air at least.
And so, we found a lovely tuktuk driver, and set off to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. I have to say - this was without a doubtthe most upsetting and sickening experience of my life. But at the same time, I would recommend anyone visiting Cambodia/Phnom Penhto visit it. The atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime, and the slaughter of several thousand of innocent cambodians must be remembered, in order to prevent anything like this from happening again on Cambodian soil.
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, formerly a high school that was converted into prison S21 by Pol Pot "clique" - saw the imprisonment,interrogation, torture, and eventually murder of several thousand innocent cambodians, as well as several foreigners. These people,simply, were thought to be in opposition to the Khmer Rouge regime. It was barbaric, and nothing less than a tragedy in the history of humanity. The greatest tragedy being - despite many of the prison's wardens being sent to prison themselves after the genocide was stopped - many of the regime's ring leaders are yet to be prosecuted. It is shocking.
We spent that evening sitting in a cafe along the riverside, drinking 0.50 beers, not getting hit by bricks, and discussing the depths some people can fall. What it is that leads some people to commit great acts of brutality upon others, simply in order to avoid the same fate themselves. Should we display sympathy for these people, or hatred? And what would we do if we were in the same boat? Fortunately, we have so far never needed to know. It was a humbling experience for me, albeit a distressing one.
The rest of our time in Phnom Penh (and Cambodia) was spent avoiding food - cats, dogs, rats, frogs, you name it - and street beggars - in particular, the large numbers of young children, who weren't in school, and were trying to sell us books and/or drugs. It wasdifficult to consistently say "no" to all of the hopeful faces, and to be honest - I was looking forward to moving on.
We booked a bus to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - and our passports and vietnam visas were delivered back to our hotel MINUTES beforeour bus was due to leave. Nothing like keeping things interesting we reckon!
And that, my friends, was a snapshot of our time in Cambodia.
Peace and love, planet earth.
~ Comet xo
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