Off to Cambodia! Back during my extended SE Asia trip of
2013 (you can read all about it on this very blog!) I spent about a week and a
half in Cambodia; enough to get my feet wet, but there were definitely more
things to see. Truth be told, Cambodia isn’t high on my list of top
destinations, but Joanna had never been and I took it as an opportunity to
explore more. And I’m always up for more exploring.
On the 5th of February Joanna and I flew from
Bangkok to Phnom Penh, where we would spend two nights before heading to Koh
Rong. In 2013 I’d been to Phnom Penh for a few days, but not to Koh Rong, which
is an island off the coast near Sihanoukville. This was the end of Joanna’s
Chinese New Year Break, so some R&R on a tropical island sounded fitting.
Mike, my friend from Ohio State—and frequent travel companion—would also join
us.
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Tuol Sleng museum, which was the same as
my last visit save for this memorial |
The evening we arrived in Phnom Penh, Joanna and I wandered
around the neighborhood and got drinks at a rooftop bar. I was amazed at how
much the city had developed in only four years. We were staying in the high-end
part of town, but still, there were tons of fancy restaurants and expat
hang-outs. The next day, when we got out and about around town, I saw more of
the Phnom Penh I knew: tuk-tuk touts, traffic jams, beggars, and sweltering
heat.
Our first and only full day in Phnom Penh Joanna and I
visited the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21. The site of a
former school, Toul Sleng was turned into a prison during the reign of the
Khmer Rouge. Over 14,000 prisoners were tortured there, most of whom perished
(it is a common misconception that only 8 people survived; although the total
is unknown, chances of survival for S-21 prisoners was minuscule). The audio
tour gave over an hour of grim details of the Khmer Rouge regime and the
horrors that took place at the prison. It’s the kind of thing that puts a
damper on your day, but you should learn. If you want to read more about the Khmer
Rouge, take a look at
this post.
After lunch, we walked along the riverfront, saw the outside
of the royal palace, and visited the central market. Early that evening Mike
arrived and we met him back at the hotel. After a cool down in the AC and a
shower to freshen up, we went out for dinner and a couple drinks in the same
area as the night before.
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| The beach near our hotel bungalow |
The morning of the 7
th a minibus picked us up
outside our hotel and we were off to Sihanoukville; after driving around town
to collect the other foreigners at their hotels, of course. Our ride lasted
about 5 hours, after which we grabbed a quick bit to eat at the pier before our
ferry to Koh Rong Island.
What to say about Koh Rong? I still want to print t-shirts
that say, “What could Koh Rong?” or “It feels Koh Rong, but it’s so right.”
Like I mentioned earlier the island was meant as a relaxing end to Joanna and
my trip, and relax we did. We booked a bungalow for the three of us which was a
short walk to the beach and the main restaurant/bar scene, where we spent most
of our time. Several nights we went out to the bars, which were concentrated
along a few hundred meter stretch of sand. Koh Rong was a bit like Thailand;
lots of young backpackers, foreign food, cheap drinks—but not nearly as
developed as the likes of Koh Phi Phi or Koh Phangan.
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| White sand in Koh Rong Samloem |
Aside from drinking and chilling on the beach we took a day
tour of Koh Rong Samloem, which also included snorkeling. The snorkeling bit
was sub-par, but the island was worth the trip. Koh Rong Samloem is like the
main island’s little brother, both in size and development. There was a small
expat community there, but it was more of a laid-back hippie vibe than a
backpacker party scene. The beaches we visited had white sand like Koh Rong,
but a fraction of the people.
One afternoon we also took a jungle walk to the other side
of the main island. It should have taken less than an hour according to Google, but
the walk was more of a trek, and it took us twice as long. By the time we
reached the beach it was nearly sundown, so we paid for a boat to take us back
($5 per person; they had 10 tourists, so not a bad gig for them, considering it
was only a 20 minute ride back).
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| Part of our hike on Samloem |
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| Beach, beer, and yoga with Mike |
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| Our boat tour |
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| Sunset after our hike to the other side of the main island |
Other than that there isn’t much else to report on; four
nights was a solid amount of time to relax, and by the 11th I was
ready to move on. Late that morning we took the ferry—which was actually a high
speed boat this time—back to Sihanoukville. The ride out to the island was
uneventful, but on the way back the sea was rough. Add in the smaller, faster
boat, and we had a bumpy trip. Life jackets were flying around, we were thrown
out of our seats, and one woman had a panic attack. I did my part and threw my
breakfast up over the side of the boat. I think that’s the first time I’ve been
seasick. It didn’t help that I only had a few hours of sleep, but I wasn’t the
only one.
Joanna was also feeling ill but managed to keep a lid on
it…well at least until we got on land. During our bus journey to Phnom Penh she
puked into a plastic bag, and on our tuk tuk ride to the hotel she spewed off
the side. We were literally half a block from the hotel too! Well I think it
was better on the road than in the lobby.
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| The riverfront in Kratie |
Needless to say, we took it easy that night. The next
morning Joanna was off to the airport for her flight to China, and Mike and I
were headed to Kratie, a town northeast of Phnom Penh. By the time Mike and I
got out of bed and to the market to catch a van it was late morning. Our ride
plodded on slowly, as expected, and we reached Kratie by 4 pm. We arrived
without a booking but found a place easily enough—and for $5 no less!
My plan was to head from Kratie further north and cross the
Lao border to Four Thousand Islands. From there I’d go to Pakse or Savannakhet,
where, if possible, I’d rent a motorbike to drive around southern Lao for a few
days. As it turned out I went back south to the coast of Cambodia. The reason
for the sudden change of plans was Mike; ostensibly he was against a motorbike
trip. So, I was faced with a last-minute decision, and I opted to go along with
him.
The bit about the motorbikes is understandable. During our
one full day in Kratie we rented bikes and drove towards Mondulkiri Province.
Mondulkiri is the largest Cambodian province by area but the most sparsely
populated (home to 60,000 people as of 2008). The majority of inhabitants are
indigenous peoples who live in rural communities. There are few paved roads.
I thought a day on the bikes would be a fun adventure
driving through local villages. It started off that way, but then we got lost
and the road quickly turned into nothing more than sand and dirt tracks. We had
to turn around and go back the way we came, and nearly ran out of gasoline. By
the end of the day our whole bodies were sore and we were just happy to be back
in Kratie.
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| The path quickly disappeared and we were lost! |
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| After the day on the bikes; that's dust and dirt, not a tan line! |
I say the bikes were the ostensible reason because Mike also
wanted to rendezvous with a friend he met in Koh Rong. She was
traveling with another backpacker, so I figured it wouldn’t be so awkward to
come along. The prospect of going solo to Laos seemed daunting, since I’d been
with a group for a while; part of me wishes I’d stuck with the plan, but on the
other hand I saw more of Cambodia and traveled with friends.
I hoped to arrive later than expected, but we were actually
a tad early and I got dropped off at 3 am. It felt like deja-vu from Dawei,
when I arrived and the whole town was shut down. A moto taxi agreed to take me
to the hotel I wrote down, but he spoke no English and ended up driving me 5
kms to a KTV bar on the outskirts of town. At that point I was quite annoyed,
and when he drove me back into the center I hopped off and walked away without
paying…why should I have paid him when he tried to take me to some sketchy bar?
I walked for 5 mins and stumbled upon a nicer place which
was $20 a night—cheap by Western standards of course, but pricey in small town
Cambodia. I considered powering through but decided to give in and catch some
shut eye. By the time I woke up the next day it was late morning, and after
food and a visit to the market I booked my ticket to the Thai border. Initially
I thought I might stay in Sisophon for another night, but I was ready to move
on. The struggle to find a hotel the night before put me in a sour mood, and
then people insisted that I had to take a cab to the border, when I knew there
was a bus.
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| On the bike again in Thailand |
I looked forward to Thailand, where at least I could speak a
bit of the language (even a few phrases go a long way) and get around easily.
For example, in Sisophon I waited at the bus stop for two hours because the bus
had broken down, and in total it took me nearly 4 hours to get to the border
crossing, only 50 kilometers from Sisophon. Once in Thailand I hopped on a
minivan taxi which dropped me off at the bus station in Prachin Buri, where a
bus was waiting. Within 15 minutes we were off to Nakhon Ratchasima, where I
spent the night.
I had been to Nakhon Ratchasima, or Korat for short, back in
2013. It’s not a destination in itself, but with nearly a million people is a
natural transit point and a gateway to Isaan, Thailand’s northeast region. I
only had a couple days left before my flight departed Bangkok, but instead of
spend it in the city I decided to head to Isaan and drive around in a motorbike
one last time. Isaan has lots of country roads and small towns which make for a
fun motorbike trip—certainly a smoother ride than the back roads of Cambodia.
On February 22nd I rented a bike in Korat and
drove to Surin, another town in Isaan. The next day I went back to Korat,
taking my time and avoiding the highway, happy to get lost for a few hours in the
countryside. After a night back in Korat I took the bus to Bangkok, where I had
one relaxing night before my flight to Singapore on Friday, February 24th.
Why Singapore? Well flights from Singapore to Hangzhou were
cheaper, and I was able to book an award flight to Singapore, so…why the heck
not? It was a brief stay; I arrived the evening of the 24
th and flew
out the next afternoon. But I still had time to explore downtown, make a stop
at the LKY School of Public Policy (one of the graduate schools I applied to),
and eat two meals at the hawker food centers. All in all, a short but rewarding
stay. On Saturday I was off to China again, where I’d start work on Monday!
A few pics from Singapore:
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