Backpacking to Cambodia

I am always fascinated by remnants left by the ancient civilization. Be it a temple, a cathedral or some monuments; I got really amazed by the craftmanship and how these people of centuries back was able to build all those lovely structures complete with fine carvings and intricate details.

I didn't realize that Tomb Raider was filmed at one of the stone temples in the Angkor Archeological Region and so I actually got to know about Angkor Wat in my Sejarah textbook. That was ages back and I have this text book of mind maps which made it much easier to remember those 'general knowledge' facts for history. Since our own textbook was not of any good, this book of mind maps was awesome. So, yeap, that was how I got to know about Borobudor, Angkor Wat and some other candi (names of which I forgotten..LOL)

Angkor Wat seems to be like a faraway hidden location deep in the forest and although I did thought of visiting that place, I have yet to put these thoughts onto papers. To visit urban jungles are easy but Cambodia...

oh well, it is even more simple..

HAHA...

Book a ticket from airasia, set the dates, apply for work-leave, grab a travel mate, pack your bag and off you go.

Right, I was screening through the list of places in the drop-down menu of Airasia (Malaysia is one sucker where the one sole service provider always and forever monopolize the market by being the sole provider; thereby forcing everyone with no choice but to chose the domineering party. Thus, I was and am really glad that we now have a choice of Airasia over MAS) and start clicking them one by one. Since I went Taiwan in the beginning of the year, I'm left with very limited budget but things have made me so hyped up that I so much wanted a getaway. A getaway to wherever and come back afresh (and yea, I did come back afresh and totally sun-kissed..LOL). In the end, I picked Cambodia, Siem Reap (most affordable as compared to other places in that short notice of 2 weeks. Yes...the whole idea came so impromptu that I bought and planned for the trip in 2 weeks time...talk about spontaneity and some time back I was just saying that to IN, guess what, I am being just as spontaneous as him now!*laughs*) . Well, what I have in mind was to fly into Phnom Penh and travel up to Siem Reap; setting it as my last stop before I fly home.

It sounds great but I scrapped that off when I saw the price. Ehem...I'm on a total budget travel ppl.

So, I've got a return ticket at (~) RM500 to Siem Reap (Oh, I suddenly remember that there was a friend who was telling me that I have too many places in mind that most probably I can't make a trip to any of them due to budget and time constraint. Very well, since I made it to one of these destinations, I supposed I have the rights to say 'It will happen if you willed it -- it all depends on 2 things, Will and Planning'). The whole journey was supposed to be Siem Reap -> Phnom Penh (by bus) -> Battambang (by bus) -> Siem Reap (by boat).

Phnom Penh

A glimpse from the plane, Cambodia in May is a total dry land of yellow fields. May is a dry month and the wet season comes in June. I was quite astonished when I saw a tree with bright red flowers along the road. It appeared only as a single tree; surrounded by other near-wilted ones and this uniqueness made it beautiful.

My first Cambodian meal. A stuffed bagutte. Basically this is The Food there because they are just everywhere. So I'm guessing that after the Foreigners came flocking by the country, the locals 'localize' what the foreigners like (bread..bagutte) with their own recipe and created this dish. It's stuffed with some veggies (carrots, chestnuts, cucumber) and meat (pork with some fats). Not too bad a combination!

Forum has recommended Mekong Express; commenting that is it the best among the others as it has spacious seats and safe. However, it seems that Mekong Express doesn't follow the schedule suggested in CanbyPublications or maybe they do but then again we wouldn't know because the agent said that they don't. Somehow, we got a feeling that we have been conned. Of course, it's just a bus, so we just grabbed the ticket (Sorya Transport) and told them to give us at the rate of USD 10 (if my memory serves me well, they told us the price was USD 11 or 12; I wonder how much does a local pays?).

Really, it doesn't matter because I think this bus is kinda okay. It's a bus and as long as the driver doesn't drive recklessly, everything is fine. I would say the bus driver from this company is doing very fine. It was a 6 hours journey and they made a stop of about 20 minutes (or so) for a toilet break and lunch. Suprisingly the restroom at the stopover is clean :D

The bus station

Interior of the bus. The down side of this bus is probably the flies. Good thing that they don't stick around where we sat.
stupig flies!(^@*!!^@%#$)

Throughout the journey I have been dozing, in and out of sleep (thanks to my lack of sleep the night before). The scenery has been repetitive with wooden houses by the roadside and dry sparse land. Then you'd also see these conical hay structures which I failed to find out what they are. My best bet would be a shed where they keep their supplies (seedlings and planting necessity). And oh..I see plenty of white starving cows as well. Those cows are really aneroxic and I do think they are malnurition judging by their size and built. Haha..they are no New Zealand cows.

I was looking around when I'm awake and I saw this boy with his mother traveling on the bus together. He is cute, don't you think? Even more so that I caught him eating and have bits of what he was eating all over his mother. Haha...I guess this is a very common practice: when a mother wants their child/ren to stay quiet, they buy them food. The kid will eventually get sleepy after eating and thereafter quietly and obediently go to sleep. This boy is no exception.

:)

After hours (it is yet my worst journey yet, but as compared to the bus journey I had in Baguio, I think this is less scenic) of sitting and sleeping, I have finally reached Phnom Penh! Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city of Cambodia. I always have an impression that Phnom Penh is a country that has been through a lot and there was much internal conflicts (past wars, corruption etc.). I never know much of its history but I guess the same applies everywhere for any third world country.

The first thing to do after we reached the city was to get to our guesthouse: Me Mates Place. The location is very strategic as it is less than 5 minutes away from the bus station. Not only that but it is also in within walking distance to the riverside and markets.

We didn't know that the guesthouse was so near though. So we took a tuk-tuk there. Oh well, actually we would have one waiting for us if we were taking Mekong Express 'coz we have pre-arranged with Me Mates Place. Anyways, it's not difficult to go anywhere in Phnom Penh (There are plenty of tuk tuks and moto asking if you need a ride).

Me Mates offers a very clean room at an affordable rate of USD12 per night. Haha, to that I can assure you because I am very appreciative (and particular) of clean rooms with a good and clean shower place. I mean, imagine, you came back all drenched in sweat and really, there is nothing more comforting than a good place to shower and a clean bed to fall asleep in XD

The area has got a convenience store nearby and they give discounts for cigarettes and I think for the drinks, it's beer. Not a lot of discounts but that doesn't bother me. I don't smoke and I didn't even try the Angkor beer...moreover, get 1 case of them? nuts. I bet it is going to get me burping all night long if I do have a case of them.

The bathroom was what got me so wanting to stay there..LOL..very inviting right? The water pressure was good :)

So, after setting down the backpacks, we went on to our first destination: Wat Phnom (less than 5 minutes from Me Mates).
It was said to be the tallest religious structure in Phnom Penh, standing at 27 metres on top of the hill. It has got several stupas with the largest one housing the ashes of Ponhea Yat.

The Wats there aren't too impressive really

On our walk towards Wat Phnom, we passed by numerous food carts and it is of norm to see those with something similar to what we have in Malaysia aka 'Loh Bak': the ready-to-eat fishballs and crab meat sticks. Not suprising, one would get to see all types of sausage products around here. Well, these are the food that I do not want to try (never a fan of sausages much less those that's as burnt as that in the photo!)

Instead, we opted for some maggie mee goreng with eggs. Tastes not too bad with a bit of oil and sugar (I supposed it's more of a sweet sauce) and they spell lunch :D

All over the streets, one can easily spot these ladies balancing two baskets with some plates and a little pot in them. I was wondering what are they selling and I was just about to get some of whatever they are selling. About to but did not. I don't know, a voice held me back. It said, "It looks like eggs. White eggs...so most probably they are not chicken's but duck's -- like those back home. Those salted ones which you eat with porridge or maybe not. Maybe it's balut..."

Interesting. I never wanted to try balut back in Philippines so why now?

Worst, they could be snake's eggs. So, in short, I did not venture further and stop myself from trying 'whatever' that was that looked like a duck's egg.

We had lunch by Wat Phnom. It is cheap as compared to the maggie goreng in KL. I forgotten how much though...was it 1000 riel or 4500 riel? (USD1 = 4000 riel). At RM 4.50, we can get a plate without mata kerbau (sunny side up) and a pathetic few green leaves for veggies but at the same price, you'll get a equal plate with an egg and lotsa veggies right here in Cambodia :))

Yay!

As we eat, we got entertained by the Cambodian kids' activities (pic: they ARE cute..haha..glad that the younger one is not injured by that nasty Shadow-less kick). They run bare-foot just about any and everywhere. Talk about hygiene, they basically outdo all the bacteria and whatsoever germs around. Then again, dengue is a pain. Oh well, this is Southeast Asia.

The girl with a sweet smile

We've got a map from our guesthouse and decided to visit the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace on Day 2 since it is seemingly located quite far away. So, on Day 1, we decided to walk around and visit Wat Phnom, Riverside and the markets. If one goes by the map (below), nothing can possibly go wrong as the map is pretty well drawn (with landmarks and all). That was what we thought and so, we happily start our journey (that ended up an adventure) XD

It was about 4pm or so after our first stop at Wat Phnom and our next destination was the Riverside. It was a Saturday and the sidewalk was packed with residents. They were having an group exercise (Senamrobik) session participated by about 20 people of different age group. They were dancing to...well...'feng-tao' (discotheque) songs...HAHA...It was quite a sight because you can never see such sights at Titiwangsa- I think. I don't know, I hardly go to Titiwangsa on a weekend..HAHA!! Anyways, imagine, a crowd exercising by the riverside, groups of kids were playing, old people were relaxing themselves while couples/teens hang out.

It was a cozy scene...one like that of Orchard Road on a weekend. Yea, this is the Cambodia version. LOL. In KL...I guess I spotted such scenes nearby BB Plaza, in front of Maybank...but somehow I don't feel cozy at all. Hmmm...

Anyways...I saw this!

Yes!!! The yam cake! The one which I had in Taiwan and got so in love with it that I had 2 (even if it was oily)! This is somehow different though. It was cooked over the charcoal and thus, it is more crispy and less oily in comparison.

We have this yummilicious yam cake by the river and at the same time took in the sight of boats parked by the riverbank. Those were the floating restaurants I supposed.

Your boat will come sailing in someday, bhoy

This place is quite a good one for people watching on the weekends and after a while, we venture down the road and found the night market. It is a place with a center stage surrounded by stalls -- food stalls and clothings/accessories stalls. The food stalls are pretty repetitive and they sell mostly fried food...and yea...of course, I noticed the eggs too. The interesting sight of this place is the part where visitors would have their food on the mat-covered floor (instead of tables and chairs). It's really nice and the place was kept clean--plates were quickly cleared once the people leave their spot.

I had this vermicelli roll (a thin layer of soft ricesheet neatly wrapping up strands vermicelli and some vegetables) which was to be eaten with the sweet chilli sauce.

It was a nice roll and complements with the sugar cane (with lime) which we come to love.

Yes...it was really refreshing to have sugar canes in the hot Cambodia weather -- even much better than having coconuts because the sugar canes are so much sweeter and cooling! I don't have any problem with the water as I have been having sugar canes whenever I see them selling.

From the market, we started to venture further away from our guesthouse by foot. We thought that nothing can possibly go wrong since we have got a map and it is pretty clear and good one. To top that up, we have got our Lonely Planet guide -- albeit outdated by a year, we thought it's still good. Nothing to be feared when you are walking around on the street (as long as you pratice some street common sense -- do not walk in dark alleys, do not show off your pricey possessions etc etc etc) and even if you do got lost somewhere, there always are ample of tuk-tuk and moto (which come and go asking, "Sir, do you need a ride?". They might not understand where you stay though, so, still it's handy to have a map or indication of where you stay).

Besides, the shops have got numbers (address) on them, so you will know if you are getting nearer to where you wanted to go or not.

We passed by a wet market during our journey and it seems as though Cambodians prefer to have their wet markets at night (as observed later on when we went to Battambang). They have fishes and all that but I don't really see chickens or maybe I missed them out. So, walked and walked we walked. We didn't really know how far we walked but we kept track of where we walked. Suprisingly there are quite a number of pharmacies around and the buildings are so much like those in Hong Kong's old street. I guess that was what they termed 'post-modern European architecture'.

French colonial architecture

There we walked and walked until we came to Sorya Shopping Center. It was situated near the Central and by foot, it is pretty far away. We went in for a quick look around and agreed that the mall is a crowded and disorganized one. Its physical appearance, though, shows otherwise. On the outside, the shopping mall looks like any other modern mall but then again it's nothing impressive (the photo below is one which I got through google. I was there at night and there were more tuks tuks than anything else; thus didn't manage to get a good take because the place was literally swarmed with people and vehicles)


After the shopping mall, we walked on again until we found THE two petrol station which was marked in the map and thought, bhoy! we found the right route and are on the right track! man, I am Genius!

Lil' did we know that we are on the right track but the map showed otherwise. We continued our expedition and went past a number of shop houses; keeping track of the address so that we know we are not walking further away from our guesthouse (and also used the OCIC Tower as a landmark as it is the tallest building that we can see at that area; from Wiki, it is the tallest building around until the completion of other buildings at a later date). I thought we did it quite well until we reached an official building.

It was a huge one and I forgot what building was that. Probably it was some government building (my best guess was embassy..I honestly forgot..for all I remember was that the guard do not understand what I was saying when we tried to ask for direction).

We gave up in the end and gave in to a moto who came over to ask if we need a ride (for only a dollar). Yes we do! We pointed to the place (in the map) we wanted to go and the both of us jumped onto the bike. Yeap...just like the photo below, we hop on and the 3 of us managed to cramp onto the honda. It isn't very comfortable for the driver as we can see that he was only sitting on the tip of the seat to make room for us (we ended up having more than enough space to sit comfortably).
We were surprised to find that Me Mates was located only a block away across the road.
Geez, I knew I was heading the right way! (Yes, I was cursing the map for not showing us the right route...I mean hey, I was reading it right!)

Anyways! We reached the guesthouse in no time and I enjoyed the ride a lot; totally an experience to ride it the way the locals do XD (even the Malaysians do that sometimes, then again, most of the time, it was a kid sandwiched between the adults...so I supposed balancing the bike ain't too difficult as compared to this time -- 3 fully grown adults on a bike!)

We slept as soon as we plopped onto the inviting bed. On Day 2, our adventure begun with S21 and Killing Fields in the morning. We got a tuk tuk at Me Mates at about $8/person (if my memory serves me right...I don't quite remember but for all I know, a ride on the tuk tuk for a day will cost less than or about $10; regardless of location). Choeung Ek Killing Field was situated quite far from the central and took us about 15minutes to get there.

Choeung Ek is massive grave dug by (soon-to-be) deceased (truly a 'digging for your own grave' : sorry, this isn't funny but that statement just pops up in my mind -- random) during the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot and his cronies. I would say that Killing Field is one of the good examples of a totalitarian leadership and the execution of communism.

(Recently a friend has randomly discussed with me on the idea of communism and this friend felt that it is a good idea if it is implemented in a controlled manner. Well, at that moment, and probably I still feel that I should knock this person down with lists of reading materials to show how opposed I am to that opinion.

Communism, in moderation or not, to my humble opinion; is definitely not a solution to anything but a political manifestation by irresponsible maniacal party. Pol Pot is one damn good example.)

(Anyways) The government has built a museum as well as a stupa in remembrance of the dead. Thousands (not limited to) of skeletons were exhumed -- and they are of all genders, age group, professions and ethnics. One can never imagine what drove Khmer Rouge into doing what they did -- all the genocidal activities carried out under their order and most of all; in spite of this fact, they was awarded awarded a seat in the UN to represent Cambodia.

Vision of Communist Utopia ~ puhleshh

That's one of my fave pic from the museum. It's taken by my friend and credits to be given, he is getting better -- sometimes...ehem..HAHA

The tower of skulls

The visit to Choeung Ek is likened to an annual grave visit (minus the fire crackers practice by the modern Malaysian Chinese of recent years) where the ambience is totally peaceful and calm. However, once one gets to S-21 Prison (now the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum), the whole environment turns into an eerie scene.

The air thickened with solemn and the shadows in the building threatened to swallow any visitor alive into the darkness. Every floor is so silent that you can almost hear the cries of the yesteryear prisoners...wailing echoing the corridor...scrapings against the cold flooring...clunking of the metal shackles...

With bats hanging on the wall...you know, one of them might strike you with its fang when it got annoyed by your flashing camera lights

Cells were erected on the second and third floor of the building

Nah, I was just exaggerating. It is ain't that bad at all, what do you think? This is no horror show!

I'm wondering if this stairway was bloodstained. My imagination was running wild with images of officers hacking hard onto the skull of the detainees with a hoe and at the final deadly blow, he fell off the stairs; thereby breaking his neck.

The place was filled with nostalgic sadness but amazingly, the place is very well kept. USD3 for the entrance of these 2 places are pretty worth it. At least, it's better than some fee that we pay to our national museum for some 'horror' exhibition. (Not that I have visit any but I remember passing by the museum in KL and saw this huge signboard with a title that goes something like 'Ghost Exhibition'. Hmm...you be your own judge).

Anyways, the trip for the day always start early in the morning (about 9am) and by the time we are done at these places, it was already 12pm to 1pm. The sun is high up above your head and that calls for? Russia Market!
Being daring as usual, I was jumping at the sight of local delights. It may not be a sane decision for most travelers because water is always the main source of contamination and a cup of anything can easily send you to hell (diarrhoe and such) but there we go.

Ta-da: I do not know what the locals call it because that seller do not know a word of english (oh yes, to those who doesn't, we will just use sign language) but it's something like our ice kacang here. :) Not with as many ingredients but they have the basics; red bean and cincau and they come in the form of a container. The best of it was that it isn't too sweet!

Russia market in brief is like a smaller version of Pasar Seni. It has a variety of things which one can get for souvenirs -- shirts, books, keychains, dresses, gem stones, painting (i'm actually more impressed with Balinese art than Cambodian), shoes,bags, hats and whatnots. As I said previously, Cambodia doesn't seem to have a true identity of its own in terms of local products. What you find here can be easily found in other places.

There was also local silk stores around selling Cambodia silk. I saw one which sells a nice dress but I did not buy anything from the store after a second thought. For one, I do not know how to test the genuineness of silk besides burning it (one has got to burn a small piece -- if it's burning real fast and smells organic, then on a high chance that it is genuine or otherwise, if the cloth is feeling really really soft, it can be real silk as well) and thus I did not get any as souvenirs or for myself.

Lunch was at a cafe near the market -- called Yejj Cafe . We had a pasta with pinenuts and some really good coffee. It was raining for a while when we were there and the cozy ambience made me feel asleep just after the meal. It was like if a sleeping spell had hit on me because I uncontrollably lost control of my senses right away and gave in to the sofa!

The next much awaited destination was the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace. From brochures, it sounds like an awesome building but sad to say, not many people will be able to enter the compound if the time is not right. I read from a blogger that they do not manage to visit the place due to the royal visit which came just so coincidentally. For my case, it was close for visits on that fateful morning :((

It was a Sunday..interesting...or maybe because I went at the wrong hour? I just found out from websites that the visiting times are 7:30am to 11:00am and 2:30pm to 5:00pm...and when I correlate this with the time I took my photo, it seems that I reached that at 4.53pm. Rats! This lesson tells me now to make sure I check the visiting period for better planning. Ow...I so much wanted to go in :((

Royal Palace...from the outside...cis...

It's was only 5pm and it's a bit too early for dinner or retreat back to the guesthouse. So we went around and we actually thought the Independence Monument was a grand place like the Royal Palace...or something like that..okay, came to realize a point: our national monument ain't something too grand anyways (heck, I should someday pay it a visit because I have not at all set a foot on that place...let alone pin-point where that place is. Oh well, I blame it to my high school for not organizing a day trip to that place).

It is located in the middle of the round; on a roundabout like a statue..for display purposes..or a rain shelter..

I've got the above photo from wikipedia because we did not go anywhere near to take a pic. We did stop by the side of the road and the tuk tuk driver asked if we wanted to take a pic. We shook our head and decided not to do the Tourist-thang this time. We then proceed to a nearby temple. Phnom Penh is no Thailand although they do share similar structural design (to my eyes). Their temples are like a replica with not much of a soul and from my observation, they do not emphasize much on their carvings. They may look detailed but not intricate. I blame this part on the Khmer Rouge's communist ruling. I supposed they have destroyed the life out of what's left for Cambodians -- directly robbing them out of their culture.

After the temple, we hop on the tuk tuk and ride to our following destination: National Museum.

It houses a moderate number of artifacts and bits and pieces of what's left (undestroyed/partially destroyed) from the Khmer Rouge regime. Although cameras were said to be prohibited in the museum but I see many people were happily snapping away. I'm doing good hey, I only take pictures of the lotus pond and the monk. XD

I supposed we have covered much of Phnom Penh thus far and so, after the museum, we went back to our guesthouse to check on where to go next. It was dinner time and again (check out the sunset! Our room was located at the far corner and it doesn't have much view to offer at level 2 but hey...LOOK at that canvas like sky!!), we set out on foot to roam the street. The rambutans there are awesome!

During our journey, we also found that Phnom Penh-ians spent their nights at cafes; watching television (probably DVD as we caught them watching Jackie Chan's--dubbed..they seriously enjoyed Hong Kong chinese drama (i bet that more than half the population of Earth enjoys them)..well, you see them on their cables in the guesthouse..and you will see them gathering around to watch; like a mini theater :) )

The cafe nearby Me Mates. I meant to take a better shot but they are all posing for the pic already...hahaha...

Besides the common interest of Hong Kong chinese drama, Cambodians love what I call the 'egg-delicacy'. We went past a stall filled with locals and they are all having the same 'egg, raw vegetables and cockles' meal. I wasn't tempted by the cockles but I was curious with the egg. Is it 'balut'? Should I try it? Or is it just another hard-boiled egg. Maybe Cambodians love hard-boiled eggs.

Maybe I can try one.

"Shall we?" I asked my friend.

I saw sweat breaking out on his forehead and he gave me a look. (Haha..nah, I am just saying. He was pretty cool with it ~~ some sort and we went to try...)

The white is hardened...and the veins are showing...and it has got some...gravy (or soup?) in them...and they taste like...nothing...not sour, not yucky, not sweet, not bitter, not salty...just nothing.
I see that the locals added chili sauce to it and when I added...I tasted something -- the taste of the sauce and it's sweet.

The meal wasn't satisfying (duh!).
That's...chicken egg...partially formed chick...

My friend did not finish his but I was brave enough and had the entire egg. Like what the heck, I've ordered and I only live once. I just gotta try and see if my digestive system can withstand that. It's probably a stupid thing to do but at least now I could tell my future kids (if any) that hey, your mom once tried that food and what? You didn't dare to try? Ahh..such chickens you kids are.

Haha...anyways, ehem...after that we went back to the guesthouse and had this:

Pancakes! They are good:)

Next up: Battambang ...