Journal 19 April - 28 April 2008

28 April 2008 - Day 68, Phnom Penh

Click to view full size panorama

Boeung Kak Lake, Phnom Penh

Mebon room, The Foreign Correspondents Club

Releasing birds over the Tonle Sap and Mekong River

Fruit store, Phnom Penh

Lake taxi, Boeung Kak Lake, Phnom Penh

Today cost = Hotel (15) + tuk-tuk (10) + beggars (5) + lunch (4) + curry & beer (4) + beer (1)

USD$39

27 April 2008 - Day 67, Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

Bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

It is unbelievably amazing what a three day pass to an 'archaeological park' can offer. Angkor is incredible. I'm not going to even try and translate the overwhelming ruined structures into my humble diary. I can only recommend for anyone that can visit the area to do so and get there early enough to experience a few quiet moments before the bus loads arrive. Basically it is the combination of vivid creativity, spiritual reach, and social utility that empowers these ancient stones and alien tree roots with such an enchanting charm. You can stroll around and simply enjoy the visual feast or let your mind wander through all the unanswered questions one upon another likes stones falling from the walls.

Besides the ruins Siem Reap town is nice. I wouldn't say its worth flying half way around the world just to see, like the temples are, but there are quirky characteristics probably found through out Cambodia. For instance tuk-tuk drivers incessantly asking "What are you doing tomorrow??" until you just about plummet into frustration but then a smile will spread across their cheeks and you hear "What about three-morrow??"

We just arrived in Phnom Penh. Staying a night at a beautiful little hotel, the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC). We'll probably be in Phnom Penh for a week before heading to Vietnam. I didn't expect to see so many cars here - we were stuck in traffic for an hour from the edge of town.

Very tired with a sore neck so won't get the writing I anticipated done. Time for sleep...

Today cost = lunch and snacks (5) + bus (7) + tuk-tuk (3) + FCC hotel (28) + pizza & beer (12)

USD$55 - expensive

26 April 2008 - Day 66, Siem Reap

Dad demonstrating how to work and relax at Raffles Grand Hotel, Siem Reap

25 April 2008 - Day 65, Siem Reap

Ta Prohm, Angkor Archaeological Park

Click to view full size panorama

Click to view full size panorama

24 April 2008 - Day 64, Siem Reap

Preah Khan, Angkor Archaeological Park

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Tuk-tuk driver

Ta Som, Angkor Archaeological Park

Angkor Cops

Elephant ride

Elephant ride to Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Archaeological Park

23 April 2008 - Day 63, Siem Reap

On the road to Angkor Wat with Mum & Dad

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Wat

Taking a break, Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Tourists at Bayon, Angkor Archeological Park

Terrace of the Elephants, Angkor Thom

21 April 2008 - Day 61, Siem Reap

Room 3121

Royal Independence Gardens, Siem Reap

Lemongrass crème brûlée, Room service

Today cost = tuk-tuk (1) + breakfast (5) + tuk-tuk (2) + khmer bbq with two beers (5) + credit

USD$13 (AUD$15)

20 April 2008 - Day 60, Siem Reap

Stung Siem Reap, Cambodia

Adriane checking mail in the Blue Pumpkin, Siem Reap

During our last week in Bangkok we were getting anxious to get to Cambodia. The anxiety was part excitement and part concern about the over-land border crossing we had planned. On the one hand we heard from travellers that Cambodia was very 'difficult' and stories of theft on buses, scams, muggings, dysentery, etc. but on the other hand we heard accounts of how easy getting around and living in Cambodia was. Nothing left to do but keep our wits about us and stay as calm as possible, but more importantly try to enjoy ourselves and stay positive.

Saturday the 19th of April, the final date of our Thailand visas. We rose at 5am in order to catch the earliest bus we could. Apparently the trip to Siem Reap was best done in one day because the towns around the border were horrible. Our friend Nat advised us to simply wait at a nearby main road and hail down the regular bus heading to the Casinos. She had done the trip 2 years ago. The receptionist at The Blooms confirmed the bus information and told us to watch out for number 116 or 149.

5:45 desaturated sky as we wait impatiently for the right bus. There's a 116... oh it didn't stop. 149... nope, just keep waiting, I think the 149 stops further down the road, the 116 is sign posted here. Here comes another 116... they won't stop for us. The drivers glance in haste as they pass us by, probably think we're hailing a taxi - farang.

6 am and Adriane is getting aggrovated with me. This is stupid and we should just get a coach from the bus depot. The local buses look rough and its a 4 hour journey anyway. We hail a taxi and end up leaving Bangkok on a comfy coach before 7 o'clock.

The coach ride was uneventful. Adriane caught up on some sleep. To my suprise there were more Songkran celebrations as we got closer to the border. Pick-up trucks loaded with water pistols and buckets shooting in every direction. Blaring music waves by. Apparently parts of the country celebrate new year on various dates.

An army of tuk-tuks greeted us on arrival at the Aranyaprathet bus depot. "Border, border, border". Its easy to be swept up in excitement and agree to anything or miss a good deal. I kept thinking to keep it slow, have some food and take it easy. We sat down to our last meal in Thailand and hopped into the strangest tuk-tuk I've ever seen. It had a large white carriage with two racing car seats reclined at the back. Powered by a large 1000cc motorbike at the front it was a very smooth ride. 80 baht and 6km later we met our first scam.

So there are lots of 'scams' at the Thai/Cambodia border and I felt prepared for all of them or at least on my toes to navigate around them. To call them scams is a little unfair. The various operations are dishonest but most of them do give you the service your after, just in a round about way. A lot of business is dishonest. Due to a lack of anything else to call them 'scams' will do for now. Its often hard to tell scams apart from legitimate services - how do you tell when the business can't afford flashy cards, uniforms, billboards, and fluently English speeking employees? Or more importantly when there is no reliable regulation to the various services on offer? Just remember nothing is 'free', don't take information from opposing service providers as fact, and enjoy "doing business".

Anyway the first scam almost caught us as we stepped out of the white pumpkin tuk-tuk. Two young guys handed us Cambodia immigration cards and told us to sit down at their shady seating to fill them out. I almost forgot to pay the pumpkin driver. Immigration cards are free of course and when I pointed to the border and said won't the give them to us... "No, no, just stamp there... you want bus to Siem Reap, guesthouse" - not a question. I reply no we don't want a bus or taxi and we have reserved a guesthouse. He quickly snatched back his immigration card - "You get your cards from someone else then". In frustration I made the mistake of saying to Adriane "Don't fill anything out they're scam artists" and forgot that these suave Thais understood English. He launched an angry defence and I immediately apologised as we hoisted our packs on our backs... "yes, you are business men... not scam... business, you provide a service but unfortunately we don't want it..." and strolled down the road under the sweltering sun. Another young Thai smiled at us and at the local businessmen as he passed us by. One down.

Because we are foreign we didn't have to join the huge cue at immigration. Straight through into Casino land. Between Aranyapraphet Thai immigration and Poipet Cambodian immigration lies a surreal city of casinos. Both these border towns appear very poor but inbetween is glamour. Perhaps a dozen huge Vegas style monstrosities loom over the single street border crossing. Gambling is outlawed in Thailand and this is the closest place to test your luck. Thousands must be employed and have to wait in immigration lines everyday.

We were tired, hot and bewildered. A uniform asked for our passports and pointed us towards the 'arrival' hall. We filled out the free immigration cards and noticed a Thai man having to pay a Cambodian guard to fill his in - perhaps it was only English or Khmer.

The second scam, but not really a scam, was an older guy trying to get us in a share taxi for $15USD a head. I knew we could get a taxi to ourselves for that price or less.

Perhaps the most genuine scam was signposted as we stepped into Cambodia. "Free bus to Siem Reap". I'd read about this notorious free bus. Apparently it drives a long and bumpy route to Siem Reap arriving late in the evening conveniently at the doors of their favoured guesthouse. Too tired to disagree the worn out passengers sign up for some sleep. The passengers aren't forced to stay at the guesthouse and they do eventually arrive in Siem Reap. For free. We watched the bus pull away and I noticed the same young Thai guy who smiled at us after the first scam hanging out the door of the bus smiling at us in the same way.

The last scam we read about was a bus ticket from Bangkok to Siem Reap. The comfortable Thai coach transforms into a pick-up truck on the Cambodian side and again leaves passengers too tired to disagree with the favoured guesthouse on arrival.

It was very hot. A few steps into Cambodia and all I could see were faces convincing me to take their taxi. Rubbish, dirt roads and poor children dotted my peripheral vision. I read the best way to do this bargaining was to keep walking towards the local bus station and lower the price as they follow in their cars. $60... $50... $40... $35... $30... I was aiming for $25. I turn around and Adriane is struggling with her pack. It's very hot and I don't know where the bus station is... "$30 OK - but no share... no, close the boot we'll keep our bags with us in the back, $30 OK." $15USD each for a 3 hour airconditioned taxi drive isn't bad.

The passage from Poipet to Siem Reap is seriously neglected. The worst road I have ever been on. Dust, holes, puddles, jumps, single lanes, trucks, motorbikes, detours. Unbelievably rough. Unfortunately this particular road is uniquely bad among smooth corridors across Cambodia. I've read an indisclosed airline pays a corrupt government not to upgrade it. We pass overheated and overloaded broken down vehicles on our bumpy trip through the arid and barren countryside. I found it hard to imagine why there would be landmines here? How could there be warfare amidst the nothingness and heat?

Finally at the outskirts of Siem Reap we drop off a local businessman we picked up on the way. We pull out and de-dunk-de-dunk... flat tyre. Thank god we made it to town before this happened. Our driver called a tuk-tuk. Transferring our bags I found myself politely dancing around the tuk-tuk driver's offers to be our Angor Wat tour guide telling him we already have reservations at a guesthouse. In the end we followed his advice to his likely employer - The Green Town Guesthouse. $15 with aircon, tv, hot shower, blah blah. Too tired and its only 3pm. I thought about the passengers of the 'free' bus probably arriving 4 hours later.

The trip was not difficult. Uncomfortable yes, but not difficult. Perhaps if we weren't familiar with the scams I can see how it might be very frustrating.

Siem Reap town is incredible. The town centre is not simply remnants of French occupation, it is a living slice of Saint Germain du Prés. Actually, the restaurants and cafes are more cosmopolitan than Paris. The food is great and the prices are low. I had a mango danish, chocolate brioche, and large long-black coffee for breakfast before heading upstairs to a wall lined with one large bed size couch with laptop tables, wireless, and fresh papaya juice.

Its easy for us but not for most Cambodians. Last night as we enjoyed our $2 Singapore Slings a little girl reminded us where we were. First she offered books for sale then started telling us she was hungry and finally pulled out a piece of paper telling a familiar tragedy of a disabled father and impoverished family. Despite being ignored the girl persisted for over half an hour. With 40% of Cambodia's population under 15 years old the country needs longterm and sustainable solutions to poverty. Feeding one little girl one night as the result of her begging is not sustainable.

Yesterday we both had headaches that got progressively worse throughtout the night, despite the Singapore Slings. I think it was a combination of fatigue, dehidration and muscular strain. We feel good today and look forward to experiencing Angkor.

Today cost = Green Town guesthouse (7.50) + pastries coffee & juice (6.5) + hat (2) + deoderant (2.50) + pain killers (2.50) + tuk-tuk (2) + water (2) + Khmer curry (6)

USD$31 (AUD$35) - expensive

19 April 2008 - Day 59, Bangkok to Siem Reap

Taxi to Mo Chit bus station - Bus to Anranyaprathet - tuk-tuk to Thailand/Cambodia border - taxi to Siem Reap

Last meal in Thailand after 4 hour bus ride, Aranyaprathet

Check the tyre pressure? Road from Poipet to Siem Reap

Share taxi, Poipet to Siem Reap

Piss stop, Poipet to Siem Reap

Our taxi blows a tyre as we enter Siem Reap

Overwhelming comfort in the cosmopolitan lifestye of Siem Reap

Today cost = taxi (60) + 1st class bus to Aran. (230) + fried rice (30) + tuk-tuk (40) + taxi (USD$15) + guesthouse (USD$7.50) + curry, Angkor beer, Singapore Sling (USD$8) + water (USD$2)

360 baht (AUD$12.50) + USD$32 (AUD$35) = AUD$47.50 - expensive

14 February - 6 March 2008 (Phuket)

7 March - 16 March 2008 (Phuket/Phi Phi Island)

17 March - 28 March 2008 (Phuket)

29 March - 7 April 2008 (Phuket/Bangkok/Chiang Mai/Pai)

8 April - 18 April 2008 (Chiang Mai/Bangkok)

19 April - 28 April 2008 (Siem Reap/Phnom Penh)

29 April - 5 May 2008 (Phnom Penh/Saigon)

6 May - 15 May 2008 (Hanoi/Ninh Binh/Sapa)

16 May - 27 May 2008 (Sapa/Hanoi/Ha Long Bay/Hué/Hoi An/Doc Let/Mui Ne)

28 May - 7 June 2008 (Saigon/Phnom Penh/Siem Reap)

8 June - 15 June 2008 (Siem Reap)

16 June - 24 June (Siem Reap/KL/Austinmer)