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25.06.2008
An unexpected stopover in Kratie
The plan was rather simple: we had bought an expensive ticket from our guesthouse on Don Khon to be taken from there to Phnom Penh in one day. That involved taking a boat, a minibus to the border, another minibus from the border to the next town and finally a bus to Phnom Penh, a 14 hour journey. Everything went fine in the beginning: at first a nice 20 minute boat ride, then an unspectacular short trip to the border. There, our passports were stamped in no time, which involved paying a total of 7.5 dollars “processing fee” to the...[more] Category: Cambodia
25.06.2008
First glimpses of Cambodia
After we passed the border to go to Stung Treng, we saw very few people, even less houses, not speaking of traffic. It seemed that Cambodia was a country without cars. A few ramshackle huts could be seen along the road. However, they were not made of neatly woven bamboo mats like in rural Laos, but a few planks hammered together. There was no electricity even for huts right on the main road passing to the capital and water was collected in big earthen jars. The little time we spent in Stung Treng, we noticed that huge, rectangular...[more] Category: Cambodia
26.06.2008
Phnom Penh - A city of contrasts
Huge contrasts were the first thing that we observed, already when arriving by bus through the outskirts of the city. The newest, most shiny building may sit next to a completely dilapidated wooden hut on stilts in swampy terrain. This characteristic is also true for the city center, where elegant hotels or new government buildings are not far from the thousands of ghastly dwellings on the shores of Lake Boeng Kak or the Tonle Sap River. This gap is also reflected on the road: you see mostly people on scooters, often 4 of them, but...[more] Category: Cambodia
27.06.2008
The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek
This is one of the sites where the unspeakable horror of the Pol Pot Regime reached its climax during the Cambodian Genocide. Just 15 kilometers outside of Phnom Penh, this is the place where between 1975 and 1979, an estimated 20,000 prisoners were executed. Here, the Khmer Rouge brought those prisoners who had survived the interrogation and torture at the central Security Prison 21, also called S21. The vision of Pol Pot’s ideal society required to erase all traces of civilization, money, markets, books, spectacles, property,...[more] Category: Cambodia
27.06.2008
“Pour un sourire d’enfant”
This project was established in 1996 to support underprivileged children who work and live in the streets around the Stung Meanchey garbage dump. It was in 1995 that the inhuman conditions of small children poking through the steaming, decaying garbage was brought to the attention of a French couple and this is what the achieved in the course of 12 years. Initially, it provided schooling for younger children and food. In 2002, a Hotel School was opened once the founder recognized the growing need to hospitality training. This is...[more] Category: Cambodia
28.06.2008
The Killing Machine of the Khmer Rouges
The Khmer Rouges conquered Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975 and that same day, hard to believe but true, made 2 millions people leave the city under the pretense of possible Vietnamese air raids. The “new people”, as the urban population was referred to, were taken into the country side, where they were forced to work in the rice fields or build irrigation canals. Intellectuals, teachers, politicians and soldiers of the old regime were the first ones to be arrested and taken to prison centers to be exterminated. There were 167 “Security...[more] Category: Cambodia
28.06.2008
S21 - Security Prison 21
We tried to steel ourselves for this visit to what is also referred to as “The Killing Machine” of the Khmer Rouges. This school turned into prison was Cambodia’s largest security institution, especially designed for the interrogation, torture and extermination of anti “Angkar” element, or what a paranoid clique of Khmer Rouge leaders thought was such. We strongly recommend taking a guide, who can provide more intimate details. The lady who took us around was 14 years old when she was made to leave Phnom Penh and labor in the rice...[more] Category: Cambodia
29.06.2008
Phnom Penh - National Museum, Royal Palace
Our first destination was the Royal Place, but we were not admitted because Heidi wore a sleeveless shirt. We completely had forgotten about that! So instead of buying a T-shirt at the “conveniently” placed shop next to the ticket office, we headed for the National Museum nearby. Of course, the Tuk Tuk drivers waiting and watching outside knew immediately what had happened. One approached us and told us that the same policy, no sleeveless shirt, applies for the nearby National Museum as well. This is why we should go to visit the...[more] Category: Cambodia
30.06.2008
World class food & drinks in places world apart
Being in the capital, it was about time for some REALLY great food and drinks. We found it at two places that could not be more different: the most luxurious hotel in town, Le Royal, and a restaurant run by former street children and their teachers, called Friends. One thing we have missed was a good cocktail, like the one we usually enjoy at our watering hole in Vienna, the First American Bar. So we walked the 500 meters from our modest hotel to the Raffles Le Royal Hotel, the most exquisite hotel in Phnom Penh, built in colonial...[more] Category: Cambodia
01.07.2008
Siem Reap - The gateway to Ancient Angkor
The trip to here from Phnom Penh was absolutely unspectacular: flat countryside, lots of it uncultivated, palm and banana trees and houses built on stilts. The rice paddies that we passed were not planted yet. This was a clear sign that the rainy season still not really started in this part of Cambodia. The only surprise was our arrival in Siem Reap, after we thought we had seen it all! Ten minutes before we pulled into the bus station, the manager of the bus company came on board and told the astonished passengers that they should...[more] Category: Cambodia
02.07.2008
Our favorite accommodation - The Golden Banana
This oasis was our home for the week we explored Ancient Angkor and we cannot think of a better place. It offers two types of accommodation, an affordable B&B for 23 USD with a small breakfast and hotel for 44 USD. It is at a dead end street and thus absolutely quiet, has great staff and interesting clientele. The two venues are separated by a narrow alley. This set up makes it look small and cozy, only during breakfast time do you realize that quite a few people stay here. The best place to relax is the fairly sized pool that is...[more] Category: Cambodia
03.07.2008
Siem Reap & Ankor - Now and then
It has been about 100 years that serious conservation work began in the area, so already before the Vietnam War, tourists came to admire the grandeur of Angkor. Then many years of war made visits and restoration work impossible, but in the mid 90s tourists slowly started to return. Initially, mainly N.G.O workers began arriving in Phnom Penh in those days and eventually package tourists flew in from there. But then, only Angkor Wat was cleared of land mines. Apart from the landmines making it impossible for tourists to venture out...[more] Category: Cambodia
04.07.2008
Angkor Archaeological Park
Who has not heard of Angkor Wat, one of the biggest, most highly eulogized religious buildings in the world? Few newly arrived tourists are aware that they will explore a vast number of monuments during their visit here, temples, cities, shrines, reservoirs etc… with famous Angkor Wat being only one of them. Quite a few of them, like Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm or Banteay Srey, to name the most famous, can easily compete with the so famous Angkor Wat or even surpass its magic! The highly developed architecture and carvings that...[more] Category: Cambodia
04.07.2008
Getting around in the Angkor Area
Most people spend between 1 to 3 days visiting the various sites spread out over a vast area. So a visit naturally requires some kind of transport. Sporty travelers bike the 7 kilometers out to the temples and then the not so short distances between the sites, others hop on the backseat of a motorbike. We chose to hire a Tuk Tuk that took us around for three days, for 12 US per day. One day, we even went top class, more about this under “Extravanza”. Talking about money, tickets are 20 / 40 / 60, for one day / three days / one...[more] Category: Cambodia
05.07.2008
Angkor Wat
So why is Angkor Wat so much more famous than all the other splendid temples all around it? The main reason is that it was never abandoned, like all the other sites, when the capital of nearby Angkor Thom was moved to Phnom Penh in the 16th century. Until 1941 monks lived here and most important, took care of it. The other reason is that it is an architectural masterpiece of fine proportion and rich in details. Angkor Wat is most impressive when looked at from across the wide moat that surrounds it. From there its five towers are...[more] Category: Cambodia
05.07.2008
Angkor Thom
Between the 12th and the 16th century, Angkor Thom was the capital of the mighty Khmer Empire. The outer enclosure is still intact and encompasses the 9 square kilometers of what was once a striving city of an estimated one million people. At that time probably the most populated place in the world! The few monuments left are truly amazing in what is now mainly a forested area, especially the colossal Bayon temple with its 37 spectacular face-towers and the causeways leading up to the city gates that once crossed a moat. Both sides...[more] Category: Cambodia
05.07.2008
Extravaganza
A few weeks before returning home, a thorough check into our finances revealed that Heidi was able to save some money over the year we were traveling. These unexpected modest riches made her light-headed. First thing we did was we hired the best, most famous guide in town, Mister Meas Veasna from Asia Trails to take us around Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. Costly, but worth every penny! We tried to soak up every syllable he said about the history and architecture of these monuments. The hardest part, requiring all of our...[more] Category: Cambodia
06.07.2008
Ta Prohm & Preah Khan
Definitely our favorites, since both are jungle temples partially overgrown with trees! Their giant roots embrace walls, bring them down, pry them apart or keep them from collapsing. Ta Prohm was a huge monastic complex that has been only to some extent cleared from jungle overgrowth, a decision made by conservationists who wanted visitors to have an idea of what these temples looked like when they were first discovered by Europeans. Nobody back then could anticipate the huge number of tourists who would wander through this place....[more] Category: Cambodia
06.07.2008
Kbal Spean & Banteay Srei
A bit weary of temples? Head out to Kbal Spean, in the midst of the jungle, a 1.5 hour north of Siem Reap. The trip itself is scenic, since the road runs through a Cambodia as rural as it can be: rice paddies, villages with their characteristic stilt houses, lots of children walking to or from school, hardly any traffic… Once you arrive at the parking lot, you need to walk for about 30 minutes through the rainforest. The path is well-marked and very pleasant. Again, this monument is NOT a temple, but consists of hundreds of...[more] Category: Cambodia
07.07.2008
“Ok, you buy from me!”
What makes Cambodia so different from Laos is its relentless street vendors. In Phnom Penh, it was the Tuk Tuk drivers and the motorbike-taxis we had to deal with. Apart from fending them off, they would feed us with incorrect information regarding opening hours etc… and so trying to convince us to go somewhere else with them, of course! Angkor Archaeological Park was the final test for us. Every trip to a temple was accompanied by the same ritual. Vendors, mostly children, would approach us offering their merchandise: postcards,...[more] Category: Cambodia
08.07.2008
Beng Mealea - The jungle temple
Beng Mealea we saved for our last day of sightseeing, since it is so different from all other temples. It is completely unrestored, surrounded by dense vegetation and overgrown with trees. It is about 80 kilometers from Siem Reap, so we decided to invest in a stiff 60 USD taxi ride. Indeed, the last time we used a Tuk Tuk for a longer trip, Heidi was suffering endlessly: the dust in her eyes and behind her contact lenses would not disappear for days! Ben Mealea is simply amazing. Part of it is totally in ruins, other parts are in...[more] Category: Cambodia
08.07.2008
Roluos - The first capital
After a long struggle with various vendors over who should get the business of selling us lunch, water, coconut etc… we distributed the business evenly among them. Heidi even bought some clothes, for the first time here, because the quality and design is usually not that grand here near Siem Reap. Noodle soup and fried rice provided us with the energy to tackle the very last sightseeing during our week stay in Siem Reap, in which we only took 1.5 days off, actually sorting out more than 1.500 pictures and writing for the website....[more] Category: Cambodia
09.07.2008
Gilles - Swimming pool or Battambang?
The original plan was to take a boat to Battambang from Siem Reap before heading to Bangkok. But after a whole week of visiting temples, I grew weary and just wanted to enjoy the most pleasant swimming pool of the Golden Banana Hotel and the greatest luxury there is: just do nothing for a couple of days! This was especially true since I was slowly realizing that I would be back to work in only three weeks… “You wimp!”, snapped Heidi when I told her I would skip Battambang and just stay at the Golden Banana two more nights before...[more] Category: Cambodia
09.07.2008
Heidi - Cambodian river life
The boat trip from Siem Reap to Battambang was definitely one of the highlights of my trip through Cambodia. Ironically, it was the only destination in this country that Gilles and I could not agree on. So I went ahead by myself, while Gilles relaxed a few more days at the Golden Banana Hotel in Siem Reap. As soon as the bus left Siem Reap, with its five star hotels and fancy restaurants, you felt propelled into the Neolithic Age. The small river running along the road towards Lake Tonle Sap was lined with dwellings like I had never...[more] Category: Cambodia
09.07.2008
Heidi - Battambang: Killing Caves & Bamboo Train
I chose the Hotel Royal and really liked the place and its super friendly staff. It offers the usual services of a backpacker hotel, plus “motordup” service to the few sights around. The “free-lance drivers” hang out in the hotel lobby and patiently go through the limited number of sights with every new arrival, in excellent English by the way. This proved to be already extremely useful at our first destination, the Phare Ponleu Selpak “Circus School” outside the city. Naturally, I had lots of questions to ask the teachers. This...[more] Category: Cambodia
10.07.2008
Cambodia - Budget
Cambodia is a relatively cheap country to travel, though it is not as cheap as its neighbors. We spent on average 35 Euros per person per day. True, since Cambodia was the last country we visited during this Round The World Trip, we treated ourselves to better hotels and hardly ever ate at the markets as we used to do in other countries. We spent on average 16 Euros per night on accommodation, for nice double rooms with air-conditioning. In Siem Reap, our absolute favorite, the Golden Banana Hotel, even had a pool, which provided a...[more] Category: Cambodia, Budget
10.07.2008
Cambodia - Summary
We only spent 16 days in Cambodia and thus decided to focus only on two places: Phnom Penh & the Angkor Area near Siem Reap. Heidi also spent two days in Battambang. There are many other places to see in Cambodia, but we had simply run out of time and had grown weary of changing place every other night after 11 months of traveling. Cambodia surely deserves more time to be discovered in depth. We stayed one week in Phnom Penh, although three days would be enough to see the major sights. The Angkor area deserves a good week if you...[more] Category: Cambodia, Summaries
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