Hey folks,
So I finally arrived in Cambodia on Saturday night at 8PM, a full 24 hours later than originally anticipated. After my horrendous overnight bus journey and stop in Pakse, the second day of traveling went much better. I was low on cash and met some travelers from Quebec who were nice enough to lend me a few bucks to get my visa and cross the border, paying them back once we reached an ATM. The look of the Cambodian countryside was a familiar sight at this point, similar to many of the landscapes I have seen in South East Asia. However, I did take note that the ground was flatter and the overall feel was very rural, no big towns or even moderate size towns in sight for the first four hours after entering the country. At a stop on the side of the road to allow some travelers to switch buses, I indulged in trying another weird food that is commonly eaten in Malaysia, the A-Ping Tarantula! It was deep-fried and had some sort of sweet, sticky exterior, making the crunch and slight fuzziness of the fur much more tolerable. All in all, not bad and much better than the crickets in Thailand...
Once in the city, I got a tuk-tuk and again had to adjust to a little bit of culture shock, the same as when I went from the small islands in Eastern Malaysia to the big city of Kuala Lumpur. I have spent the past two weeks in very small towns in Laos, with a slow lifestyle and a laid-back vibe. The first thing I noticed in Phnom Penh was the traffic and the amount of motorcycles on the streets. Granted, every place I have gone in South East Asia motorcycles or scooters have been prevalent. But in Phnom Penh, they double, if not triple, the amount of cars on the road and there seem to be no rules that I am aware of for traffic. Drivers weave in and out of small sections barely large enough for someone to walk through let alone drive. Some can be found driving on the wrong side of the street against traffic if they're in a hurry! All I could think of when I first saw the chaos on the streets was what would happen if you took the drivers from Vancouver and placed them in the driving environment in Phnom Penh. I would give it five minute before a traffic massacre!
I stayed at a very nice hostel in a busy part of the city, not far from the Central Market and the National Palace. On my first day, I met up with two of my brother Juan's friends for a delicious Chinese lunch and a trip to the mall. Monika and her husband Yeng pointed out some local sites for me to check out and I bought a new pair of shoes, $100 cheaper than what I normally pay for sneakers. That night, I tested my palate again and feasted on some ox tripe with fresh morning glory and green bananas. This was very tasty and something I would probably try again in the future. On my second day, I signed up for TripAdvisor's top activity in the city, a tour with Blazing Trails which includes a stop at the Killing Fields and an exploration of the countryside and small villages by way of ATV. The Killing Fields were a somber stop but very informative and not entirely shocking for me, now that I have some experience in seeing the atrocities of history in Laos and Israel. What did surprise me is the fact that trials for war crimes from the times of the reign of the Khmer Rouge were still going on up until six months ago, over thirty years following this black period in history. I spent an hour at the museum and walking around the fields until I was picked up again and set off to learn how to use an ATV. Surprisingly, I was the only one signed up for the tour that day, so I had the pro of being able to stop whenever I wanted to take photos and go by my own timeline, but the con of not meeting any fellow backpackers and only having my guides to speak with. All in all though, it was much more of a pro than a con! It only took a few minutes to adjust to the controls of the ATV, pretty much identical to those of the motorcycle I used in Koh Yao Noi in Thailand, however, it's funny that the tour starts off traveling down very narrow roads through a village, with children running at you from all sides to say hello and give you high fives. This was very cool albeit nerve-wracking with so little experience behind the beast of a vehicle... The drive through the countryside was magnificent and it's easy to see why people do the tour more than once. The children greeting me were so friendly and happy to see a visitor, to witness someone with different clothing, the sought-after pale skin that so many Cambodians adore, and of course the gurgling vehicular companion I rode in on. After a couple of hours of riding past mango plantations, isolated temples, and many, many cows, we stopped at a little stall in a tiny village and enjoyed some fresh sugarcane juice. I got a chance to watch the woman skin the cane herself and she gave me a chance to try it myself, a technique similar to peeling a potato or carrot. Once she had enough, she placed it into a giant juicer and it was only moments before I had a cool, refreshing beverage to enjoy. It was very tasty and not overly sweet, a welcome relief from the blazing sun. After our stop, we had a few more hours of countryside expedition before stopping on the riverside to watch the sunset. As we watched the sun go down, my guide taught me how to speak some Khmer and admired my quick learning skills for language. I returned the favour by teaching him some French to help him in his future dealings with French tourists. It was a fantastic day and gave me pause from thoughts of home and the ticking clock signifying my approaching return to more familiar civilization...
Today, I went exploring in the neighbourhood and saw the National Museum, the National Palace where the King resides, the Independence Monument, and many different temples. It was blistering hot (37 degrees!) so I had to make several stops along the way for beverages or just to escape the heat somehow. I met up with Monika and Yeng for dinner again tonight, and we ate some traditional Khmer food which was very good. Afterwards, we headed to a country bar for a few drinks before calling it a night. I really enjoyed getting to know Monika and Yeng and my time in Phnom Penh has been very enjoyable!
It's off to Siem Reap tomorrow for my last real stop, a chance to see the famous Angkor Wat and its magnificent ancient temples. Really looking forward to it and only one week till I arrive safely back on Canadian soil!
Ciao for now,
Max
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