Cambodia - Phnom Penh & Siem Reap

Siem Reap, Cambodia 23.11.2014

We left Kep Friday the 14th of November and arrived to Phnom Penh after a six hour bus drive. We came by a local bus so we had loud karaoke show on the bus that itself was an experience. Phnom Penh was busy and hectic after the countryside.

We spend one day walking around all the city. We visited the Olympic village and its future plans that seemed utopistic. Huge construction works going on. We also visited the Old Market, the Central Market, the Orussey Market and the Night Market that is open only on weekends. We didn't buy so much because it must fit in our backpacks but we bought hammocks for just 2$ each. The Night Market was nice because it was in addition to a market place for clothes also a place to meet and eat together. It was full of local food vendors. We ate lot of things for just 3$. The Orussey Market was the cheapest, The Central Market the most expensive. The Old Market has lot of fruits and foods, especially the fish part is worth seeing with all its living creatures.

One day we spent on getting acknowledged with Cambodian not-so-nice part of history: the Khmer Rouge time (1975-1979). We visited the Tuol Seng prison (S21) and the Killing Fields. During these years one to three million Cambodians were killed. That's one third of the population. We saw things that we wouldn't think possible and even less so little time ago, less than 40 years ago. We wonder how it affects people nowadays because many people that are in charge for what happened are still in some good position in the hierarchy. We also wonder the responsibility of the Western countries because the legacy with imperialism and Vietnam war. There is no buildings left in the Killing Fields, just mass graves on the ground. The main attraction is the story told during the walking tour. In the middle lays the memorial stupa filled with bones and skulls of more than 9'000 people. Pretty shocking and sobering.

We left to Siem Reap on Monday the 17th. The bus drive took six hours and was quite terrible because the bad condition of the roads. And because our driver had to surpass every vehicle on the road. We stay in a hostel out of the centre and enjoy the peace of a smaller town. This is probably the most touristic city in Cambodia because of the magnificent Angkor Wat temple. We have been relaxing and getting to know the city that is quite small. A nice river goes round the center and the feeling is almost European with all its cute little bridges. The main attraction is Angkor Wat and the other temples. They were built in 900ac-1200ac when the Khmer kingdom was blossoming. We spent one day from sunrise to sunset (4am to 6pm) visiting temples and still saw just a part of them. Amazing architecture and well maintained structures. One exciting part of the mystical temples was nature taking over them. Huge trees and jungle growing on these ancient remains. We truly felt like being in an Indiana Jones adventure. Less exciting fact was the hundreads of tourists around Angkor Wat. 

Our travel plan in Asia starts to be clear. We leave to Thailand next week and head to Malaysia for christmas and new year. We travel there by land.