22 Days in Cambodia

Though the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc was blissful and serene, after three days and nights we began to itch for a new adventure. Little did we know how soon our itch would be scratched. Antsy, but not quite ready to leave the beach lifestyle behind, we elected to make our way to the Cambodian coast, which would involve a relatively new land border crossing just outside the Vietnamese town of Ha Tien. Being a new crossing, rumors abounded about the availability of visas, the corrupt nature of the officials, and the best method for transport. The internet and fellow travelers have been wonderful resources for us, but with experience we have come to learn that things are rarely as easy (or horrible) as the internet or people will lead you to believe. Sometimes you just have to go and figure it out for yourself. That was our move in this instance.

We set out from our guesthouse on Phu Quoc for the ferry landing, where we met a friendly Kiwi couple (Tony and Mikaela) and an Aussie (Alex) who were heading the same way. Traveling in a group of like-minded souls is always a treat, especially when a lot of unknowns abound on the sea and road ahead. We boarded the hydrofoil shown above for a quick and painless 1.5 hour journey to the Vietnamese mainland at Ha Tien. That's when things started to get interesting. There was no room at the dock for our ferry, so we had to climb through another boat to get to the dock and then walk an actual plank to get on solid ground. The problem was that on the other end was a feeding frenzy of taxi touts so thick that Lauren, first in line, didn't even have enough room to get off the plank. The cacophony of voices was deafening and it took a lot of yelling by Lauren, the boat captain, and me to clear the way. Once we set foot on the ground we were swarmed again, but we pushed our way clear and finally got a second of peace so we could collect our thoughts and formulate a plan. Alex was with us and Tony and Mikaela were being mobbed by a second group, so they worked out their own way.

In the end, Lauren, the master bargainer, sealed a deal that entailed us paying less than $10 each to make the approximately 7okm journey from the dock at Ha Tien, across the border, and then to the Cambodian town of Kampot. The catch was that the only form of transport was on the back of a small motorscooter. Fortunately, they had helmets for us, so we donned our brainlids, stuffed our bags between the driver and the handlebars, and hopped on the back. It was quite an experience, to say the least. The drivers were more Lauren's size than mine, so the mere shift of my weight would make the moto wobble slightly. I'm sure the guy who got Lauren as a passenger was much more pleased than my driver. The drive to the border was about 7km, then we went through the usual tedium of having our passports and visas inspected on the Vietnamese side. Next was a short walk through No Man's Land to Cambodian territory, where the operation was a little on the shady side. We were charged $25 each for our visa, even though we knew it only cost $20, but since we had to get across, we had no room to argue. Then the "health inspector" tried to solicit a bribe, assuming that we didn't have the requisite paperwork, but thanks to Jessie at Peachtree Travel Clinic, our vaccination information and stamps were all in order and we refused to pay him. The police tried to get us to use their taxi driver, at an inflated price of course, but we had our trusty moto drivers, so we got our visas, got them stamped, and set off down the road.

Neither words nor pictures can describe the sheer exhilaration and beauty of the first 50 minutes of our moto drive through the bucolic Cambodian countryside. The road was all dirt and potholes, but these were navigated skillfully by our drivers. With smiles on our faces and the wind in our hair, we took in the passing villages, rice paddies, and livestock. We also had the good fortune to be on the road as the sun was setting. It only got a little hairy once we reached paved roads and the speed increased markedly. Still, it was the type of activity that you would pay good money for in its own right, but it was just a necessary way to get from point A to point B.

Lauren on the back of a moto, speeding through southeastern Cambodia. Note her backpack in front of the driver and the Buff she is wearing to shield herself from the dust.
Self-portrait, precariously taken from the back of the moto. I tried my best to snap pictures while holding on for dear life to the bike. One hand had to be on the bike at all times, lest an errant pothole or bump send me flying.

We made it to Kampot just as the sun had set and secured one of the last rooms in town, sharing it with Alex. We were starving, but first we needed some Cambodian money. We went to the ATM and were astonished to be given American dollars. As it turns out, the Cambodian riel is so unstable that the dollar is the de facto currency of Cambodia. One only gets riel as small change. Very bizzare. Anyway, we found a nice little spot for dinner, which we washed down with several Angkor beers, a Cambodian brand. We were beat and a little sore from the day's ride, so we called it an early night.

Alex caught a very early bus to Phnom Penh the next morning, while we had a relaxed breakfast and then split a taxi with Tony and Mikaela, destination Sihanoukville. They were a super cool couple, so the 1.5 hour ride passed in no time. We had not booked any accommodations, so we did a lot of walking around in the hot sun with our packs on looking for just the right place. Tony and Mikaela elected to search for a spot on another beach, but we eventually got a room at the Serenity Guesthouse, ideally located right on Serendipity Beach, which was a small offshoot of the main Occheutal Beach.

The view of Occheutal Beach from our balcony.

We had A LOT of fun in Sihanoukville. I suppose it's hard not to when there is a beautiful beach, gorgeous weather, cool people, and lively nightlife. On one of our first days in Sihanoukville, we met a couple of Californian guys, Ellery and Elan, and Elan's cousin Tammy, who is South African. We did a lot of hanging out, drinking, and sitting on the beach, constantly kept entertained by the witty banter. We also caught a screening of "Slumdog Millionaire" at the local theater, which was an amazing movie and a reminder of both the good and bad of our visit in India.

Lauren dancing by herself early in the night at Utopia, a Sihanoukville institution.
Ellery (middle), Elan (right), and I at the bar at Utopia.

Ellery, Elan, and Tammy moved on with their travels after a few days, but with a lot of time to spare and a perfect location, we were in no hurry. We had wonderful dinners at the restaurants located right on the beach and ended up meeting another American, Megan, during one such dinner. We did not tire of our daily routine of sleeping until 10, catching breakfast and coffee at the delectable Sea View Villas restaurant, lounging and swimming all day, napping, showering, having fresh seafood for dinner, and then partying at night. Megan fit right in with that schedule and it was cool to have another American to hang out with, especially a skier from Park City, Utah.

Our daytime perch on Occheutal Beach.
While I was getting a massage on the beach (one hour for $3!), Lauren decided to explore her artsy side and snapped this amazing photograph when she got up from her chair.
Megan and I at yet another delicious dinner.

We probably could have stayed in Sihanoukville indefinitely. However, our visa was limited to 30 days and there was still a lot of Cambodia to explore. Thus, after eight nights in Sihanoukville, we boarded a bus bound for Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is the capitol of Cambodia and, contrary to reports that we had heard on the road, a very pretty city. The same couldn't necessarily be said for the neighborhood in which we stayed, but for $5/night for a room, the backpacker ghetto by the lakeside worked for us. We ended up staying in Phnom Penh for four nights, mixing in some sightseeing and internet time with important business at the Lao Embassy, where we obtained our visa for Laos with a minimum of hassle. To be accurate, it was a small amount of hassle in the relative world of bureaucracy, so it was still a headache, but we are so used to the visa runaround that it just seemed normal to us.

Lauren in a tuk-tuk on the streets of Phnom Penh. We have never witnessed so much blatant flouting of traffic rules as we did in Phnom Penh, where driving on the wrong side of the road and running red lights is normal practice.
The Cambodians don't celebrate Chinese New Year, but we're always open to any excuse to have a good time. Here we are in front of the Royal Palace as the sun set on Chinese New Year.

Not everything in Cambodia is rosy, however. The legacy of the brutal genocide of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge regime still lingers over the country like an epically stale fart. Our first exposure to this sad reality was in Sihanoukville, where landmine victims, devoid of some or all limbs, ply the beaches, seeking handouts simply to survive. Intrigued but revolted by this horrid history, we visited Tuol Sleng, also known as S-21, a school-turned-prison in Phnom Penh. This was one of the main places where opponents of the Khmer Rouge were brought to be tortured and slaughtered. It was a haunting establishment, with the cells kept in much the same condition as when S-21 was liberated. The terror of that time was palpable as we walked the grounds, seeing the blood stains and the twisted torture devices employed by the Khmer Rouge. It was so moving that we couldn't bring ourselves to visit the Killing Fields. S-21 was enough to spin our upbeat world on its axis.

Lauren in one of the blocks of cells at Tuol Sleng prison.
We felt shell-shocked enough after visiting S-21 to want to drink this entire truck full of beer (we didn't).

Phnom Penh was a warm host, both temperament and temperature wise, but the national treasure of Cambodia beckoned: the magnificent Temples at Angkor. Contrary to popular belief, there is more to Angkor than simply Angkor Wat. Indeed, the temple complex just kilometers outside of the town of Siem Reap is comprised of many spectacular temples, mostly constructed during the 12th and 13th centuries and built in homage of both Buddhist and Hindu gods. Frankly, I couldn't tell you the full historical or religious significance of these temples, but I can tell you that even in their semi-ruined state, they are places of transcendent beauty. Siem Reap, by virtue of its proximity to Angkor, is a bustling tourist town. Every menu that we saw boasted a litany of Western food along with Khmer dishes and there were far too many people sporting fanny packs. However, the legions of landmine victims that walk/crawl the streets are a constant reminder that Cambodia has a somewhat unique legacy to overcome and they snap you quickly out of your Western-centric view.

On recommendation from Megan, we secured lodging at the Siem Reap Hostel, which turned out to be a great place. Even though we were booked in a dorm, during the six nights we stayed, we only shared the room on two occasions. The included breakfast was simple, but delicious, and the rooms were well-appointed, with our first hot shower (as opposed to freezing cold) in weeks. As a married couple, it's sort of odd to sleep in bunk beds in dorms, but it is a good way to save coin sometimes. After a long day of exploring the temples, it was nice to be able to come back to a comfortable place that even boasted a pool, a real rarity for a hostel.

On our second day in town, we breakfasted and then declined the hostel's offer to provide us with a tuk-tuk driver for the temples. We knew that we could get a better deal on our own, which turned out to be the right decision. After a brief bout of negotiating, we settled on a fair price and boarded a tuk-tuk for the short drive to the Angkor complex.

Our first stop was the world-renowned Angkor Wat. In truth, this was probably our least favorite temple, so we were glad in retrospect to have seen it first. It sounds insane to say that Angkor Wat is just mediocre, but in comparison to some of the other temples, it falls a little short. That's not to say that it's not beautiful, just slightly less so.
Lauren next to a Buddha shrine within Angkor Wat.
Lauren looking glamorously windblown at the base of one of the staircases in Angkor Wat.
Our consensus favorite temple was Bayon, located within the larger Angkor Thom complex. Though now somewhat dilapidated, at its peak it boasted 216 different faces, of whom historians are not certain, though popular theory purports that it is the face of the king who ordered Bayon's construction. In a decidedly non-historic outlook, we just thought that the general aura of the place was cool and we liked all of the face carvings.
Lauren with one of the Bayon faces in the background.
Lauren in front of Chau Say Thevoda, one of the smaller, but no less interesting, temples in the Angkor Archaeological Complex.
Though it may be hard to tell from this picture, the stairs to the top of Ta Keo are really steep. We are constantly amazed at how most of the countries that we have visited let you ramble around on things that are patently dangerous. In the States, there would probably need to be an elevator to the top or something. Stupid lawyers.
A close second to Bayon in our temple enjoyment hierarchy was the temple of Ta Prohm, which is in the midst of being consumed by the surrounding vegetation. Movie and/or Angelina Jolie buffs will note that this temple appeared in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which was only mentioned to us somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 times.
Lauren clambering in one of the alcoves at Ta Prohm.
The grandeur and size of the various Angkor temples are what hit you first, but it is the subtle intricacies and carvings that stop you in your tracks in wonder. You may notice the wet spots on my shirt: it was hot and humid out there and they hadn't invented aircon in the 13th century.
[Rodney Dangerfield voice] Jeez, Mother Nature's got no respect for man's creations! No respect, I tell ya! [end Rodney Dangerfield voice].
A warm embrace below one of the towers of Banteay Kdei.
Inside one of the towers of the small temple of Prasat Kravan were some incredibly detailed and well-preserved reliefs. It's just a coincidence that this picture included a well-proportioned woman, I swear.

-----break from temple pictures---

Although you wouldn't know it from the number of temple pictures thus far (don't worry, there are more to come), we only spent about four hours the first day exploring the temples. When we told this to certain people, they would scoff and look at us like we kicked their dog in the teeth. Many people would wake at dawn and spend close to 12 hours per day at the temples. You could pick these people out from a crowd by the way they walked around like zombies, indiscriminately took pictures, and yelled at each other and other people. These were not people with whom you would want to have a cocktail.

Among its many amenities, Siem Reap Hostel boasted an almost Lauren-sized version of the game Jenga. Above, Lauren is shown in the midst of defeat.
In a somewhat miraculous turn of events, Siem Reap Hostel had a TV that showed the Super Bowl. Here I am at 6:30am Super Bowl Monday Morning, taking in the game all by my lonesome (Lauren values sleep over football and there were no other Americans in residence).

-----resume temple pictures-----

On Super Bowl Monday, we ventured a little further out from the main Angkor complex, taking a tuk-tuk about 35km to the small but intricate Banteay Srei temple. It was worth the trip to see this temple devoted to women, plus we got to see some of the other temples we missed on our first visit to the main Angkor complex.
Here I am with the monkey men of Banteay Srei in the background.
A headscarved Lauren in the entranceway of Banteay Samre.
In the surprisingly empty and therefore peaceful temple of Banteay Samre.
The face motif of Bayon was evident elsewhere, including here at Ta Som.
Lauren doing a foot size comparison to one of the protective figures outside of Preah Khan, the final Angkor temple that we visited.

Tuckered out from an early Super Bowl Monday and a long (for us) day of temple-gazing, we extended our stay in Siem Reap by another day and used the extra day to sleep late and arrange our next move. Our remaining time in Cambodia was dwindling and we had to start making our way east and north to Laos. We decided to take a bus as far as Kratie and assess our options from there. Kratie was merely supposed to be an overnight travel stop, but after we realized that it had more to offer than transport, we decided to stay for a full day and leave the following day.

Kratie is located on the banks of the Mekong River, the lifeblood of Southeast Asia. It also happens to be close to the village of Kampi, which is famous for being one of the best viewing spots of the incredibly endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. Reports vary, but it is estimated that there are only 80-100 Irrawaddy dolphins remaining on Earth. The Irrawaddy dolphins are different from the typical Flipper-style bottlenose dolphin in that they have a blunt nose and very small dorsal fin. They are also supposed to be quite elusive and, when they breach the surface, it is only for a fleeting moment.

With a very international crew comprised of us, a Swede, two Swiss, a Belgian, a Finn, and a Chinese girl, we hopped on the back of motorbikes at our hostel and rode the 15km to Kampi. At the beginning of the trip, we swore we would never ride on the back of a motorbike at all. That changed to never riding on the back of a motorbike unless we were wearing helmets and shoes. But, sometimes you have to just go with it, and we rode sans helmets (only the drivers got them) and wearing flip-flops.

Lauren with her moto driver in Kampi.

We arrived in Kampi and bought a ticket which entitled us to an hour out on a boat on the Mekong. As everyone in our group had heard/read the same thing about the Irrawaddy dolphin's rarity and elusiveness, nobody expected much and we were just happy to be out on the Mekong. Imagine our surprise when a minute off the dock, we saw three Irrawaddys breach at the same time. For the next hour, we were surrounded by probably 10 of the 100 remaining Irrawaddys. True to popular rumor, they did not breach for long, but we definitely saw a lot of dolphins. It was a magical day.

An endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, coming up for air.
Karma was on our side that day, as Irrawaddys were even surfacing very close to the dock in the background.

Although elated at our good fortune with the Irrawaddys, we were all sweating from the sweltering heat. So, we reformed our motorbike caravan and went just up to the road to a group of rapids that were good for swimming.

After studying the Mekong River extensively in college, it was a great moment for me when I finally got to dunk into its vitally important waters. That's me on the far right, bracing myself against the swift current.
Lauren and I on the bank of the Mekong. Yes, I have a full mohawk and a pretty thick beard.
Lauren cruising back to Kratie after a great afternoon in and around Kampi.

In the end, for various reasons, we decided to roll north with our Kratie friends to Laos the day after our dolphin excursion. It was hard to leave Cambodia but I will spoil the surprise and tell you that Laos has been a wonderful place so far. Our 22 days in Cambodia were an amazing mix of beach, city, history, culture, rural environments, and natural wonders. With very limited exception, the Cambodians that we met were friendly, welcoming, and had a great outlook for the future of their country. There is much of which they can be proud and it is our great hope that they continue to overcome the adversity rained upon their country by the maniacal reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.