Cambodia - "Same Same but Better"

Hi from lovely Cambodia,

Well what a relief, to be in another country with kind and friendly people. The Cambodian people are probably the poorest in SE Asia due mainly to the numerous wars and the Khmer Rouge reign during the 70’s but they take the cake so far for being the best people we have met. 50% of the population is under 16 years of age. The kids yell out “hello” to us all day long where ever we go. They all learn English at school and love to practice whenever they get the opportunity. Everyone we have met has bent over backwards to help and cater to our needs, which are pretty basic compared to many tourists. So far (touch wood) we haven’t encountered a single scammer, even the tuktuk drivers are polite and honest. All the regular buses here are equal to the VIP buses in Laos so that’s a relief even though our journeys now are only 5-6hrs max, they are comfortable and our luggage is loaded inside the bus on seats rather than in the luggage compartments with the chickens or thrown on the roof.

View of the Mekong from our hotel room in Stung Treng

Our first stop in Cambodia was just across the border in Stung Treng, situated on the Southern bank of the Tonle San a tributary of the Mekong River. There is little if anything interesting here other than the people, but the hotel was very nice with a view out to the river and it provided an opportunity to taste the Khmer food and local beer. The food is better than Laos and the beer comparable with many more brands available, albeit slightly more expensive.

Local bed delivery service fresh from the factory

The next day we were off to Kampong Cham a larger town further down the Mekong River with a massive big bridge which was built in 2001. Australia has been responsible for the construction of many bridges in Cambodia replacing the pathetic ones (mostly single laned) provided by the French during their extended stay early last century. Again we booked into a riverfront hotel but unfortunately couldn’t get a room with a view, surprisingly for this time of the year all were full, in fact we could only stay for 2 nights as all the rooms were taken for an upcoming conference. We hired a motorbike from a local restaurant we favoured and took off to see the sights, a rubber processing plant which was fascinating to watch the whole process, plenty of temples and a couple of old monasteries full of monks ranging from the very young to the very old. These were intermixed with local villages situated along the Mekong and its tributaries. Most of the people still live in bamboo houses high-set so that they remain dry when the floods come. One of the shrines (stupa) we visited was full of human skulls and bones a legacy from the Pol Pot regime 1975 – 1979 where up to 3 million people were massacred and scattered in mass graves, this is one location of the many infamous killing fields.

A sad reminder of human cruelty

Well its goodbye to the Mekong for a while as we head west around the northern side of Tonle Sap, the largest fresh water lake in SE Asia and on to Siem Reap the tourist centre which services the ancient Angkor City built between 800AD and 1400AD. The ancient city is on par with the Egyptian Pyramids for its sheer size and bewildering construction in such primitive times. The Angkor Empire reigned over SE Asia for 600 years before the Thais and Chinese eroded their border defences. In that time they built a huge hydraulic water supply system to cultivate crops and massive religious (Buddhist and Hindu) temples within gigantic moated and walled confinements.

A giant cottonwood tree reclaiming Ta Prohm

The buildings and perimeter walls were generally constructed of laterite (volcanic rock) faced with intricately carved sandstone. The sandstone was rafted down the river 50 km from the quarry. The cities housed well in excess of 1 million people but only the gods could live in the stone buildings.

Same Same but Different

The most picturesque is Ta Prohm with many of the buildings and ruins overgrown with massive fig trees that appear to have sprouted on top of the stonework, along with the green moss and general disarray you could think you’d witnessed the world after the demise of mankind.

A giant fig reclaiming Ta Prohm

We spent 3 days touring the ruins ferried around by our favourite Tuktuk driver/guide Chhet, who we were able to choose out of the mass of want to be’s the day we arrived at the Siem Reap bus station.  His was the biggest and best looking Tuktuk, but like all the others totally devoid of anything resembling suspension.

Angkor Wat the biggest best preserved of all temples

We have tried to photograph the buildings and ruins the best we can however none of the photos do it justice as they don’t capture the feeling of total awe you get while there. It truly is a TOTALLY AWESOME!!! place. Angkor Wat, one of the last built and best preserved, can best be described as a piece of artwork as the perimeter galleries (about 1km in length) are lined with floor to roof carved sandstone panels depicting  battles between the gods and demons and other ancient battles. All the doorways have carvings of various types depicting significant religious events and characters which are only understood by the monks and historians. The highest towers are still a functioning Buddhist temple and require ‘appropriate dress’ to enter ie: shoulders and knees covered. The stairs leading to the top are very steep 4:1 representing the difficulty for one to reach the gods.

Same Same but Closer

The local hawkers (from the age of 5 years) have a saying which covers every conceivable option in every language when they ask (beg) you to buy their wares (silk weavings, T shirts, postcards even bottles of water) even if you already have one of each they will reply to us SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT or BETTER, needless to say their bartering skills are commendable, a great challenge, and a lot of fun.  We did manage to get a few bargains helped by the fact that the tourist season is coming to a close.

Checking quality before the haggle starts 

The wet season is starting to show its presence with lightning and thunder storms every afternoon since arriving in Cambodia so we will no doubt have to suffer getting wet a few times as we continue our adventure.

Bye for now

Beers and Cheers (in this case Cambodian Angkor Premium a loverly drop)

J&J