Merry Christmas! I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday! I hope that no matter where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing, that you have an amazing time! Much love! :)
24 December 2011
11 December 2011
Koh Chang to Cambodia: Same same but different
"Same same but different" is a saying that both Thai and Khmer (Cambodian) people say. Not sure why but it is interesting and expresses exactly what it means, this is similar but different. Thailand and Cambodia are not same same though.
We spent our last few days in Koh Chang and had a beautiful time! I love that little island and could see myself going there many, many more times. Lonely Beach is where we stayed and it was just so relaxing with a nice mix of culture. Although I didnt end up diving or taking a cooking class, I still really enjoyed my time there. We met a LOT of people that we have planned to meet up with along the way.
When the day came to say goodbye to Koh Chang and Thailand, we woke up and took a taxi bus to the ferry, the ferry across to the mainland, another taxi to the bus station, and then a mini bus to the border.
*Here it is important to mention that I forgot my Lonely Planet on Ko Samui. Southeast Asia on a Shoestring has been like my Bible on this trip. I have taken notes, highlighted passages, drawn maps, wrote cross references, post-it noted the heck out of it, basically anything you can do to make your trip easier, I had in that book. And I forgot it. But the Germans were there to save the day and they saw it and saved it to return to me at a later date.*
So we are at the border and without the book, we have been relying on other travelers and the internet for advice. We saw online that crossing the border is kind of a hassle and on the Cambodian side, people will try and scam you. So we were semi-prepared for it. But we assumed it just meant for the visa, we didnt realize it was the entire process and everything after that. Through being rushed through, being told that the last bus leaves in 15 minutes, exchanging money at a really bad rate, and a taxi driver driving off with some of our money, we were scammed and scammed a LOT! Very not cool and not a good way to say goodbye to Thailand and hello to Cambodia.
*The reason the book is important to this part of the story is because in the Lonely Planet, there is an ENTIRE section on border crossing scams and just about every one they list in the book happened to us... if I had my book, maybe we would still have all of our money. Grr.... *
We finally arrive at our destination of Phnom Penh at the Mad Monkey hostel after hearing a lot of recommendations for it. It was a really nice hostel, quieter than expected but their neighbors arent too understanding of the 'party' hostel atmosphere. Understandable too because of the neighborhood the hostel is in... very close to embassy houses and extravagantly rich complexes. I cant imagine they want to hear backpackers on a rooftop bar. Anyhow, we arrived at the hostel tired and ready to sleep and forget about our day of scams. We went to a restaurant very close to the hostel and ate some good noodle soup. That was about all we could do and headed up to bed.
The next day we were meeting Parksie's friend, Mr. Lee, at the hostel and so we took a day to kind of get our bearings and look up where we would head to next. During the day we met a few people who were also hanging around the hostel. When Mr. Lee arrived, he met three other guys that were staying at the hostel as well, so we all decided to go to dinner. We met some other randoms in the hostel as we were rounding up all of our new friends and had 11 people in total: 6 Americans, 2 Swedes, 1 Swiss, and 2 Kiwis. Oh and myself and another American were the only girls in this group. Weird ratios. :) This was the most Americans I have seen in a while. While traveling through, we have met more Germans and Aussies than anyone else.
We all went to this street stall where we overwhelmed this woman who was stir frying noodles. But she loved us and told us to sit. Her grand-daughter was translating for her and making sure that everyone was happy and had enough food. It was a simple noodle dish but really, really good! I LOVE the noodle dishes from this area! From there we went to a few bars and had a generally wonderful night! This is what I mean about meeting people in hostels. One of the people that we met that night, we ended up following to the beach. Two others, we keep in contact and might meet up in Laos with. I love this kind of traveling.
The next day, we had a sobering day at the Killing Fields. Cambodia's past is one of turmoil and war and their history is pretty intense. The current state of the country though is interesting in a weird way. They have borrowed money and help from their neighbors and to pay the debts back they have sold a lot of their temples, land, and important historical sites. This website has an interesting debate about what this implies for the sites. It is an adaption from an article but I think it is a good short summary of a memorial vs. profit. The money from visiting Choeung Ek goes to Vietnam and not to the victims of the genocide. That to me, is unacceptable and I didnt realize this before I went there. However, the money from the National Museum goes to Cambodia.
Nevertheless, the memorial was done in a way of respect and memory. The site had an audio guide that was really good and informative. I must admit I did not know a lot about the history of Cambodia but after going there, I have gotten a few books that I have started reading along the way. I dont like being ignorant about the place I am in.
From the fields we headed to the prison that has been turned into a museum of sorts. This was hard to see because it had so many pictures of the prisoners on display and gave some more of the history of the site. This was a really hard day emotionally because it was so recent. I have been to some concentration camps in Germany but this seemed harder because it isnt well known. I would say most Americans do not know a lot about the genocide that happened between 1975 and 1979 where 20 percent of the population was killed. It was so recent and anyone we meet that is over 30 was affected. Walking around the cities and meeting people, you always wonder how they were effected, how they are coping, and how they survived. It is hard.
To kind of move away from that topic and in to what else I have been doing in Cambodia, I will continue with after Phnom Penh. As I mentioned, we met an American girl that was heading south to the beach. We had some more time to burn through before we met up with ze Germans to get my book back. We planned on meeting them in Siem Reap and had a few days. So of course, being us, we headed to the beach! We went to Otres Beach which is this incredibly relaxing, relatively quiet, and undisturbed beach. It was really nice to get some reading done. We spent a few nights there and then decided to head up to Siem Reap to meet up with our Germans. Not only were we meeting ze Germans, but we also met my new best friend who is also a German. Suzie Q! We met her in Koh Chang on the infamous Thanksgiving night and convinced her to come to Cambodia.
Leaving Otres Beach, we were supposed to make it all the way to Siem Reap but that didnt end up happening. Between the night bus being sold out, the bus breaking down, waiting for a new bus for two hours, and a bunch of other stuff, we ended up having to stay in Phnom Penh for a night before taking the earliest bus up to Siem Reap. Even that bus was late and drove really slow while honking at people the entire time. The transportation in this country leaves a LOT to be desired and we have been constantly having to add two hours to our journeys. Frustrating.
FINALLY, we made it to Siem Reap and to the Garden Village Guesthouse where we have 1 dollar dorm beds. They are actually pretty good, albeit noisy at night. The Sunset bar is a great place to come up and relax (actually where I am writing this now). Walking up the stairs to the bar area where we had planned to meet everyone, Suzie comes running down the stairs! It was so good to see her and sad that it was only for a few nights!
That night we were also meeting up with the other Germans. So we were catching up with Suzie while we waited for them to show up. They stupidly bought tickets for 12 that night but I was able to persuade them to stay the night and leave the next morning. It wasnt hard to convince them, I basically just changed their ticket for them. They very nicely brought my book and handed it over. It was beautiful and just as I remembered it. It was like I felt complete again! We went out and had a great night dancing and checking out the night scene in Siem Reap. Ze German's bus was leaving at 7 and they had to be at the station around 6, so we all decided just to stay up to see them off and also go see the sunrise at the main temple of Angkor Wat.
It was beautiful and a wonderful way to welcome ourselves to Siem Reap. After sunrise we went back to the dorms and slept. Then later that night we went to watch the sunset on a different temple and that was beautiful as well. Cambodia has a beautiful country and a beautiful country side. We took a lot of great pictures. Then we had a pretty relaxing night, went to a good dinner and walked around the night market.
The next day we toured some of the farther temples and also met up with two other Americans (one from the beach and her friend that came out to visit). We took a van and spent the day touring the temples. On the way back we went to Angkor Thom and checked out the temple with all of the faces on it. That was a really cool temple and I wish that we had a guide to explain all of the carvings on it.
Angkor Wat and all of the temples are relatively young, if you compare them to other temples. They are about the same age as Notre Dame. Most of the temples were built between the 9th and 11th century. I had it in my head that they were a lot older, like Mayan aged temples, but they are a lot newer. Dont let that diminish how awesome they are though. They were structurally fantastic and their history is pretty great. Changing from Hindu to Buddhist temples and then the unification of the two from the 7th Angkorian king where he wanted an acceptance of both religions. It was really interesting. The day when we went to a majority of the temples, we had a guide with us so we were able to learn a lot more about the temples and its history.
Our guide, Brother Sava, was great and I highly recommend him if you come to Angkor Wat and need a guide for the day. He was great and really friendly. His email address is: sunsava2007@yahoo.com.
Also, in Siem Reap, I took a cooking class that I highly recommend! It is through the Le Tigre de Papier and is amazing! We had Savoeun and she was amazing! If you are in Siem Reap and interested in cooking at all, take this course. You get to go to the market, pick the dishes you want to prepare, have someone explain the recipes while you cook them... all for 12 dollars. That is it, just 12 dollars. By far the cheapest cooking class I have seen. And quite possibly, the best.
Before the day of the cooking class, we had another German send off. Suzie was leaving us to go back to Bangkok. We had to send her off in a fancy way so we kind of did the same stuff, went out and danced the night away until almost the morning. Her bus left a little later so she was able to get a bit of sleep before her 10 hour bus to Bangkok. It was still sad to say goodbye but we have plans to meet up again in Berlin, her hometown. And we all know, I love Germany so I am excited for that. Berlin is a place I havent been yet and have heard a lot of great things about it.
That is about it for Siem Reap. The temples were amazing! The people that we have met along the way have been fantastic and now it is time to say goodbye to Siem Reap and head out. Not too sure where or for how long, but its back on the road again!
We spent our last few days in Koh Chang and had a beautiful time! I love that little island and could see myself going there many, many more times. Lonely Beach is where we stayed and it was just so relaxing with a nice mix of culture. Although I didnt end up diving or taking a cooking class, I still really enjoyed my time there. We met a LOT of people that we have planned to meet up with along the way.
When the day came to say goodbye to Koh Chang and Thailand, we woke up and took a taxi bus to the ferry, the ferry across to the mainland, another taxi to the bus station, and then a mini bus to the border.
*Here it is important to mention that I forgot my Lonely Planet on Ko Samui. Southeast Asia on a Shoestring has been like my Bible on this trip. I have taken notes, highlighted passages, drawn maps, wrote cross references, post-it noted the heck out of it, basically anything you can do to make your trip easier, I had in that book. And I forgot it. But the Germans were there to save the day and they saw it and saved it to return to me at a later date.*
So we are at the border and without the book, we have been relying on other travelers and the internet for advice. We saw online that crossing the border is kind of a hassle and on the Cambodian side, people will try and scam you. So we were semi-prepared for it. But we assumed it just meant for the visa, we didnt realize it was the entire process and everything after that. Through being rushed through, being told that the last bus leaves in 15 minutes, exchanging money at a really bad rate, and a taxi driver driving off with some of our money, we were scammed and scammed a LOT! Very not cool and not a good way to say goodbye to Thailand and hello to Cambodia.
*The reason the book is important to this part of the story is because in the Lonely Planet, there is an ENTIRE section on border crossing scams and just about every one they list in the book happened to us... if I had my book, maybe we would still have all of our money. Grr.... *
We finally arrive at our destination of Phnom Penh at the Mad Monkey hostel after hearing a lot of recommendations for it. It was a really nice hostel, quieter than expected but their neighbors arent too understanding of the 'party' hostel atmosphere. Understandable too because of the neighborhood the hostel is in... very close to embassy houses and extravagantly rich complexes. I cant imagine they want to hear backpackers on a rooftop bar. Anyhow, we arrived at the hostel tired and ready to sleep and forget about our day of scams. We went to a restaurant very close to the hostel and ate some good noodle soup. That was about all we could do and headed up to bed.
The next day we were meeting Parksie's friend, Mr. Lee, at the hostel and so we took a day to kind of get our bearings and look up where we would head to next. During the day we met a few people who were also hanging around the hostel. When Mr. Lee arrived, he met three other guys that were staying at the hostel as well, so we all decided to go to dinner. We met some other randoms in the hostel as we were rounding up all of our new friends and had 11 people in total: 6 Americans, 2 Swedes, 1 Swiss, and 2 Kiwis. Oh and myself and another American were the only girls in this group. Weird ratios. :) This was the most Americans I have seen in a while. While traveling through, we have met more Germans and Aussies than anyone else.
We all went to this street stall where we overwhelmed this woman who was stir frying noodles. But she loved us and told us to sit. Her grand-daughter was translating for her and making sure that everyone was happy and had enough food. It was a simple noodle dish but really, really good! I LOVE the noodle dishes from this area! From there we went to a few bars and had a generally wonderful night! This is what I mean about meeting people in hostels. One of the people that we met that night, we ended up following to the beach. Two others, we keep in contact and might meet up in Laos with. I love this kind of traveling.
The next day, we had a sobering day at the Killing Fields. Cambodia's past is one of turmoil and war and their history is pretty intense. The current state of the country though is interesting in a weird way. They have borrowed money and help from their neighbors and to pay the debts back they have sold a lot of their temples, land, and important historical sites. This website has an interesting debate about what this implies for the sites. It is an adaption from an article but I think it is a good short summary of a memorial vs. profit. The money from visiting Choeung Ek goes to Vietnam and not to the victims of the genocide. That to me, is unacceptable and I didnt realize this before I went there. However, the money from the National Museum goes to Cambodia.
Nevertheless, the memorial was done in a way of respect and memory. The site had an audio guide that was really good and informative. I must admit I did not know a lot about the history of Cambodia but after going there, I have gotten a few books that I have started reading along the way. I dont like being ignorant about the place I am in.
From the fields we headed to the prison that has been turned into a museum of sorts. This was hard to see because it had so many pictures of the prisoners on display and gave some more of the history of the site. This was a really hard day emotionally because it was so recent. I have been to some concentration camps in Germany but this seemed harder because it isnt well known. I would say most Americans do not know a lot about the genocide that happened between 1975 and 1979 where 20 percent of the population was killed. It was so recent and anyone we meet that is over 30 was affected. Walking around the cities and meeting people, you always wonder how they were effected, how they are coping, and how they survived. It is hard.
To kind of move away from that topic and in to what else I have been doing in Cambodia, I will continue with after Phnom Penh. As I mentioned, we met an American girl that was heading south to the beach. We had some more time to burn through before we met up with ze Germans to get my book back. We planned on meeting them in Siem Reap and had a few days. So of course, being us, we headed to the beach! We went to Otres Beach which is this incredibly relaxing, relatively quiet, and undisturbed beach. It was really nice to get some reading done. We spent a few nights there and then decided to head up to Siem Reap to meet up with our Germans. Not only were we meeting ze Germans, but we also met my new best friend who is also a German. Suzie Q! We met her in Koh Chang on the infamous Thanksgiving night and convinced her to come to Cambodia.
Leaving Otres Beach, we were supposed to make it all the way to Siem Reap but that didnt end up happening. Between the night bus being sold out, the bus breaking down, waiting for a new bus for two hours, and a bunch of other stuff, we ended up having to stay in Phnom Penh for a night before taking the earliest bus up to Siem Reap. Even that bus was late and drove really slow while honking at people the entire time. The transportation in this country leaves a LOT to be desired and we have been constantly having to add two hours to our journeys. Frustrating.
FINALLY, we made it to Siem Reap and to the Garden Village Guesthouse where we have 1 dollar dorm beds. They are actually pretty good, albeit noisy at night. The Sunset bar is a great place to come up and relax (actually where I am writing this now). Walking up the stairs to the bar area where we had planned to meet everyone, Suzie comes running down the stairs! It was so good to see her and sad that it was only for a few nights!
That night we were also meeting up with the other Germans. So we were catching up with Suzie while we waited for them to show up. They stupidly bought tickets for 12 that night but I was able to persuade them to stay the night and leave the next morning. It wasnt hard to convince them, I basically just changed their ticket for them. They very nicely brought my book and handed it over. It was beautiful and just as I remembered it. It was like I felt complete again! We went out and had a great night dancing and checking out the night scene in Siem Reap. Ze German's bus was leaving at 7 and they had to be at the station around 6, so we all decided just to stay up to see them off and also go see the sunrise at the main temple of Angkor Wat.
It was beautiful and a wonderful way to welcome ourselves to Siem Reap. After sunrise we went back to the dorms and slept. Then later that night we went to watch the sunset on a different temple and that was beautiful as well. Cambodia has a beautiful country and a beautiful country side. We took a lot of great pictures. Then we had a pretty relaxing night, went to a good dinner and walked around the night market.
The next day we toured some of the farther temples and also met up with two other Americans (one from the beach and her friend that came out to visit). We took a van and spent the day touring the temples. On the way back we went to Angkor Thom and checked out the temple with all of the faces on it. That was a really cool temple and I wish that we had a guide to explain all of the carvings on it.
Angkor Wat and all of the temples are relatively young, if you compare them to other temples. They are about the same age as Notre Dame. Most of the temples were built between the 9th and 11th century. I had it in my head that they were a lot older, like Mayan aged temples, but they are a lot newer. Dont let that diminish how awesome they are though. They were structurally fantastic and their history is pretty great. Changing from Hindu to Buddhist temples and then the unification of the two from the 7th Angkorian king where he wanted an acceptance of both religions. It was really interesting. The day when we went to a majority of the temples, we had a guide with us so we were able to learn a lot more about the temples and its history.
Our guide, Brother Sava, was great and I highly recommend him if you come to Angkor Wat and need a guide for the day. He was great and really friendly. His email address is: sunsava2007@yahoo.com.
Also, in Siem Reap, I took a cooking class that I highly recommend! It is through the Le Tigre de Papier and is amazing! We had Savoeun and she was amazing! If you are in Siem Reap and interested in cooking at all, take this course. You get to go to the market, pick the dishes you want to prepare, have someone explain the recipes while you cook them... all for 12 dollars. That is it, just 12 dollars. By far the cheapest cooking class I have seen. And quite possibly, the best.
Before the day of the cooking class, we had another German send off. Suzie was leaving us to go back to Bangkok. We had to send her off in a fancy way so we kind of did the same stuff, went out and danced the night away until almost the morning. Her bus left a little later so she was able to get a bit of sleep before her 10 hour bus to Bangkok. It was still sad to say goodbye but we have plans to meet up again in Berlin, her hometown. And we all know, I love Germany so I am excited for that. Berlin is a place I havent been yet and have heard a lot of great things about it.
That is about it for Siem Reap. The temples were amazing! The people that we have met along the way have been fantastic and now it is time to say goodbye to Siem Reap and head out. Not too sure where or for how long, but its back on the road again!
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