A day around Phnom Penh

We had one full day in Phnom Penh and decided to make the best of it by organising a tuk tuk driver to take us around the sights that we still wanted to see. This included the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, the National Museum and the Royal Palace.

Choeung Ek

Choeung Ek is now a genocide memorial centre, where the victims of the Khmer Rouge's atrocities are commemorated. This area is known as the Killing Fields, since the Khmer Rouge brought their prisoners here to be executed - they did so by bludgeoning them with any instruments they could find, such as hoes and shovels; they smacked childrens' heads against trees to kill them. This was done in order to save the few bullets they had. The various mass graves can still be seen and still now bones and remnants surface after rains; these are collected and kept in containers for all to see.

Perhaps the most impressive sight of the memorial centre is the stupa that was built by the government to house the bones, clothes and skulls that were found in the mass graves. This stupa is 17 levels high and each level is filled.

Walking around the area of the killing fields, one can see many indentions in the ground - these were all mass graves. The small museum exhibits the tools used for killing the prisioners and gives some information about the main characters involved in the Pol Pot regime. There is also short film - though this was not as informative as it could have been.

Having been to Choeung Ek, the real atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge really become apparent and it can only lead one to compare the genocide with the Holocaust during the WWII. It's quite disgusting and makes it all the more astonishing how the Cambodians can still be such happy and friendly people today (at least on the outside).

The National Museum

The National Museum is to be found in central Phnom Penh and is a wonderful old, red building with a nice little garden surrounding it and a peaceful courtyard in the centre. The museum houses many statues and statuettes from the various temples around Angkor and the rest of the country. The statues are relatively well kept and most of them depict Buddha or Hindu Gods. I must say that what I found most impressive were the professional pictures taken of the temples of Angkor.

The Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda

The Royal Palace looks out over the point at which the rivers surrounding Phnom Penh converge (also the reason it was built there). The palace is still in use, with only some parts of the gardens and the buildings being accessible to the public. It being a royal palace, the decadence is overwhelming - everything is gold-plated and intricately carved and kept in great state. The main reception room is a very long room at the end of which is the throne upon which the King will be seated to receive his guests. The walls are finely decorated and the detail is impressive. Surrounding the palace are immaculately tended to gardens that complete the image of symmetry in the whole.

In a separate courtyard from the Royal Palace, stands the Silver Pagoda - so called because the floor is silver plated. Other than that, it now contains innumerable statues and statuettes. The pagoda itself is quite pretty, but nothing really special as such. Around the back of the pagoda stands a significant model of Angkor Wat, which in itself is worth seeing; also, when leaving the complex, there is a video which gives a lot of explanation as to the temples of Angkor and is worthwhile watching if you have the time.



Food 

The food in Cambodia - seafood, vegetables and meat alike - is gorgeous! Until this point we have not eaten anything that did not taste wonderful, though we did realise/find that eating at really local places is cheaper (obviously), but also better - so that was the plan from that day onwards.

Phnom Penh



The only skyscraper in Phnom Penh

 We left Siem Reap early in the morning and took a bus for the 6 hour journey to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival we were met by our guide, who took us to the hotel, where we quickly checked in and then met our guide for a walking tour around the city.

The first thing that caught my eye about Phnom Penh is that it looked very underdeveloped for a capital city. I expected there to be more tall buildings and maybe some more modern architecture (comparable to Bangkok); this, however, is not the case. Phnom Penh's buildings are still old and many dilapidated, however, the city has a great vibe. It lies on the banks of three rivers - the Mekong, the Tonle Sap and the Tonle Bassac - which means that there is a nice promenade next to the river, inevitably full of hotels and bars. Upon walking around, it becomes clear that Phnom Penh is being developed very quickly and there is more and more foreign investment in the country. There are building sites everywhere and it seems that modern, glass skyscrapers and malls are things that will change the skyline and atmosphere of Phnom Penh in the very near future.

We saw the central market, a building built by the French in 1937 and kept in good condition by the Cambodians. The central market seems to contain everything from food and souvenirs to jewellery and clothes. 

We further saw Wat Phnom - the temple on the hill - after which the city is named. The story of this temple is that a hollowed out tree trunk containing three Buddhas (two made of wood and one of bronze), was found washed onto the banks of the river at exactly this point. The woman who found them then decided to build a hill and a temple at this place and to place the Buddhas in this temple. Now, of course, the temple is still there - the Buddhas are not - and there is a statue commemorating this woman, on the sides of which the story of the temple is depicted.

On our way to the promenade, where our guide would leave us, we passed by the old French colonial post office - which is still being used now. Our guide then proceeded to let us know that the Cambodians try to keep the old French buildings in good condition, but that sometimes (like recently) "the buildings collapse and some people died.. hahaha". We did not quite understand the humour in that statement, but did and still do have fun recounting it. We then spent the evening sitting at a restaurant on the promenade, having great food and just enjoying being in Phnom Penh.

The Temples of Angkor

Angkor was the old capital of Cambodia until it was moved to Phnom Penh. It is estimated that up to 2 million people used to live there. Now the area is a jungle full of temples and surrounded by rice fields. It is clear that everything here is geared towards the tourist industry, with most buildings being hotels, shops, restaurants or bars (except for the outskirts, which is where the locals must live).


We got up nice and early and rented some bicycles so we could get around easily between the various temples. I don't think that we really knew what we were getting ourselves into by deciding to ride bicycles in the heat. In actual fact it turned out quite well, as the roads were good and quite flat and mostly shaded by trees. Using bikes made it easy to stop wherever we wanted to take photos.

First we rode to Angkor Wat, probably the most famous of the temples of Angkor. It was built in the 12^th century and is depicted on the current Cambodian flag. Its five spires are built to represent a closed lotus flower. It’s a shame that the middle spire was being renovated as that took away the possibility of the cliché tourist photo in front of the impressive temple. The temple itself is full of intricate carvings that remind me of the ones I saw in India on the temples there. 

The next temple we rode to was the Bayon temple in the ancient city of Angkor Thom. The Bayon temple was built in the late 12th Century and consists of multiple towers all with serene faces watching over you wherever you walk. The temple was built as the state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII - some say that the faces on the spires are of him in deep meditation. 

Angkor Thom itself contains various smaller shrines and one larger one (Baphuon) which cannot be entered. The area covered by the city is quite large and must have housed a significant community during its peak period. 

From Angkor Thom we rode on towards Ta Prohm, also known as the jungle temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. On our way we stopped at Ta Keo a smallish temple in the area that it covers, but with an extremely high spire which can be climbed, giving a view of the jungle surrounding the temple. The climb up was already a challenge, but getting down was more of a nightmare, especially seeing that the steps were very regular and wide!

Ta Prohm, the jungle temple, is impressive in showing the force of nature. Massive trees and their roots are intertwined with the temple buildings, making for impressive pictures and scenery. The beauty of the temple lies in this mixture and understandably the temple itself is nowhere near what I would imagine to be its glory of old.

After having cycled around and seen the above, we were quite exhausted and started on our 11km bike ride back to the hotel, which we reached at about 4 pm, at which point we realised that we hadn't eaten since breakfast and that we had been either walking or cycling since 9.30 am - we found that quite impressive. So yea, pot noodles and a swim were in order and then dinner and drinks later.

We were then ready for a fresh start in the morning by bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.

Welcome to Cambodia

We got up early to catch our mini-bus to Cambodia and had a comfortable journey. Before the border we stopped and the idea was to change buses to a Cambodian company. However, when we got off the bus we were told we were ‘special’ and that we hadn’t booked the rest of the trip to Siem Reap, so the trip ended there for us. We knew that we were supposed to be transferred all the way to our hotel, so we figured our guy would be waiting on the other side of the border. This meant that we hoisted our packs and took it upon us to walk 1.5km to the border and cross the border on foot. I don’t remember the last time (if ever) that I had to cross a border on foot! Quite an experience.

Once on the other side it was stunning how friendly the people became all of a sudden! The Cambodians are such soft spoken people. One of the people there let us use his mobile to call the company, from which we found out that there had been a miscommunication between the two offices and so we should just take a taxi for the 150km to Siem Reap, that will be paid upon arrival. So yea, after crossing the border on foot, we then got into an air-conditioned taxi that took us straight to our hotel.

We checked in and spent the afternoon by the pool, walked into the centre for dinner and enjoyed the first of many amazing Cambodian dishes. We found a nice bar where we had some drinks before taking a tuk tuk back to the hotel, ready for an early start in the morning to discover the temples of Angkor.  

Bangkok Revisited

I arrived in Bangkok early in the morning and took it upon me to find a nice double room away from the noise of the main backpacker street of Khao San. This mission went quite quickly and I was happy to shower and rest for a while before getting some food and meeting-up with Marcel, as well as two other friends who happened to be in Bangkok for two days too. Yay! Mini-reunion! We just went for a few drinks – that may have turned to too many and just chilled out and enjoyed each others’ company. At some point I went home and Marcel decided to stay on for a while – the result was that he was chased by lady boys and got lost on his way home.

When waking me up to tell me this I was totally confused as to who was in my room and why and also as to what language he was speaking to me. This caused a little confusion until he said my name and things slowly started coming back to me – so yea, I was deep in sleep and am not used to sharing my room anymore!

As was to be expected we spent the next day doing some major chilling-out, any attempt to go and do something more productive (like sightseeing) was also counteracted by the weather, which was telling us to just hang out.

We got a good night’s sleep and got up early the next day to check out and find our pre-booked hotel for the official start of our Cambodia and Vietnam tour. We then made our way to Wat Arun on foot and by water bus, stopping at a street market on the way to get some food. Wat Arun is a temple entirely inlaid with Chinese ceramics that were left as unneeded ballast by the Chinese merchants. These pieces of ceramic are used all over the temple and put together in various designs so that the temple was complete covered. It’s quite an impressive sight!

 Climbing up as far as possible was an experience in itself, with both of us not being the most comfortable climbing up narrow, high and uneven stairs. More difficult than getting up, was actually working up the nerve to climb down! At least we weren't the only ones who didn't find this funny.

In the temple grounds some children playing with their bicylces; they used plastic cups and put them between the back wheel and the bike to make it sound like a motorbike when they rode around. I found it wonderful and so innovative how these little kids of not more than 10 years could take something so simple and have so much fun out of it. It makes me think of children of a comparable age in Europe who cannot be happy with what they have and would never think of doing something like that. They would be much more interested in a new playstation or remote controlled car. It really makes you think about what happiness actually is.

We then went to Wat Pho so that Marcel could see the reclining Buddha. After which we went to Sirocco bar in the Dome – the Hangover II bar – where we enjoyed some nice cocktails and views over Bangkok. We managed to get there in time to get nice views with the daylight and then enjoy the sunset. For those that are interested: the bar really is as nice as it looks in the movie.

A nice few days of beach on the island of Koh Samui

I arrived on the Thai island of Koh Samui directly from Malaysia. After immigration I got a minibus and then a tuk tuk to take me to Lamai, where I had booked into a pretty cool hostel. Upon arrival there I quickly met people who were all going to the full moon party, basically a whole night of drunken mayhem on the beaches of Koh Phanyang. Had it been a day later I would have gone, but I was not at all feeling it that night. I joined the pre-drinking sessions and then the post-party drinking session in the morning when all came back. The day, of course, was spent by most either still totally drunk until the next day, sleeping or walking around like zombies.

The rest of my time in Koh Samui was spent on the beach swimming and sleeping and chilling out and eating. And in this manner the days pass quickly and my three nights passed by without my even realising. Just to illustrate that there is no concept of time when chilling out like this: I only realised on the day that I was leaving that I had been living one hour ahead of everybody else, because I had forgotten to change the time on my clock! I only noticed when I was supposed to be leaving and everyone was saying that it's 9 a.m. and I was convinced that it was 10 a.m.. There were some moments that I found strange, such as that breakfast was supposed to be available until 10 a.m., but in my time it was always available until midday  - which I found very accommodating by the hostel staff (turns out it was available until 11 a.m. - which is also accommodating, but obviously not to the same extent as it would be if it had been midday).

I left Koh Samui yesterday, taking the ferry and then a combination of busses back to Bangkok. I was very sad to leave my best friends in laziness - sun, sea and sand. It would have been great if I had had more time to go island hopping and discover some more great beaches. But now it's back to Bangkok where I will be meeting Marcel - my travel buddy for the next month!

A week of eating and recovery in Malaysia

The first thing I noticed when I looked out of the airplane when we were landing in Kuala Lumpur, was how green it looked. From the air Kuala Lumpur looks like a modern city in the middle of the rainforest! This first impression is exactly what Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding areas are like. Of course the greenery in the central business district is slightly inhibited by the high rise buildings and towers, but still every effort is made to have tropical plants and greenery there too.




I booked a flight to Kuala Lumpur and had organised to stay at a friend's house for the weekend and then head back to Thailand where I'd chill out on the beach. Due to my wonderful friends the stomach worms, I was not feeling too well and have ended up staying here for a week now and have been taken care of wonderfully by my friend and his family, who have been extremely hospitable.

I've experienced the Malaysian clubbing scene and party scene, as well as having been introduced to the culinary highlights of Malaysian-Chinese cuisine (which aparently due to the fact that I don't eat meat I am unable to fully appreciate)! I'm starting to realise that my trip and blog are turning out to be very heavily food related, but in all honesty I'm being introduced to foods that I've never heard and never seen before in my life! It makes me realise that though we have great food in Europe, there's a whole other culinary world out there just waiting to be experienced (there is just too much to even begin writing about here - but wow! The food was amazing).

Eating seems to be a national sport in Malaysia; people eat all the time. Going to the mall, it seems that there are just as many eateries and cafes as there are stores and they are always full, many with queues outside for hours on end! Please note that I was there during Ramadan, so a whole group of people fasting was not even present at these points in time, I can only imagine what it would be like during a normal month of the year.

As regards the partying scene, I have not experienced drinking in the manner that these Malaysians drink ever before. The idea is just to drink. So you'll go out and have a bottle of whiskey and a bucket of beer and just drink it all in shots whilst playing drinking games. I think that the concept of just going out for a beer or a drink in a what I would call "chilled out way" does not exist in Malaysia. Their idea of having a chilled night out is doing exactly what I described before. Then a party night, which I also had the pleasure of experiencing, will involve towers of beer, mutlitple bottles of whiskey, buckets of long island ice tea and shots of tequila and jaeger bombs. Whoever said that asians can't drink was seriously mistaken! Before hitting the club we went to a really nice bar from which the view of the Petronas Towers (Malaysia Twin Towers - the highest buildings in the world until Taipei No. 1 was built) was absolutely stunning, so I did do a bit of conventional sightseeing, in addition to the culinary experience I was having. 

 In addition to the Petronas Towers, my other bit of sight seeing was the mosque in Shah Alam, a huge building, intricately designed. It was not possible to enter the mosque itself, seeing as it was prayer time and it is Ramadan at the moment (though I'm not sure the mosque is open to the general public on any other days either).

We also went to karaoke (and not the dodgy kind), yay!! Apparently when you go to karaoke, you must do one of the following: sing, eat or drink. Normally the choice for me would seem obvious.. drink! But since I was on medication that was out of the question; eating was definitely out of the question, since I was just eating waaaayyy too much! As a result, I had to grace all those present with my wonderful singing, which at least I had the courtesy to warn people of - but even with that warning I feel that my singing was hugely inadequate in comparison to those present, who all seemed to have perfect pitch; at least they were nice about it and made me feel like my performance - thank God I wasn't singing alone - wasn't too bad.