Dec 2, 2004 - Phnom Penh

Took a quick trip back to Phnom Penh to transition to the Southwest. The good news is that after several hours on the Internet last night I figured out how to get to Vietnam and back and still do everything I want to. Now I just have to find someone to book the flights for me...

Dec 1, 2004 - Back in Phnom Penh.

We were not back on Cambodian soil a half hour before I remembered the aspects of Cambodia I had forgotten on our two week break in Thailand. Driving from the airport to our guesthouse by moto and my eyes were once more assaulted by the dusty roads. Just how dusty the roads get vary widely - the road out to the rubbish dump being by far the worst we experience here in Phnom Penh, with the stench of the garbage trucks in your nostrils, the fine powdery dirt that accumulates in the creases of your skin. Dirt in your eyes is washed away by...

Dec 1, 2004 - Saigon and the Mekong Delta

I am sitting in Phnom Penh now, having just done a kind of dissapointing Mekong Delta trip, the first half day was a fun trip visiting little handicraft villages and seeing them make coconut candy and stuff, but the 6 hour bus trip after lunch which I didn't know was coming was a bit intense. You see I thought we would do the whole trip up to the border on a boat, which i invisaged to mean hammoks and beers and lying around watching the world go past, no one told me to prepare mentaly for 6 hours bussing it over bumpy roads in an...

Dec 1, 2004 - Fly to Phnom Penh

Late this morning we fly to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Our city tour this afternoon takes us to the Royal Palace where we visit the Silver Pagoda (also called the Palace of the emerald Buddha). We will also see Wat Phnom before having some free time in the city.

Nov 30, 2004 - Phnom Penh, the Heart of Darkness

We woke up to some blasting music outside, at 5:30 in the morning. We had to get up at six to catch our plane to Phnom Penh anyway, but it was a bit of a shock. We later found out that there was a wedding going on at a house across the street from the guesthouse and saw a huge speaker mounted on a poll facing the guesthouse. The flight to Phnom Penh was short and sweet. It lasted only 35 minutes, which is definitely an improvement from the 17 hour bus ride that we had had. We checked our luggage at the left luggage counter at the airport...

Nov 28, 2004 - Phnom Pehn and the killing fields

There is a crazy Water Festival Happening with like 50 paddlers per boat. Which I enjoyed very much. Then I came here a second time after Mondulkiri to see the bad shit: Killing fields and the Toul Sleng Prison. It was absolutely horrific. Over 8,000 people were detained, tortured for months, then taken out to the fields where they were clubbed and throats were slit. Seeing head shots of all the prisoners was way intense and I couldn't hold back the tears and the feeling of utter discust that humans can bring themselves too. It was on the...

Nov 28, 2004 - Phnom Penh

Yesterday we took a fast boat down the Tonlé Sap River from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We (I am still traveling with the 3 Aussie ladies and men from Germany and England) had a very early start at 5:30 am and took a mini bus ride to the dock. Our mini bus driver did not speak much English and we completely confused him trying to get all 6 of us picked up from our guesthouses, since we had changed guesthouses since we booked the tickets. Much door slamming a cursing (very unusual for Cambodians) later we were on our...

Nov 27, 2004 - Phnom Penh

Apres notre pause plage a Koh Chang, nous voila partis pour le Cambodge. Le passage de la frontiere entre la Thailande et le Cambodge se fait tres facilement. Le niveau de vie n'est plus du tout le meme de l'autre cote. Nous passons une nuit a la ville frontiere puis nous prenons un mini-bus direction Phnom Penh. Il ne s'agit plus de route goudronnee mais d'une bonne vieille piste avec plusieurs traversees de bras du Mekong en bateau-plateforme. Le paysage est magnifique, la nature est vraiment tres belle: cela correspond exactement aux...

Nov 27, 2004 - Phnom Penh - Killing Fields, Torture building and Cambodian History

Another early start to get to the airport for our 08:10 flight to Phnom Penh. Everyone is up and ready on time despite have a few sherberts the night before. We get to the airport and learn an important lesson on the need to pack tidily. The scanning machine for luggage being put in the hold is broken and so security are opening all the bags and searching them by hand. Luckily before they get to us the airport decide to use the scanner in international departures to scan the bags and we don't have to expose all of our dirty laundry to...

Nov 26, 2004 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

26-11-04 At long last we could lie in bed all day, well we lasted till midday anyway. We had been told that we had arrived on the second day of the three day river festival which was a big celebration marking the reversal of the tide on the Tonel Sap river and the onset of the dry season. After a quick trek round the Phsar Thmei Central Market which has a massive dome in the centre and selling food, jewellery, clothes, flowers, all the usual wares, we bought t-shirts and a book, then headed for the river to check out the action. Streets...

Nov 25, 2004 - Cambodia - Phnom Penh

Having left Thailand, Cambodia was a bit of a culture shock arriving at Koh Kong where we crossed the border and where we needed to stay one night before heading down to Phnom Penh. It was at the guesthouse here that we met our Cambodian travelling buddies in the form of Alex, Kev and Phil, 3 northern lads that didn't have the foggiest idea what they were doing! After a night in Koh Kong the 5 of us plus 2 Germans bundled into a mini bus and began the long and eventful journey to Phnom Penh. Having been told that it would only take 5 hours,...

Nov 18, 2004 - Cambodia; Phnom Penh

I'm thinking that this could be the shortest entry yet about a place. We found Phnom Penh boring to say the least. We arrived at lunch time off the boat and were surrounded by about 100 touts all wanting to take us to their hotel. We managed to get through about 75 of them (you think i'm joking but they were everywhere and grab your to get you on their bus. We were luckyu and there was a tout there from where we were going to head to. The place was ok cos there was a huge sitting area that went out across the lake, but the food was a bit...