The city where there are no street lights

Cambodia is a country with a recent troubled past, I would say, even more than its neighbour countries. It was less than 40 year ago that the Khmer rouge ruled for more than 3 years leaving behind a trail of physical and psychological trauma along with 2 to 3 million dead people (from exhaustion, hunger or political persecution). It is strange to think that this really kind and peaceful people endured all that, specially when you look at the faces of older people and you are sure that they have been through some really rough years.

Phnom Penh itself, the capital, shows that the country is poorer than Thailand and Vietnam, but also that it is changing very quickly with a lot of construction work all around (which includes all the ruble and noise that come with it). And in all this change it still makes an effort to preserve its temples and to pay homage to some of the victims with Museums dedicated to what happened under the Khmer Rouge ruling. One of them is S-21, a former primary school turned to prison/interrogation facilities that is now a museum. It is painfully real and the photos of prisoners, taken by guards, look like ghosts of people that came back to tell their story.

And then we have the traffic. Most interactions don't have street lights, and the street lights that exist are not respected (apparently, there is only one where drivers and pedestrians actually respect street lights). On the small streets where the traffic is low, this is not so bad, but in larger intersections, this means that crossing the street is always an adventure.

Looking back at this post, it seems that I haven't enjoyed the city that much, but that is not true. It is not an easy city, no, but you can see that it has soul and that it is open to people from everywhere - there is a large community of ex pats which brought along a lot of restaurants. I am quite curious to see what becomes of Phnom Penh in a few years and I would gladly come back to stay for a bit more time.

Tuk-tuks, motos and these kind of bicycles are the best way to move around

The kids were some of my favorite part of the city. Some were quite shy so I didn't take a photo, but these liked when I pointed my camera to them! :)

The World wonder that did not make the 7

I know the 7 World wonders were chosen by a world-wide popularity context where everyone could vote. This system has large advantages but some disadvantages as well. And for me, it is highly unfair that Angkor Wat did not make the top 7! Beyond the fact that it is the largest religious complex of the world, it is also an awestrucking monument.

Angkor Wat at sunrise. It was worth it getting up at 4h30am

But the historical site near Siem Reap is way more than Angkor Wat, it is like the Himalayas where Angkor Wat is the Mount Everest. Most advice that we got told us that 3 days were the best amount of time to spend in here. However, we could not afford more than 2 nights in the area if we wanted to do everything else. So after a quick first look at Angkor Wat at sunset when it was just closing down, we asked the tuk-tuk driver to pick us up at 5am so we could catch the sunrise and make use of the first hours in the morning before the temperatures rise.

Witnessing the sunrise at Angkor Wat is not a lonely experience as there is a huge crowd sitting around with all cameras pointed to the same place. But is an amazing experience to have. Afterwards, walking around the centuries old corridors and looking at the images sculpted on the walls, is inspiring and peaceful at the same time.

Some monks still live in the area

Me and Bayon

Moving forward, to the old city of Angkor Thom, Bayon was the site that impressed us the most. The mystical - all similar, all different - faces that watch over the forest around, that watch over you, that seem to watch over all the ghosts in past, are something difficult to leave someone indifferent. The pagodas with burning incense sticks are still used by locals and monks. And Angkor Thom has an eerie feeling to it (specially as it was raining slightly when we walked around it) with the building still having an impact even if nature has been slowly conquering this place back, inch by inch, tree by tree.

To top all this, our tuk-tuk driver (the one that picked us up at 5am) was the best driver ever. With all communication being done by gestures and by words completely lost in translation, we did not get any kind of guided tour, but we got his kindess, two fresh bottles of water just when we needed them, fresh towels and even our phone music blasting from the tuk-tuk (he actually asked us to put our music and increase the volume, and it wasn't enough, he amplified the sound in the sound system itself to a disco-level!). He made this experience just a little more special! :)

"What now?"

Our days at Koh Kood were unfortunately over, but we were also looking forward to our next destinations. And the most immediate one would be Cambodia and Siem Reap. After some research online and by reading our guide, we saw that it would be quite difficult to do that transition in only one day due to transportation links and how the borders work. The most widely used border-crossing is the one that goes through Poipet, but it is also the one with the worst reputation. Adding to frequent long hours of waiting in line to exit Thailand and enter Cambodia, there are numerous recounts of schams that, apparently, are now the norm.

So our plan when we left the island was to get to Chanthaburi (still in Thailand) and sleep there, get the early morning bus to Battambang in Cambodia and cross the border at Pailin saving us the stress of the scham-driven Poipet. That would make us stay in Battambang another night (which seemed a nice place to visit, anyway) and this would mean use two full days to reach Siem Reap. But that was the plan and we had made our peace with it!

When we get to mainland to the pier of Liem Sok, we border the transfer truck that would take us to Trat's bus station where we could buy the ticket to Chanthaburi. On that same truck borders a French couple that, we realise, has exactly the same plan (go to Siem Reap through Pailin), and they told us that there was a way that we could get to Battambang that day! That was great! We had both found nice travel companions and, probably, saved one day!

When we arrived to Trat we went to the Bus counter and apparently there was a way to reach Cambodia through our desired route that same day! We were so happy! We get the details of the costs and the stops in a few minutes (stop at a city after Chanthaburi and switch to another bus that will go to the border; buy the other ticket later!). Fair enough! And the bus left in 15 minutes which gave us just enough time to get some take-away lunch. In no time we were showing the ticket to the first bus to the driver. This was where we started to think that maybe we should have payed more attention to the details. And the detail (little!) was that neither of the 4 of us remembered the name of the stop! "Bo something?, It's the one after Chanthaburi!". That was our best description. We told the driver it was the one that would connect us to the bus to Pailin. But his English was as good as our Thai! "Oh well, this is going to be fun!" I thought as we boarded the bus with still no clear answer.

On the whole trip that took roughly more than two hours, I kept looking at the road signs. Before we stopped at Chanthaburi, everything was okay as our stop was after that one. Afterwards, my eyes became glued to the side of the road hoping to see a name (written in English!) that would remind me of the other one. Eventually one did (I actually don't remember this name either, now - the nights had been quite short in the previous nights and my memory was/is suffering!) and as the kms decreased I felt increasingly nervous. Around the time when we must have reached the possible stop, the driver comes to us and signals us that we should leave the bus. "Is this our stop? Stop to Pailin?" we asked, but still no understanding signs from him. We got out, as our bags were removed from the bus. In two seconds the bus is back on the move and we are on the side of the road with no idea where we are. Not in a bus station, for sure. We turn back and we were in a gas station! With no buses! We stare at each other with a "What now?" look in all our faces!

We start to ask everyone around where we could go but it was even difficult to explain that we wanted a bus to get to Pailin border. Understand what they were telling us in Thai was borderline impossible. What we understood is that no one had a clue of a bus nearby. Oh no!

Eventually the guys tried asking a lady that had a stall at the side of the road "Bus, Pailin?", "Pailin? Cambodia?". And she did look like she knew about something that could help us!! A small miracle. When the four of us are with her she is talking to us non-stop but we can't understand a word. She makes the universal sign to wait and she calls someone (maybe she wasn't even calling anyone because of us, I don't know). After a few minutes a military-type truck comes by and stops in front of us and two guys that were sitting nearby get up and go in! We start to get our things to go and ask the driver if he is going to Pailin (maybe this was the scheme!). But the lady tells us to stand still (again, with gestures). So we wait. We had no idea how long we had to wait. But that was our only option at that point so we waited! After 10 minutes (maybe) another truck comes by and our savior lady (as I like to call her) waves to it and tells us to go inside. We confirm again with the lady and the passengers "Pailin?", they consent so we go inside. We are so stunned by everything (and still a bit in shock) that we realise only when we are moving again that no one had thank the lady that had helped us (so, savior lady from the unknown place after Chanthaburi, a big thank you from the 4 of us!).

At the end, the truck drive was slightly more expensive than what was told us in Trat, and I wouldn't call this a bus (it was actually a similar truck to the ones that did the transfer from the Pier earlier that day), but we ended up getting to the border that had absolutely no lines and no-one tried to scham us and after crossing the Cambodian border we got a taxi that took us directly to 2 minutes away from the place we were going to stay.

So, in practice, everything happened as told back in Trat and was way better than what we had planned early that morning. Apart from the small panic attack we all felt for about 20 minutes! But if it wasn't for these stories, this blog wouldn't be this fun! ;)

In our way to the border

The treasure island

Thailand is often synonymous to postcard perfect beaches with clear blue water and white sand. We didn't want that much, but we wanted to go to one of the Thai islands and bathe in the sea. It had to be close to Cambodia as our 2-weeks vacation did not allow for more, and we didn't want someplace overly touristic. In the combination of these two, we ended up choosing the island of Koh Kood, that most people had never heard of before (including us).

For that we had to rise at 4h30 in Bangkok to be able to get to the Island on the same day. As backpackers we are dependent on the schedules of buses and other public transportation and specially for remote places that require a change in mode of transportation, that means, strange hours! And after 6-hours of bus ride, a transfer to the pier, a 2-hours of boat ride and a transfer to the hotel, we were perfectly installed by 3pm in Koh Kood! It seems long (and it was) but it was relatively straightfoward!

On the transfer to the hotel, already in the Island, we met a Russian guy and an older Indian guy (we never asked them their names!). After the usual "Where are you from", "Have you been here before" questions, we got into discussing the places where we were going to stay. The Russian guy who had stayed in the Island many times before mentioned that he was staying in a bungalow far from the beaches as this meant it was cheaper/best price. We mentioned, our was also far from the beaches but that was probably a bit more expensive because we had asked AC (it was still VERY hot). He said that it was a fair price (After we shared how much we were paying) and continues by saying that some of the most expensive resorts in the country are in this Island and that Hollywood stars would often come one in particular (Soneva Kiri Resort) - prices were absurd according to him. And then the Indian guy says "Yes, that's where I am staying. But I am not paying for it so it's free, and that's the best price!". Indian Guy 1 - Russian Guy 0! I thought it was a bit hard to believe that an island that is relatively unknown and small could have such a luxurious place, but after some research, I realised that this is indeed a well preserved secret.

But expensive resorts and prices talks apart, what stroke me the most, was the fact that the Russian guy had apparently been here many times before and he seemed to know his way around this region (Southeast Asia). And in the next two days, we kept bumping into people that were recurrent to this specific Island, apparently coming back year after year at times; others almost moved here permanently. This was maybe our first sign that this was not just not another picture perfect Island, this was a hidden treasure Island where the treasure is the days you spend here!

The waterfalls are amazing, the fauna and flora still run wild, the beaches are ligned with palm trees and have white sand, the water is clear blue and warm and the seafood amazing and cheap. But what I think captivated me even more was not bumping into a tourist at every turn, not being arressed every other minute to buy something (we never were, actually), being able to leave our things unattended at the beach during our long swims at the sea with no worries of what might happen, the overall "good vibe", and the inspiring sunsets! Andre was also highly captivated by the freedom of having a motorbike (the preferred way of moving around the Island) and driving it around. In short, this is a place where a person can just be and rest!

By the end, we were sorry that our two weeks and our plan didn't allow for a longer stay (we really considered it) because at the end we really understood why people come back again and again and again! We felt like we wanted to do exactly that.

The sunset at the second night

This is a fishermen village where we could find the best seafood restaurants at the best price - Andre actually tried to eat the whole restaurant!:P

(Because we were two days on the Island I thought it would be worth to upload two photos!)