Fried Locust and Vegemite

The rest of the day in Bangkok was spent sorting out our onwards plans and then getting an early night. The only problem with that was that neither of us could get a wink of sleep. We tried everything...counting sheep...talking...not talking...a cool shower...lying the other way round on the bed...listening to music.... everything. SO, at midnight (our flight to Cambodia was at 7am next morning, meaning getting to the airport at 4.30am) we decided to give in and GET UP again! On venturing out of our hotel, we found that the 'Kok was as hopping at that time as it was in the day - taxi's zooming around with blue lights underneath them, shops open selling all manner of things, food vendors, pubs, clubs and bars, all doing a brisk trade.
We decided to go for a midnight snack at a cake shop we had found the previous day. Now, if you are a regular follower of Absterstravels, then you will know that in India, there is no hope as far as cakes go. They are near non-existant, and when you do get one, it is dry and yukky. Great for the waistline, but bad for moral. Now, Thailand (well, Bangkok) on the other hand, is a different WORLD! The shop we found had a positive ARRAY of mind bending cake combinations. A veritable HEAVEN for the cake lovers amongst us. Without any hesitation, Nele and I seated ourselves in the large leather sofa's amongst the aircon white washed art covered cafe, and ordered THREE pieces of cake - one chocolate with a layer of dark, white, and milk choc mousse, one fruit, with cream and tropical fruits and one apple pie. We couldnt whittle down the choices to less than three pieces...that alone was hard enough. Several coffees later and a filling of cake, and we were the happiest girls in the 'Kok that night. WOW that is SO worth getting out of bed for!! Dawn was creeping over the city, so it was time to go to the airport to catch our flight to Cambodia.

Needless to say, we arrived in Penom Penh a little worse for wear after not sleeping at all the night before. Cambodia on first sight was slightly poorer than Thailand, but nothing like India of course. We checked into a basic but nice enough hotel in Penom Penh (the capital) rested for a couple of hours, and then headed out to have a look at the night market - which was mainly food, in the strangest combinations we have seen so far. It seems that Cambodians have a penchant for dried fish, squid, animal innards and other unidentified dried bits of flesh, both animal and foul. Also, there were lots of stalls which were rotisserie of ducks (heads on), whole fish and cow tongues..... Also in the market they had a vast array of fruits and veg, including the most stinky of them all ( I knew they had them before I got there, because I could smell them) Durian. The whole place was bustling with housewives poking fruit, tasting things, spitting and shopping with avengence. The market was surrounded by the Cambodian alternative to Rickshaws - Cyclo's and Moto's. Cyclo's are basically an armchair on the front of a pushbike, and Moto's are a moped with a little carriage attached to the back - which can take 3 people in safety, but, this is Asia - so is more usually seen carrying up to 10 people.

It started to rain (its really humid and warm here, but not as hot as India) and so we headed back for an early night - as the next day was sightseeing around the city.

Next day we hired a Moto for the day and headed out for a hardcore sightseeing day. First was a fastrack education about the troubles Cambodia has experienced in its recent history - the rule of the Khamer Rouge, and the horrors of this dictatorship ruled by Pol Pot. Basically, Cambodia was taken over by Communist fundametalists throughout the 70's, whose attitude was to destroy anything that deviated from the communist path - like music, history, art and traditional religions and values. This meant all people were expected to either join the Khamer Rouge to become the ärmy"or were expected to work the fields for the production of food for the nation. There were no other careers allowed, it was one or the other. Anything historical (like ancient monuments, art and historical sites) had to be destroyed, churches and sites of worship were also destroyed. People were kept under strict subjegation, and if they dared to do anything which wasnt allowed in the regime (like sing a song for example) then they were immediately tortured and then killed. No second chances. It seems hard to believe now in a rational society which we live in, but the Cambodians were under the rule of these fundaMENTALISTS for over 10 years - during which time Cambodia was closed to the outside, both physically and media wise, to ensure no intervention from outside. Hundreds of thousands of people were tortured and killed in the most horrific ways, the army were merciless.

After Pol Pot was overturned in the late 70's the country began a long convalescence, and only now are people really recovering. Everyone we met in the older generation had a haunted look about them, and most wouldnt talk about the "bad time" except our guide at the "Killing fields" just outside of Penom Penh - these were where the KR brought people by the hundreds to be killed. We walked round the peaceful crater pocked fields looking at the tree where babies were smashed against infront of thier mothers until they were just pulp, we looked at the special kind of palm which had a serrated edge - which was used for slitting throats as it was cheaper than bullets. We looked at holes where hundreds of bodies were dug up, all with smashed skulls indicitive of hammer killing. Our guide took us round the site shaking and smoking, suddenly coming out with "the young guys today....dont know they are f*cking born" and ...."this is where I saw my parents butchered"

Needles to say, it was a harrowing experience. Not one to repeat, but it really brought home the very recent history of Cambodia to startling life.

Then, in a spectacular itinerary faux par, we were taken to the infamous Cambodian shooting range (it was about 200 metres from the killing fields) at which we were offered a mindblowing menu -

AK47(Kalashnikov)
M16
Tommy Gun
Colt .6 handgun
Machine gun
Land air rocket launcher
Hand grenade
Coke
Fanta
7Up

You were not allowed to take any pictures of the setup, and for USD25 you could shoot a paper target with an AK with 25 bullets. For 200, you could launch a Land/Air rocket launcher or throw a few hand grenades. Freeking heck! Of course it was all illegal and knocked off from the army barracks next door....

We hightailed it out of the shooting range and headed back to PP to further our education on the Genocide - at S21 jail. This was a converted highschool at which deviants from communism were interred for the single purpose of torture. All the people interred there had thier photos taken, and so the whole place is covered with eery pics of the hundreds of people who passed through these spooky halls. The legend says that the place tortured people mercilessly until they made false confessions and then they were taken by the truckload to the killing fields. There were no concessions - women, babies, children, men and disabled people, they were all tortured. They used electric wires, hanging, fingernail pulling, water torture, whipping, isolation and overcrowding. We saw rooms were the last people were tortured (7 people were tortured to death while the US forces were marching into Penom Penh to liberate it ) and the photos of the bodies are displayed in the rooms - the tools of the torture and the beds the people died on are all on display in each room. The other block houses the cells - which are 2metres by 1 metre like wooden hutches. This is where the mothers with babies were kept, until they were killed of course... God -its a horrible place.... The walls themselves seem to exude evil.

After that, we had an upturn in the mood of the day, we visited the famous buddhist temples around Penom Penh - which are very ornately decorated, and in some cases displaying old buddha statues which were rescued from distruction. The best of these was displayed in the Silver Pagoda at the Royal Palace - a solid silver Buddha, which is adorned in thousands of diamonds - including one in each of Buddha's eyes - beautiful.

After that, we went to the central market, where we saw lots more food vending - Not much to report, except I bought the most disgusting soft drink I have ever encountered.

Next day we were on the road again - to Siem Reap, the nearest town to the Jewel of Cambodia - Ankor Wat Temples. We didnt know what to expect from a 6 hour bus journey, but our fears were allayed when we saw our coach - it was more luxurious than anything we had seen in India -a positive disco bus. It was Cerise pink, both inside and outside, had a lower floor for luggage (and live ducks it turned out) and a bathroom in fake mahogany effect. The upper floor was cerise and contained 30 seats and lots of pink curtains, as well as 5 TV's, screening, yep, Cambodian Karaoke......

For 6 hours, we had a full bus of Cambodians singing along to lift music. I would have gone out of my mind if we hadnt had walkmans and the front seats where we couldnt see the screen. Enroute, we stopped for a wee break, and all the Cambodians came back onto the bus with the bus snack of choice, which is fried locusts. Nice......

We arrived in Siem Reap and checked into a nice hostel which was in the LP, and therefore chokka full of backpackers of all types. Nice and sociable.

The Moto driver who had driven us from the bus to the hostel was very cool, so we asked him to take us round for the following few days. His name was HONG, so his nickname between Nele and Me instantly became "like a Donkey" and in the end "Donkey" Ahhhhh!

Next day we asked Hong to take us to the floating village on the local massive lake/reservoir - which he did with speed and style. We hired a boat (Nele and I had by this time picked up A.N.Other to share our costs - cool Denrick from Luton) and cruised through the chaos of the floating bazaar - selling everything you could possibly think of which could fit on a boat. Then as we moved further down the river, we saw many floating houses - which have a look of a static caravan made out of wood afloat on platforms of wood, as well as a floating school, complete with a basketball pitch and football pitch - all floating, as well as two churches, fish farms, pig and chicken houses, and countless house/shops and huts all merrily bobbing on the water. The river widens into the beautiful lake, where there are large fish, croc and watersnake farms. We visited a fishfarm, and it happened to be lunchtime...the people there were snacking on boiled turtle and fried water snakes. YUM-YUM.....

Later that day, we were to get our first glimpse of Ankor Wat - as we were to get our passes from the office , after which we get a "free sunset!"

After much hilarity getting our passes (we had to have our photo taken for the pass) we were trollied off to the entrance to the hill temple which presides over the ruin complex. After puffing up the hill, we were rewarded with a spectacular view over much of the Ankor complex - also a beautiful sunset. The only drawback was that we shared it with about 500 other people....we hoped the rest of the temples wouldnt be this crowded (its even low season now, so who knows what it would be like at high season).

Ankor wat is a small part of the whole complex - which spreads itself over a massive 40km square in this area. Ankor Wat is the biggest temple of the group, but its not the famous one with all the faces - that is Ankor Thom - the central temple called the Bayon.

Next day was our first full day of "temple hopping"and it was truly AWESOME. We visited Ankor wat at dawn, carried on to Ankor Thom to see the Bayon, the Elephant temple and the one with all the trees growing out of it (you must have seen the pics) Beautiful! The place was 60% destroyed by the communists under Pol Pot, and yet, its still by far the most beautiful archeological site I have ever visited. All the temples are covered in detailed and stunning carvings, and there is active conservation going on all over the site.

Through the next three days, we visited different parts of the site and saw all the major temples and ruins throughout the whole place. What an amazing place! I would love to spend a whole week there and just wander through these mesmerising sites again. Each temple is a short drive away from the others, so Hong came into his own! Also, one of the temples is 15KM away from the rest - so we managed to see a bit of Cambodian countryside as well. Marvellous.

One of the days, we went into a supermarket on the way home...and gues what? Joy of joy.....they had VEGEMITE on the shelves! I was so excited I took a picture for posterity!!! Of course I bought some, and so now Im Vitamin b-ed up to the MAX.

After all our temple hopping, we are spending today getting ourselves together before flying to Southern Laos tomorrow......