Traveling to Cambodia

Thursday morning began with an early tuk-tuk ride to the Vientiane Airport, a quick ten minute ride through downtown Vientiane and out to the outskirts of town. Our trip to Cambodia has been the on the forefront my mind for weeks as it was the largest and longest trip we would take during our trip to SE Asia. That being said, I’m sure you can imagine how eager and anxious I was to be in Cambodia and how interminable the wait seemed at the airport. It was soon (“soon” in retrospect and in the grand scheme of life, although at the time it was horrendously long) over, however, and we were off. Before I knew it we were descending into Phnom Penh and it was time to begin our trip in earnest.

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and is located, roughly, in the southern-central portion of the country. It is a huge metropolis with about 2 million people or so within its borders. As with Vientiane, Phnom Penh is situated on the Mekong River; however, the comparison between the two cities must end there. As I have mentioned many times before, Vientiane is a small, sleepy city that has an extremely safe feel to it. Phnom Penh is the antithesis of Vientiane. From the air, Phnom Penh is a massive sprawl that is overwhelming just to view. We touched down in the city and went through the process of entering another country, which involves applying for a visa (only $20 here – keep this figure in mind over the next few days as we will discuss it again later), going through customs, handing over declaration forms to officials, tag checks on luggage, etc. It is quite a process and once you are through it is still not over.

Cambodia has some horrific history in its past, which I will tell you briefly about now so that you will not feel completely lost in the future. Any official documents you receive in Cambodia will be labeled, “Kingdom of Cambodia,” and this is quite right. Historically (and now), Cambodia (except for that period when they were colonized by the French) has been ruled by a long line of Kings. But in 1975, Cambodia fell prey to the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge literally means the “Red Khmer” as native Cambodians are Khmer people. The Khmer Rouge was led by a man named Pol Pot who was a devoted follower of Karl Marx and communism. He had a dream to turn Cambodia into a self-sustaining agrarian landscape with no major cities, no education, no religion, and no individuality. For years before 1975 the Khmer Rouge had been fighting for power in the rural areas of Cambodia, but on April 17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia for over three years from 1975 to January 7, 1979 when the Vietnamese liberated Phnom Penh and began fighting the Khmer Rouge across Cambodia. However, by then it was too late for many Cambodians as the Khmer Rouge had managed to kill ¼ of Cambodia’s total population, around 2 million people. During their reign, the Khmer Rouge emptied all major cities in Cambodia (Phnom Penh was emptied the day it was taken and remained so until it was liberated by the Vietnamese) and forced everyone into the countryside to work in the fields as, basically, slaves. Not content with merely moving these people, however, the Khmer Rouge also made it a practice to kill anyone who had been involved in the previous government (and their families), intellectuals, professionals, anyone with a skill or trade, people who wore glasses, anyone with an education, and, eventually, many who had simply lived in a city. They closed down all schools and outlawed Buddhism, even going so far as to destroy temples and kill the monks.

Today, Cambodia still bears the scars of their time under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Almost every family in Cambodia can point to at least one individual they lost during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, and often families lost many, many more. Across the landscape of Cambodia, Killing Fields have been discovered. These are areas of mass graves where the Khmer Rouge executed their “enemies” and dumped the bodies (the ultimate insult to the people whose religion teaches them that their souls will be trapped on Earth and unable to be reincarnated if they are not properly buried). The people themselves were also eternally altered by the effects of the Khmer Rouge (not surprisingly). Many Cambodians left their country and emigrated away after the liberation of Phnom Penh. Although much of the country was now free, the Khmer Rouge remained in the rural mountains of Cambodia and continued to fight (dropping bombs on random villages and killing people) until 1999. Today, landmines planted by the Khmer Rouge still litter the countryside, causing horrendous injuries and devastation. In addition, foreign nations continued to accept the Khmer Rouge as the “legitimate” government of Cambodia until that time (including the US!). I know I’ve probably already spoken about this more than you want to hear, but after visiting this amazing country it is hard not to ramble on about all I have learned and seen. But I’ll talk more on this subject later…

Our time in Cambodia, despite being the longest of any of our trips, was extremely limited for what we wanted to see and do. This meant we had to manage our time very carefully and before even embarking on our sight-seeing mission we had planned each step of our journey out to maximize our time in each location. Unfortunately, this meant we had to head immediately from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, located in north-eastern Cambodia and accessible by a 6+ hour bus. Therefore, as soon as we stepped out of the airport, we headed for the tuk-tuk stand to get a ride to the local bus station. The bus station in Phnom Penh is located quite far from the airport, so we were able to see a bit of the city on our trip.

Notes and Impressions from a Tuk-Tuk Ride through Phnom Penh:
1. The traffic lights in Phnom Penh are quite interesting. Each light comes equipped with a large counter that tells cars and pedestrians (there are actually pedestrians in Phnom Penh, created by the huge amount of poverty in this country that does not allow many people to own cars or motorbikes) how much time is left on either their red light or green light. It is an ingenious system. There is no guessing about when a light will change because you simply look at the numbers flashing by to see how much time remains. Genius.
2. About ¼ or more of the population wears blue face masks that cover their mouths and noses. This is actually a very smart thing to do as the city is filled with dirt and dust. I found myself sneezing throughout our trip due to the dust and dirt that blew up off the street in Phnom Penh. It is also a very interesting sight. Groups of people will be walking down the sidewalk, laughing and chatting, with blue face masks cover the majority of their faces.
3. The main city streets of Phnom Penh are large and spacious, often providing two or three lanes for each direction of traffic with a green median between. This is very fortunate as the city has the potential to feel extremely claustrophobic otherwise. Every bit of space in Phnom Penh is occupied. Shops sit sandwiched next door to each other, each jammed to the ceiling with products and items for sale, spilling out of their shop and onto the sidewalk. Looking out on the scene you can’t help but search for some small piece of land that is unused, but it cannot be found. Alleys are considerably different than the main thoroughfares, being cramped narrow lanes that could not even accommodate a car. This is where the true claustrophobia lives as the buildings soar up six stories above the alleyways, leaving no room to breathe. On the main roads, any areas not occupied by stores are taken up by people who have set up different “businesses” on the roadside: barbers set up chairs, with mirrors attached to wire fences, cutting the hair of business men; women set up card tables covered with books on Cambodia to sell to tourists (often these are seconds with misprints on covers or other small issues that can be purchased for $1-$5); and tuk-tuk drivers sit in large groups on each corner, ready to pounce on potential fares.

Back to Our Journey…

The bus ride to Siem Reap was long and the bus was a shade closer to that of “Romancing the Stone” than the Thai and Lao buses I was used to riding. We had been unable to secure a bus ticket from the main bus station as they were sold out (bus tickets can’t be bought out of country ahead of time, so we had to rely on assurances that buses could be found once we got into Phnom Penh), but our tuk-tuk driver drove us to a travel agency near the station that had a bus leaving immediately we could catch. Many tuk-tuk drivers in SE Asia have deals with hotels and travel agencies that give them a commission if they direct tourists to their establishments. While I can understand how this can be of real benefit to the drivers, it can also be something of a nuisance to tourists as tuk-tuk drivers have no compunction telling you that your hotel/guesthouse has closed down, has rats, or other problems and then offers to take you to the guesthouse they are connected with. Therefore, the process of getting a tuk-tuk driver to take you where you really want to go can be something of a chore. In this case, however, we were more than happy that he knew of a travel agent from whom we could buy a ticket.

The landscape of Cambodia is quite different from that of Thailand or Laos. If you look up statistics on Cambodian environment you will read a lot about the Cambodian jungles; however, a drive through the countryside leaves no evidence of these jungles in sight. Instead, the land appears distinctly flat through the center of Cambodia with rice paddies and other agriculture stretching out as far as the eye can see. Dotting the landscape here and there are random palm or fruit trees, but the majority of the land is full of rice.

Along the ride to Siem Reap I met with my first example of what is, here evidently, a delicacy – fried grasshoppers! They are fried up and set out on a table in a large basket, ready to be bagged and then consumed. I am sorry to say I was not feeling very adventurous towards eating grasshoppers on this trip and I decided to forego the pleasure of this wonderful source of protein. We arrived in Siem Reap, were met at the bus station by a tuk-tuk driver sent from our hotel (getting the hotel to provide a tuk-tuk is always the best way to first get there as the driver knows where to go and you don’t have to deal with the issues discussed above), and soon arrived at our guesthouse for the next two nights, the Golden Banana Bed and Breakfast. It was a lovely place and when I saw that there was actually a separate shower area in the bathroom, complete with shower curtain to divide the space, I almost cried. (Most of the time/all of the time the showers are merely a nozzle on the wall that sprays the whole bathroom as you bathe.) There was no real time for that, however, as we needed to get out and start exploring since we would only have two evenings in Siem Reap on this trip as the next day would be spent at Angkor Wat.

We wandered across the river to the Old City of Siem Reap and immediately found a place to eat in one of the small alleyways in the city that Siem Reap has turned into touristy areas with upscale restaurants. That night we feasted on Cambodian BBQ. This is BBQ unlike anything you have ever experienced and it was amazing. At restaurants that serve Cambodian BBQ the table has a large hole in the center where a clay and iron pot rests, filled with red hot coals. Over the top of the pot sits a metal cooking container with a dome in the center and a ring around the outer edge that can be filled with liquid. The general idea is to cook your meat on the dome and create a soup with broth, vegetables, and noodles around the outer edge. When you arrive at the restaurant, you order a single serving size of BBQ materials, and the waiter brings out the pot and a selection of meats and veggies. You then proceed to cook your own meal. It is a fun and interactive process that actually provides plenty of laughter (often from meat sliding off the dome and into the soup so you are forced to retrieve it). Now, what is most interesting about this particular experience is the meats that I consumed. I had two traditional meats, beef and chicken, which were quite good, but your interest will lie with the other meats I ate – snake and crocodile! Yes, dear readers…this adventurous bookworm has eaten Cambodian BBQed snake and crocodile and I must admit that both are delicious! In fact, the snake was my favorite meat, followed by crocodile, the chicken and beef coming in a far distant third and fourth. We had an amazing time cooking our food and eating in such a communal manner.

After we finished dinner, we headed over to the Siem Reap Night Market. I know, I know…”another Night Market?” Well, Siem Reap is a very small town and there is not much else to do. In addition, Night Markets are a lot of fun and usually the places where you can find your best deals. The Market in Siem Reap is no exception to the rule that Night Markets are a good time and we had a lot of fun exploring the stands and seeing the differences between Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. During our rambles I discovered an amazing fact as well. A couple years ago, my amazing father bought me a bag in Berkeley that I had fallen in love with. It was made from a recycled fish bag and had come from “somewhere in Asia.” Well…the mystery has been uncovered – it was from Cambodia! As I mentioned earlier, Cambodia has a horrific recent history and one of the major long-reaching consequences of that history is a serious food shortage. In fact, people here are obsessed with food (not surprisingly as so many people starved to death during the Khmer Rouge and after it was overthrown), and as Cambodia is not able to grow enough of its own food, they often buy food from Vietnam. The food they receive from Vietnam (rice and fish food) is transported in sacks (similar to plastic weave rice sacks you see in the states – visit Costco), but once the food is eaten they are left as trash as the Vietnamese do not reuse them. Cambodia, being an enterprising nation, has started to reuse these bags themselves, turning them into purses, shoulder bags, wallets, etc. Obviously, some have found their way to the states, but the real place to find them is at the source, here in Cambodia! The bags are beautiful and an amazing way to be environmentally friendly, so I bought two! :) I just couldn’t be stopped.

We spent the rest of the evening at the Night Market, spending quite a bit longer than we intended, so that we only left at 11:30 pm, getting back to our hotel in time for sleep at 12 am, which was a good thing as our day started at 4:15 am the next morning…