Gap Adventure Tour - Cambodia

Crossing the border into Cambodia
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It was time to leave Thailand on the 8th Feb and start my first Gap Adventure Tour to Cambodia and Vietnam. We arrived into Cambodia following a 3 hour bus ride from Bangkok. The border crossing was really interesting as there is a no-mans land inbetween the Thailand and a separate Cambodia border. Gambling is prohibited in both Thailand and Cambodia and a mini Las Vegas resort full of casinos has been built in between the crossings. The queue on the Thai side of the border was full of Thai men waiting to cross to try their luck in the casinos. Once we crossed the border we faced another 3 hours drive through Cambodia. Some of the roads have not been built yet so this made for a very interesting drive (a few scary moments!). Our first stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap. We arrived early evening so took a stroll around the town which had very few roads built so was very dusty, we headed to the Angkor night market and had a catfish massage, which you put your feet into a huge fish tank and all the catfish eat your dead skin, a very different way to exfoliate! We then went to a great restaurant called ‘Dead Fish’ where the sign outside said ‘we do not serve dog, cat, rat, worm’ – very reassuring!

An example of a road in Cambodia, I wouldn't want to be driving it when its the rainy season
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The following day we woke up at 4.30am to head out to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. It was spectacular and definitely worth the early morning start. It was pitch black when we arrived and to watch the skyline slowly change colour behind Angkor Wat and as the sun rises you start to see the amazing ruins for the first time - it was breathtaking. Angkor Wat has to be my favourite part of my whole trip so far. It was spectacular and I can understand now how those who have visited Cambodia before just fall in love with this country. Angkor Archaeological Park is a World Heritage Site and is made up of dozens of temple ruins. As the temples are spread out we hired Tuk-Tuks and a driver for the day, costing only £3 each for the day. The first stop was Angkor Wat which is the most well known of the temples and then went to Angkor Thom (Great City), the entrance at the south gate is spectacular. The road leading up to it is lined with large stone figures all in profile representing gods and demons. As you enter the site you go through a ‘Gopura’ which bears 4 faces looking in each direction. The main temple inside Angkor Thom is called Bayon, believed to date back to the 12^th century, it has three levels and all quite distinct. Also on the site is the Terrace of Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King. One temple (Phimeanakas Baphuon) is of a huge reclining Buddha, it is under reconstruction and looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle with the pieces everywhere. The third temple was the temple used for the ‘Tomb Raider’ film and called ‘Ta Prohm’. When it was restored only part of the jungle surrounding it was cut back leaving huge banyan and kapok trees rising above the temple and their roots have become part of the temple and surround the buildings. As you come out of the temples you are surrounded by street kids trying to sell postcards, jewelry, water, books, anything they can. They ask where you are from and then quote all the well rehearsed facts that they know about your country. It is so sad to see them and you want to buy from them, but if you do it only justifies that they are not in school and begging is a better life. Following a long day visiting the ruins we were all shattered but managed to catch a few beers in ‘Angkor What?’ bar on a newly named ‘Pub Street’ in Siem Reap. On our way home (around 1am) we were startled by a group of street kids begging, but this time they jump up at you, grab your arm and hug you. We saw lots of beggers but this was the first time they touched us. Abandoned children is a huge problem in Cambodia, and many of them get abused in the sex trade that Cambodia is trying to deal with. There are charities in Cambodia that are trying to help such as ‘Street Friends’ (www.streetfriends.org) who support former street children new skills to help them gain skills and find jobs.

Our first meal in Cambodia at the 'Dead Fish' restaurant in Siem Reap
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We move on the following day and catch a local bus ‘Mekong Express’ to the capital Phnom Pehn. The bus ride was around 6hours and surprisingly comfortable, air con bus, plenty of room and lunch/water served on board. Not bad for less than £5. Phnom Pehn was much busier than Siem Reap. The city is built along the riverside with many sites to see, including The Royal Palace, French Quarter, National Museum, Genocide Museum and Killing Fields.

We arrived mid afternoon, so time to take a stroll along the riverside and took in some cocktails at the happy hour (always looking for bargains now!) at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia, which was used for foreign journalists during the Vietnam war. We then went to eat at the Friends Restaurant where the food was fantastic. We did hope to have time to try a local delicacy at the local market (crickets, spiders or snake) but unfortunately we missed it!

Our first view of Angkor Wat at 6am as the sun starts to rise
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The following day was a difficult one for everyone in the group, we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. During the mid to late 1970’s the Khmer Rouge took over power in Cambodia, led by Pol Pot. They became responsible for the death of over 2 million Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge created a paranoid country and emptied towns and cities, telling people that they were unsafe in the towns and sent them all to the countryside. They then began to kill their own people, including minorities, religious people and the educated. There are hundreds of ‘Killing Fields’ across Cambodia full of mass graves and it is hard for anyone to understand why this took place. In Phnom Pehn we visited the Security Office (S-21) which was designed to detain, interrogate and torture people. It is believed that over 20,000 people including women and children were detained in this prison and only 7 people had survived when the Vietnamese invaded in 1979. Many died through starvation and the rest were taken to the Killing Fields. The Khmer Rouge took accurate records of all the people detained there and there are rooms full of photographs of all the people detained there – a sight that was really difficult to look through. The S-21 was a former school which was converted into a prison, made up of four buildings, each of which had rooms that were converted into prison cells. When prisoners were taken here, the whole family would be taken and separated, the men on the ground floor, women on the first and children kept in collective cells on the second floor. When a man was interrogated, if it was decided that they were to be killed, they would take the whole family to the Killing Fields so that no questions would be asked once they disappeared. It was chilling to walk around the museum as it had been kept as it was originally found in the 70’s. Almost all Cambodians you spoke to had some relatives who died during the Khmer Rouge years, including our guide who lost his Uncle, wife and cousins during the time. His family did not get detained, but at 10years old he was separated from his family. After the museum we went to the largest Killing Field site in Cambodia which contains 129 mass graves, 43 of them have been dug up which contained the remains of 9000 bodies. A statue stands in the grounds in memory of the victims. It contains the skulls of victims buried in the graves. It’s now a peaceful place but it is still disturbing to walk round. As you walk though the fields, you can see clothing and even bones coming though the soil. It’s a place that I wanted to visit but I didn’t realise how emotional I would feel there.

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After a difficult morning we needed to relax in the afternoon and take a walk around the city, we visited the local market there and watched as the locals bartered over the fresh fish. Cambodian people are so friendly and we were often given fruits etc to try as we walked through the market. In the evening we went for a traditional Khmer meal at a local restaurant and had a fairly early evening following a long day. The next day we had an early start to take the local bus to the coastal town of Sihanoukville, a beach town tipped to be the next South East Asia beach resort. A beautiful place and a great opportunity to relax on the beach for a couple of days. On the first night there we all decided to let our hair down and have a few drinks. We started in an English bar called ‘Monkey Republic’ and then moved down to the beach which was lined with many bars/clubs with a great party atmosphere. I did have a few Jack Daniels and I think we managed to stagger home around 6am following a late night dance in Sessions. I did unfortunately miss the boat trip the following day. Everyone else made it but I must have had just one Jack Daniels too many! Sihanoukville was great and would have liked to have spent more time there. The following day it was time to move on to Vietnam, I was really sad to leave Cambodia and I hope I get an opportunity to visit again, it is certainly a country I would recommend people to visit, a country full of culture and history along with great relaxing beaches. It is cheap to travel around and the people are so friendly and welcoming.