A Farm by the Sea

January 2 - Phnom Penh

A relatively early start: We hired a Tuk-tuk to take us around for the day, and show us the "sights" of Phnom Penh. But beware - most of the sights in this city, apart from the usual array of gold lined temples and palaces, are to do with the events of 1975-1979, and the rule of the Khmer Rouge (KR). After the adrenaline of the day before, today was extremely sobering.

By night, just like Ko Phangan, it becomes a hub of beachside restaurants and bars, all lit with tasteful fairy lights

To kick off our tour we begun with the "Killing Fields" of Choeung Ek - the memorial where over 8,000 skulls are displayed in a monument that sits beside surely one of the world's most chilling grave yards. To be quite frank, there is not much else here - but there is certainly enough to evoke a dark, twisted feeling. The remains of the graves are now but holes in the ground - signposts indicating who lay where - some graves for women and children, some for the elderly, and most for the general population. Similarly, the skulls are arranged by sex and age. Put simply, this place is a chilling reminder of the tyrannical rule of the red Khmers, or "Kaymers" as the Americans seem to call them. (*Rolls eyes*)

As if this wasn't gloomy enough, our next stop was the Tuol Sleng museum, a school that the KR transformed into a detention centre, where it tortured and killed over 17,000 citizens, many of them intellectuals. Being young and inexperienced travellers, neither Judy nor myself have been to Auschwitz, but I'm guessing that even a visit there couldn't possibly seem as real as this. (I'm probably very wrong). The reason - Nazi Germany was some 60 years ago, and Austria is a country that is now wealthy enough to, I assume, maintain that relic in a more cosmetic fashion. Cambodia is only 27 years out of Year Zero, and 8 years out of civil war, and does not have the funds to "do up" this place - and it shouldn't either - the museum obtains full effect the way it is. And the way it is, I imagine, is not much different to the way it was 27 years ago.

From the outside, it looks like a well worn school with some unnecssarily harsh barbed wire fences, and some very touristy school buses parked outside. But inside, the classrooms, transformed into holding cells, remain near the condition they were in at Vietnamese Liberation, 1979. A Bed, some shackles, an empty room with rotting tiles, and if you look carefully, some blood stains on the floor. Some rooms have been transformed into photo galleries, displaying the faces of many of those kept here - others show how prisoners were tortured, or the way they looked post mortem - apparently the KR had a obscene fascination with death. This is a grotesque place, built to remind us all of mankinds potential for evil, and despite being so vile, should not be missed on a trip to Cambodia.

After our painful pilgrimage, we headed to the Russian markets, where let's face it - not much was doing. For dinner, we wondered around for some time looking for a Viet restaurant listed by lonely planet, only to find out that it was now just an empty street corner. I guess you can't be right all of the time. Then back to the other side of the park to a Korean restaurant we spotted, which was... opening tomorrow. Then a tuk-tuk to a Chinese restaurant by the river, where the serving sizes were ridiculously big, and funnily enough, the food was similar to Viet. Ahhh satisfaction. On the way, I managed to slip into a puddle of suspicious mud, drenching my whole foot in what was most likely a combination of leftovers, effluent, spit and the like. Judy laughed it up, and then offered to by me a bottle of water to wash it off about 10 hours later. Thanks babe! NB: Judy's obsession with fair lights ended here. After seeing some nice ones in the park, she's now "totally over them". Way passe.

January 3 - Phnom Penh/Sihanoukville (Serendipity Beach)

A late wake up, a midday bus trip, and thank god it wasn't like the last one. In hindsight, I think Sihanoukville's roads were (most of the time) amongst the best in this country, and to an extent, in Thailand. The bus trips here never seem THAT scenic, but if there was anything that spectacular you'd think it'd be a tourist attraction by now. Oh, except a burning house, and a huge crowd of onlookers... Yes Khmer's have a very very strong crowd mentality.

From the bus terminal, two very convincing moto drivers with beady eyes took us on the tour of the accomodation options before we gave up @ Sbov Meas, a new joint near "Serendipity Beach". We were a little suspicious because the electricity was down as we checked in, due to problems with their new generator, but couldn't be bothered to look anywhere else. Note at this point that the electricity went down quite a few times over our 3 night stint. Plus, staying at this place meant we could hire a BRAND NEW moto (3,000km in), which we were both pretty excited about (although being manual, it took some getting used to). After a "We made it" beer (Angkor of course) we  headed down to the beach for a feed - and wow, what a beach it was! Serendipity is the nickname for the developed end of Occheuteal beach, a huge stretch of sand that rivals many of Thailand's finest. By night, just like Ko Phangan, it becomes a hub of beachside restaurants and bars, all lit with tasteful fairy lights (no glary neon signs thank god), and further illuminated with candles and bonfires. "I feel as if this is the first place I can truly relax" commented an impressed Judy. And the good news is, that at the moment, it's the first place in Cambodia that seems to be developing in some kind of a managable way - hotels and guesthouses across the road, and small restaurants and shacks on the beach. Then again I'm sure this will all change as people find out about this town. I wish I could have taken better camera shots of it, but unfortunately, it's hard to take these sorts of shots at night, and it's very hard to describe how fantastic it is. Very satisfied, we called it a night.

Or did we? A problem arose this night, that was relevant to the trip so far, but  became suddenly pronounced. Tom - Channel 19, 36 and 43. Judy Channel 49 and 50. You guessed it. The TV Station fights. It's amazing how you don't need TV when it's not there, and then when you have it you get so picky. Channel 50 and 49 were Animal Planet and National Geographic, so Judy could aaaaw! over some big cats in the Sahara (meh) - or alternatively watch some old school flicks on the Chinese station, with no English subtitles. I on the other hand, was more interested in watching the latest hollywood film, or the days best goals on ESPN. Our little war of TV remote attrition began tonight - and many a brave soldier (well at least one) went to sleep each night not quite satisfied... And it was usually me.

January 4 - Sihanoukville (Serendipity Beach)

Our first real day in Sihanoukville was spent exploring the beaches, in particular Occheuteal, the extension of Serendipity, and Otres beach. We took our brand spanking new moto for a spin, cruising down the "highway" and found some extremely quiet spots, with few people in sight. Herein lies the beauty of Sihanoukville - you get amazing beaches, as you do in Thailand, but gone are the jetski salesmen, the deckchairs and the abundance of tanning lotion littering the sea foam. If you want this, it's available, but walk 200m down, and you find a quiet spot to relax in waters that rival some of Thailands best. On Otres Beach, we ate 10 baby lobsters for $3, Judy got a massage, and I had an unfortunate incident trying to get back up a hill on the bike. But the vibe was extremely relaxed.

The beaches also make you realise what a real beach is. Not the well combed Bondi's and Copacabana's, not even the "hidden beaches" of Sydney's North East. These beaches are untouched in parts, nothing but sand, sun and a few trees. But you'll also get wildlife - cows anyone? and unfortunately, rubbish blown down, or left by yesterdays travellers. I guess the only thing that could improve this place is a better rubbish collection system.

That night, after an elongated nap, we ate dinner on the beach, and entertained the hawker kids by playing tic tac toe - if I lost, I was obligated to buy a picture. The kids like to do this, and hence beat me quite easily, but it was worth it for the experience, and the cause was good.

January 5 - Sihanoukville (Serendipity Beach)

We woke up bright and early for the Ream national park tour, not expecting a lot given Cambodia's inherent lack of organisation, and yet still hoping for the best. I guess to sum up, the program wans't that well planned out, and lacked the activities of the Thai tours. First problem was a whiney Swedish couple who had to complain all day. One person losing their patience can make it hard for the rest to enjoy as much, but anyway. The tour basically consisted of a boat that took us through the mangroves to a secluded beach, which was nice, yet not quite as nice as the other beaches of Sihanoukville. Although we were told that there was an abundance of birdlife in the park, we only saw a few sea eagles most of the day, however it was good to see that even given the present state of affairs in Cambodia, the park seems largely protected.

The days saving grace would have to have been our Cambodian kids games. After dinner on Serendipity, we were invited (well we kind of asked) to play games with the kids that walk the beach selling bracelets. The weather was windy, and barely anyone was left on the beach given an impending storm, so the kids had nothing else to do, and were more than happy to let us join. Cambodian kids games follow similar formulas to the western ones - but these felt unique, and made both myself and Judy feel like we were kids once more. Despite being shit at all the games we played that is. The kids were a joy to play with, but I feel sorry for the poor concerned parents, who eyed us like a hawk. Which is totally necessary, and a shame, because this place has a reputation of having a dirty tourism element (I.e. kiddy fiddlers). Afterwards we bought the kids ice cream, which was a bit of a mistake because it meant that every kid on the whole beach decided they wanted one, and the whole point of the ice cream was to make the kids we played with feel special. One kid called me a Mf, and punched me in the chin - a bitter end to an otherwise magic night.

January 6 - Sihanoukville (Otres Beach)

After our semi unsavoury experience at Sbov Meas (Faulty generator problems) we moved to Queens Hill, an amazing set of huts on the side of a hill that is embraced on either side by Occheuteal beach, and Otres beach. The view from each hut was to die for - at least $400 in any other country, and yet in a Cambodian hut - $10.Unfortunately however, the weather was gloomy, hence ruining our photo opportunities and beach time. I went for a swim while judy got a wax/massage from a family we were to meet each day from then on, who sell everything from bracelets to fruit. Needless to say we bought MORE bracelets that day, this time too hand stitched ones with our names in Cambodian.

Unfortunately, we couldn't hire a bike today, which led to a dilemma at night. Queens hill was beautiful, and we had an amazing dinner, but it was extremely isolated - hence making it not the best night spot in the world.

To cut a long story short, we hired a bike when there was none availlable - by hiring it off a moto driver. He gave it to us for $5 for the night, which is expensive by Cambodian standards, and we accepted. After accepting, we realised it was a rusty shitbucket with no rear view mirrors, poor headlights that switched off under 2000 rpm. To worsen the situation, the already poor road that linked the beach to the town also had - NO STREET LIGHTS, which meant that we could see about 2m ahead of us at all times. Add to this the desperation of some Cambodian people, and you get the scariest experience of our trip. Well i think so anyway. Even when we got to town, the traffic rattled me. Actually to an extent I was rattled, because Judy would scream and push me every time she was scared, almost causing an accident each time. At the end of the night, we decided that enough was enough, and turned in having achieved nothing - and yes, the return trip was just as scary.

January 7 - Sihanoukville (Otres Beach)

Unfortunately the weather wasn't much better today, but we decided what the hell, you only have so much time on a trip, so let's make the most of it. The jetski (only one) was broken at the shack on Otres beach, so instead we settled for windsailing - and what a day we had. It was great fun, sailing as far as you wanted, despite having no experience - the waters were calm enough even for two amateurs. All in all it was a very relaxing day, and a great photo op - the only unfortunate bit being me falling THROUGH my flimsy chair afterwards.

By now it felt like the trip was winding down, but we were still trying hard to make the most of it. We headed to town to get a seeing hands massage (from some very well trained blind people), and then went to Holy Cow for a somewhat unsatisfying dinner (for Judy). Poor thing.

January 8 - Sihanoukville (Otres Beach)/Phnom Penh

FINALLY SOME GOOD WEATHER! And then we had to leave. The beach was perfect in the morning, and even though we never made it for our early morning run, it was great to have a swim in paradise on a good day - the water became clearer, the sun brighter, and the mood chirpier. We rotated between breakfast and the beach, and were extremely satisfied to finally have a spell in the water.

Onto the bikes and then onto the bus, back to Pnom Penh and the Okay guesthouse. Back to Happy Pnom Penh pizza for some of their really good ricotta cheese salads. And then tomorrow, back to Bangkok.