Here’s an interesting fact… the airport in Siem Reap, Cambodia has a Dairy Queen! Yes, you read correctly… a Dairy Queen! I sat down to begin writing this blog suffering from brain freeze after enjoying a brownie blizzard. What a great way to start a travel day. Thank you, Siem Reap Dairy Queen, thank you!
The last time we blogged, Austin, Craig and I were on our way to Bangkok to celebrate New Years in a less than ideal state. We were all quite hung-over, after having a fantastic last night in Koh Chang. I’d like to say that our poor state didn’t effect our excitement for any New Years festivities, but it most definitely did. It wasn’t until 10pm that we all finally agreed to drag ourselves out of the hotel room to head downtown Bangkok, to the infamous Khoa San Road, to join in the New Year’s celebrations. Actually, celebration does not accurately portray Khoa San Road on New Year’s Eve… INSANITY might do a little more justice in giving you a visual image of what we joined in on when we arrived to the festivities. There were thousands of very energetic and very enthusiastic people gathered. We did feel as though we were joining the party a little late, so we didn’t waste time to pick up some beer and attempt to play catch up. Unfortunately our bodies were not exactly fans of the idea, but we did our best to play with the big boys. Here are some pictures from our 2011 New Year’s Eve celebrations on Khoa San Road, Bangkok…
Cheers!
The crowd…
Just struck 12 midnight, Happy New Year!!!!
A little video of our celebrations, just after the clock struck 12…
The Knotty Traveller’s NYE on Khoa San Rd. in Bangkok
When Austin and I woke up on New Year’s day we felt rather lost, and a little lonely. We had really gotten use to being surrounded by friends. That, and we officially had no plan. We didn’t know where we were going to be the next day. Koh Chang is like a giant magnet and we were tempted to make the 5 hour journey back there to take more time to chill out and plan what was next for us. However, as time keeps on ticking, we also knew that if we are going to get everywhere we are hoping to go, we had to continue forward. So, we spent part of the day exploring Bangkok, and part of the day booking a flight and hotel for Phnom Penh,Cambodia where we decided our next stop would be. We felt good going to bed that night knowing that we had been flying by the seat of our pants, but had pulled it off and now had some plans in place. We looked forward to our holiday in Cambodia.
When we arrived in Phnom Penh we took a taxi downtown to our accommodations, Hotel Cara. At $35 a night… we were living in luxury for what we thought was a killer deal. You can find adequate accommodations in Phnom Penh for about $5 per night per person, but because we were booking so last minute, we were limited on choice. Also, because we still had some plans to put in place, we thought getting a place with unlimited free wifi access was a good idea. Hotel Cara did not disappoint. It was located within walking distance to Wat Phnom temple, and a quick tuk-tuk right to the riverside/restaurant district, and it served us well for our stay in Phnom Penh.
Before planning this trip, I had read a few memoirs written by Cambodian survivors of the genocides committed from 1975-1979 under the Pol Pot & Khmer Rouge regime. Because of this, I had wanted to explore more about this part of Cambodian history. In my quest for a better understanding, we decided to visit the Tuol Sleng Museum. The museum is located on the exact site of what was the S-21 detention centre during the Pol Pot regime. The S-21 detention centre was where many educated Cambodians were brought on Pol Pots orders because they were considered a threat to the revolution. What the innocent Cambodians experienced at the hands of Khmer Rouge soldiers at S-21 is unimaginable. Soldiers brutally tortured prisoners in attempt to gain a confession. As you can imagine, after being both starved and tortured a confession, from even the innocent, was inevitable. Once a prisoner had confessed, it was written down and they were forced to sign it, and preceded to be killed for their apparent betrayal of the revolution. The Khmer Rouge soldiers that worked at the S-21 detention centre were ordered to take pictures of every prisoner that was brought into, and then later murdered at the S-21 jail. These pictures of the victims hang all around the museum. In the courtyard there are 14 graves. This is where the last 14 victims of S-21 are buried.
After visiting Tuol Sleng, we continued our solemn tour and headed to the Killing Fields at Chuong Ek. We were quiet as we were lead around the killing fields by our guide, who was 17 years old when all the mayhem began. He saw both of his parents, an uncle, and a sibling killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers. At 52 years of age, he still finds it difficult to talk about the atrocities. He also worked as a guard at Chuong Ek in 1980 when the Cambodian government began to uncover and dig up the mass graves. We do have some pictures from our sombre day. Our guide encouraged us to take pictures, though we felt conflicted about it. I think the idea is that these mass graves stand as proof of the suffering that was endured by the Cambodian people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime. So, we will share some because they stand as evidence of the horrific nature of genocide, but I do warn that they are not typical holiday pictures and though not graphic, may make some uncomfortable.
You will notice that every skull is missing teeth. Pulling teeth out was one form of torture…
Here our guide shows a skull that had been severed by an axe… obviously the chosen way to kill this particular victim…
A memorial to those who were lost stands in the middle of the killing fields and is filled with some skulls that have been uncovered from the mass graves…
As the signs says, these are the skulls uncovered from a mass grave of 15-20 yr old females…
Every hole was a mass grave that was dug up…
As you walk along, you see teeth, and bones scattered about or protruding from the ground where you’re walking…
The particular tree shown in the picture below, stands beside the grave where the skeletons of babies and young children where found. And, as the sign reveals, the tree was used to beat children… often to death. It’s difficult to comprehend why. Why babies and why children?!?! There is a slogan that Duch, the man who ran the S-21 detention centre and who ordered the mass killings at Chuong Ek, used to explain why they also targeted children. It went; “clearing grasses, it should dig its entire root off”. Essentially, the Khmer Rouge feared that the children of the slaughtered would grow up and seek revenge. And so, with this fear, they made the decision to kill thousands of innocent and defenceless children and babies.
The rest of the tour of Phnom Penh was definitely more light, and included visits to the Royal Palace, the Russian Market and Wat Phnom. We ended each day in Phnom Penh with dinner and walk along the riverside, where we saw many interesting things such as an elephant walking through the main street clad in beer ads, several impromptu streetside fitness classes, and a young dance troop featuring one of the most talented young hip hop dancers we’ve ever seen…..if only there were a ‘So you think you can dance Cambodia’. Unfortunately, those moments can be difficult to photograph, so you can see only some of our other moments from our time in Phnom Penh..
A look at Phnom Penh’s riverside/restaurant district…
Wat Phnom temple…
For some reason, Austin and I take a lot of joy in acting like the statues every where we go. After an emotional morning, you have to take joy in the simple things…
After a few nights in Phnom Penh, with help from our hotel, we booked a van ride for $10 each to our next destination - Siem Reap. After the van experience we had in the Philippines, we had no idea what to expect of our Cambodia van experience… especially because of the bargain price. We were pleasantly surprised when a modern, air conditioned, clean, and spacious, van showed up and was to be our very comfortable ride for the 5 hour trip.
Our first night in Siem Reap was spent at The Monoreach Hotel. We were less than impressed with it for a number of reasons, but the most important was the frustrating internet connection which to us right now is of utmost importance as we are planning day by day. We decided to check out after our first night and moved to the Tara Angkor Hotel, a spot with much more reliable internet, and the bonus of a great pool and buffet breakfast.
The main attraction in Siem Reap is of course, Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a temple complex built for a series of kings between the 800s and 1400s AD. Most of the construction was completed during the time of the King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century and it remains one of the largest religious structure in the world. Both the size and age of the complex is impressive, and seeing it first hand does not disappoint. What did disappoint were the thousands of other tourists who were also there to do the same thing. An experience you feel you could really revel in, can quickly become an irritating one. The endless tour bus groups, guides, and cameras don’t only obstruct your view, they also hinder any hope of enjoying the sights and surroundings in peace and quiet. We weren’t naive, we knew to expect crowds, but neither of us expected it to detract from the experience as much as it did. Instead of dwelling on the negatives, Austin and I decided we were going to make the most of our Angkor Wat experience. So, the first day we decided to tour around in tuk-tuk. Our driver, Theavy, escorted us out to Angkor Wat for sunrise at just after 5AM. It was an early morning but it was worth it. Theavy had coffee while we watched the sunrise and then informed us that his son would be taking over his duties for the remainder of the day. HIs son did not speak much English (none in fact), but he still understood where wanted to go, which was essentially what they call ‘the big circuit’. Essentially we stayed away from the most popular spots, and we started at the farthest temples and worked backwards and this helped us avoid really large crowds for most of the day. Yay us!
The next day we borrowed bikes from our hotel and set out for our second day of exploring. We really enjoyed the peddling as the grounds of the Angkor Wat complex are both serene and flat, which made for a relatively easy ride and a fully enjoyable day. It was this day however, that we went to the most popular sites – Ta Prohm (where a few scenes from the movie Tomb Raider was filmed), and the Bayon. We did our best to enjoy them despite the insane amount of tour bus groups. We managed to get in, get our pictures, and get out without killing or being killed. I would mark that down as another successful day… Go team Rice!
In addition to taking in sunrise, we also managed to take in two sunsets during our few days of exploring Angkor Wat, something we were told not to miss. Of course, as with everything at Angkor Wat, we were surrounded by a thousand of our closets friends – the tour bus crowd! Here are some pictures to help illustrate the beauty we saw and fun we had at Angkor Wat…
Our first sunset at Angkor Wat…
The sunset made for some great lighting…
Here are some pictures from our early morning (we woke up at 4:30am) sunrise experience at Angkor. These pictures provide another look at the beauty, and at the crowds of cameras…
Wow-wee! No wonder the crowds gather…
A look at pictures taken during our days touring…
Acting like statues again… we can’t help it!
These guys have faired well, considering their age….
The details on the building walls are quite intricate and many still look immaculate…
The Angkor Wat grounds really are beautiful and made for pleasant biking…
The faces of the Bayon…
Face to face with incredible history… we have matching freckles.
A picture of the entire Bayon temple from the outside with Aus in the foreground…
After the Bayon, we headed to the extremely popular Ta Prohm, where Angelina Jolie got her big break filming Tomb Raider. At this site, they have controversially allowed the surrounding jungle to take over, creating fascinating scenes of giant trees and roots growing through and on top of the ancient ruins. It is controversial because this growth has lead to accelerated destruction of the ancient structures.
This next pictures is, at best, mediocre. But, we fought some aggressive crowds to get it, and for that fact alone, it must be featured…
After a long day biking in the hot sun and skipping lunch… I was SO excited to see an ice cream truck parked outside of Ta Prohm. Oh, the simple things!
On our last day of touring Angkor Wat, we decided to climb to one of the highest points at Angkor to watch another sunset. And yes, you guessed it, so did one thousand of our closest friends. We enjoyed the exercise, if not our final battle with the tour bus crowds.
Our token sunset shot….
How serene…
After each long day touring Angkor Wat, Aus and I would head down to the French Quarter in Siem Reap to enjoy some dinner and to take in some of the city’s atmosphere. We’ve been experimenting with vegetarianism for the last little while, which will come as a complete surprise to anyone who knows us well (we both LOVE meat). However, we’ve been enjoying the challenge. We found a fantastic little Indian place called Curry Walla that has vegetarian curries to die for! They were so good that we ended up eating there two nights in a row. Our dinners at Curry Walla also lead us to our next interesting Cambodian experience.
From our street view seating we could see a giant aquarium with little fish and a sign that read this…
We liked the sign’s slogan, “Never try, never know” and decided, what the heck! We popped next door after dinner to get the Dr. Fish foot massage experience. Austin volunteered to go first and after his reaction (he was extremely uncomfortable), I could not stop laughing… uncontrollably. My uncontrollable laughter only got worse when it was my turn. The Dr. Fish foot massage is just a fancy way of saying TICKLE TORTURE! I could not keep myself composed… it REALLY tickled! Here are some pictures of our VERY interesting Cambodian massage experience:
Austin being not too impressed with me hysterically laughing at him…
A close up of the little fishies and their attack on my husband…
Me in hysterics… it really was tickle torture!
After I’d composed myself and began to enjoy the strange little experience…
Alright folks, that brings you up to date. Aus and I recently landed in Luang Prabang, Laos and really look forward to finding out what this pretty little country has in store of us. We hope everyone is having a happy and healthy start to the new year. I know my parents have been suffering with the flu, and I hope they are both feeling better soon! Lots of love to all. Don’t forget to leave us a comment or drop us a line and let us know you’re reading and how you’re doing. We love to hear from all of you, too.
Until next time,
The Knotty Travellers
Good blog! Take it slow in Laos! Go north and south!
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Enjoying reading your updates! Sharing the history lesson with some of our students with a link to social justice. Thank you! Lorna
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