Phnom Penh and saying goodbye to Cambodia

The bus down to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh was pretty easy going and when we arrived in the city and disembarked we had the usual onslaught of tuk-tuk drivers clamouring for our business. 

As I was still a little fragile after my recent illness, we'd booked ourselves a room in another comfortable-looking hotel and so had the most persuasive/relentless driver take us from the bus station to our new accommodation.

The journey was an interesting introduction to Phnom Penh traffic. We held on tight to our luggage as our driver squeezed between other vehicles, whizzed across roundabouts and dodged precarious pedestrians. 

We distracted ourselves with the incredible sights around us: a man and woman on a moped, the latter of whom was holding over her head the drip belonging to the toddler squeezed between them; the moped with the half-dozen or so plucked chickens strung over the handlebars; the in-tuk-tuk advertisements for trips to such places as the historic 'Killing Fields' and local shooting ranges (illustrated with photos of smiling tourists toting RPGs).

We arrived at the Lucky Star hotel unscathed - always a nice suprise! - and checked into a big double room with all the modcons we needed. 

The next day we ventured out to do a little sightseeing. I was feeling a lot better and although we were still taking things relatively easy, it was great to feel free to explore again.

First stop, after breakfast, was the Independence Monument, which sits in the middle of a busy intersection. It was built in the 1950s to commemorate Cambodia's new freedom from the French and there's not really anything to do there, but the weather was beautiful that day and we spent some time walking in the park near the monument.

We then had a bit of a sweaty walk to find a tuk-tuk (never a difficult task unless you're actually looking for one) to take us to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

The museum is the latest guise of a group of buildings that during the Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s was converted from a high school into Security Prison 21 (S-21). During its darkest days it was a place of torture and murder - an estimated 20,000 people died here under horrific conditions - and is now used to educate visitors about the atrocities that the Cambodian people were subjected to. I'm glad we went, as it wouldn't have felt right being in Phnom Penh without learning about what had happened here such a short time ago. We'd spent time among the stunning ancient history of the Khmer people around Angkor, and it was important for us to know about the more recent history that has left just as tangible a legacy on Cambodia as those breathtaking temples. But it wasn't exactly a fun day out for all the family. 

The museum is bleak and stark and terrifying and teaches us about the darkest possibilities of the human condition. There were parts that I wasn't able to stomach, and so I spent a while sitting in the open while Dave continued around the exhibits, but the place is so imbued with the echoes of what went on there, and what I'd already seen had made such a vivid impression, that it wasn't possible to escape the realities just by sitting quietly in the sunshine - rather it gave me time to reflect on how Cambodia has come so far in such a short time after losing so much.

We left emotionally exhausted and decided that that was enough sightseeing for one day. The Killing Fields were another option, but we knew from the guidebooks what it was going to entail and so made the decision that we'd immersed ourselves enough in the country's dark past. 

As we rode back to our hotel in a tuk-tuk we picked up outside the museum the Cambodian traffic craziness struck again and we were involved in our second crash! Not quite as dramatic and life threatening as our last one thank goodness, but our driver wasn't paying enough attention, accelerated too soon at a green light and smashed his wing mirror into the head of an old guy on a motorcycle (fortunately he was wearing a helmet). As our driver and the injured party - along with a little boy who was on the front of his bike - pulled round the nearest corner to discuss the incident, Dave and I gently extricated ourselves from the situation by leaving the tuk-tuk and walking off down the road before jumping into the next one that came along.

That evening, desperately in need of some comfort from the extremities of life 'on the road', we headed to a place called Freebird Bar & Grill. The diner is decked out with plenty of Americana and has a good atmosphere. We drank draft beer and chowed down on the free peanuts and popcorn that the friendly staff kept bringing to our table, not to mention the tasty burger and chili we had. In total our bill came to about US$16 - you always pay more for Western food than you would for eating local dishes but in this instance it was so worth it. We left very full and satisfied.

The next day we headed to the Central Market to do a little shopping. We found a place for some coffee to give us a much-needed morning boost before heading in to tackle the sprawling complex of stalls. Everything from flowers, fresh fruit and veg, meat and fish, clothes, homewares, jewellery, souvenirs, toys... you name it! 

There were even women taking advantage of the crowds by carrying round pairs of bathroom scales and charging people to weigh themselves! 

I invested in a pair of 'Ali Baba' pants - baggy, floral, low-crotched trousers that are ubiquitous amongst the backpacker community and more importantly that were long and comfortable enough to cover the still quite angry-looking red marks on the backs of my legs that the shingles had left behind.

One really nice surprise that came about while we were in Phnom Penh was that my cousin, uncle and aunt were coincidentally in town for a wedding. It was really exciting to arrange a meet-up in such an exotic, far-flung place and also really good to see familiar friendly faces after what had already been about two and a half months away from home.

We met up for dinner with Andrea, Trevor and Muriel at a yummy restaurant called Anjali near the riverfront and had a good catch-up over bottles of Anchor lager and plates of stir-fried dishes like chili and lemongrass chicken. Andrea had brought us an incredibly welcome care package comprising a huge box of Nurofen Plus (you can't get codeine in Cambodia!), a squeezy tub of Marmite and a bottle of Doom Bar ale. Oh sweet purveyor of blissful treats, how you spoiled us!

After dinner, us kids split off to a nearby bar for more beers, parent-free chat, and so Dave could watch that evening's Arsenal v QPR match. Such fun, random times! At about 2am we decided a short walk down to the Royal Palace was a good idea, as we weren't able to visit during the days as King Sihanouk was currently lying in state. The grounds were still full of people paying their respects even at that hour. 

Then it was back into another tuk-tuk to take us to our respective hotels. When we'd dropped Andrea off and were barrelling down the near-deserted roads we passed a sight that, like our two RTAs, had seemed kind of unavoidable since we'd first set wheel on a Cambodian road. A man had been knocked off his bike and killed and our tuk-tuk driver thought it appropriate at that moment to slow down as we passed the poor man's body, thereby joining the multitude of people who had paused to take photos on their mobile phones. Eyes shut, I shouted 'Please... GO!' and he stepped on the gas again, my first ever sighting of a dead body seared onto my retinas. 

Phnom Penh was our last stop in Cambodia, a country that has relatively recently undergone horrors that wiped out huge chunks of its population. This isn't the place for an in-depth analysis of a nation's scarred psyche, yet it does seem to have a bizarre disregard for keeping its citizens safe, considering everything they've been through to survive. More than anywhere I've been, Cambodia left me feeling nerve-jangled and harassed. It's a beautiful country, but nowhere else have I ever genuinely feared for my life whenever stepping outside of the safety of my hotel room!

A thriving tourist industry fuelled by stunning ancient temples, cheap entertainment, good weather and a fascinating culture working to reestablish itself in the aftermath of tragedy, isn't showing any signs of slowing and I'm sure the country has a bright future; we had a lot of great experiences in Cambodia and met some truly lovely people, but I do have to admit that I was kind of relieved to say goodbye.

Temples of Angkor: Day 2

Sunrise over Angkor Wat is one of those activities lauded as unmissable by the travel community and it was something we were both keen to experience. 

At 5.45am we were in the reception area of our guesthouse waiting for Barang to pick us up in his tuk-tuk, and listening to the drunken nonsense coming from a group of gap year kids who were yet to go to bed.

At that time of the morning the roads were quiet but once we were at Angkor Wat we joined throngs of tourists lining the shore of one of the pools facing the the temple - the prime spot for viewing the sun breaking over the tops of the towers. 

It was quite an overcast morning, so the sky wasn't perfect for a particularly spectacular sunrise, and any romance or wonder was largely intruded upon by the literally hundreds of jostling snap-happy tourists and the constant drone of the hawker patter; people selling postcards, scarves or trying to get you into their cafes for breakfast.

However, the temple did look stunning and it was just possible to lose oneself in the spectacle long enough to make it worthwhile being up that early.

We decided to have a bite to eat at one of the many cafes that line the bank of the pool. Someone in Cambodia has obviously done their homework on the most appealing celebrities that no Westerner can resist, and each cafe was named after one of these stalwarts of pop culture: Lady Gaga, J-Lo, 007, Angelina Jolie. In the end we opted for 'Justin Bieber', for no other reason than the extra lengths to which they had gone by hiring the Cambodian spitting image of the eponymous popster (he had a floppy hair-do). 

After a couple of distinctly average cheese baguettes and intensely sweet coffees, we felt ourselves sufficiently fuelled for another day of temples and went back to find Barang and our trusty transportation.

The next place we were to visit was Banteay Sanray, another massive temple complex made up of long, steep staircases and imposing towers. As it was still so early, we had the place to ourselves and really enjoyed the peace and quiet after the hustle of sunrise at Angkor Wat.

Once we'd finished at Banteay Sanray, it was time to head out of the main Angkor complex and travel about 30km from Siem Reap to the similarly named Banteay Srei. 

It's widely seen as the most beautiful of the Angkor temples, and the name means 'Citadel of the Women' as the delicate carvings are thought to be too fine to be created by ham-fisted men. 

By the time we got there, bus-loads of tourists had begun to pour in and it was often a bit of a struggle while they pushed and posed in front of each new carving they reached. But once you got the chance, the intricate craftsmanship and skill were truly amazing to see.

The weather had begun to take a turn for the worse, so Barang suggested we stop for a bite to eat before going into the next temple. And it's lucky we did! The heavens opened, and we refreshed ourselves with hearty bowls of noodle soup and lychee sodas while the rain fell in torrents, turning the corrugated iron roof of the cafe into the loudest mealtime musical accompaniment ever... you literally had to shout above it to be heard!

After the downpour eased, we entered the temple that Barang had brought us to see - the name of which we never managed to catch! The rain had created lots of deep brown puddles amongst the stones, but the golden light that hit the buildings as the sun came out again was gorgeous. And this particular temple stood out because of the little family of cats that had made its home in one of the towers!

It was a relatively small site and we didn't linger long as there was still much to see - however cute the kittens were! - so we hit the road again to take a look at Kbal Spean. 

At the top of a 2km climb and clamber through jungle and over rocks, there's a carved riverbed known as the 'River of A Thousand Lingas'. However, we can't personally testify to its existence as we didn't make it to the top. I had started to feel extremely tired and pretty unwell, so when we were about halfway up the steep ascent I had to admit that my going any further wasn't an option. So we picked our way back down to the tuk-tuk and sat with Barang for a while, quenching our thirst and chatting to him about his family and his aspirations to become a qualified tour guide at the temples. 

Soon it was time to move onto our final visit - the breathtaking Ta Phrom. Here nature has undertaken a fierce campaign to show the humans who's boss and the jungle is evidently taking back control. Ruins crumble amongst dappled sunlight as the trees recover the area, roots burst through brickwork, and 1930s adventurer-archeologists dodge booby traps and recover lost idols. OK, maybe not that last bit.

It's genuinely difficult to pick which photos to include here... such an awesome place.

It's a huge area and we took a good long time having a proper explore. What an atmospheric way to end our tour of the Temples of Angkor.

But being on the site of such history, where some parts of the movie Tomb Raider were filmed, wasn't the most dramatic part of our day.

The earlier rain had made the roads around the temples pretty treacherous. On our way back to Siem Reap for a well-earned 50p lager, Barang's motorbike went out from under him, shearing off the bolt attaching it to our tuk-tuk carriage and causing him to slide across the road, with Dave and I pitching forward and skidding along completely unattached to anything with brakes. 

The crash was something which, in hindsight, had felt inevitable from the moment we entered Cambodia. The roads in the country are insane at the best of times and I soon found that every time we were on them I was genuinely relieved when we made it to our destination in one piece. So a rickety old tuk-tuk, barrelling along mud-slicked roads amongst ancient ruins was, I suppose, always an accident waiting to happen.

We were incredibly lucky that we all came away unscathed; just the fact that at that moment no kids were playing in the road and no buses were ploughing their way through the other traffic was incredible. Barang had a couple of angry-looking scrapes on his elbow and ankle, but seemed far more concerned that we had come to no harm. Dave and I were both fine and kept telling Barang so, but he continued to check on us as he pulled out his makeshift tool kit and proceeded to reattach the tuk-tuk to his bike. 

Ten minutes later, shaken but unhurt, we were on the road again. Once we got back to the guesthouse, the first thing we did was grab three cans of beer and sit down to calm our nerves. Then, still assuring Barang that we were ok, we paid him his fee for the two days and said our farewells, thereby ending a very eventful couple of days.

Temples of Angkor: Day 1

Having done more than our fair share of cycling the day before, we decided to see the Temples of Angkor in a more leisurely fashion and hired ourselves a tuk-tuk. 

Luckily, our pal Barang had given Dave his telephone number for just this reason when he'd dropped us off on our first evening, so we got in touch and he soon arrived to take us around the much-anticipated ancient ruins.

First stop was yesterday's elusive ticket office, where we each had our photo taken and paid $40 for a three-day pass to all the temples.

The first one we visited was Angkor Wat itself, the crown jewel in Cambodia's Khmer temples and a symbol of huge national pride - it's even on their flag! (Dave: And on their beer!)

Barang stopped in the car park opposite the entrance to the temple and told us to take our time. We crossed the moat that surrounds the enormous temple - Angkor Wat is the largest religious building on Earth - passing young boys hurling themselves into the water with impressive backflips.

Once through the main entrance, we walked up the long, wide stone path that leads to the main section of the temple, flanked on either side by palm trees, ponds and scattered ruins. There were a lot of tourists around but it wasn't heaving and we ambled at our own pace in a relaxed atmosphere. Very relaxed for some...

We began to get a sense of the scale of the site and also for its masterful architecture and intricate carvings.

We wandered among passageways, gazed up at majestic towers, peered through windows and doorways, and marvelled at beautifully carved figures of ancient Khmers and their gods and monsters. 

The central tower, signifying Mount Meru (the sacred mountain in Hindu and Buddhist mythologies), is reached by climbing a tall flight of steps, but I wasn't allowed up because even though I'd brought my sarong with me to cover my legs apparently this wasn't enough to appease the gods of moral modesty. But Dave was ok in his outfit and so went up to take a look. 

Speaking of Cambodian fashion statements, Angkor Wat was the first place I noticed the intriguing phenomenon of women wearing matching pyjama sets out and about during the day. It's a common sight and one we'd become very familiar with - but never less amused or confused by. The men have their own statements to make in the wardrobe department: the young ones have a habit of wearing their baseball caps very high up on their heads (a bit East 17), while the older men like to cool off in the humid climate by not taking off their shirts, just gathering up the front and exposing their bellies to the open air. (Dave: A look I'm planning to introduce once back in Blighty!)

After we'd had a good look at the inner sections of the temple, we went to see the 800 metres of bas-reliefs carved around the outside, some of which show an early version of the Hindu Ramayana.

Angkor Wat certainly lived up to the hype. It was impressive and beautiful and we had a great hour or so wandering around it. We looked forward to heading back there the following morning to see it at sunrise. But in the meantime there was much more to be seen elsewhere.

Next on the agenda was the Bayon, which turned out to be one of the most spectacular of the temples. It comprises over 200 wonderfully expressive carved faces of the Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara, looking out peacefully in all directions.

The effect is absolutely breathtaking, and although the site was beginning to fill up fast with tourists and the rain started to fall in earnest, it was a wonderful place to meander around.

At the back of the Bayon is a large pool and lots of playful monkeys throwing themselves out of the trees into the water and teasing the tourists.

We met Barang back at his tuk-tuk, where he'd parked not far from the Bayon, and as we were climbing in to continue our fascinating tour a very young girl with a basket of woven bangles came up to us trying to sell her wares. 

She was obviously well practiced at her patter: "Hello lady, one bangle for you," she said in her tiny little voice. They didn't look anything special and being on a backpacker budget and with only limited space, one has to be very careful not to accumulate too many souvenirs  "No thank you," I said with a smile. "Ok three bangles one dollar," was her next attempt. "No thank you," from me. "Ok fives bangles one dollar," she said. "Oh no thank you sweetheart, I don't need any," I replied as Barang started the tuk-tuk and we got ready to pull off. She was relentless and the number of bangles I could purchase for one dollar kept rising as she could tell we were about to leave. Still smiling, I told her "No thank you" one more time, and as Barang began driving away she thrust one of the bangles into my hand with a gesture of 'it's ok you can have it'. We hurtled down the road away from her, my new most-cherished-possession clasped in my hand, and the irrational temptation growing to go back and buy everything in her basket. It was a delightful encounter that I'll always remember.

After the Bayon, we visited Angkor Thom and the Terrace of the Elephants. While Angkor Wat and the Bayon were still very much intact and it's possible to walk around them as complete temple structures, this area was far more dilapidated and nature had really begun to re-stake its claim.

It was very peaceful around Angkor Thom and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Quite a contrast to what it used to be; at its height, the city was about 10km square and had a population of around 1 million. And this was back when London only had about 50,000 inhabitants!

However, we did need to dodge a couple of local kids who had quite clearly set up a bit of a scam. First we were asked for some money to go towards school materials and although we were becoming quite adept at avoiding a lot of the barrage of hawkers in SE Asia this was a new one on us. We'd heard about similar rackets but hadn't had any experience of refusing and so ended up parting with a not-insignificant sum of money to this rather charming young man (it was about what a night's accommodation was costing us). When he then asked for more - we'd given him dollars and now he wanted some Cambodian riel too - that was far enough and we quickly extricated ourselves to go and see the ruins. 

Not far away we were accosted by another young lad who wanted to give us a tour. We told him no thanks and that we were happy to look around on our own, but he shadowed us recounting the history of the site. After about 10 minutes of this we had to quite firmly tell him 'thanks but no thanks' and he then asked us for money for the information he'd already given us. We clearly explained that we wouldn't give him anything as we'd told him from the start that we didn't want a guide. He skulked away, clearly a bit miffed. 

Finally back on our own and able to concentrate on what was around us, we made our way through the ruined city to the Terrace of the Elephants, the last stop of the day.

After a long day of spectacular ancient history, it was time to head back to Siem Reap and we gratefully got back into the tuk-tuk to rest our weary bones for the homeward journey. Before going back to the guesthouse though, there was one more visit we had to make.

Blue Pumpkin is a smart ice cream shop in Siem Reap with the most delicious flavours on offer - mint choc chip, dark chocolate, peanut, pistachio, coconut, Khmer fruits, green lemon and kafir lime, raspberry... to name but a few - and nothing less would've satisfied us after a day of temple-traipsing than two big indulgent sundaes. 

Then, exhausted after a very rewarding day and acutely aware of our pre-dawn start the next morning, we went back to our room to crash for the evening.