See What Tim Is Doing: monkeys

So I got a little preoccupied in Cambodia updating everything that I forgot to write anything, so this will be a summary (as best I can remember) of Camdoia so may be a long one and will have a few more photos then normal.

After 37 hours and three buses, we finally made it to Siem Reap late at night and exhausted! Not to mention the sleeper leg of the bus we were given beds just big enough for one person, but actually had to fit two in there, so sharing with a stranger was interesting, and luckily I didn’t get a fat Cambodia fella, but I got a 6ft tall Canadian who when folded up into the bed, didn’t allow much room for myself, but I survived, but was exhausted so pretty much went straight to bed upon arrival in Siem Riep and ready for the next day.

Jonny, Emma and I took a walk around the town of Siem Reap after a nice sleep in, went shopping in the market there and got on some bikes and went riding around the town and up to Angkor Wat for sunset.

Angkor Wat at sunset was pretty impressive. The lake around the temple was still, reflections of the blue sky and the temple provided some amazing photos and then the light on the temple as the sunset was truly magnificent.

That night we chilled ate some interesting food, got fish pedicures (where the fish eat your feet, which tickles like hell at first and then once you are used to it actually feels really nice!) and got a semi early night as we planned to go to Angkor Wat for sunrise.

Sunrise didn’t happen, we got up early and it was pissing down with rain, so we went back to bed and slept till 11 and by then the sun was out and we got in a tuk tuk and headed back to explore more of the temples.

Angkor is the world’s largest sacred temple, spread over an area of more than 400 square kilometers and takes days to see every temple in the area. It is also one of the Wonder of the World. The most famous is Angkor Wat, which is seen on the Combodian Riel notes and also on their flag. The temple itself is pretty impressive and unlike many other temples I have seen. We spent a fair bit of time here even though we had seen a fair amount of it the previous day at sunset, but it was worth a second visit.

After we visited another two temples Angkor Thom and unfortunately I forget the other ones name, impressive but completely different look to that of Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom was like an open air maze of walls with carving and etches all along, and Buddha faces at the top of most of the pillars and at the tops of all the structures. The second was more like a set of ruins covered in moss, which gave you the feeling of being in the jungle somewhere, and also had crazy carving on all the walls.

The last temple we visited was Ta Prohm, made famous from the Tomb Raider film. I think this temple was up there as my favourite. Although not as big as the others, it has not been fixed up (although they were starting to fix some of it up while we were there). There were large stones that used to be part of the walls lying in piles covered in moss, sections of the temple fallen and crumbled and lying there untouched, and most impressive were the trees that are hundreds and thousands of years old growing over the buildings. Some were growing over the walls around the temple, some were growing on the walls of the temple itself, and some had even grown through the temple and broken through the roofs reaching for the sky. It felt very authentic and untouched, and looked really amazing!

Our final day in Siem Reap we shopped a bit more and just relaxed before a bus ride to Sihanoukville, which was another interesting bus trip. Dark roads, no streetlights, a big bus and rain, not a good mix for anywhere in the world, but Cambodian bus drivers are by far the craziest I have ever seen. We hurtled down the black roads at speeds of 100-120km/h, turning corners where you could barely even see there was a corner, and then the most eventful and terrifying part of the trip, launching off a speed bump going at least 100kms. The driver was maintaining his three figure speeds when all of a sudden the bus launches into the air, front wheels definitely lifting off the asphalt, and everyone lifting out of their chairs, and then lands with an all mighty crash as the front of the bus smashes into the road. The driver I think must of done this many times as he had no troubles controlling the bus as it landed from its flight. An hour or so later we change bus, surprise surprise, the other bus is screwed from its jumping antics. Luckily the second bus made it there although due to the drivers Daytona style driving, we were nearly two hours early and arrived at 5am instead of 7, which made finding accommodation a little harder as everywhere was closed. All was good we found somewhere and got a few hours shut eye before waking to explore Sihanoukville.

I didn’t know what to expect from Sihanoukville, all I knew that there was a beach and that was about it. When I rose in the morning, I went for a wander and quickly learned that the town was up and coming, but seemed that it was trying to develop too quickly. Building were spurting up everywhere, but the basic things like an actual road were missing, some buildings were small thatched roof huts that had tried updating quickly and cheaply, which made them loose a bit of their authenticity and charm. One local also told us that the town is going one of two ways, upmarket, clean and very touristy, or the complete opposite, still touristy but more of a red light style town, as apparently prostitution there is a big problem. If it goes the seedy way, it will be a shame as it does have some potential to be nice.

In saying all that though, the beaches are pretty nice. The first day I got a motorbike and went for a ride around the area and checked out some of the smaller quieter beaches and they were really nice. Clean beaches and water with no one there. The main beach though where all the bars and restaurants are though is clean, but you are constantly hassled by kids selling necklaces and bracelets, men selling sunglasses or women trying to cut your toe nails, which really does get a punish when you are trying to relax.

The food there is amazing! The three of us had dinner on the beach, literally two meters from the waters edge, and our dinners, consisting off BBQ meats and fish, salad and beers, and it cost US$3 each. And the mornings had the same deal, cheap eats on the waters edge, amazing!

One day in Sihanoukville we did a day tour out to some of the islands nearby which I had heard were amazing. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best, and our first stop was a little bay to go snorkelling, but the water was cloudy and really couldn’t see anything, so first stop wasn’t successful. The second stop was Bamboo Island, a pretty nice beach with not much there but clear blue water and white sand. We swam around and chilled there for a bit, ate a nice barracuda lunch and then a storm came in and we had to cut out trip short. The boat ride back was pretty sketchy. The boat we were in wasn’t the most stable of vessels. Powered by a makeshift motor from a car and a long pipe with a tiny propeller, there wasn’t much power to get us through the rough conditions, we felt like a sitting duck in the middle of the ocean. The waves were big and rocking the boat, the driver was driving parallel to the waves so the waves were hitting the boat side on and at times nearly tipping the boat. One poor Dutch girl was in tears and I think genuinely thought we were going to die. After an hour or so of a semi stressful boat trip we made it back to land safe and sound!

The rest of the time on Sihanoukville was spent trying to relax in between getting haggled by the kids on the beach to buy their bracelets etc, it was a shame the weather wasn’t all the amazing.

Last stop in Cambodia was Phnom Penh, a city with not many sights and beautiful attractions, but with a rich and dark history.

Day one we chilled as we got in late and had an early night in our sweatbox of a room! Day two was more productive; visiting S21 and the Killing Fields.

S21, now know as The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979.

From the outside, it paints a pretty grim picture with barbwire and razor wire lining anywhere prisoners could possibly escape, and big grey, uninviting buildings inside. Once inside the complex, it only gets grimmer. There are many different kinds of rooms in S21, single person cells approximately 1m wide by 2m long, group cells containing more than 40 people lying in rows, head to toe and chained to each other, torture cells and solitary confinement cells that are about 75cm by 75cm, and the prisoners have to stand in them. And to make matters even more uncomfortable and unreasonable, the prisoners were giving an ammunition box and a plastic bottle and this was it, no pillows or blankets, just these two things. The bottle to pee in, the box to poop in, luxurious huh?

The things that happened here were barbaric and upsetting that people could do this to each other, and what makes it even worse they were Cambodians doing it to other Cambodians. There were even bloodstains in some of the cells! I could go on and on about this place as although it was extremely upsetting, disturbing and grim, it was extremely interesting and eye opening.

So we decided to continue the light hearted day and head to the Killing Fields after S21. The Killing Fields lived up to their name, with prisoners of S21 normally finding themselves here to meet their end. What used to be a Chinese cemetery became a cemetery for the victims of the Khmer Rouge with thousands of thousand of bodies buried here after being killing inhumanly. The soldiers didn’t want to waste bullets to

Kill the prisoners so they killed them using anything from a stone to an axe to a hammer to even using the sharps sides of palm trees to cut throats. The way they killed babies was easily the most disturbing fact I heard, they would either swing them against a tree while their mother watched, or one would throw the baby into the air while another soldier caught it on the bayonet at the end of his gun, then they would toss the babies into a mass grave nearby. It is sick and how people could physically do it still amazes me.

There were mass graves everywhere, not just in Phnom Penh, but they litter the whole of Cambodia and more are still appearing now. At the Killing Fields we visited, there were certain parts of the ground where you could see cloth, bones and even teeth still coming up from the ground. After a couple of hours here we decided that that was enough of grim Cambodia history for the day and ventured down to the night markets for a feed then a few beers and a nice chilled night, as Jonny and Em had to leave at midnight to go to Bangkok.

After saying my goodbyes to Jonny and Em, which was hard as I had spent over two weeks with them and they were really great people to travel with, I headed to my room, packed my bag and grabbed some sleep.

My last day in Cambodia, alone for the first time in weeks, I headed to one of the temples in the city which was beautiful, except half of it is not opened to vistors and they don’t tell you this until you get inside. And then I headed to the Russian market to pick up a few more bits and pieces before boarding my bus to Ho Chi Minh, a six or so hour bus ride away.

Tasty treats, Siem Reap

Sunset at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap

Sunset atAngkor Wat, Siem Reap

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap

Monkey in Angkor, Siem Reap

Baby monkey in Angkor, Siem Reap

Angkor, Siem Reap

Ta Prohm, Angkor, Siem Reap

Bamboo Island, Sihanoukville

Dog on Bamboo Island, Sihanoukville

Teeth coming up from the ground at Killing Fields, Phnom Penh

S21, Phnom Penh

Sunset in Phnom Penh

Little baby gecko, Phnom Penh

Flower, Phnom Penh

Temple, Phnom Penh

Chilling on the beach, Sihanoukville

Sunset, Sihanoukville

Special Jonny

Tasty treat

The thought of spending 24 hours on a train to get from Chengdu to Guilin just didn’t tickle my fancy, so I treated myself and decided to fly, which in the end didn’t work out too much more expensive then the marathon train trip.

So from rainy Chengdu, which was a welcome break from the 30+ weather I had all trip, I was back to 36+ weather in Guilin. It was hot, humid and hard work. My hostel was not far from the bus station where the airport shuttle stopped, but navigating the streets with 30kgs of bags in weather pushing 37 was not appealing, so I grabbed a cab and took the easy option.

The rest of the afternoon, like most of my first days was spent exploring on foot and getting to know the town and just checking out some sights that were around, including several lakes and of course, the Li River.

That night I decided to venture to the night markets (have seen my fair share of markets this trip) and this didn’t exactly go to plan. I pointed to my desired destination and the taxi driver spoke to me, of course in Chinese, and the conversation was going nowhere, and eventually we were on our way. Soon after, we arrived at the hotel that was near the markets, I paid, left the cab and soon realised that there must have been more then one Austrian Hotel. So, I was lost and equipped only with an extremely basic map, which soon proved useless. I wandered the area for over an hour and a half, thinking I was making ground and knew where I was, only to have my hopes shattered when I realised, I still had no idea where I was. Sweaty and frustrated, I finally hailed a motorbike cab and pointed to somewhere else near the markets, and we were off, zipping in and out of traffic, hopefully to the correct destination this time.

Second time around, success. I was where I wanted to be finally! So I strolled through the markets, looking at what good and bad things were on offer. Brought a piece of watermelon the size of my head for about 25p and met some locals who were really nice, spoke good English and invited me to sit at their table outside and have a beer with them as they had just finished their meal. Now I have heard horror stories about people being asked for a drink or tea etc and getting locked in a room and forced to pay hundreds of pounds to get out, but I thought I was safe here, as if they dropped a bill on me, I could just run as I was outside. In the end, no bill, no problems. They were just a nice bunch of people who just wanted some foreign company.

Day two, I decided to be brave a get a bike and ride the city. Now if you have ever been to China, if not, then pictures thousands of Chinese drivers on the road, no real road rules and no patience, and times it by three and you might be close to the chaos of their roads. Although it looks like hell, it actually wasn’t too bad, I just followed the read of other Chinese people and in the end, I figured out how it all works and I had a great time!

First stop was the Seven Stars Park, which is just a smaller sized park containing lakes, bridges, temples and also a cave full of stalactites and stalagmites illuminated by fluorescent lights. I strolled around the park, sweating like mad as the weather again, in it’s high 30’s, took photos of some wild monkeys until one charged me just as I was about to take a photo and I visited the cave that contained the stalactite and stalagmite lightshow. The cave was pretty cool, but the pictures on the brochure I think may have been from the Reed Flute Cave, which was my next stop on my bike riding adventure.

Back on the road again and time for quick lunch pit stop. Tried to find a dumpling restaurant that had been raved about my lonely planet and also a few travellers I met in the hostel, but couldn’t. Instead I ended up choosing a restaurant with chickens, ducks and geese hanging from hooks in the window. Was it a good move? Oh yeah. For the equivalent of £1.15, I received a plate loaded with rice, tofu, goose, chicken, soup, some weird salad, chilli cabbage salad and of course some tea. The cheapest meal I have had so far (besides some 10p street meat kebabs).

Reed Flutes Cave was my intending destination, instead I ended up riding non-stop for nearly three hours around in a big circle trying to find the cave, and of course, I never found it. I gave up and decided to just ride around the city, explore some more parks and the river side, and then head back to the hostel in time for the all you can eat BBQ. So the night was filled with meeting new people (again more Dutch! They are everywhere in China), playing a new card game ‘Phase 10” with some Spanish and of course some Dutch, drinking a few beers and just having a nice low key but fun night.

I decided to head to Yangshou, and instead of getting there by the conventional method of a bus, I opted for a trip on a three-hour bamboo raft trip down the Li River, which is said to have some of the most amazing scenery in China. And they didn’t lie. Huge peaks coming out of nowhere, mountains covered in greenery, buffalo swimming at the waters edge and score of bamboo rafts floating down the Li River, it was picturesque. Like The Great Wall, it was a bit hazy which was a real shame as if it was a clear day, the pictures would be absolutely mind blowing. So I am hoping for a nice clear morning one of the days I am here so I can go for a nice early morning ride and get some quality snaps. I have a feeling Yangshou is going to be a great finish to the China leg of my trip.