The Killing Fields and Sihanoukville

We took a tuk tuk to the Killing Fields one day and then a bus to the beach.  We plan to get open water certified while in Cambodia. One of the biggest differences we've seen between Cambodia and Vietnam and China is the amount of beggars. We saw very few in China and Vietnam, although in Vietnam there was always some trying to sell you something and it was usually an adult.  Here in Cambodia we've seen numerous beggars, many of which are amputees, and there have been tons of kids trying to sell you books or bracelets. Makes you wonder whether it has anything to do with the first two countries being communist or just that Cambodia is so much poorer.

Sorry I haven't posted pictures this time, I haven't uploaded them from my camera and my computer is acting up.

Nov 11 – The Killing Fields

This morning we hired a tuk tuk to take us out to the Killing Fields, also known as The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. We contemplated renting a motorcycle for the day but it wasn't too much more to hire a tuk tuk. The tuk tuk ride was much more comfortable than the motorcycle would have been as if had nicely cushioned seats and the roads were pretty rough. The entrance feel at Choeung Ek also included the audio tour which really added to the museum. This wasn't your typically museum as you walked around a park like area listening to the atrocities that occurred. Prisoners held in Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge's reign were taken taken here to be killed. Bullets were considered too expensive to use so the soliders used what ever means available. During the 3 years and 8ish months the Khmer Rouge held power they killed 2-3 million people out of a population of 8 million. Now there is a Memorial Stupa at the center of Choeung Ek that holds the skulls and large bones of all the people who have been unearth. There are still many bodies that have been allowed to lie in peace. This was another place I did not know much about but I am thankful for the audio tour. It was very informative about what had occurred during this time period. As awful as it was to hear about all these deaths I'm glad we visited one of the over 300 killing fields in Cambodia. This is another period of genocide in the worlds history that isn't taught in school but is important to learn about. It's amazing how far Cambodia has come after so many years of strife. After the Killing Fields we had our driver drop us off at the Central Market where we found some lunch. We needed to book a bus to Sihanookville so we headed back to the hotel. The bus prices were all the same and we were able to be picked up from the hotel. The rest of our afternoon was spent relaxing at a riverside bar with some beers. We found some cheap delicious food a couple of blocks down from our hotel. We retired to our room fairly early but didn't go to bed early enough, I read while Beau worked on the computer.

Nov 12 - Sihanoukville
We got on a bus this morning to Sihanoukville. We were picked up by a shuttle bus to take us to the station.  Along the way we picked up a bunch of passengers some of which had to sit on the floor.  Our bus ride took about 4 hours and was pretty sedate compared to most other bus rides we've had, no crazy passing or swerving around pot holes or if there was it made no impression on Beau and I! It started to rain when we reached Sihanoukville but fortunately when it started to pour we were safetly under cover in a tuk tuk which we shared with  2 Swedish guys.  We looked into a couple of hotels and got a private room for $7 without hot water or AC.  That seemed the norm of the budget places and we're cheap so who are we to complain.  After checking in and getting some lunch we started checking out scuba options.  We went to 3 different dive shops all of which offered similar PADI Open water options for about $300.  One place also offered SSI Open Water which was only $255, the courses are very similar and are both internationally accepted so we opted for this one.  We also liked this dive shop the best, EcoSea.  We signed up, put down a deposit and were given our books.  We headed down to the water to check out the beach and see about some dinner.  The beach was just lined with restaurants all selling the same things, $0.50 Draft beer and $3 BBQ.  For the BBQ you could get any three meats from beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, squid, and fish.  Beau and I both opted for the shrimp, squid, and fish and Beau got his with rice and I had garlic bread with mine.  We got quite a lot of sea food and it was all very tasty, cooked with loads of garlic.  We headed back to our hotel to start doing some reading for our Scuba course tomorrow, we did have to stop in to EcoSea because the book they had given me was in German.  As much as I want to learn a second language I don't care to do it while learning to dive.

Cambodia

We`ll we arrived safe and sound in Cambodia yesterday.  The boat ride here was not as nice comfortwise as I thought it might be but it did the trick.  So far Phnom Penh has been very nice.  At night it is lit up like a Christmas tree and the streets are full of people, this is probably do to Independence day and the Water Festival.  The Water Festival was technically cancelled so while the boat races aren`t happening there are still some concerts going on and I guess there are less people here than there would have been.  What is interesting is how different the Cambodians look from the Vietnamese.  The Cambodians have much rounder eyes and look more India where as the Vietnamese have more slanted eye and look more Chinese.  It`s amazing how much people can change over a few hundred kilometers.

Nov 9 – The Mekong to Cambodia

We were up early again this morning, we breakfasted and met up with a new group of people who were taking the slow boat to Cambodia. After talking to a few people it seemed that one of the fast boats had been cancelled but some people hadn't been informed they were now taking the slow boat. I felt bad for these people because they had paid extra but hadn't even been told what was happening. We walked down to the river and prepared to board the boat. We had to wait around for a bit while the guide collected our passports, counted them, fretted that it wasn't the right number, than gave them back. We finally got on the boats, which were fairly small although reasonably comfortable. We went to a fish farm, which was essentially an enclosure below a floating house that raised fish to sell to the fisheries. Next we went to a Cham Minority house. The walk way from the boat was very sketchy, just pieces of wood nailed together, supported by some bamboo now and then. Our guide informed us that we should spread ourselves out over the walkway but not until one girl (smaller than me) had broken through the walk way and fell into the water. The two girls after her got very wet as well. This information would have been much more useful before we got off the boat. The home we went to was really just a scarf shop and had a loom to “show” us how scarfs are made. It was a little lame. We got back on the boat and continued on for awhile. While on the boat our guide had us fill out our visa information cards and collected our passports, pictures and fees to get Cambodian visas. It was $20 for the visa, $2 for paper work and $0.50 for the guide to take care of it all. We gave everything to the guide and he disappeared off the boat to take care of things while we continued along. We reached the Vietnamese boarder where we stopped for a bit to have lunch and wait for our guide to complete the visa process. Lunch was very over priced so Beau and I stuck to noodles and vegetables. After lunch and waiting around we got on a different boat to take us into Cambodia. This new boat sucked. We had wooden benches to sit on, barely enough room for everyone and the motor made the whole boat vibrate something fierce. Also it sat very low in the water. We stopped shortly after to go through the Cambodian boarder check point, while there Beau picked up a beer for the boat ride and I got some Winter Melon pop, it was weird, not bad but not necessarily good. We spent about an hour total on this boat but it seemed an eternity. My teeth were rattling around it vibrated so badly. We pulled up on the ground and there were mini buses waiting for us. We didn't understand how we would all fit in these buses but there were some seats in the back that folded down. The “trunk” space was used for seating not storage. All the bags were some how crammed into a space between the driver and the first set of seats which were rear facing. There were 13 of us crammed in the back of the bus. We had to keep an eye on the bags to make sure they didn't come crashing down on us! We had to stop shortly after we had gotten underway and get off the bus to walk a little ways. A large section of the road had been completely washed out and the driving area was quite muddy so the driver didn't want us to get stuck. Fortunately the Mekong has receded and there were no other section like this, the road was surprisingly good. We arrived at a bus station in the south of Phnom Penh and our next step was to get a tuk tuk, a motorcycle pulling a 4 seat carriage. We shared a tuk tuk with a dutch couple and the driver said he knew a cheap hotel so he took us there and the hotel seemed reasonable so we stayed. Our tuk tuk driver wanted our business for our stay in the city so he gave us a free ride to a no fee ATM. Right next to where this ATM was was a night market so we found some cheap noodle bowls for dinner with the Dutch couple, Bob and Rianna. While eating we heard some loud noises which we attributed to fireworks. It is Cambodian Independence day and the Water Festival. We headed back towards our hotel, there was a park near by that was done up for the Independence Day and had a live concert going on. We turned in after a little while for an early bed time, we were pretty wiped after our travel day.

Floating Shanty House

Me on the sketchy walk way

Our crammed vibrating boat

The washed our road

Nov 10 – Phom Penh

Thankfully we were able to sleep in this morning...sort of. I woke up at 6:20 but went back to sleep for about an hour. By that time we were both awake. This was perfect timing to skype Mom and Dad though! We had a nice chat for about an hour and then Beau and I got on with our day. We had it in our head to check out the Royal Palace and the Central Market. We were informed though that the Palace would be closing for lunch at 11-2:30pm, so we headed to the market first. We had a nice walk along the river which is lined with all the world flags or at least most of them. From there we headed to the Central Market. This market is huge! It in a big building with stalls surrounding it outside. Beau and I both picked up some new clothes. I bought a turquoise quick dry t-shirt for $4 and a pair of comfy jersey cotton capris for $3 and Beau got another quick dry t-shirt for $4. It's tempting to restock our whole wardrobe but not necessary. We had lunch here which consisted of fresh shrimp spring rolls (would have been better if the shrimp had been shelled) and some shrimp, pork filled crepe which was yummy. We headed back to the hotel so I could put on pants to go to the Royal Palace. By the time we were going to head out again it was 3:15 and our receptionist informed us that you really needed 3hrs to explore it properly, it closed at 5, and it cost $6 for entry. We decided against the palace after that and head to find some cheap beers. We found a place that had draft beer for $0.50 so we had a couple and then headed to the market from last night to have some cheap food. We finished dinner right as the fireworks started so we hurried back to the water front to watch them. Afterwards we grabbed another beer then headed back to the hotel. While in the restaurant we were approached by some guys looking for donations to help a primary school. We didn't want to just give them money in case it was a scam but we got the guys info and will pick up some school supplies and donate them instead. On the way back Beau tried one of the dumpling type things, we think it was filled with bean sprouts, and I bought some popcorn which is more like Kettle corn so it was sweet but good. We are going to the killing fields tomorrow but hopefully we'll get to sleep in a little before we head out.

A pretty traffic circle in Phnom Penh

A temple

Fireworks over the river