Hot on the heels of my apology to Mr. Moo, here is the second part of my Cambodia trip. Well, there's no point apologising if you're not going to change your actions.
So after a full morning of temple watching, I went back to my hotel, had a cold shower, a change of clothes, lunch and went off out to Tonle Sap. A few people had said this is cool, seeing the floating villages. Well, ok, one person that I remember but I'm very trusting. And they were right, although it was not without some panic.
Vanna, my tuk-tuk driver drove me down to the banks of the lake (about 30 minutes ride from downtown Siem Reap) where the boats sit and wait for tourists to come along. There were loads of boats and a decent amount of tourists, including one group of about 6 who had just paid their money like I had. As I was led down the gangway to the boat I realised that they were no longer with me and that I was being led to the boat alone. It took a moment for me to realise just what was going on; it wasn't a group boat trip, it was a private hire of a boat.
Normally I'm alright travelling on my own and am up for some adventures. I'm sensible, I'm safe, I look like I know where I'm going even when I don't and I head back to the hotel before it's late. Heck, in Bali I even wore a fake wedding ring and pretended not to speak English so as not to get drawn in to conversations with strangers. But here I was getting on a boat with two men (one the driver (is there a driver on a boat?) and the other the guide. Aside from Vanna, no one in the world knew where I was and once I was on board sailing out even he wouldn't know. Oh. Dear. Goodness.
And then of course there was the boat itself. I mean, I'm no expert but I'd stick my neck out and say it wouldn't pass EU regulations on boat safety. Just a hunch I got from the sound of the motor and the age of the wood. But it was too late to do anything now. Plus I'd paid my money. Sure, I might never be seen again, but who wants to waste money? Not me.
We sailed out past the little floating huts and the guide told me what they were used for. There were shops, a school with floating basketball court and even something that looked like a florists. I was beginning to relax as we passed by other tourists on their own tours just as we made it out the narrow channel to the lake proper and then we stopped.
Like stopped.
As in the driver turned off the engine and we stopped. I looked around nervously for some sort of weapon I could use to protect myself for when the need arose. Talk of water snakes made the possibility of swimming an less likely option but I consoled myself with thoughts of my Silver Medallion and the fact my shorts and tank top wouldn't soak up as much water as jammies do.
Perhaps they sensed my inner panic and maybe even spotted me trying to think of ways I could use my chair in self defence, but after about ten minutes we were making our way back down the channel. My concern wasn't to end however, we were going to see the crocodiles. Oh good. Just then I could hear how the news story would sound at home 'A British tourist was mauled to death by crocodiles in Cambodia today. The authorities would fly her body home if there was anything left...'
Anyway, needless to say I am alive and well. My boat did not capsize, sink, I was not eaten by water snakes or crocodiles and my guide and driver were so lovely as to not kill me. I even tipped them for that.
My boat. This was once they'd dropped me off. I resisted the deep desire to kiss the little dock I was standing on. Well, at least til they had sailed out of view.
Even this little boat overtook us.
Your local boat battery store. House proud or florists?
The little channel we sailed up. Look at the boy in the bottom right of the picture. He's floating in what can only be described as a big bowl.
In retrospect, I am really glad I went to Siem Reap first of all, even though there was more I wanted to do in Phnom Penh. That was just the way the airline flew, Singapore - Siem Reap - Phnom Penh - Singapore so it obviously made sense to do it that way. But it got me accustomed to the country in the safety of fellow tourists.
This was the view from the restaurant where I had dinner one night. See, touristy. This is that dinner. Apparently it was a traditional Cambodian meal of chicken, vegetable and cashew nuts. Not wanting to offend Cambodian sensitivities but it was very like the Chicken and Cashew Nuts from our local Chinese. This is the Cambodian King and Queen. Is it just me or does she look like our own HRH?! He looks nothing like Philip though which sadly rules out any summer fete work as lookalikies.
So after Siem Reap I was off to Phnom Penh. It was a lot less touristy and felt much more like real Cambodia.
They like their bikes in Phnom Penh. I had this amazing meal in a restaurant run by former street children, called Friends. Should you ever find yourself in Phnom Penh, you should go there. Seeing and reading what they've done here filled me with hope. This is Wat Phnom, a temple in Phnom Penh. I didn't go in, I was all templed out remember. But I did want to see the big clock. It's Cambodia's largest clock, don't you know.
I had done a module in university on South East Asia and for my assignment had written an essay about the genocide of Pol Pot's regime in the 1970s. I had always wanted to see for myself the places I'd read and written about but never got the chance when I lived in Singapore. So this summer seemed like a good chance.
This is Tuol Sleng. It used to be a high school in Phnom Penh before the Khmer Rouge took it over and made a prison and torture centre out of it, S-21. They have the rooms more or less the way they were and photos of what was found there. An extra twist in the visit, which I didn't expect, was how like my school in Singapore it was - the layout of the buildings and the outside corridor. This brought added poignancy to the visit.
The Khmer Rouge took photos of everyone that came into S21 and these pictures take up many of the classrooms now. I don't think I'll forget how scared everyone looked.
The next day I went out to one of the killing field sites, Choeung-ek. It's a good way out of the city and into the countryside. It should be such a beautiful place, but its history just stops any feelings of warmth.
They built this memorial. It's filled with about hundreds of the skulls they found here.
All the skulls have the same tiny cracks showing where the people were beaten over the head.
Each one of the pits you can see here had hundreds of people buried here. They found nearly 9000 bodies here but no one is any doubt that there are more.
There was virtually no one the Khmer Rouge wouldn't kill. This tree was one of the hardest things to look at during my visit.
It's the tree they used to kill babies by beating them on it.
So there you have it. Lovely people, beautiful country, terrible history, but a hopeful future.
