Compared to my almost four week stay in Thailand, I only planned about two weeks to explore Cambodia. My main goal was to see the Angkor temples, which I’m so happy I got to check off the bucket list! Knowing I didn’t have a lot of time to travel the whole country and needed to be in Phnom Penh for my flight to Vietnam, I decided to stick to the western side of the country and see the cities of Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.
Siem Reap
Siem Reap is best known for its proximity to the Temples of Angkor, but since Bob and I were there for about five days, we did some exploring. Bob’s friends, Bryce and Bennett, joined us for a few days and had been told about this ATV tour that took you through villages and rice fields, and they were excited to try it. On a rainy Wednesday morning, we were picked up at our hotel around 7:45am and taken to the main office. There we were given safety instructions on how to drive the utility vehicles and went on test rides.
Bob and I decided to share one vehicle and I let him be the driver…and I’m glad I survived and am here to keep blogging for you today. Cambodia’s back roads are bad; there is no sugar-coating it. Dirt and clay roads filled with pot holes, big rocks, and no lanes. You would think this would mean we couldn’t go very fast. WRONG. We (I mean, Bob) plowed right through the pot holes and pools of water, getting us completely soaked in the process. It was great fun, but my adrenaline was definitely pumping being in the back.
We stopped at a local street market and walked through. We were the only foreigners there, so it was really interesting to see what the local markets sold. It is definitely not for the squeamish, as there are a lot of raw meats and fish.
Later that evening we decided to have dinner and see an Apsara show. Robam Tep Aspara is a Khmer classical dance created by the Cambodian Royal Ballet. The Aspara (female spirit of the clouds and waters) wears beautiful traditional garb and the dances narrate classical myths and religious stories.
On our last night in Siem Reap, Bob and I decided to check out Pub Street, Siem Reap’s nightlife spot. Everywhere you looked there were bars, restaurants, street markets, food carts and more. It didn’t take us even 10 minutes before we walked past a bug cart and Bob decided to try a spider and snake. Apparently the spider really did taste kind of like chicken but the snake was too tough to really eat.
We sat down for a proper meal and drink and then walked through the Night Bazaar for a bit. I picked up a really cool fair-trade elephant teapot that I can’t wait to use back home! It’s hard to know where a lot of the “stuff” at these markets come from, so I like finding unique fair-trade items.
The rest of our night was spent dancing at a bar on Pub Street and enjoying our last night in Siem Reap!
Sihanoukville
Midway through my week in Siem Reap I still had no idea where I was going once Bob left. I turned to the internet and my travel book for suggestions. Knowing I was going to stay in the western half of the country, I decided on the beach town of Sihanoukville. My plan was to relax on the beach for a few days, potentially visit the island of Koh Rong, and then head to Phnom Penh where I would spend the rest of my time in Cambodia.
The night before leaving Siem Reap, I booked a night ticket to Sihanoukville on a sleeper bus. Well, upon arriving at the bus and getting on, I didn’t realize the “beds” you get, you share with someone else. Now this wouldn’t be an issue if you’re traveling with a friend, but I definitely was not prepared to spend the next 8 hours spooning a Cambodian man. Thankfully he was extremely nice and was so excited to practice his English with me.
Upon arriving in Sihanoukville at 5:30am, I had no idea where I was or had any concept for the town. I had heard that the beach called Otres Beach was nicer than the town beaches and was just south of the city. I wasn’t sure whether I should just go straight to the island of Koh Rong or chill in Sihanoukville, so I finally just grabbed a tuk-tuk and decided to check out Otres. Arriving just around 6am, there was pretty much no activity anywhere. Only one accommodation was open and had only private rooms. I wanted to be in a dorm to meet some fellow travelers, so I asked the driver to take me back to the city where he said I would have a better chance of finding something open. Nope. Everything was still closed, so I gave up and decided to buy a ferry ticket to Koh Rong.
Oh Koh Rong. I wish I had nice things to say about this place. I had read multiple articles about how this island was really wonderful, had beautiful beaches and good food. At some point, I’m sure, Koh Rong may HAVE been a nice place. But now, unless you’re into drugs and hardcore drinking, it’s not the place for you. After I got off the ferry and walked off the pier, I immediately was in the sand on the beach. The beach is really tiny and there are maybe 9-10 places to stay at. After walking up and down the beach, I chose one hostel that had cheap dorm rooms.
I was already set on leaving the next day but decided to just enjoy the time I had on the beach. Welp, after about 30 minutes it started to rain. I ran back to my room and met four other travelers in my dorm. They had decided to grab a drink at the hostel bar and wait out the rain. They invited me to join them and it was nice to be able to pass the time with others. We planned to hike to Long Beach, which was supposed to be a nicer beach on the island, so when the rain stopped we started the journey. The walk started with a hike up to a hilltop bar, where we asked the owner if we were going the right way. He advised us not go because by the time we got there we’d have to turn around to make it back before it got dark. He then told us that the island had been bought by the Chinese and construction had already started on one of the many casinos destined for the island near Long Beach. It was sad to hear the place was going to be taken over by casinos and an airport, and all of us were wondering what would happen to the locals that lived there. Truth is, no one is really sure yet, but I can imagine they will have to leave.
Now that our only plan for the day had been cancelled, we decided to head back to the hostel and do the only thing we could think of, drink. It was really great talking with the two girls from Canada and two guys from Germany, so we ended up having a good time!
The only other plan they had for the day was to see the bioluminescence at night. I had already seen this on my night dive in Thailand and told them it was worth going out to see. And for only $3, I decided to join them for the night swim. We hopped in the long-tail boat around 7pm and drove out to a location far from the beach and away from as much artificial light as we could. We put on our snorkel gear and jumped in. Immediately all of us started to glow. Waving your hand in front of your face, it looked like glitter in the water. We swam for about 30 minutes before heading back to the beach, having dinner and passing out.
The next morning we got up early and immediately went to the pier to see which ferry we could get on. We checked out of our hostel and waited for the 12:30pm ferry back to Sihanoukville. The two girls I was with had heard that Otres Beach was supposed to be nice, and having been there the day before, I told them it was worth going to. The five of us ended up heading there together and staying at the same hostel for two nights. It was so much more peaceful and relaxing than Koh Rong and exactly what all of us needed. We saw some beautiful sunsets and had a nice time swimming in the water.
After spending two days there, I decided to head to Phnom Penh where I could spend a day or two exploring the city and also spend a day relaxing before heading to Vietnam.
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and home to more than 1.5 million people. As we approached the city on the bus I took from Sihanoukville, the first thing I noticed was the crazy amount of traffic. There aren’t really any traffic lights, and if there were, no one paid attention to them. It took us over an hour to get in to the city of Phnom Penh and even then the traffic was still horrendous.
I purposefully booked a hostel with a pool so that I could relax and catch up on blogging before heading to Vietnam. But there were two important places I wanted to visit, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (as known as S-21 Prison) and the Killing Fields. I knew this was going to be a heavy day, so luckily a girl in my room and I decided we would go together the following day.
A quick history lesson: From 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge communist regime ruled over Cambodia under the leadership of Pol Pot. He had admired the way some Cambodian tribes lived, free of religion, money and education, and wanted to foster the same philosophy for Cambodia. Pol Pot sought to rid the country of any social institutions and grow agricultural production. To do so, Pol Pot sought out to exterminate anyone who didn’t fit this new ideal. The regime arrested and executed many people suspected of working with the former government or with foreign governments as well as intellectuals, foreign citizens, students, workers, professors and many more. It’s estimated that about 2 million people were killed.
Visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was a sobering experience. Having originally been a high school, it was transformed into a prison during the Khmer Rouge regime known as Security Prison S21. From the outside, you would have no idea what happened inside. Located in the middle of the city, it looked like just another city block. Once inside, we were handed an audio guide and started our tour. The classrooms were converted into jail cells and torture rooms, barbed wire guarded the perimeter and iron bars and wire were put up on the buildings to prevent anyone from jumping out. It’s estimated that 17,000 people were executed here from 1975-1979. Even worse, families of the prisoners were also brought to the prison and many were executed. The museum is now on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register for containing photographs, ‘confessions’ and biographical records of the prisoners.
After walking through the mesuem, we got back in our tuk-tuk and headed about 7.5km outside of the city to the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, just one of 300 made by the Khmer Rouge. Upon arriving at the field, it was hard to think that something that now looked so peaceful, was once the site of mass murder. We took our audio guides and slowly made our way through the field.
Almost 9,000 bodies were exhumed from the mass graves in 1980, many of which were victims from S21. Fragments of bone and cloth are still surfacing from the grounds, so each month workers collect what comes up. Choeung Ek is now a memorial, and houses a Buddist stupa which is filled with thousands of skulls that can be seen from its glass walls.
Not everyone wants to visit places like these, but I find it important to learn about the history of the world, the good and the bad. Both S21 and the Killing Fields do a wonderful job of recalling and explaining what the Khmer Rouge did in an emotional and truthful way. I encourage anyone traveling to Phnom Penh to think about visiting these places.
My last stop in Phnom Penh was checking out the Russian Market. I walked there with two girls from my hostel and we were prepared to stuff our faces with street food for lunch. Turns out the street vendors don’t set up shop until later in the afternoon, so we walked around a bit and stopped to buy some fruit, which I think ended up giving me food poisoning- UGH. Mangosteen, when opened, looks like a clove of garlic. Its taste is slightly sweet and a little tangy.
Overall, I enjoyed my time in Cambodia and could really see the differences between it and Thailand even though they are neighbors. The country is absolutely worth a visit, as it is filled with a rich history and culture.