Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge Genocide.
After paradise, beach life and no temples for a while, I am back to Buddhism, temples and hot hot weather.
I had a very long journey to get to Siam Reap, from Cebu to Manila, hours of waiting in the airport which actually I love, I can see people, imagining where they are going and see how excited, sad or happy they are. Finally after 12 hours I arrived to the city of temples, Siem Reap.
Life brings you a lot of surprises, for me was to meet my highschool friend in Siem Reap. Maybe after 8 years we meet again, now on the other side of the world. And this world is so small that I was so lucky to find also the new friend I made in Malaysia here in Siem Reap.
My tuk tuk was waiting for me in the airport and we had a nice ride to the hostel, of course he stopped in the pub street, wonder why? I just noticed every country has their own style of tuk tuks and this is amazing, here the bike is infront and you are in the back. After the whole day traveling I thought I would be tired, but I always find the energy from somewhere unknown, so we went partying Cambodian crazy style with a few people from the hostel. Beer here is very cheap, 0,50 cents of a dolar, cheap cheap.
Our first day in Ankgor Wat was super nice, you have to rent a tuk tuk that takes you around the temples and secret spots. Our tuk tuk driver was Roof, great person, smiling and willing to take us everywhere we asked for. We did a couple of temples and then we wanted to see the sunsent in the top of a hill. Here in Cambodia they don't speak much English, when entering the place some guy was talking to us, I guess he was trying to say that it closed at 5pm and that we couldn't go up. But we didn't listen and just started walking uphill. After 615 step we reached the top, but unfortunately we were not able to see the sunsent, but we did meet a young monk with whom we spoke via google translator. Funny story is that when going down there was someone waiting for us in the stairs, it was the police to escort us out of the place, thank god he was drunk and I was able to make fun with him, we left laughing all together and taking selfies with him. After a whole afternoon walking around we were dead, but with new adventures and stories to tell.
Our second day of temples started super early in the morning, 4:30 am we were ready to go see the sunrise in the famous Angkor Wat. Walking around all these temples is so nice, but super hot, even if you drink water it evaporates so fast and better not to talk about sweating, I was sweating like no tomorrow.
As the rainy season is coming, every afternoon we get a bit of rain, which at least makes it fresher and not so hot.
Our next stop is Battambang, small village were we just stayed one night. We did a full day tour walking around the killing Fields and learning about the Cambodian genocide, what a horrible thing! I think I never heard about the Khmer Rouge and how horrible things they did in this country. Maybe it's why khmer people don't smile so much? They are abhirt country after all. After the sad moments the most impressive and funny thing of the tour was the bamboo train, it was the best ride ever, just 20 mins but the landscape and the feeling of the air in your face was incredible.
Taking night bus here will be a completely new adventure, I can just say, thank god I'm with my friend because in the sleeping bus you have to share a very tiny bed with someone, if you are traveling alone you get to cuddle with a stranger. So our next stop is Phnom Penh, the capital city.
Arriving at 5 am in the middle of nowhere, being attacked by "tuk tuk cheap cheap" it's not a great feeling that early in the morning. Of course check in here is at 2pm, not like in Myanmar that any time you arrived they would give you a bed to sleep. So we just slept in some sofas next to reception, once people were all around us we had to wake up.
Walking around a big city is always an adventure, specially when it is so hot. This city is very nice, even though eveyone says there is nothing to see. Just walking around the streets you can see beautiful architecture, french colonian style, palm trees and nice places. We visited few points, but heat won so we just went back to the hostel for a swim in the pool. Our 2nd day in Phnom Penh was more intense. We went ealy morning to the genocide, S-21 museum, very strong feelings once you are in that place, similar feelings when you are in Austwitz, Poland, or in Villa Grimaldi, Chile. You can not believe what mankind is able to do. So many people died, were tortured without any reason, and the saddest thing is that we did not learn from the past, people keep doing the same things all over again. Maybe one day they will realise, maybe they will keep doing it. After this place full of mixed feelings and emotions we went to the next place, the killing fields. Here it was even more impressive, you could see the bones and teeth from all those that died there on the ground, coming out of the mud, it was so strong feeling full of emotion and anger. I wish people would never ever have to go through this again.
Next day we left early morning to the beautiful island of Koh rong now we were 3, my Chilean friend and my new German friend, after 6 hours of bus to Sihanoukville, a misunderstanding with the driver, he left us in the middle of nowhere but we managed to get picked up with no issues and 1 hour of ferry we arrived to this peaceful and relaxed beach, our house for 3 days was a nice tent next to the beach, with an amazing view to the sea. What else can you ask for?
The weather is already starting to get bad, so there is more rain than sunny days, but this doesn't bother me anymore, it makes the adventure more fun. Luckyly enough there was a good party going on that Monday, so we grabbed our vodkas and went to dance for a while with our new Argentinian friends and one new Chilean girl, of course we ended up swimming during the night to the surprise of seeing amazing plankton everywhere, so magical and beautiful.
As the weather is not so great and after 3 days in Koh Rong we move to the next island, Koh Rong Sanloem. Very chilled and hippie fishing village. We stayed here 2 nights, rainny season is here in all it's way. And what else can you do when you are bored? A tattoo! I found this Greek guy tattooing in this little island and I decided to get my palm tree done with him, and it was the best idea ever I love it so much that this moment will be in my memory for ever. You will wonder why a palm tree? Well it represents my love for the beach, my trip to Asia and freedom. Also apparently it means love, peace, truth, honor and value.
The ferry to go back was a bit wavy and of course I'm always afraid and sweating like no tomorrow. After the ferry being late, the wavy trip, the rain everywhere we found a bus that took us to Kampot. Of course the trip was an adventure, driver was crazy and I was praying for our souls. But we made it safe and sound to Kampot.
As the weather has not being the best the past week we are just wondering around and treating our selfs, either good food, pedicure, food massage or anything to avoid rain. I think this is the first time I have been doing so many massages, pedicures and all these nice things. And I must confess I love it. Once in a while we should treat ourselves, we deserve it!
In our last day in Kampot, Cambodia, we visited the Pepper plantation, white elephant cave, here the police asked us for a picture, haha famous around the world! We also went to Kep, small village, famous for their crabs, we ate very nice fish instead, as we don't know how to eat a crab, with this nice pepper and lemon sauce that I loved so much.
Our time in Cambodia has come to an end, next morning taking around 5 buses to get to Vietnam, walking to cross the border, getting 90 days of free visa, just because we are Chileans, it's good to have Chilean passport after all. Next adventures to come! Orkun Cambodia, see you soon.
I had a very long journey to get to Siam Reap, from Cebu to Manila, hours of waiting in the airport which actually I love, I can see people, imagining where they are going and see how excited, sad or happy they are. Finally after 12 hours I arrived to the city of temples, Siem Reap.
Life brings you a lot of surprises, for me was to meet my highschool friend in Siem Reap. Maybe after 8 years we meet again, now on the other side of the world. And this world is so small that I was so lucky to find also the new friend I made in Malaysia here in Siem Reap.
My tuk tuk was waiting for me in the airport and we had a nice ride to the hostel, of course he stopped in the pub street, wonder why? I just noticed every country has their own style of tuk tuks and this is amazing, here the bike is infront and you are in the back. After the whole day traveling I thought I would be tired, but I always find the energy from somewhere unknown, so we went partying Cambodian crazy style with a few people from the hostel. Beer here is very cheap, 0,50 cents of a dolar, cheap cheap.
Our first day in Ankgor Wat was super nice, you have to rent a tuk tuk that takes you around the temples and secret spots. Our tuk tuk driver was Roof, great person, smiling and willing to take us everywhere we asked for. We did a couple of temples and then we wanted to see the sunsent in the top of a hill. Here in Cambodia they don't speak much English, when entering the place some guy was talking to us, I guess he was trying to say that it closed at 5pm and that we couldn't go up. But we didn't listen and just started walking uphill. After 615 step we reached the top, but unfortunately we were not able to see the sunsent, but we did meet a young monk with whom we spoke via google translator. Funny story is that when going down there was someone waiting for us in the stairs, it was the police to escort us out of the place, thank god he was drunk and I was able to make fun with him, we left laughing all together and taking selfies with him. After a whole afternoon walking around we were dead, but with new adventures and stories to tell.
Our second day of temples started super early in the morning, 4:30 am we were ready to go see the sunrise in the famous Angkor Wat. Walking around all these temples is so nice, but super hot, even if you drink water it evaporates so fast and better not to talk about sweating, I was sweating like no tomorrow.
As the rainy season is coming, every afternoon we get a bit of rain, which at least makes it fresher and not so hot.
Our next stop is Battambang, small village were we just stayed one night. We did a full day tour walking around the killing Fields and learning about the Cambodian genocide, what a horrible thing! I think I never heard about the Khmer Rouge and how horrible things they did in this country. Maybe it's why khmer people don't smile so much? They are abhirt country after all. After the sad moments the most impressive and funny thing of the tour was the bamboo train, it was the best ride ever, just 20 mins but the landscape and the feeling of the air in your face was incredible.
Taking night bus here will be a completely new adventure, I can just say, thank god I'm with my friend because in the sleeping bus you have to share a very tiny bed with someone, if you are traveling alone you get to cuddle with a stranger. So our next stop is Phnom Penh, the capital city.
Arriving at 5 am in the middle of nowhere, being attacked by "tuk tuk cheap cheap" it's not a great feeling that early in the morning. Of course check in here is at 2pm, not like in Myanmar that any time you arrived they would give you a bed to sleep. So we just slept in some sofas next to reception, once people were all around us we had to wake up.
Walking around a big city is always an adventure, specially when it is so hot. This city is very nice, even though eveyone says there is nothing to see. Just walking around the streets you can see beautiful architecture, french colonian style, palm trees and nice places. We visited few points, but heat won so we just went back to the hostel for a swim in the pool. Our 2nd day in Phnom Penh was more intense. We went ealy morning to the genocide, S-21 museum, very strong feelings once you are in that place, similar feelings when you are in Austwitz, Poland, or in Villa Grimaldi, Chile. You can not believe what mankind is able to do. So many people died, were tortured without any reason, and the saddest thing is that we did not learn from the past, people keep doing the same things all over again. Maybe one day they will realise, maybe they will keep doing it. After this place full of mixed feelings and emotions we went to the next place, the killing fields. Here it was even more impressive, you could see the bones and teeth from all those that died there on the ground, coming out of the mud, it was so strong feeling full of emotion and anger. I wish people would never ever have to go through this again.
Next day we left early morning to the beautiful island of Koh rong now we were 3, my Chilean friend and my new German friend, after 6 hours of bus to Sihanoukville, a misunderstanding with the driver, he left us in the middle of nowhere but we managed to get picked up with no issues and 1 hour of ferry we arrived to this peaceful and relaxed beach, our house for 3 days was a nice tent next to the beach, with an amazing view to the sea. What else can you ask for?
The weather is already starting to get bad, so there is more rain than sunny days, but this doesn't bother me anymore, it makes the adventure more fun. Luckyly enough there was a good party going on that Monday, so we grabbed our vodkas and went to dance for a while with our new Argentinian friends and one new Chilean girl, of course we ended up swimming during the night to the surprise of seeing amazing plankton everywhere, so magical and beautiful.
As the weather is not so great and after 3 days in Koh Rong we move to the next island, Koh Rong Sanloem. Very chilled and hippie fishing village. We stayed here 2 nights, rainny season is here in all it's way. And what else can you do when you are bored? A tattoo! I found this Greek guy tattooing in this little island and I decided to get my palm tree done with him, and it was the best idea ever I love it so much that this moment will be in my memory for ever. You will wonder why a palm tree? Well it represents my love for the beach, my trip to Asia and freedom. Also apparently it means love, peace, truth, honor and value.
The ferry to go back was a bit wavy and of course I'm always afraid and sweating like no tomorrow. After the ferry being late, the wavy trip, the rain everywhere we found a bus that took us to Kampot. Of course the trip was an adventure, driver was crazy and I was praying for our souls. But we made it safe and sound to Kampot.
As the weather has not being the best the past week we are just wondering around and treating our selfs, either good food, pedicure, food massage or anything to avoid rain. I think this is the first time I have been doing so many massages, pedicures and all these nice things. And I must confess I love it. Once in a while we should treat ourselves, we deserve it!
In our last day in Kampot, Cambodia, we visited the Pepper plantation, white elephant cave, here the police asked us for a picture, haha famous around the world! We also went to Kep, small village, famous for their crabs, we ate very nice fish instead, as we don't know how to eat a crab, with this nice pepper and lemon sauce that I loved so much.
Our time in Cambodia has come to an end, next morning taking around 5 buses to get to Vietnam, walking to cross the border, getting 90 days of free visa, just because we are Chileans, it's good to have Chilean passport after all. Next adventures to come! Orkun Cambodia, see you soon.
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