Phnom Penh: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

The next stop on the tour was Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  It is kind of a hard stop to blog about because it is a very dynamic city full of highs and lows.  While our stay there was short, only 2 nights, we managed to see and eat our way through much of the city. Luckily, a friend of a friend helped us to track down an apartment to rent for the 2 nights we were there.  Since we were a little nervous about safety, we paid extra and definitely got our money's worth in a 3 story fully furnished apartment right on the busy Street 240.  We kicked off our PP experience by meeting our friends for happy hour at Raffles Hotel Le Royal, where Jackie O. once stayed and many reporters set up camp during the Cambodian Genocide. That night we also walked along the riverfront, hit up the night market where you could buy almost anything for $1, and then checked out some live music and a rooftop bar at the Foreign Correspondents Club before we called it a night.

The next day we decided to rent a tuk-tuk since it would be our only full day in PP and we had a huge list of things to see/do.  Our friend hired a driver outside her apartment and for $15 he took Nell, Meghan and our friend Alex around for the whole day.  We began the day at the Russian Market by sampling what is known on Facebook as the "Best Iced Coffee in Phnom Penh."  The coffee definitely lived up to its billing and the taste was as good as the presentation.  We did a little shopping in the market before hopping back in the tuk-tuk where our day took a turn from the light and fun to the dark and heavy.

Our next stop was the S-21 Museum, or the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, right in the center of PP. During the years of Cambodia's Genocide (1974-1979), in which more than 20% of Cambodia's population was killed, this former school was used as a prison, interrogation, and extermination center by the Khmer Rouge regime.  Walking through the halls of this former school was an extremely difficult experience.  Metal bed frames, torture equipment, and hand-shaped blood stains can still be found in the classrooms turned torture chambers.  Before I came to Cambodia, I read up on the Genocide by reading Loung Ung's memoir of the events titled "First They Killed My Father," it was a moving and inspiring book and if you're interested in learning more about the Genocide, I encourage you to read it.

From the S-21 museum our tuk-tuk driver drove us about 15 kms outside of PP to Choeung Ek, better known as "The Killing Fields."  In these fields, the Khmer Rouge executed about 17,000 people, many from S-21, including women and children.  Today, Choeung Ek is the home to a museum and memorial stupa that contains around 5,000 skulls dug up from the mass graves on site.  After walking around the fields for around an hour I couldn't help but feel physically ill.  After visiting these sites, I was amazed and inspired by the will of the Cambodian people to survive and move towards peace after such a tremendous national tragedy.  That night we kept it low-key and went to Friends Restaurant/Shop/Nail Salon.  Friends is an NGO that helps to reintegrate street children into society by giving them training and education in the restaurant, hospitality and beauty industries, among other things.  The meal was amazing and an excellent end to our time in PP.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia: The original Snooki

Before MTV introduced this Snooki into the world, another one was well known among backpacker circles on the "Banana Pancake Trail" through Southeast Asia. That would be Sihanoukville, Cambodia.  I first heard of Snooki from some backpacking travel bloggers that I follow on Twitter, and after it kept coming up as a place to see, I knew we had to add it to our itinerary.

Snooki was pretty much exactly as advertised: lots of hostels, lots of bars, lots of beaches, and lots of cute children on the beach who try to sell you manicures, bracelets, hair braiding, anything you want! Of course, if you follow all the warning signs around town (which we did) you aren't supposed to buy anything from these children as it would only perpetuate their exploitation. (Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clx1ZlmYu2I).  It was hard to say no to these children, but luckily there are a multitude of NGOs working on their behalf that you can support by visiting stores, restaurants and even hostels/hotels.

We stayed on Serendipity Beach which seems to be the main spot for backpackers and is bustling with hostels and beachside bars and clubs.  The first day we did a little market shopping before heeding the advice of our hotel manager, Damien, who told us that the nicest beach was about an hour and a half's walk on Otres Beach, and apparently it was the place to watch the sunset.  Since I'm a sucker for beautiful sunsets on the beach we decided to head that way, it was a nice walk there but unfortunately started to rain just as the sun was about to set, so instead of a great sunset we huddled under a metal bungalow to wait out the thunderstorm.  Once it was over, it was already dark and we were quite a ways away from our hostel so we hopped in a tuk-tuk for the return trip.  The tuk-tuk ride ended up being one of the more terrifying rides of my life as it was on a red-dirt road that had just been soaked by the rains, so our poor driver had to drive in figure eights the whole way home to avoid potholes and puddles.  At one point I said to the other girls, "this is one of those moments where if our parents could see us - with no idea where we are in the middle of a field in Cambodia, driving next to yaks, through a shantytown and with no lights in sight - they would probably freak out." Luckily, our driver was an expert and we made it back to the hostel safe and dry, ready for another night out on the town where we found ourselves in the middle of a "white party" that required florescent body paint that will apparently never come out of clothes. The next day we packed our bags once again and hit the Cambodian highways for the journey to Phnom Penh.

Koh Kong, Cambodia: Don't Drink and Tuk-Tuk

I think it's safe to say that going into Cambodia the three of us were slightly apprehensive.  We had heard and read about a lot of petty theft, purse snatching, even "brick attacks" on foreigners (these are the types of things you don't tell your parents before you go somewhere...) and from the moment we walked across the border it was clear that Cambodia had a bit more of a renegade feel than Thailand.  I was, however, very pleasantly surprised by Cambodia.  The countryside was beautiful, the people were very friendly and helpful, the food was delicious (Khmer curry!) and the beaches were great.

When we arrived at the border by minivan we proceeded to stamp out of Thailand and were ushered through a gate on to a dirt road that was surrounded by trees on one side and water on the other.  With no one directing us and no signs, we were unsure of where we were supposed to go or if we were even across the border, but we stumbled upon the immigration stand.  We were immediately surrounded by men in skinny jeans and trucker hats (Cambodian fashion) who held a contraption near our head that supposedly measured our temperature and gave us a clean bill of health.  They then took control and filled out all of our forms and paperwork before we realized we should be doing this by ourselves and they began to ask us for their "tip."  We also paid double the price for our Visa but at that point decided it was a moot point to try and argue. Definitely not the typical border crossing/immigration checkpoint.  Once we survived this debacle we had to get ourselves into the town of Koh Kong to find a place to stay. Using our trusty Lonely Planet guidebooks we decided on Ramsey Buntam Guesthouse.  It wasn't the most luxurious of places, with dead mosquitoes littering the sheets and a giant dead cockroach on the ground, but it was monsooning outside and we weren't in the mood to traipse around town to find another place.

The location turned out to be perfect, however, because right next door was Paddy's Bamboo Pub - a very small pub with just a few tables. After enjoying a delicious meal of Khmer Curry and some Angkor Beer, we were invited by a group of Cambodian men behind us to join their table and have a drink.  Only a couple of the men were fluent in English so we stumbled our way through some hilarious conversations and taught them some of our favorite Americanisms such as the fist pump and "Booyeah!" The owner, Paddy, came out and joined us for a bit and told us about his dream to start a hostel and his goals of helping his fellow Cambodians to have work and learn English, quite the amazing fellow! After a few rounds, which involved a "cheers" every other drink, literally, we were invited to join the group at a club for some dancing.  We were wiped out from our trek though and decided to take a pass as our only way home would be from one of the guys, a tuk-tuk driver, who had been downing beers with us until he stopped so he could be the "designated tuk-tuk driver." I'm sure it would have been a very memorable experience, but I was ok with skipping out this time around.

The next morning we had some great breakfast with baguettes (real bread! Can't get this in Thailand!) before Paddy personally gave us a ride, by tuk-tuk of course, to the bus station so we could head down south to the beaches of Sihanoukville.  There wasn't a whole lot happening in Koh Kong, but Paddy's Pub made it a very worthwhile stop on our trip!

Thailand: It's Easy!

Time for some deets on exactly what I've been up to while I've been wondering around SE Asia for the past few weeks. The adventure began with a trip to the BKK airport to pick up Megh to bring her back to show off our little hometown among the rice paddies.  Suphanburi is small so we were able to show her the whole town in a day - the school, the market, the dragon, the tower, and then on to our favorite Som Tom restaurant.  If you've never had Som Tom - spicy papaya salad - I highly recommend you test it out, I'm not sure if it's as good in the States as it is here with all the fresh fruits and veggies, but add some sticky rice to the meal and you are golden.

That night we headed into Bangkok to hit up the bumping backpacking hot spot that is Khao San Road, home to countless street vendors, beer tanks, and blasting techno music.  It's definitely the place to be for backpackers.  The next day we tried to cram in as much of Bangkok as possible - The Grand Palace, Siam, and Chatuchak Market before hopping an overnight bus to the island of Koh Chang.

 Unfortunately, the overnight bus ended up only taking 4 hours, so we left Bangkok at 11:30 pm and were dropped off literally on the side of the road at 3:45 am.  Luckily, we were dropped off at a tourist office where we hopped in a songtow for a ride to the island ferry and we finally made it to the island and to our hostel (exhausted!) around 7 am.

Koh Chang is a gorgeous place and one of my favorite island stops in Thailand so far.  We stayed in a great little hostel called Rock Sand Resort with a balcony that was directly over the clear blue ocean. Our first major character of the trip was the hotel owner who we lovingly nicknamed Mr. Whiskers due to the very long hairs growing out of his chin - a trend we spotted all over Asia.  We could not understand anything he said to us, in Thai or English, during our stay there, but he would finish almost every answer to our questions with "It's easssssy." One of our first stops was a trip into the main area for one of the more interesting massage experiences I've had so far in Thailand.  As soon as we got there they had us strip down and covered us with little hand towels... interesting.  Due to some lucky timing on our part, there just so happened to be a parade going through town at that very moment, and the ladies doing the massage couldn't bear to miss it so they opened the curtains wide, and as we lay there covered in hand towels a line of children dressed like dragons and beating drums strolled past the windows while we put on a show of our own for the crowds outside.

Our last day in Koh Chang we had to give Megh the typical Thailand experience of riding an elephant.  We had a friendly elephant named Hong Thong (after a brand of Thai whiskey) who took us on a journey through a bit of jungle, over some rocks and through the trees.  Megh got her turn to sit on the elephant and play mahout and was quite the driver, if not a slightly nervous one.  We finished up our time in Thailand with another sampling of Pad Thai for dinner and toasted with some Singha beer.  Next stop: Cambodia!