Day 1- Cambodia Travel Journal

It's almost the end of January....i've been back for 20 days already and I've yet to blog abt my Cambodian trip. *Major Procastinator* It was a fabulous trip, went back primarily to visit friends i'd made from the last trip. And to bring Leng & the gals (Pearl & Xuan)to visit Prey Veng! The place i missed dearly...wanted so bad to go back and relive the simple slow-paced life. *Huge country bumpkin*

We set off on Christmas evening, i was expecting some x'mas festivities on the flight but they'd none on Jetstar....budget....so budget....At the airport, because of some silly miscommunication, we ran all the way to Gate 16 only to missing all the duty-free shopping. On the plane i chatted with an Aussie PR who was in the mining industry in Spore (I never knew such industries existed in SG) and he shared some of his reservations abt gg to Cambodia. From our previous trip, I'd gathered some useful survival tips and so I told him it was better to carry his bag in front, things abt the weather, the currency etc. Going there for a second time was definitely different from going there for the first time.

However, i was not prepared for the cultural shock when we reached the guest house in Phnom Penh. Vitou was very nice to help us book the rooms USD$13 for 3 rooms a night. But before you think it's a steal, let me tell you, the conditions were appalling. Firstly the bed linen looked barely washed, secondly we'd to climb this steep steps up to the fifth floor though the dark stairwell, the windows were non-existent, it was only curtains drawn over grills so anyone wld draw the curtains and peep in anytime they wanted....if they were ok with touching the dirty curtains. The bathroom (this one I'd expected) had no heater and looked like a built-in cabinet. Blackouts were frequent in Cambodia so again it wasn't unexpected when all the fans and lights went off at abt 2am. For me i wished the lights were turned on in that dark creepy room but when they weren't, i had to sleep clutching an amulet which was way out of anything i, a rational non-religious person, would do normally. Jeez....

But we were so tired that night having walked prob abt 8km before that so dirty linen or not we slept. Since it was the first and only night we were going to spend there, we were determined not to waste it and so headed out to take in the night "scenes"--- what a scene, it was so dark at the riverside (supposedly the famous intersection between Tonle Sap and the Mekkong) we cldn't make out what were the black things driven so quickly by the water currents until the walk the nx morning we found out it was bags of rubbish. Duh! There weren't any pretty sights that night, the best thing was seeing the Spore Embassy which had such a towering fence that the interior was not visible at all! Just like Changi Prison! Now we know our Spore ambassador to Cambodia is so very well protected.^^ And hmm we got to see the National Momument which was deserted at night, guarded by a solitary guard. But i'm not complaining, cos it was what we wanted, to take in Phnom Penh as it was at night and that was it, in its truest undisguised form. And we were amazing that night, we managed to acquire a map of the city out of pure initiative by walking into the Princess Hotel and asking for one.

The nx morning's itenary was pretty tight. We went to a coffeeshop for breakfast and took a walk around the Central Market area (which had a magnificent dome roof architecture that i felt had kinda a Middle-Eastern flavour) and then met up with Vitou and friend at the Royal Palace where we had to pay admission of 13USD per person to get in (25 times what the locals paid) Jeez...again. Xuan and Pearl had to miss it cos they weren't appropriately dressed (no shorts and caps allowed), a pity cos it was probably the best Phnom Penh had to offer-- intricately carved shrines and edifice.

Then we rushed back to the guest house to retrieve our bags and then lunch at the upper floor of the market which looked like those 80's hawker centres. Ate zichar...and that was antecedent of the series of zichar throughout the trip. The afternoon's bus journey was to be the most memorable one of our lifetimes. Affectionately known as the MUMBAI bus, the 20-capacity bus squeezed 30 people, a motorcycle plus tons of baggage and dried foodstuff. Think the people on the bus were very amused by us, they were peeping over our shoulders when we viewed photos on our digicams, when we wrote our travel journals on the bus, when we sprayed insect repellent etc. Pearl will nv forget the uncle with an incessant spitting habit, Xuan would nv forget the ricesack she stepped on, and I'd never forget the lady beside me who had a penchant for breadloaves. For their part, the locals would never forget the youngsters who were so afraid of the footprints they left on the seats. The 4-hour journey was a once in a lifetime experience whereby we got up close and personal with the locals and their way of life. The bus got onto a ferry and we reached Neak Leung the scary and bustling market town-- the first sign that we're reaching Prey Veng!

We visited the Youth Center many times the nx few days cos...it was the "most happening" place in the whole of PV and we wanted to be at the "most happening place". It was fun to get to see all the kids again, esp. the familiar faces, some even remembered our names!! *touched* Leng, Pearl and Xuan got to experience being engulfed by kids who wanted photos taken. I got to see Dani, Ame and Edwin again! Xuan, true to her personality, got to be the trend-setter...of butterfly hennas! Lol. The days in PV, i was overcomed with bliss....to experience the slow pace of life there again, to see the star-filled sky, to walk along the riverside and see the riverside kids *paedophile at work again*, to revise my Khemer, to eat ice-cream at the school & petrol stn, desserts and soup noodles at the market, to drink sugarcane water (we saw the ice stored in sawdust), to see the pigs, cows, chickens etc., to talk to the local kids, ride on motorcycles....so much.....The 2-half days in PV made my airfare worthwhile already. Best to be was the sunset, just the 6 of us and the sunset nothing else mattered. A pity none of the camera modes we tried could capture the beauty of the sunset we saw that evening. Vitou also hosted us to dinner at his house one night, it was really cool cos we got invited to eat with a local family! You don't get that in guided tours. Jeremiah has hilarious clips of the evening we spent there discussing Changi airport sweets.They saw fireworks from the shophouse window too.

In Prey Veng, the Mittaheap Guest House was also memorable for its excellent room service (wanted to bring the cleaning lady home) and the restaurant opposite where we tried almost everything...Khemer soup, Viet soup etc. (Too indulgent in my opinion). We visited the temple beside the guest house where we met monks who shouted "See you next year!". This made Xuan very tickled because she was not as warmly received by the local network providers at the PP airport.

26-28 Dec was the best part of the trip. Fresh air in the rural areas was a stark contrast to the polluted air in PP and also Siem Reap as we were to find out. And so was the food. Our first stop in Siem Reap was the fateful restaurant whereby on eating the zichar, I vomitted twice that night.

The next day after breakfast at the Chinese style restaurant beside our Angkor Davy Hotel, we visited Angkor Wat and the temples in the vicinity, but I was not in the best shape to do so...all i remember of the place besides the disintegrating architecture was that i was carrying a puke bag all around. With all the steps you need to climb, it was terrible. We visited Tonle Sap river to see the floating houses and markets and the fish/crocodile farm. We visited the Souvenir Shop too before heading back to the same fateful restaurant for dinner. Luckily i avoided the food this time but the rest didn't escape the fate of food poisoning. For the next 4 days to come, the 2.5 meter square toilet at the hotel became the "most happening" place in Siem Reap. For those few days, we went to the Angkor National Museum, the Artisan house and the market to shop for more souvenirs. We went to West Baryan an island that had a dilapidated temple and where we saw many kids selling bracelets "san ge yi kuai". But the girls were sick this time (xuan even fainted) and probably didn't enjoy it much. Before the team left on the 1st, we had "Kenny Rogers" and noodles from the roadside stalls^^ It was fun squeezing together and eating in the hotel room since none of us had the appetite for the buffet that the team went to enjoy.

1st and 2nd Jan only 4 of us were left. Fortunately Vitou kindly agreed to stay with us and bring us around. On the first day, we went to the market place by ourselves via the Tuk-Tuk and ate the most fantastic seafood spaghetti at a Mexican restaurant. By that time it was the 8th day of our trip and we were so sick of Cambodian food and our stomachs were weak from the food posioning ordeal, so the spaghetti and fruit platter was so heavenly. In the evening, we went to the local concert/pasar-malam with Vitou and his Aunt. Imagine standing in the crowd of hundreds watching the concert and munching on corn. Although we couldn't understand a thing the people were saying, it was definitely an experience that no tourgroup could provide. We also tried the Cambodian ferris wheel which was all wobbly and had carriages like birdcages and which went around at an unusually fast pace...and also a motorcycle carrousel. It was a night of good fun as we rode on the Tuk Tuk out to quite a 'ulu' district out of the heart of town for the concert.

The next day, with a rented car, we went to many exciting places. We went for breakfast at a 'higher class' kopitiam where we ate roast chicken rice, and then we went to the War Museum where we played with guns and tanks and planes. We went to the Cultural Village where we got to see many lousy dances (but kudos to the same cast which ran around performing all the dances) and where the most interesting attraction was the "Halls of Hell" where we screamed our lungs out as the ghost surprised us in the tunnel, grabbing our ankles....we ran for the most part of it and didn't get to see much of the gruesome exhibits. Lol. Think the guys who tried to scare us (Vitou too) had the most thrilling time. We were just 4 girls....no guys to protect us....easy targets.

We went back to the Angkor Wat site attempting to catch the sunset but were too late. Nearly got stranded there in the dark when our driver failed to turn up at the agreed time. And....i lost my specs there. Jeez, all unfortunate things happen to me at that place....We went to the local supermarket (If only we were brought there earlier!!!!) where we stocked up on food cos our supplies of breakfast bars, Chipsmore and Lays have ran out. Then we went back to the hotel to wash up before our driver brought us to try out Cambodian massage! It was pretty cool cos i had a very cool massage lady to the envy of the other girls haha. A good massage to compensate for all the toiling during the trip! And then we went for the most sumptuous dinner throughout the trip. It was our last meal and the driver brought us to a restaurant where he ordered food liberally and we took up the tab. It was a good meal which would have cost us a bomb if we were back in Spore, but not in Cambodia.

Next morning at 4.30 a.m., we took a Tuk-Tuk (not the one hired by the "si wen bai lei")to the Siem Reap airport only to find that it was not open yet. We became the earliest visitors to the airport (examplary example of Sporean kiasuness). Felt really stupid that morning, even the Tuk Tuk driver told us he thought we were playing a prank on him when we told him to pick us up at 4.30. We felt like we woke up early for nothing, braved the morning cold winds for nothing to rush to the airport. We even bought Blue Pumpkin pastries the day before for our breakfast, only to realise that the true blue Blue Pumpkin restaurant was situated inside the SR airport (the one we got from the supermkt came from this shop). So throughout this trip, we've been doing many things "for nothing"....

When we finally touched down in Spore, it was pure relief. 10 days in Cambodia....was a truely memorable experience. I'd never forget the distinctive soupbase taste that was present in the noodles and porridges (Leng & I hv developed a phobia of it). I'd never forget the countless 6-pac training sessions we had laughing at the "mo"/dark forces and the "chi" pitting their wits out and then converging....I loved the trip-- ups and downs.

Pictures are uploaded at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sheeyee/CambodiaTrip25Dec073Jan08
http://picasaweb.google.com/sheeyee/CambodiaTripPart2