Cambodia

Well, it is the end of January, we are in South America now, and we are just now getting around to a Cambodia post! It’s amazing how easy it is to get behind on the blog. Anyway…we had just over a week in Cambodia. Below is our itinerary:

Phnom Penh- 3 days

Siem Reap- 5 days

We had originally looked at spending a few days down in Southern Cambodia in an area called Krong Kampot. There is a National Park down there and this hostel on a river that is supposed to be really fun. They have water slides and rope swings over the river and the National Park is supposed to be very pretty. In the end we skipped it because the logistics for getting there to spend just a few days was going to take up an incredible amount of travel time.

Instead we flew from Ho Chi Minh City directly to Phnom Penh. We arrived at the airport and walked outside to find a cab to our hotel. They had regular taxis and also tuk tuk taxis. I had never been in a Tuk tuk before and for those of you who don’t know, they are basically a 3 wheel cart or buggy that is attached to either a motorcycle or, in some cases, a bike or even a horse. They hold between 2 and 4 people (Cambodian’s would probably try to fit 6 to 8 people haha) and range in quality as well. Some are covered on all sides and some are completely open air. They are much cheaper than taking a regular taxi so we decided to grab one into town. Ross had been in one before but this was a first for me and quite the adventure! Our driver took off into town, zig zagging in between lanes, cars and motorcycles. The streets were just as chaotic as Vietnam, minus all the honking of horns. Our first impression of Phnom Penh was not the best. We knew it was a very poor, run down city, but it was still difficult to see. The roads were awful, there were no side walks, and the buildings were really run down. It was obvious from the get go that, for the most part, the people here live in extreme poverty.

Tuk tuk ride into town

Side Note: We had done quite a bit of research on the history of Cambodia before we arrived, and it is very sad. Basically the Khmer Rouge Regime completely destroyed the country in a matter of just a few years (1975-1979). They destroyed the major cities and killed millions of people, mostly educated ones. If you have never read up on the history of Cambodia or the Khmer Rouge, we highly recommend it. It is heartbreaking but important for us to learn about…this is a part of history we never learned in school. 

We checked into our hotel, which was insanely nice! Our room was huge and our hotel had a roof top pool, plus the staff were amazing. It felt a bit strange being in such a nice hotel in such a poor city. We spent that last part of the day just relaxing at the hotel and getting our tours booked for the next day. We planned to visit the killing fields outside the city and also S21 Prison, which we knew were going to be emotionally exhausting. We grabbed dinner at the hotel, which was actually pretty good. We were finally in a country with some spicy food! I had a traditional fish dish (amok trey) and Ross had this minced chicken dish with rice that would blow your socks off it was so spicy! It was hilarious because evidently Ross gets the hiccups when he eats super spicy food (I never knew this) so he was hiccuping for a good 5 minutes after eating his dinner hahaha!

The next morning we were up early for our 2 tours. We had a tuk tuk pick us up and drive us around for the day. Our first stop was the killing fields just outside the city. The killing fields were an area that had been one of many work camps for the Cambodian people during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. The people were pushed out of the cities and into the country side where they were made to build their own shelters and work non stop in fields to grow produce for the army. Millions were either executed or starved to death in these camps. There were hundreds of these camps all over Cambodia, but this one is now a memorial to those who suffered and died under the Khmer Rouge. There was a tall stupa built on the site honoring the dead. It is full of the bones that have been discovered over the years in that area. Even to this day, they are still pulling bones and remains out of the ground. There is a nice park set up around the stupa that you can walk. Everyone gets a headset that takes you on a walking tour of the memorial site and explains what happened there. The whole site is gut wrenchingly sad…I cried a few times. You can feel the somber emotions from everyone around you. No one is really talking and the whole site is really quite. The hardest part to see was the memorial to the children who were killed. There is a huge tree that people hang bracelets from in memory of the children who died. There were thousands of bracelets covering the tree…it’s a site that is hard to comprehend. 

Stupa honoring the people who died at the killing fields 

Tree honoring the children who died

We spent about 2 hours there and then headed to S21 prison. S21 is also a memorial now, but it was originally a school and then became a processing facility for prisoners of the Khmer Rouge. Prisoners here were kept in absolutely deplorable conditions and tortured until they admitted to a crime and were then executed. Whether they committed one or not, they had to admit to something and many people just made up crimes to have the torture stop. It was also a self guided tour with a headset where you could walk through the different facilities used, see the prison cells, torture devices, and pictures and stories of the people who were imprisoned and killed there. It was sickening to see what the Khmer Rouge did to the people of their country. We spent about 2 hours here as well and then headed back to our hotel. 

School that was turned into prison cells at S21 

Memorial to those who died at S21

I don’t really know what else to say about these sites. I cannot say I enjoyed them or that they are really “cool to see”. I guess the best way to put it is that they are necessary to see. Like going to Nazi concentration camps, it is so important to understand what has happened in history so we do not repeat it. I asked our tuk tuk driver if he lost any family members to the Khmer Rouge and he said he had lost quite a few. He also said, “you are lucky to be from America,” which really hit hard. He is right…we are so blessed to grow up in safe countries where we do not worry about food or the survival of our families or really much of anything. This is something we all need to remember and be grateful for. 

The next day was a day of decompression for us. We decided to spend the day just working out and laying by the pool. It was nice to give our brains a break from the tough day before. At some point during our travels we met a couple who had been to Phnom Penh and they told us about a restaurant called Friends, The Restaurant, that trains underprivileged youth how to cook and work in restaurants. The proceeds from the restaurant go to help pay for their training and support them…plus the food was supposed to very good. We took a tuk tuk to the city center, where the restaurant was. You could see that this area had been built up more than other areas. There was a really nice park where lots of people were having picnics and letting their kids run around. Some of side streets were really nice as well with bigger homes, better roads, and nice restaurants and bars. We went pretty early so the place wasn’t too busy yet. We ordered a starter and 2 entrees and a couple of beers. The food was excellent and very inexpensive and it was nice to know that we were helping the local people a little bit. By the time we left the place was packed! The next morning we were off to Siem Reap, which we were really looking forward to. Although we are happy we went, three days was definitely enough in Phnom Penh.

Rooftop pool at our hotel

Having room temperature beers on ice at the pool 

Friends, the Restaurant 

Dinner at Friends, the Restaurant

We decided to fly to Siem Reap, which was quick and easy. We landed and grabbed a tuk tuk to our hotel. The town of Siem Reap was small and much nicer than Phnom Penh. It was still a bit run down but much cleaner and more developed. There was a river than ran through the center of town and we had booked a little boutique hotel on the opposite side of the river, walking distance from the city center. Our tuk tuk driver, Vat, was super nice and was asking us to let him take us around the Angkor Temples the next day so we decided to go for it. We had done quite a bit of research on the temples and had decided to do a half day the first day and go in the afternoon, stay through sunset, and then go the next day for sunrise and a half day in the morning. Our hotel seemed very nice. It was small, with maybe 12 rooms surrounding a big pool in the center, which we planned to use everyday after the temples. One of the tips we were given was to get a hotel with a pool because it is so hot at the temples so you want to cool off in the pool afterwards. The hotel itself was perfect but our room wound up being a bit run down. Our tv was broken and we had no hot water. The staff at the hotel was so great though and they agreed to move us to a new room after dinner. The restaurant right next to our hotel had great reviews so we decided to go there. It was a ghost town…we were literally the only people there. This has happened to us quite a bit in Asia. I don’t know if we are just really early to eat dinner or if there are just too many restaurants and not enough tourists. Our dinner was really good and we wound up sitting up at the bar for a few beers and chatting with the bar tender. He was super friendly and was talking to us about life in Cambodia and about our travels. Honestly, every person we have met in Cambodia has been wonderful. So kind and friendly and interested in talking to us about their country and their life. I have really enjoyed that about being here. We headed back to our hotel after dinner and our new room was ready. They wound up upgrading us to a bigger room with a huge bathroom and separate living room…it was really nice! The only problem was that they left the door open while they cleaned the room and tons of mosquitos had gotten in! We had run into this problem a few times with mosquitos getting in the room at night and eating us alive in our sleep. We knew we had to kill them all before we went to sleep so Ross and I spent the next hour running around our massive room trying to find all the mosquitos and kill them! At one point I just started cracking up because of how ridiculous we looked! We were in our underwear, with flashlights, stalking the walls, climbing on the furniture and jumping in the air to squish mosquitos hahaha!

We slept in a bit the next morning, had breakfast, and headed to the Angkor Temples around 11am with our tuk tuk driver, Vat. For those of you who don’t know, the Angkor Temples are not just one temple. Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer Empire from the 9^th-15^th century. It was also the largest pre-industrial city in the world spanning over 390 square miles! Angkor Wat is definitely the most famous temple, but there are actually thousands of temples in the area. They had fallen into disarray many years ago and most had become completely over grown with vegetation and disappeared. Only a few of the bigger ones had been slightly maintained by local people until they were “rediscovered” back in 1860. They have been working to restore them ever since and it is an ongoing project to this day. Today you can visit 23 of the largest ones. The park is so much bigger than we expected. You have to drive quite a distance between temples, anywhere from 5-15 minutes, sometimes longer, and each temple is huge and can take an hour or two to see. There is no way you could see the whole park in a day! Our first day we visited some of the smaller, less known temples: Neak Poun, Ta Som, Eastern Mebon, and finished at Pre Rup for sunset. It would take ten pages to tell you all about the temples from the first day, so we will just give a quick synopsis and our impression of it all.

Entrance to Neak Poun

Cool doorway in the temples

More cool doorways

Ta Som Temple

First off, there is nothing we can say to prepare you for the Angkor Temples. They are one of the most spectacular sites we have ever seen. Every temple is very different from the next and they are incredibly well restored. The first one we went to had all of these beautiful and intricate doorways you could walk through and take pictures of. Some of them had extremely detailed and massive sculptures of elephants and lions and Buddha’s. Some had beautifully ornate coned roofs and engraved walls. Every temple took our breath away. The other incredible part was how empty they were. We expected to be surrounded by tons of other tourists, waiting to take the pictures we wanted in the best spots and in reality we would maybe see 20-30 people at each temple. It made it such a special and intimate experience. Ross and I both agree that the first day at the less known temples was our favorite! The only place we went that was crowded was sunset at Pre Rup Temple. We were lucky and got there about an hour before sunset so we walked around the grounds a bit before picking our prime spot to watch the sunset. Pre Rup Temple had a set of stairs you walked up to explore a few different levels, eventually finishing up top, facing west to watch the sunset over the back side of the temple. The place was empty when we first got there so we were able to snag a perfect spot right at the edge overlooking the ruins. Eventually, as we got closer to sunset, the backside of the temple got very crowded. People were all trying to squeeze in to get a good spot and a few idiots even climbed up on spots that it was very obvious you were not supposed to climb. One couple climbed this ladder that was very obviously off limits and a guard had to come yell at them to get down. The girl actually fell off the ladder while trying to get down, which was kind of funny. Besides all of that, the sunset was beautiful and we got some amazing photographs. The most beautiful part of the sunset was actually on our drive home from the temples. The sky turned the most intense shades of red, orange and purple just was we were driving past this big lake. We were just staring, awe struck, from the tuk tuk. Our first day at the temples was incredible but exhausting. You don’t realize how much the heat and sun wipes you. We grabbed a quick dinner at the same restaurant from the night before, said hi to the bar tender, and tried to get to bed early since we were doing the sunrise at Angkor Wat in the morning!

Huge tree growing over the temple walls at Eastern Mebon

Eastern Mebon Temple

Pre Rup Temple

Waiting for sunset

Sunset of Pre Rup Temple

Side Note: There are tons and tons of people inside the park trying to sell you stuff. Some have little shops or stands set up selling shirts, hats, sarongs, etc. and others are walking around with baskets of souvenirs…everything is “1 dollar”. They all call out to you as you walk by, trying to sell you something and they all sound the same. We had a hilarious encounter with one women though who stood out from the crowd! We were in one of the temples, waiting for a group of Chinese tourists to get theirs 10,000 pictures and get out of the way when this woman starting trying to sell Ross little souvenirs. For every souvenir she tried to sell him, Ross had a witty remark for her as to why he couldn’t by it and then she would have some hilarious, witty response back to him. For example, she tried to sell him a post card and he said, “No no…who would I send it to?” And her response back was, “You can send it to me!” This went on and on as she tried to sell him a magnet, fan, postcard, you name it…it was freaking hilarious! Looking back on it, we should have bought something from her just for being original!

The next morning Vat picked us at 4:30am to head to sunrise at Angkor Wat. People want to see sunrise at this temple because of the iconic photograph you can get. The temple sits on a lake and as the sunrises behind it you get this incredible reflection of the sunrise and temple off of the lake. It is supposed to be an incredible site! This was really our first encounter with a big crowd at the temples because, naturally, everyone wants to see sunrise and get “that shot”. We arrived near the entrance to the temple and there were hundreds of tuk tuks and tourist buses everywhere! We started the walk to the temple, which was a bit challenging in the dark. We had to walk across this long floating bridge, which was bouncing everywhere because of all the people on it, plus it was dark, so that made it even more difficult. I felt like a drunk person bobbling around on that bridge haha! Once we got over the bridge and inside the first set of gates, where you watch the sunrise we saw the hoards of people! It was carnage! Everyone pushing and fighting to get to the front by the lake to get their sunrise shot! It was definitely not for us so we just got up close enough to get a few photos and we got the hell out of there! Luckily we are tall so we could kind of reach over people to get a few nice pictures hehe! It was a stunning site but just so crowded so it kind of ruined the magic of it all. Our old roommate, Morven, had given us some tips for visiting Angkor Wat Temple after sunrise and one thing she told us was to be first in the gates when they open after sunrise. We followed her instructions and were one of the first people in! We got to explore the temple with hardly any people in it! Honestly, it never really got all that crowded. I think a lot of people come just for sunrise and then leave and go back to sleep. 

Sunrise at Angkor Wat Temple

The crowds in front of the lake waiting for sunrise!

Sunrise at Angkor Wat Temple

Angkor Wat Temple

Angkor Wat Temple

Angkor Wat Temple

After about an hour or so at Angkor Wat we went and explored a few more temples. We went to Angkor Thom, Preah Khan Temple aka Banyon Temple, and Ta Prohm. These three are by far the most visited temples in the park so they were a bit more crowded than the ones from the first day. Just like the day before, all four temples were very unique and surprisingly big! Ta Prohm was my favorite. Over the years trees have grown up through the temple ruins and gives it the appearance that the temple was built around these massive trees or that the trees were part of the temple to begin with…its very cool! Our least favorite was definitely the Banyon Temple. It was beautiful but is probably the smallest temple and gets very cramped. Everyone winds up funneling to the top floor of the temple where there are all these massive Buddha heads. There is not much space to walk around so you just get all crammed together. We were unfortunate and we were up there at the same time as a massive group of Chinese tourists. They were being so loud and disrespectful, pushing and shoving and having no regard for the people around them. It really ruined the serene beauty of the place. On top of that, at least 5 of them literally grabbed my arm trying to stop me and take my picture…I swear, I almost threw one of them of the top floor! I have dealt with people like this for 20+ years now and I am still surprised sometimes at how rude they can be! Other than that, it was a wonderful second day in the park. I still cannot get over how incredible the Angkor Temples are!

Ta Prohm Temple

Ta Prohm Temple

Ruins around the outside of Ta Prohm Temple 

Tree grown out of the top of Ta Prohm Temple

Ta Prohm -Where Tomb Raider was filmed

We would have loved to have done a third day at the park, but after two days we were wiped! Cambodia is so hot! Plus, if you are a girl, you have to wear pants, or a long dress and have your arms covered so it makes it even hotter! We were drenched in sweat by the end of each day. 

Side Note: Vat, our tuk tuk driver was amazing. He did such a good job organizing our two days at the park. He would drop us off at one point and tell us where he would pick us up and no matter what, he was where he said he would be as soon as we walked out, waving at us. We never once had to go looking for him. He also gave us ice cold towels and water after each temple, which was a welcome treat! He was so friendly and talked to us about his family and his life in Siem Reap. We would highly recommend getting a tuk tuk driver for the temples instead of going in a big tour group.

Our last day in Siem Reap we spent lounging at the pool, drinking beers! It was a much needed break after the 2 long, hot days at the Angkor Temples. That night we walked into the city center to Pub Street for dinner. There were tons of bars and restaurants and lots of people out and about. They also had a night market full of vendors. We had an early flight the next morning so we couldn’t stay out late but the area looked like a lot of fun. Our week in Cambodia was coming to a close and we were on our way to Thailand!

Overall Thoughts: Cambodia was a mix emotions for us. We struggled with the sad history of the country and how it is still effecting the people today. Although we weren’t fans of Phnom Penh, we really enjoyed Siem Reap and loved the Angkor Temples! The incredible beauty of the temples made it 100% worth the trip to Cambodia! Plus, the Cambodian people were some of the most wonderful people we have met on our travels. 

Negative: Phnom Penh was not great. The killing fields and S21 were important for us to see, but the city as a whole was so dirty and run down that we didn’t really enjoy spending any time in it. 1 or 2 days is definitely enough in Phnom Penh.