Tag Archives: Phnom Penh

Day 193 – Kampong Cham

Crossing the first of the two great rivers in Phnom Penh

Crossing the first of the two great rivers in Phnom Penh

Time to get moving again. After two days in Kampot, we now looked northwards…and to the East. Distances are not too great but since 80 kmh is the fastest we usually can go, it still takes time. For now, we ended our stint to the South and went back up again. Not wanting to end up in Phnom Penh for the night, we had set our eyes to Kampong Cham instead.

It was a good day for riding even if the weather is back up to over 30 degrees. Most days are okay as long as you are in the shade but riding on the roads, perpetually having the sun shine on your helmet makes you heat exhausted and drowsy quite quickly. So we stop for water breaks every now and then. Though Cambodia doesn’t have the always convenient warungs of Indonesia, it has small, garage-sized shops everywhere along the roads. These shops sell everything you might lack: From cold drinks to soaps and shampoo, a pen, some cookies, you get the jest. They all have an ice box (often literally) outside; the fancier ones sell ice cream, the more regular ones just cooled drinks.

Almost there, but the fatigue has hit pretty hard.

Almost there, but the fatigue has hit pretty hard.

So after an hour, we stopped at one of these and bought two bottles of cool water. The owner made some chair appear for us in the shade, so we plopped down and downed our water. Since this is also the “break from the bike” time, we hung around. So the owner came to talk to us. His English was really good and he was very interested in what we had seen so far in Cambodia and where we still planned to go. It always makes people happy when they realize you are actually interested in seeing their country and are not just stopping at Angkor Wat before being lorried out to Laos. He recommended the East to us again and said people are even more friendly there. When we asked him about his English, it turned out that he had worked with an NGO, had to speak English all day while helping former drug addicts. But now he’s more of a businessman and advocate for Cambodia.

We left him to continue our journey but stopped in Phnom Penh for lunch, then continued. It took us until 4.30pm to arrive at the Mekong Hotel. There, the most amusing thing was the security guard, trying to help us carry in our luggage. The panniers are too heavy for most but he still tried without complaint, although the 40 kg obviously nearly broke him. Dinner was had in another training restaurant with lovely staff. It was yummy, even though it was out of its signature black pepper squid dish, to Flo’s dismay.

Day 190 – Riverside retreat

Leaving Phnom Penh in the morning, we planned to ride to Kampot, the long way around. Kampot is a small river town which had been used as a “seaside retreat” before the civil war. It is still small and charming but on the rise and we decided to check it out rather than the beach town of Sihanoukville.

5m wide, 27m long ... this strange pattern is found all over south-east Asia.

5m wide, 27m long … this strange pattern is found all over south-east Asia.

There is a pretty direct road to Kampot from Phnom Penh, however, in order to see at least a bit of Cambodia’s mountains, we used the “scenic route” which led past the Elephant mountains. The Cardamom mountains still elude us. Lots of eco-tourism opportunities are available for trekking in the National Park of these mountains but they are all not accessible with a motorbike. Most of them actually start in tiny village that you reach via a boat cruise up the river. Leaving the bike behind feels wrong so I guess, we will have to come back to Cambodia at some time.

The route was nice and it was a great change to see some mountains again in this flat country but we completely forgot to take any pictures. Through the detour, the day’s ride was quite long again with 240km; and we drove it almost in one go.

Would fit into an Alsacian town juts as well

Would fit into an Alsacian town juts as well

Entering Kampot via a bridge over the river, we liked it immediately. A sleepy little town with roundabouts as their sightseeing attraction and a great riverside promenade with restaurants and cafes. Our little Pepper guest house, carefully checked out via the internet in advance, also was lovely and the rooms with fan only cost US$7 per night. Glad that we had booked two nights already, we went into town after a shower.

There are many colonial buildings still standing here and it gives Kampot quite the French atmosphere. When we reached the river (not far from Pepper guest house at all), the sun was just starting to set, tinging everything in a warm yellow. Sitting down and watching it for a bit, we then decided to go to a Lonely Planet recommendation for dinner, even if it was a little more expensive than the other options around.

The local fishermen leaving for another nights catch

The local fishermen leaving for another nights catch

Rikitikitavi is across the road from the river so that the terrace looks out over it. While entering, we noticed the big sign of “2 for 1 cocktails from 5-7pm” which was now. So we ended up ordering a mojito, a home-made lemonade and Khmer dinner. The staff was so friendly and while nibbling on the salted peanuts that we received, the cocktails arrived. Just…they weren’t mojitos but we totally forgot to connect this fact with our order and started sipping them away. They were good. Made with fresh pineapple juice. Wait…pineapple juice in a mojito? It was right then that our mojitos arrived as well…and we were really embarrassed that we’d forgotten what we ordered. The waitress said it was her mistake and she gave us the first round of cocktails for free. So in the end, we both ended up with four cocktails at the price of one. 🙂

Day 189 – Privilege

It is hard for me to fathom, and is actually getting harder as we get on with our trip, how immensely privileged we are. The insane randomness to be born white and male, as a German in the most peaceful and prosperous age Europe has know in its existence. To have had all the opportunities that I have and all the doors that are open to us.

How? Well, let’s start with the obvious. Yesterday, we basically ran out of money. What we have in cash on us is pretty much all we have, and it may last us a month. For the majority of people we interact with daily, heck, for the majority of people, that is an existential everyday issue. But not for us – we are privileged. We have a network of friends and family that will support us, lend us money. Understand that there is no existential issue here – we do not need money to survive or get out of a dire straight. We are able to peruse happiness as we see fit, due to the incredible friends and families we are lucky to have.

More important, we grew up not knowing the realities of real large scale violence and war, yet we got to grow up not fully ignorant to such things. As it is a remarkable thing Germans do. I have stood in the field of graves at Verdun and have been terrified by the silence that lies over Buchenwald as part of my publicly funded education. Glimpses of horror and chances given to us to become weary without ever really being threatened to suffer any such things ourselves.

High school turned torture prison turned museum...it looks so innocent from the courtyard

High school turned torture prison turned museum…it looks so innocent from the courtyard

Today we went to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum located in what has become known as the S-21 prison of the Khmer Rouge. Once again, we got a glimps of horror into a world that we will never have to truly understand. But we have to try. Because the perpetrators, in all these cases, from the Mongol rider to the KZ prison guard, are not some other beings. These were all humans, just like us. It is in us to commit unthinkable acts of violence. A shift in morals or ideology can happen any time, any where. All individual steps to insanity are … understandable in some way.

Rules for "interrogation"

Rules for “interrogation”

The horror lies in the ordinarity with which atrocities are committed. For me and in this place, it is the obsession with the confession. Most vile acts were committed by the Khmer Rouge and millions of people died. The machine soon ate its own children as well. Yet this insane system could not just be OK with killing the prisoners or “enemies”. Everyone had to confess first. People were tortured for weeks, to get the confession. Confessions were obviously bullshit, full of lies. Heck, most of the time people would not even have anything to confess to begin with and just not know what their tormentors wanted from them. Everybody would be killed in the end anyway, but so much pain was induced to just “follow the rules” and oblige to the internal logic of this devilish farce.

I am privileged without end to be able to learn in these places without ever having to suffer anything remotely close to the horrors that happened here. I feel deeply for the Cambodians and am utterly impressed with how positive and lovely everyone is that we encounter.

Random tourists in a roadside eatery =P

Random tourists in a roadside eatery =P

Right there and then though, we got reminded once more how we are privileged in a whole different way again. We were somberly making our way through the former high school turned torture camp turned museum listening to the very well done audio guide. Then, I see someone wholly unexpected. Right here, of all places, we ran into Celia and Tig, or hosts from Darwin again. It was the strangest of moments that can only really come from a trip like this. To see someone else we know and care for, admit the horrors that surround us was elevating and humbling at the same time.

We chatted a bit awkwardly over the first surprise of reunion and then agreed to meet after we were through with the audio tour to hang out a bit more. So we did, and it became a lovely evening of reminiscing, catching up on travel plans and some engine talk.  If both our plans go as we think, this will be the last time we see the two of them before Germany (the invitation to stay with us is already issued). Never say never, though …

So yeah, we are privileged. No point being ashamed of it, same as there is none to be ashamed of being born into less privilege. We try to make the best of it, seize the opportunities that we got and stay as humble about it as we can.

 

Day 188 – Capital times

The harsh cuts are sometimes rather weird. outside a developing country, inside cosmo posh.

The harsh cuts are sometimes rather weird. outside a developing country, inside cosmo posh.

Phnom Penh caters well for European tourists…they have bakeries so you are able to get a “continental breakfast”. We went to the “Blue Pumpkin” which is also an ice cream parlor and a training cafe. The upstairs seating area with a view over the riverfront was lovely and we got a mix of “continental breakfast” with a pain au chocolate and a “healthy breakfast” with muesli and fruit to share. Full and happy, we were ready to start the day.

First on our list of sight-seeing objects for this morning was the National Museum of Cambodia. I, particularly, was hyped for this one. But we were a bit disappointed: After having been to Angkor Wat already and also spending time in the Angkor National Museum, this one didn’t offer much that was new. In my opinion, the history of Cambodia needs to be researched more and treated scientifically. At the moment, the great focus is on religion as the temples give a good foundation to base work on. However, with no history texts surviving in Cambodia itself and the frequent mentioning that all information about the early periods comes from Chinese accounts, one would think that a translation of those accounts is available. But no. At least not for the visitors of the museum. All you get are the names for the eras in Chinese which is probably a butchered version of some old Khmer name.

Guardian, concrete, 21st century.

Guardian, concrete, 21st century.

In the end, we didn’t stay too long. Walking to the royal palace, we already knew that it is closed to the public at the moment/that time of the day. We still took some pictures from the outside before heading to an early lunch. So much food today!

The afternoon was spent in our room, blogging, checking out a route for the next couple of days and booking accommodation in advance. I am very keen to visit an elephant sanctuary here as we have skipped elephants on Sumatra, Malaysia and Thailand so far. However, since it’s the high season, we only got a free date on the 17th of February. That’s a bit later than we wanted to but not too bad. We just have to plan what to do in the meantime.

In the late afternoon, we managed to have a long Skype call with friends of ours in Germany. It was well overdue. Having friends with kids means that you are acutely aware of how much time must have passed between calls as half a year makes such a big difference.

Not wanting to spend much money on food again, we had a look at the street food outside of our guest house. One the square next to the market was a night food market including music and a big stage. Obviously this was part of the Chinese New Year’s celebration. Anyhow, it was amazing as a food source. 🙂 We ordered our food from the stalls around and sat down with the locals on the big patch of mats on the ground. Not any less comfy than ale-benches and much cleaner!

Day 187 – The road leads to Phnom Penh

No trouble for the K60 scout

No trouble for the K60 scout

Battambang has been a relaxed stop but now it was time to go to the capital: Phnom Penh. As we had already experienced hostels being booked out due to the high season, we had booked ahead. Our room was secure for three nights (so we would get two full days in the city) and we “just” had to get there…it is about 300km to the southeast.

Starting early-ish to take the pressure off the day, we cruised along the main road for an hour and a half. The only annoying part was that the GPS kept crashing; we had put a new audio book onto the SD card and it couldn’t cope with the format. So, we only had each other’s company for the day. Woe is me. =P

After 1 1/2 hours, we stopped at a roadside shop to get a cold drink and sit somewhere more comfortable than the bike. Again, Cambodia blew us away with its friendly people as the shop owner asked us if we wanted to join into his lunch. So short after our own breakfast, we were not up for it but it was very nice of him to ask. His family, including kids and elderly people, was around, probably living in or behind the shop. An old lady sat down in a hammock after lunch and dipped her baguette into her milk coffee with visible pleasure. Some old colonial habits die hard.

Back on the road, we continued to cruise along at 80kmh. Rocinante approved muchly of the speed as the temperatures didn’t rise as high and fuel consumption was at an all-time low (as we discovered at the end of the day). Overall, temperatures have been amazing lately, dropping a bit under 30 degrees with a wind so that it feels nice and chilly on the bike.

One of 140 floating villages on Lake Tonlé Sap

One of 140 floating villages on Lake Tonlé Sap

When we made it close to the shore of Tonle Sap, the largest lake of Cambodia, we decided to take a detour and actually look at it, instead of just passing by. As soon as you turn off the main road, the seal disappears. A road of red dirt lead to the horizon but it wasn’t even a challenge for the Heidenau tyres. It will be a totally different story in the wet season though…

The further in we got, the poorer the people and the houses got. There is no deluding yourself that Cambodia is not a very poor country. At the end of the road, basically before it leads into the water, longboats are tied to the shore. Some are used to ferry tourists to the floating villages on the lake but they all look like fishing boats as well. A bit of a fair was being constructed, too, which gave the whole place an even more depressing touch.

The road will be cool once the 4 lanes are sealed ...

The road will be cool once the 4 lanes are sealed …

Lunch was unspectacular; afterwards, we continued our ride. Close to Phnom Penh, the whole road turns into a construction site. Everything was red dust. It flew everywhere from all the cars and trucks using the road…the bike and us were covered in a layer of red when we arrived at our guest house. The guest house is on the cheap end of the spectrum but close to the riverfront and the middle of town. When we walked towards our “dining for a cause” restaurant a bit later on, we realized that “the middle of town” is also “the middle of the red light district”. Sex tourism must still be a big thing as there are so many bars and clubs catering to it. Also, the house rules of our guest house have some disturbing points listed from “no child molesting” to “no kidnapping”. 🙁

National brew - and finally cheap again. 1$ for a draft

National brew – and finally cheap again. 1$ for a draft

Dinner was lovely in the not-for-profit restaurant Veiyo Tonle which is another training restaurant; this time, it also supports 24 children with food and school supplies. Wanting to spend a bit more here as it is for a good cause, I ordered “chocolate lovers’ tea” as dessert. Unfortunately, due to Chinese New Year, the company who makes the cookies had already closed down for the holiday and didn’t provide the fresh cookies so I couldn’t have it.