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  • Day 165

    โ€žKilling Fieldsโ€œ & Tempelkomplex โ€žAngkor

    May 12 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜๏ธ 32 ยฐC

    Wie bereits berichtet, haben wir gestern auf unserer Geschichtsreise in Siem Reap, die „Killing Fields“ ๐Ÿ’€besucht.

    ———

    Als „Killing Fields“ werden etwas mehr als dreihundert Stätten ๐Ÿ™๏ธ in Kambodscha ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ญ bezeichnet, an denen die politisch motivierten Massenmorde durch die maoistisch-nationalistischen Roten Khmer stattfanden. ๐Ÿ”ชโ›“๏ธโš™๏ธ๐Ÿช“

    Der Völkermord in Kambodscha ereignete sich in den Jahren 1975 bis 1979 unter der Herrschaft der Roten Khmer. Dabei kamen je nach Schätzung zwischen 750.000 und mehr als 2 Millionen Kambodschaner (bei einer Gesamtbevölkerung von ungefähr 8 Millionen) durch Hinrichtung in den Killing Fields, Zwangsarbeit, Hunger und mangelhafte medizinische Versorgung ums Leben. ๐Ÿ’€โšฐ๏ธ๐Ÿชฆ

    Auf dem besuchten Areal, wird viel über die verschiedenen grausamen Foltermethoden erklärt und gezeigt. ๐Ÿฉป๐Ÿ“– Außerdem kann man sich vor Ort einige Ausgrabungsstellen anschauen, in denen die Funde von verschiedenen Körperteilen und Foltermaterialien erläutert werden. ๐Ÿ”Ž๐Ÿ‘€

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    Heute stand für uns nun DAS „Must-See“ in Kambodscha an, der Tempelkomplex „Angkor“! ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿคฉ

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    Es handelt sich hierbei um eine der größten und eindrucksvollsten Tempelanlagen auf der ganzen Welt. ๐ŸŒ Der Komplex ist knapp 1000 Jahre alt ๐Ÿ‘ด und besteht aus vielen verschiedenen Tempeln auf einer Fläche von über 400 km². ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ“

    Das Besondere ist die erstaunliche Architektur und die Geschichte. Die imposanten Tempel wurden damals ohne moderne Hilfsmittel ๐Ÿ—๏ธ ๐Ÿš› gebaut, was wie ein Wunder erscheint. Der Bauprozess ๐Ÿšงdauerte Erzählungen nach 37 Jahre und beanspruchte 300.000 Menschen ๐Ÿง‘‍๐Ÿง‘‍๐Ÿง’‍๐Ÿง’ und 6.000 Elefanten.๐Ÿ˜

    Der berühmteste Tempel „Angkor Wat“ war über mehrere Jahrhunderte das Zentrum für das Khmer Königreich und wurde 1992 von der UNESCO als Weltkulturerbe ausgezeichnet. ๐Ÿ“๐Ÿฅ‡

    „Angkor Wat“ wurde unter der Herrschaft des Königs Suryvarman II ๐Ÿคด๐Ÿผ erbaut, da der Bau aber zum Zeitpunkt seines Todes ๐Ÿชฆ noch nicht vollkommen fertig war, wurde die Fertigstellung vermutlich auf Grund seines Todes eingestellt. โŒ

    Eigentlich wurde der imposante Tempel für die Hindus gebaut, fiel im 13. Jahrhundert aber dennoch in die Hände der Buddhisten.
    Die Khmer, also die Anwohner, verließen im 15. Jahrhundert schlagartig die Tempelanlage. Wieso genau ist bis heute eines der letzten großen (archäologischen und kulturellen) Rätsel.

    Erst unter der französischen Besetzung und Kolonialherrschaft, wurden die Tempelanlagen im 18.Jahrhundert, mitten im Dschungel und überwuchert von Bäumen ๐ŸŒณ und Pflanzen๐Ÿชด, wieder entdeckt. ๐Ÿ”

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    Nachdem der Wecker โฐ uns aus dem Schlaf gerissen hatte, ging es etwas frühstücken ๐Ÿณ und unsere 7 Sachen packen. Der gebuchte TukTuk Fahrer „Bram“ stand schon bereit und so ging es direkt los. ๐Ÿ›บ

    Aufgrund der Größe der Anlage, haben wir uns für eine vom Hotel ๐Ÿจ angebotene Tour entschieden. Die „Small Circle Tour“ kostete 8€ p. Person und beinhaltete lediglich einen Fahrer ๐Ÿง‘‍๐Ÿ’ผ der uns von Anlage zu Anlage bringt, sowie die gekühlte Wasserversorgung ๐Ÿ’ง๐Ÿผ für den kompletten Tag.

    Hinzu kam der Eintrittspreis für den gesamten Komplex von 35€ p.Person. ๐Ÿ’ฐ

    Nach 20 Minuten Fahrt, war der erste Stop des Tages, der bekannte „Angkor Wat“ Tempel ๐Ÿ›•, den wir besichtigt haben. ๐Ÿ‘€ Der Fahrer „Bram“ hat uns jeweils am Eingang abgesetzt, uns kurz etwas zur jeweiligen Geschichte erzählt ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ und dann dort gewartet, bis wir von der Besichtigung zurück waren. ๐Ÿ”

    Anschließend wurden wir wieder eingesammelt und zur nächsten Anlage ๐Ÿ›• gefahren. ๐Ÿ›บ

    Wir haben im Laufe des Tages neben „Angkor Wat“ den „Bayon“ Tempel, „Thommanon“ Tempel, „Chau Say Tevoda“ Tempel, „Ta Keo“ Tempel, „Banteay“ Tempel und zum Schluss den „Ta Prohm“ Tempel besucht. Der letztere, auch bekannt aus den Tomb Raider Filmen mit Lara Croft, hat uns am besten gefallen. ๐ŸŽฅ ๐Ÿ›•

    Sechs Stunden später und nach unfassbar vielen Fotos ๐Ÿ“ธ und Videos ๐ŸŽฅ, sind wir wieder Richtung Unterkunft aufgebrochen.
    Netterweise hat „Bram“ noch einen Zwischenstopp am 7/11 gemacht, sodass wir direkt die kühle Getränke ๐Ÿฅค für den Abend und die Snacks ๐Ÿช für morgen besorgen konnten. ๐Ÿ›๏ธ ๐Ÿค—

    Am Ende des Tages haben wir während unserer Tour 7๏ธโƒฃ Tempel besucht, sind schätzungsweise vierzig Kilometer TukTuk ๐Ÿ›บ gefahren und sind über ๐Ÿ”Ÿ km gelaufen.๐Ÿฅพ๐Ÿซจ

    Nach der Rückkehr โฎ๏ธ im Hotel ๐Ÿจ, haben wir den Rooftop-Pool genossen ๐ŸŠ und die Sachen für die morgige Weiterreise ๐ŸšŒ gepackt. ๐ŸŽ’

    Das Abendessen haben wir direkt im Hotel genossen und sind völlig fertig schlafen gegangen. ๐Ÿ›Œ ๐ŸŒ“
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  • Day 278

    Terug in Phnom Penh ๐Ÿ›•

    May 12 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜๏ธ 30 ยฐC

    Na een deugd doende nachtrust splitsen we een beetje op. Er gaan er naar S21, Tom gaat sporten, Frauke moet een examen afnemen op haar school en Aron maakt kennis met de vechtende katten in het appartement. O ja, Frauke en Poes voelden zich wat alleen en haalden er nog gezelschap bij met het idee dat Poes veel gelukkiger zou zijn. Niets was dus minder waar ๐Ÿ˜ฟ๐Ÿ˜พ Al enkele dagen gegrom, dikke staarten en veel geblaas EN geschreeuw ๐Ÿ˜ซ Tschijnt dat we dit moeten 'uitzitten'. We zullen nog zien of die 'schattig ogende' Couscous mag blijven.

    We nemen de tijd om de befaamde Russian Market te bezoeken zodat iedereen zijn souveniers kan zoeken. Tis al snel weer te warm en we gaan in het zwembad afkoelen. Dit zwempartijtje eindigen we met een massage in Frauke's favoriete spa. Zelf na al die keren krijg ik er geen genoeg van. Hierna gaan we naar de zonsondergang aan de Riverside met een cocktail op een rooftopbar. Geen zonsondergang door de wolken maar wel een prachtig zicht op de lichtjes van de walking street. Tis heel druk en we proberen ook wat streetfood, voor herhaling vatbaar.

    Zondag is het moederdag en gaan we met z'n allen ontbijten. Ik zag online de heerlijke pannenkoeken met kokosijs en moest deze uitproberen. Aron probeerde de burrito maar zag hier op voorhand duidelijk geen foto van. Het kleinste bordje van ons allen en heel teleurgesteld. Gelukkig waren mijn pannenkoeken best veel en mocht hij nog wat mee eten. Erna is het tijd om valiezen te organiseren. Dit is ons laatste kan om veel gerief mee te geven voor we ons tweede deel van het avontuur verderzetten. Dit wil dus zeggen dat we nog maar enkel een trekrugzakje gerief mogen achterhouden voor komende 1,5 maanden ๐Ÿ˜… Frauke heeft nog 3 schooloutfits en moet het daarmee doen. We ontdekken dat zelf met ons vele gerief er nog plaats is in de valiezen. Het startschot om de laatste veroveringen op de Russian Market te gaan inslaan ๐Ÿ˜ Ook Frauke gaat in een winkeltje in de buurt nog snel twee mooie truien halen die ze eerder zag hangen. Alles is hier zoveel goedkoper dan in België!

    Frauke neemt iedereen nog eens mee naar de buurt van haar school zodat ze dit ook eens zagen. Ondertussen tikt de tijd snel en moeten we terug naar het appartement want er moet een vlieger gehaald worden. Na een 10-daagse moeten we helaas afscheid nemen. Het deed veel deugd wat bekende gezichten te zien en onder vertrouwd volk te zijn. Leuk om hen eens ons leventje hier te kunnen tonen ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿฅฐ Het was ook leuk om hen op sleeptouw te nemen door het land. Uiteindelijk heeft Cambodia wel veel te bieden.
    โค๏ธ
    Tot volgend jaar op de luchthaven van Zaventem waar een boterham met gekapt en een margarita ons zullen opwachten ๐Ÿž๐Ÿธ
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  • Day 2

    Angkor Wat temple.๐Ÿ›•

    May 12 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜๏ธ 30 ยฐC

    Because of the lazy days in Koh Lipe, I decided to rent a bicycle for three days so I could visit all the sightseeings by cycling. But the idea of renting a bike turned out to be completely different from what I expected.๐Ÿ˜‚

    Day one of cycling was especially funny.๐Ÿคญ I set off in the morning to visit the first and most famous temple – Angkor Wat. The distance between my hostel and the temple was about 40 minutes by bike. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my bike had no gears and I quickly remembered how hot it gets during the day.๐Ÿคญ๐Ÿ›•

    My temple day included about four or five temples, depending on how long I would stay at each one. I was totally unorganized and didn’t know that the temples weren’t always close to each other – some were more than 30 minutes apart by bike. But I took it all with humor, and honestly it didn’t matter at all.๐Ÿ˜… I really loved cycling the whole day, from temple to temple.๐Ÿ›•๐Ÿ˜ (Let’s not talk about how many minutes I spent for looking for my bicycle, the main thing is, I always found it again.๐Ÿ™„๐Ÿ˜‚) Before sunset, I went to Pre Rup Temple, which is one of the most beautiful temples to watch the sunset, because it's higher than the others and has stairs to climb. Half of the way there was through the forest, not ideal with an old city bike.๐Ÿคญ My butt was practically numb, my legs were dead tired, and the road was bumpy, but after 40 minutes, I finally arrived.๐ŸŒณ

    Not even five minutes later, just as I had locked up my bike, it started to rain heavily. At that moment, I remembered the one thing I had forgotten in the morning - my rain jacket.๐ŸŒง๏ธ I just kept cycling and cycling, and I was wetter than if I hadn’t dried off after a shower. I could have laughed it off, and I did .๐Ÿ˜… – but the worst part was that my backpack was also soaked, inside and out. My phone stopped working, so I had no idea which direction to go.๐Ÿ˜ต‍๐Ÿ’ซ I didn’t lose my sense of humor. I just kept cycling, took a few wrong turns, and thought about funny and beautiful memories in life. After many minutes, maybe nearly an hour or more, of riding through the storm, I finally arrived at a small café and asked for directions to my hostel. Of course, I had been cycling in the wrong direction. But honestly, it didn’t matter anymore.๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿšด๐Ÿšด๐Ÿšด๐Ÿšด

    I couldn’t believe that I actually found my way back without maps, even if it took more than two hours. ๐Ÿ˜‚ To be honest, i‘m really proud pf myself.๐Ÿคญ๐Ÿ˜

    The receptionist was shocked when he was seeing me,๐Ÿ˜… but he quickly ran off, brought me some towels, and a bowl of rice to put my phone in to dry it. ๐Ÿ™‰๐Ÿš

    PS. My phone also survived.๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ“ฑ
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  • Day 9โ€“11

    Angkor Wat!

    May 7 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜๏ธ 31 ยฐC

    We only had one full day here so we made sure to make the most of it… Left on an 8h temple tour at 4:30 AM, and lasted until the 11 PM hostel pub crawl ๐ŸŽ‰
    We are all applying our waterloo core sleep schedules, though thankfully several rest days ahead.Read more

  • Day 272

    Kampot en omstreken

    May 6 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜€๏ธ 29 ยฐC

    We gingen van het eiland rechtstreeks naar Kampot. Dit is een nieuwe ferry lijn die normaal 2 uur duurt, we deden er 2 u 30 minuten over. Aangekomen op een spiksplinternieuwe internationale pier, moeten we door een paspoort controle waar ze nog geen computers hebben. Ze nemen een foto van je paspoort als controle, als ik vraag of het oke is voor de rest mag de rest van de groep gewoon door zonder te controleren... Nuja

    Inchecken in ons hostel en even de stad verkennen, het is low season en het regent af en toe. Dat is te merken aan de weinige kraampjes en gesloten of leegstaande restaurants. We vinden gelukkig ergens een roti pannekoek, deze keer nemen we het dessert voor de maaltijd.
    Nog lekker Thais gaan eten en dan in ons bedje.

    De volgende dag gaan we met onze Tuktuk driver Paul naar de zoutvelden, La plantation en Kep. Het was even verschieten want Paul stond gisteren nog achter de receptie in het hostel. Hij combineert meerdere jobs omdat zijn volgende kindje eraan komt. Hij kan heel goed Engels en kan ons overal wat uitleg geven.
    Op La plantation, de peperplantage, krijg je een gratis rondleiding op het domein. Silke ging nog eens tegen dek terwijl de gids al 30 keer zei, "Be cajefull, is slipejjly". Ahja.
    Daarna proeven we veel lekkere pepersoorten en rijden we door naar Kep.
    Onderweg moedigt Paul ons aan om wat fruit te stelen langs de weg. In Cambodia nobody cares, no rules, too much fruit and the governor doesn't make trade agreements to sell the fruit. Hij beloofde wel om ons uit het gevang te halen mochten we opgepakt worden.

    We smullen van verschillende krabben, green kampot pepper, curry en verse kokosroom. Heel lekker, Silke drinkt een emmer soep en Alissa een lekkere pasta.

    Nog wat chillen in het zwembad en profiteren van de happy hour, de tacos zijn ook heel lekker. We lopen nog eens door de night market maar merken dan deze ook maar op een laag pitje draait. Dan maar in ons nest en morgen een daje in de auto naar de Siem Reap.
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  • Day 115โ€“118

    Siem Reap

    May 1 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜๏ธ 32 ยฐC

    After crossing the border from Laos, our first stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap, whose major economic activity is Angkor Wat tourism. As a city previously under French control, the bread and coffee options have vastly improved. Our host at the ‘Villa du Bonheur’ was the extremely flamboyant Michel, who spent the evening getting increasingly drunk and enthusiastic about his own 80s playlist. What a life.

    We explored the Angkor National Museum to learn a bit about the ancient Khmer empire. They claim to have been the largest in the world between the 6-9th centuries, which perhaps needs a fact check. It boasts the Gallery of 1,000 Buddhas, which did seem accurate, because they have a LOT of Buddhas.

    The next day we made a very early morning visit to Angkor Wat (see previous post) and then scurried back to the cool of the hotel pool to rest. The temperatures are hitting the high 30s every day, with +70% humidity; it’s a sweaty exercise just going for lunch. Fortunately, the Grab app operates in Cambodia—we felt its absence in Laos—so a tuktuk across the city costs less than £1.

    We zipped around on a food tour with recurring pals Jess and Ian, plus two horrifically hungover lads from Kent. One of them could barely speak, except to express sweaty regret after eating a whole birdseye chilli. Not such a big man after all. We tried several new dishes (pin noodles, amok, deep fried garlic dough balls). Cambodian fare is much lighter than Thai, with chilli available as a side so you can manage your own spice levels. The tour concluded with a pick-and-mix selection of fried bugs and frogs from a street vendor. Chelsea braved an unusually spicy locust and Jess retched on silk worms, while Dan and Ian peeled a few water beetles. The crickets were the least objectionable option.

    Friends back home tipped us off to the Phare Circus as an absolute must in Siem Reap. They were right! Incredible gymnastics, virtuosic musicians, live painting, and lots and lots of rice (surely a trip hazard?!). It’s got it all. The circus is an empowerment programme to enable artists to earn a living in Cambodia; it pays to fund the arts!

    Chelsea wandered around town, exploring the markets, and happily stumbled across a book fair. The stalls sold mostly earnest academic fare, self-help, and children’s books. However, a few were more ambitious, selling Korean lesbian romance and gay Buddhist demon love triangle smut (see photo). Chelsea’s opinion of Cambodians is even more positive now.

    We finished Siem Reap with a night out, starting on ‘Night Market St’, which contained no night market. Disappointed, we headed instead for the famous Pub Street, which did in fact contain pubs. After putting on a bold defence in beer pong (played with vodka-cranberry buckets), the girls danced into the early hours at a bar playing 00s club hits, while Ian read a chapter of The Count of Monte Cristo and Dan caught up on his beauty sleep.

    Next up is a hungover 6hr bus ride to the capital. More to come...
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  • Day 101โ€“106

    Milestones

    April 24 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜€๏ธ 35 ยฐC

    At the end of last week, we reached a couple of travelling milestones - our 100th day since leaving England and our 50th different hotel/accommodation. We are already just a little short of a third of the way through our trip and 100 days has certainly flown by. Fortunately, as we told a couple of friends recently, we are still talking to each other.

    In other statistical news, since January, we have notched up 14 bus journeys, 3 long train rides, 4 ferry crossings, 14 flights plus innumerable taxis and tuk tuks. Needless to say, I have a spreadsheet that is recording all sorts of stats about our travels and whilst Carole takes care of where we are going next, I do all the recording of where we have been, how we got there, how much we have spent and on what.

    These records will hold no future value but we do enjoy having a handle on our SKI activities - Spending the Kids Inheritance!

    Without planning to have such a memorable 100th day, we did, with a day long visit to an elephant project in Mundulkiri in Eastern Cambodia. It is was a long old schlep to get out there the day before with one of the less cautious bus drivers at the wheel (he was videoing a rainstorm through the windscreen as he drove one handed) but the destination was so worth it. Our tour group as ever consisted of us and 4 youngsters, Dutch this time, and we all spent 2 or 3 hours with the elephants in the jungle that is now their home.

    These elephants were rescued from owners who used them for hauling logs, moving building materials etc. With the youngest elephant we met being only 45, they have a very long retirement in front of them - as long as tourists like us spend money to spend time viewing, feeding and swimming with them. The moral dilemma of paying to experience time with these incredible creatures who are no longer completley wild, was offset by learning that our money also goes directly to the local community.

    Instead of undertaking illegal logging (still quite a recent/current phenomenon in Cambodia), the local people are now employed as guides, trackers and hosts for tourists and the tourist dollar pays for rice and other provisions for the indigenous people. The consequential economic benefits to the town and region were explained to us by our Italian (another European in an odd place) hotel owner. He explained - no elephants, no tourism, no town.

    Putting all that to one side, the time spent with Princess, Happy and Convine was incredible. Their grace, size, power and comical behaviour was almost choreographed for us and despite having massive elephant turds floating past us in the river, being in the water with them was a huge highlight.

    Incidentally, our hotel in Mundulkiri was the aforementioned 50th of our trip and our room was awful. Cramped, hot and with the most basic bathroom, it was a 2 night endurance test but for £7.50 a night, it was pretty good value. Additionally, the hotel had a wonderful Italian restaurant with produce imported from Italy and delicious pasta - just like Mama used to make!

    We left the elephants behind in search of some other amazing and even more endangered creatures, the Irwaddy Dolphins. Hunted almost to extinction during the Khmer Rouge period and then ruthlessly fished for oil and food, there is now only one place left in Cambodia to see the remaining 89 dolphins.

    Thankfully, they are now guarded and protected from destructive fishing methods (including using dynamite?!) and their home is part of the humongous Mekong River in the riverside town of Kratie. Rather than a 10 minute tourist boat ride to, hopefully, see the dolphins, we opted for a 12 kilometre kayak trip and that was a great decision. Paddling down such an extensive river on Sunday morning was special.

    Our guide, Lucky, knew so much about the river and the natural history. A swim in the Mekong was wonderful and the snack of sticky bamboo rice and banana was delicious. Having spotted the dolphins, which are odd looking animals, Lucky then invited us to a Cambodian Funeral Party. They have a wake on the day of the funeral, one 10 days afterwards and a final one after 100 days.

    This was a 100 day event and as we joined the festivities at midday on Sunday, we had food and drink thrust upon us just as the karaoke started. Everybody seemed to be taking part and there is now a random Cambodian lady, somewhere in Kratie that has a video of our rendition of Sweet Caroline. We were so good. So good. So good.

    Whilst in Kratie, we fitted in a quick trip to Koh Long Island for a cycle ride around the island that boasts a great litter and recycling scheme. One of the tidiest places we have seen in Cambodia. The video of the islanders disembarking from the ferry shows some skilled scooter riding.

    It was a brilliant end to a month in Cambodia where we have completed 2 huge loops of the country, one west and one east and where we have observed and learned so much. There will now be time to gather these thoughts, as we decided at the weekend that we need to stay put for a while and rather than head north to explore Laos at the hottest time for year, we have flown to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand (where it is also chuffing hot) for a 10 day break in an Airbnb villa. We have opted for a place with our own pool and a kitchen!

    Unpacking our bags completely and the prospect of shopping in a Thai supermarket followed by home cooking, feels very exciting.
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  • Day 13

    Angkor Tempelanlage

    April 22 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜๏ธ 30 ยฐC

    Heute besuchten wir die Tempelanlge von Angkor mit seinen vielen Tempeln bei 36°C. Als erstes Angkor Wat l Bayon Tempel wo Affen klauen l Bap Huon Tempel l Ta Prohm Tempel mit seinen Bäumen. An der Gedenkstätten von Beat Richner. Am Abend dann auf der Pop Streat.Read more

  • Day 78โ€“87

    A Family Holiday and Cambodian Stories

    April 1 in Cambodia โ‹… โ˜๏ธ 35 ยฐC

    Shortly after the Christmas and New Year holidays, Harry packed his car and headed back up to Glasgow. It was quite an emotional farewell as 10 days later we were heading off on our trip and whilst we had plans to meet up with Harry and at some point Richard, the reality of not seeing our children for at least 3 months hit home.

    Cue the tears.

    Fast forward to the beginning of April and we were waiting impatiently for Harry and his partner, Lisa, to arrive at our hotel in Phnom Penn, the capital city of Cambodia. After their earthquake troubled flight into Bangkok, they had enjoyed a few days in northern Thailand and like us, had take a short flight into Cambodia and were now en route, via tuk tuk, to meet us.

    Naturally, we had had plenty of messages and video calls with Harry and Lisa since we left the UK but seeing them in person again was special and we began a completely different phase of our trip. For starters, we stayed in the swishest hotel. Huge rooms, an incredible pool area, delicious breakfasts, a proper gym and wonderful staff were all hidden behind an extravagant entrance, on a very busy street , just behind The Royal Palace.

    All of the facilities were put to very good use over our 3 night stay and the location was ideal for some sightseeing, a sunset cruise on the Mekong River with unlimited beer and a couple of super riverside restaurants. Great, indulgent fun but the flipside of enjoying all of this in Cambodia was that for the 2nd time on this trip, we visited the sights that explained a country’s recent, horrendous genocide.

    As in Rwanda, we both had a vague awareness of what had happened in Cambodia in the 1970’s and the names Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge were familiar enough but the why, how, and what were certainly not the detail that we understood. A visit to the school that in 1976, was converted to the prison of torture and death, Prison S-21, put all of that right with a captivating story telling audio tour.

    Over 17,000 prisoners were held in this converted school building at some point during the three years, eight months and twenty days of the Pol Pot regime. This was a time period we heard repeated 4 or 5 times on different Cambodian tours. Only 12 came out of S-21 alive. The prison has been maintained in almost the same condition in which it was found and it was incredibly humbling, therefore, to have seen the cell of 1 of the survivors and then to find him sat at the entrance of the museum signing copies of his personal account of his time in the prison. He survived because he could fix a typewriter that was used in the meticulous record keeping that detailed every victim entering the prison. An incredible visit.

    This was followed by a trip to The Killing Fields. Through film and stories we had imagined this to be a single place in Cambodia. In fact, the plural ‘Fields’, refers to each of the 300 places where almost one quarter of Cambodia’s population were murdered. The site that we visited just outside Phnom Penn was eerily quiet as the many tourists wandered around in shock and silence. Amongst the entirely indiscriminate reasons for the killings, having soft hands, wearing glasses or being able to read were often cited.

    We also had no idea that it was the Vietnamese who brought Pol Pot’s regime to an end, or that following this, the Americans and many other western nations supported the Khmer Rouge against the communist Vietnamese or that it wasn’t until the late 1990’s and Pol Pot’s death, that the Khmer Rouge ceased to exist. A fascinating history lesson for us all and with these events being before the days of rolling news channels, maybe our ignorance can be excused. Or maybe not?

    Linked to these terrible events is the ongoing issue of clearing land mines in Cambodia and our visit to the APOPO organisation in Siem Reap to learn about the land mine clearing rats was brilliant. Having booked an early morning tour, it was quite incredible that on that morning, a BBC News story popped up about Ronin, one of the rats, who had just made it into the The Guinness Book of Records for having sniffed out 107 land mines.

    On our visit, we learned about the extent of international cooperation across many different parts of the world to clear land mines and how both dogs and Giant African Pouch Rats are used to sniff out unexploded ordinance and also to detect tuberculosis. Frightening statistics, incredibly dedicated people and wonderful to handle one of the working rats.

    Siem Reap provided us with another superb hotel albeit at the 2nd attempt but a quick transfer and we were able to use our new base for 3 visits to the some of the 11th century temples and cities that are everywhere around the world famous Angkor Wat. We saw the temple featured in the Lara Croft Tomb Raider film where weird sponge trees grow out of the walls, the partially restored city of Angkor Thom and saw both sunset and sunrise over Angkor Wat itself.

    Apologies for the brief history lessons above but our short time with Harry and Lisa was also very much about messing around in hotel pools, playing too many games of Yahtzee, Rumikub, Pass the Pigs and Dobble and indulging in great Cambodia food and drink.

    The week was topped off with Harry’s 26th birthday celebrations marked by both the hotel staff and at the end of the highly entertaining Cambodian Phare Circus performance. Those of you who visited our campsite in France, will recall that Harry has always loved a circus!

    And then, the family time was over and just as this story began, there were more tears yesterday as Harry and Lisa headed off on a 36 hour journey back to England (and Scotland) with work beckoning.

    For us, it has been another couple of days of poolside leisure as I recover from a tummy bug and then we are off into the Cardamon Mountains for the Cambodian New Year celebrations.
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  • Day 64

    Kampot

    December 7, 2023 in Cambodia โ‹… โ›… 31 ยฐC

    Drei Stunden von der Küstenstadt Sihanoukville liegt Kampot, die vor allem für ihren Pfefferanbau bekannt ist. Einen Tag nach unserer Ankunft setzten wir uns demnach auf den Roller und besichtigten eine der umliegenden Pfefferfarmen. Zu unserem Glück gab es eine kostenlose Führung, bei der wir einiges über den Anbau und die Vielfalt der verschiedenen Pfeffersorten erfahren konnten. Und obwohl das kostenlose Angebot schon echt cool war, durften wir anschließend noch an die 10 verschiedenen Pfeffersorten probieren. Im dazugehörigen Restaurant ließen wir uns dann ein typisches Khmer Gericht mit dem selbst hergestellten Pfeffer schmecken! Laura hatte hier das beste Fisch-Amok auf der Kambodscha Reise. ๐Ÿ˜‹
    Nach dem Besuch auf der Pfefferfarm ging es für uns weiter in die Stadt Kep, da wir dort den berühmten Krabbenmarkt besuchen wollten. Leider waren wir zu satt, um eine Krabbe zu probieren - aber das holen wir in den anderen Ländern noch nach!

    Side-Fact: Kampot wird auch die Hauptstadt der Durianfrucht genannt, da die Stadt die perfekten klimatischen Bedingungen für den Wachstum hochwertiger Durianfrüchte bietet. Deshalb ist im Stadtkern auch eine Statue einer Durian errichtet wurden. Wir haben sie aufgrund ihres außergewöhnlichen Geschmacks gepaart mit dem stinkenden Geruch noch nicht probiert. Sie wird deshalb auch „Kotzfrucht“ genannt ๐Ÿ˜… Hans wird sich sicherlich irgendwann noch rantasten! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

    An einem weiteren Tag sind wir mit dem Roller in den Bokor Nationalpark gefahren, in dem es eine Vielzahl von leerstehenden Häusern zu sehen gab, die einst von den Franzosen erbaut wurden. Das Wort Nationalpark ist hierbei aber etwas irreführend, da man hier vor allem eine Lost Place Tour durch alte verlassene französische Hotelanlagen macht. Auch die Natur des Nationalparks ist nicht sonderlich einladend, da seit 2019 riesige Bauprojekte zur Erschließung gestartet wurden. Sonderlich spektakulär war der Ausflug also nicht, sodass wir uns nach 2h auch wieder auf den Rückweg machten. Das Highlight dieser Tour war demnach eher der Weg mit seinen Aussichten sowie die unzähligen Affen am Straßenrand.
    Alles in Allem hat uns Kampot wirklich gut gefallen. Die Stadt erinnert uns mit seinen alten französischen Kolonialgebäuden ein wenig an Luang Prabang und hat sehr gute Restaurants und Cafés zum verweilen.
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