From tuk tuk hell to paradise island

Again, we have been too busy since arriving in Cambodia over 3 weeks ago that we simply haven’t had time to update the blog. We are currently taking a day off doing nothing before hitting Laos tomorrow. Let me rewind back in time to let you know what we have been up to.

First stop in Cambodia was naturally the capital, Phnom Penh, where we arrived by bus from Saigon. Border crossing was ridiculously easy, considering the memories from Central America were still haunting us. Paid $20 (per person) to the guys at the border and walked in. The first thing we noticed was the lack of good infrastructure immediately after crossing the border.  It was soon evident that Cambodia is by far the poorest country we have travelled to.  Having said this, ironically its people have proved to have the highest spirits we have encountered.

Phnom Penh itself was nothing to brag about. The infamous capital for sex tourism in the region is nevertheless a must-do in Cambodia, purely for getting an insight into its unfortunate history that still to some extent overshadows the country. We ended up spending 3 nights in the city and would definitely say that’s plenty enough time to see what’s worth seeing. The first thing we did was a visit to the S-21 prison (aka Tuol Sleng genocide museum), which was an extremely morbid experience, to say the least. The fact that the horrible events that took place in the buildings during Khmer Rouge in the 1970s are still in fresh memory for many Cambodians makes the tour rather disturbing. There are thousands of pictures of all the innocent victims, including kids, women and the elderly tortured and executed covering the walls of what used to be an old school for children.  Just when we thought it couldn’t get any more heartbreaking, we came across an old man sitting under an umbrella in the prison yard. This man was one of the 7 men who survived the prison out of over 20,000 people. And there he was, ready to chat about his experiences and selling informative books to the public.  Needless to say, this man’s courage and strength were more than inspiring. 

The next day, we continued our history lesson to the infamous Killing Fields, where most prisoners among other people were sent to be executed. Other things to do in Phnom Penh, that don’t involve you wanting to cry, are largely limited to market haggling, shooing off nonstop offers from tuk tuk drivers, eating and drinking while surrounded by other Westerners and looking at various palaces and temples spread around the city. Ready to leave the fairly hectic Phnom Penh, we headed down south to Sihanoukville, where we could catch a ferry to Koh Rong island. 

Skulls of genocide victims in a memorial tower

One of the old ''classrooms'' aka torture room

The S-21 prison from the courtyard

meeting mr. Chum Mey, one of the few survivors

Without exaggerating, this island soon became our very favourite spot we have visited so far. Literally being discovered for tourism less than 5 years ago, Koh Rong remains largely untouched with kilometers of pristine white sand beaches and warm turquoise water. We were very lucky to have found this place before it gets ruined by 5-star resorts and mass tourism like most of its counterparts in other countries in the region. Prices are still low; this island is definitely the cheapest place we have been to. You can get a private room in a guesthouse for $5/person and eat dinner for $2 in a local beach restaurant. The atmosphere was extremely chilled, you can walk around without being harassed by begger children, tuk tuk drivers, street vendors or anyone else for that matter. Since all the services and accommodation options are on a tiny stretch of one side of the island, you have limitless options to explore the island and its numerous beaches, as long as you are willing to trek through the jungle or pay

a local for a boat ride.

Seashell hair tie

A deserted beach we stumbled across  

Trek to the other side of the island  

Cambodia's famous, and damn tasty fish amok (or a thick green curry if you ask me)

Tony's big catch on our fishing boat trip 

Island's dinner specialty, BBQ barracuda 

Our guesthouse for most of the nights 

View from the guesthouse to the main beach

After a few days we had the pleasure of reuniting with our dear Canadian girls who we met in Vietnam. With them our days were spent sunbathing, eating and drinking well. Soon after the girls returned to the main land our paradise was unfortunately interrupted by 2 sand fly bites on Petra’s arm that of course had to get infected. Although the island has no medical services (nor an ATM, fyi), we managed to find a random antibiotic sold in a beach shop. The situation still deteriorating, we had no choice that to stay on the island for a few extra days to let my arm heal. But, I can definitely think of more unfortunate places to get stuck in, so no complaints there. After 7 nights on the island and with a pretty damn good tan, we headed back to Sihanoukville to catch a (yet another) sleeper bus to Siem Reap. More on our adventures there will be shared in the next post!