Phnom Penh to an Island getaway

After a mad early morning dash to find the only shop in Battambang that sold postcards (keeping the collection going!), we boarded the local bus just in time to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. When the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975 the entire city became a ghost town overnight, as the cities inhabitants were forced to leave their homes and enter work camps in the countryside. The highlight of our trip to Cambodia for me was learning more about this period in time. It’s crazy to think that so recently things like this were going on in the world and for several years no one took any action.

There are 2 main sites in the city that are closely linked to this part of history and we took a couple of days to visit both. Our first stop was the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, more commonly known as S-21. This prison which was a former high school was converted into an interrogation and torture centre. The buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny cells and torture chambers, and all windows were covered with iron bars to prevent escape. From 1975 to 1979 an estimated 20,000 men, women and children were imprisoned here, interrogated and subsequently killed at the nearby killing fields. The building itself from afar looks like a rather nice school, like many we had seen in Cambodia before now, it’s only when you move closer and see the barbed wire that the true nature of the building is revealed.

From the outside it looks like a regular school

The original rules that the prisoners had to obey including, "Do not scream when being tortured"

The prison remains as it did when Cambodia was liberated by the Vietnamese army in 1979, and wandering through each of the rooms is a chilling experience. Some of the rooms have only iron beds, where prisoners were strapped down and tortured, their bloodstains still visible on the floor. Others still contain the individual cells where the prisoners were kept. Some of the stories that our guide relayed to us were just gruesome, it seemed that no method of torture was unacceptable.

One of the many interrogation rooms

The victims faces from the past

The tiny cells at S-21

After the prison we went and visited the nearby killing fields at Choeung Ek which is now the site of a Buddhist memorial to the victims. The memorial park at Choeung Ek has been built around the mass graves of many thousands of victims, most of who were executed after they had been transported from the S-21 prison. 

The killing fields at Choeung Ek

The trip is by way of an audio tour that brings you around the site and finishes up at a giant pagoda dedicated to all the souls who lost their lives in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouges’ time in power. Some of the stories on the audio tour were harrowing, including the many descriptions of how people were killed here. Bullets were expensive at the time, so the Khmer Rouge soldiers used various other brutal methods to kill men, women and children. At one point the audio tour plays the sound that you would have heard had you been unlucky enough to be taken here, a mixture of a diesel generator which powered the lights at night and loud propaganda music to drown out the screams. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Pagoda at Choeung Ek contains countless skeletal remains 

We spent 3 nights in Phnom Penh before taking the bus to the beachside town of Sihanoukville. The town isn’t much to write home about, lots of little bars and restaurants all catering to the mainly tourist clientele. The main draw is the beautiful beach right at your doorstep. We spent a couple of days relaxing on the beach after the heat and noise of Phnom Penh.

Serendipity Beach, Sihanoukville

When finally the constant nagging of bar reps had gotten to us, we decided to make for more remote surroundings. The Island of Koh Rong is situated about 2 hours from Sihanoukville by boat. We booked a beach side hut on the tiny Island and boarded a midday boat. Upon reaching the Island it was plain to see that the place was small. A few buildings clustered next to the dock with a few more scattered down the largely deserted beach. Our home for the next couple of days was a very “rustic” beach side cabin which was 5 metres from the beach.

Koh Rong Beach

Koh Rong Harbour

Given the rustic nature of our accommodation, it was no surprise to us when Cora awoke to a strange rustling noise on our first night there, only to find a furry friend trying to chew his way into my bag to feast on the half eaten Oreo biscuits within! Not much sleep was had after that, but it did mean we were up early enough for the amazing sunrise at our doorstep.

Sunrise on Koh Rong

Our beach side hut

We made sure to leave no food behind us after that, and spent the next couple of days soaking up island life. Not much to do but swim, snorkel, fish, eat and drink. Waking up to the sound of waves crashing was great, and it was a nice place to unwind in a hammock. There wasn't much electricity on the Island, so at night it was a blind walk down the beach to find a place for dinner and a drink.

Our beach bar 

BBQ on the sand

We hired a boat one day with an Irish couple we had met and set off to a deserted beach on the other side of the Island. On the way we tried our hand at some fishing. Cora was the only one who had the knack for it and managed to lure 2 small but not insignificant fish with her skills. I blame the poor rods we had (a plastic bottle with some fishing lie wrapped around it). We then had some time to snorkel in the empty bay and swim to the beach nearby. We caught the sunset on the boat ride back to our side of the Island.

Local fire spinner 

Our time on the Island was too short, and after a very bumpy return boat we arrived back to Sihanoukville where we made arrangements for our trip to Vietnam. We spent 2 and a half weeks in Cambodia. The highlights for me were definitely the Angkor Wat temples and also our time on Koh Rong. The people were very friendly and always greeted you with a smile. Given the atrocities they endured in the past at the hands of the Khmer Rouge they seem now to approach life with a very positive attitude and an upbeat view towards the future.

   

BangKOK, Angkor WAT and BattamBANG!!!

It felt too soon to leave wonderful India, but flights were booked so we jetted into Bangkok on an Indian budget airline late at night. At the airport we were greeted by a gaggle of shrieking teenagers. It seemed that the Asian equivalent of One Direction was arriving in just after us. Different continent, same hysteria!  

They probably looked something like this..

As we drove towards the city centre the metropolis outside looked like New York compared to poor old Delhi. Steel skyscrapers were illuminated against the sky and gorgeous golden temples lit in honey light appeared alongside the highway. In general Bangkok proved to be totally different to what I expected, less dirty, less seedy and less chaotic. 

We stayed beside the so called backpacker’s mecca, the (in)famous Khao San Road. I was curious to see what all the fuss was about, but I think that any bohemian flavour has departed long ago, replaced by a sort of Costa de Thailand strip of bars, street hawkers and tattoo parlours. Nonetheless there’s a fun atmosphere and it’s a great place for having a Chang and watching the crowds of tourists, backpack laden travellers, trendy Thais and drunk people milling about. A pale Irish tourist with a -lets say- provincial accent passed by me and I caught the tail end of his conversation “Shure there aren’t even any gogo bars here like”.  Ha ha.

Khao San Road

After the KSR knocked the steam out of us for a few mornings we had a dry night and went on the trail of some culture the next day. There are amazing temples scattered across the city each with their own dazzling ornamentation and more and more impressive Buddha statues. The most stunning is the 43 meter long reclining Buddha who greets his steady stream of visitors with a lazy smile. 

We wandered around Siam square, the uber-modern, trendy shopping district in the center of the city. It seems Thais worship at the temple of consumerism as much as they do at Buddha's temple! The area was clean and everyone seemed immaculately dressed, we began to feel a bit like grubby backpackers.. 

Bustling Khao San Road at night

Five days flew by in Bangkok and it had a lovely ending when we found some Ciechanowiczs knocking around a 5* hotel nearby! They don't usually holiday in such luxury, honest ;-)

A family reunion in Bangkok of all places!

It was time to move on, but nothing prepared us for the hellish day we’d spend getting to Siem Reap in Cambodia. There was a hot bus to the border, an earnest attempt to get us to buy a fake visa, a tuktuk driver who drove us in a big circle to take us to approx 100m from where we had been, a long hot queue to get stamped out of Thailand, a wait and a €5 bribe to get our Cambodian visa, a walk through a lot of seedy looking casinos, another huge queue to get an entry stamp into Cambodia, another hot bus to a “transport hub” which is actually an unpleasant monopoly on transport from the border, a cramped bus starring in the anti-Speed movie as it couldn’t go above 60km/hr it seemed, and finally 13 or so hours later arrival into the rocking little town of Siem Reap and a welcoming hostel room. Mamma Mia!

Siem Reap is famous for one thing and one thing only and that is the magnificent complex of temples on its outskirts called... (you guessed it) Angkor Wat. We took two days to explore and the lazy option (or sane option if you ask me) of a tuktuk driver rather than pushbikes.

Our friendly driver Tom and his wheels

The first day started off with the biggy, Angkor Wat temple itself. The temple is such an important symbol in Cambodia, it even features on their blue and red flag. A large moat surrounds the monument and you can see the famous towers rising in the background, emulating the five peaks of the mythical mountain Meru, home of the gods. The Khmer architecture is distinctive and elegant and with shimmering lakes and tall trees scattered around the complex, it's picture perfect... 

Angkor Wat

...but not at all peaceful. An array of little stalls sits outside every temple in the complex where a small Cambodian woman screeches at you LADY!! YOU WANT COLD DRINK LADY!! YOU WANT COCONUT LADY!! LADY??!! It gets really annoying! 

The next temple on our circuit was Ta Prohm, where a few scenes of the Lara Croft movie were filmed (I'm not sure if even the sight of this magical temple could distract from Angelina's crap British accent!). Snakelike tree roots have taken over and coiled around the ancient stones of the temple which have cracked and given way.

There were many other temples to explore over two days and the complex is so big that some people even take a week to discover it (they must really like temples). Although it was blisteringly hot and the incessant pestering got a bit tiresome, it was very special spending time in Cambodia's most amazing heritage sight. I'm not surprised they're so fiercely proud of it.

The amazing Bayon with its 216 faces

Can you spot the faces?

LADY, YOU BUY MY THINGS LADY???

Bye bye Damien

Because of the massive influx of people to see the temples, the town is a real tourist hub with loads of bars, restaurants and markets, so it was a fun place to spend a few days. Damien even got a fish pedicure, which drew an amused crowd!

Big fish, little fish swimming in the water

One evening, after finishing up with the temples, we went with one of the guys who worked in our hostel to taste some of the local streetfood. A few kilometres outside town there was a big night market which couldn’t be more removed from the tourist hub close by. There were loads and loads of food stalls and big groups of Cambodian friends and families sitting around socialising on the banks of the river. We had a go at dried snake (yummy), fried crickets (not that bad, but look pretty gross), chicken intestines (chewy), duck embryos (vile) and a decent noodle soup at the end. It was great to get away from the town and see what everyone else was up to. The Cambodians are notorious carnivores and eat every bit of meat they can, so not the easiest place for a veggie!

Dried snake

Couldn't bring myself to eat these!

After Siem Reap we took a quick bus trip to Battambang, another town in northwest Cambodia. Allegedly Cambodia’s second most populous city we found it to be a dusty sleepy little place. Looking for something to do, we signed up for a bike trip out into the surrounding areas to see some local industries. We left at half seven in the morning and enjoyed a few hours of cycling, stopping to look at how the locals make rice paper (for spring rolls), dried banana sheets, fish paste, sweets and rice wine. All the work was very manual and monotonous and the little ladies worked from dawn till dusk.

This lady slices bananas. All day.

Rice wine is STROOOONG!!

Fish being dried for fish paste. It stank. 

Our final stop on the bikes was a memorial where a killing field had been situated during the Khmer Rouge rule. The monument is a beautiful pagoda, chillingly filled with skulls and bones from the 10,000 souls who had been slaughtered on the site. Around its sides is a relief depicting the horrors that occurred there, gruesome scenes of rape, cannibalism and murder. The Khmer Rouge obliterated 20% of the Cambodian population in the three years and eight months of their reign, either through starvation and overwork, or execution if suspected of being a traitor to the regime. They also exterminated their educated and intellectual countrymen in pursuit of an extreme (mental) Maoist vision for Cambodia. 

Khmer Rouge atrocities

Rounding off a busy day in Battambang, we took a ride on a rickety bamboo train which clattered along at alarming speed. Any time two trains met, one was dismantled (whichever had less cargo) to make way for the other. It was fun and novel, and apparently these trains were quite common for transporting goods around the area in times gone by. Now they seem to be a tourist attraction, but a fun one at that! 

I hear the (bamboo) train a comin

Next stop Phnom Penh!

Udaipur, Jodhpur and back to Delhi

On advice from the people in our guesthouse we decided to catch the train from nearby Ajmer to Udaipur. We originally wanted to catch the bus, as these are USUALLY more punctual than the trains, well at least it seemed that way to us. Imagine our surprise when the battered old diesel engine rumbled onto the platform exactly on time. 

On arrival in Udaipur station we made our way towards the pre-pay rickshaw stand, as we found these the best way to avoid getting ripped off on the fare. I was immediately told that the stand was closed, “Yeah right!” I said, I've heard this trick before, so we stubbornly headed in the direction of the booth. Alas the rickshaw driver was indeed correct, and the booth was empty, so having proved himself an honest sort of chap we negotiated a fare to our guesthouse and piled into the back of his rickshaw. We were staying at the Bhanwar Vilas guesthouse which was situated in the main tourist area of Udaipur. It was right beside the lake with a good view of the splendid lake palace, the iconic one time summer home of the Maharaja now a very swanky hotel.

Lake palace, Udaipur

The town itself was made famous as the James Bond movie Octopussy starring Roger Moore was filmed entirely in the town, and all the major sights play a starring role in the movie. All of the hotels and restaurants show the movie nightly, and I wonder whether the poor waiter is having a major “Groundhog Day” feeling as he hits play on the video player for the one thousandth time. 

The rooftop restaurant we watched the movie at didn't have a licence (like most places in India), so we were served our bottle of beer in a rather lovely tea pot complete with 2 tea cups and saucers just to keep up the illusion!

That aint tea!

We made sure to visit the City palace, the one time home of the Maharaja of Udaipur, now open to the public and containing a nice museum. The palace itself is a rather imposing building, setting itself high above the rest of downtown Udaipur, with great views over the town and also out onto the lake, where you get the best view of the lake palace hotel.

City Palace, Udaipur

The palace is a maze of corridors, rooms and open courtyards. Some of the rooms are very impressive, emblazoned with gold and glass and covered in elaborate paintings.It’s hard to imagine the sort of wealth the royal families in India had in the past.

Inside the City Palace

One of our highlights in India so far has been the amazing food, so what else was there to do only a cooking lesson so that we might be able to recreate some of our favourite meals at home one day. The lesson was with a woman called Shashi in a tiny hot little room with pantry attached. Shashi told us how she had lost her husband at a very early age and had struggled to earn enough to bring up her two sons alone. One day her son brought home a foreign friend for dinner who suggested that Shashi should turn her greatest skill into generating income, through cooking courses!She learned to speak English and although she couldn’t read it, she gave us a booklet with a multitude of dishes which she knew back to front.

Shashis' small kitchen

We were joined on the course by three other girls and it took us all of five hours to prepare an absolute feast which we tucked into afterwards. So when we return we’ll be cooking up a veggie feast of pakoras, masala, naans, chapatti, biryani, paranthas….

Too much food!

 After 3 enjoyable days in Udaipur it was time to leave, we got up early and caught an auto-rickshaw to the “bus station”. The bus station was in fact the corner of a dodgy looking street, and the bus it turned out was a very ancient rust bucket. The bus was hilarious,with one side taken up by seats and the above them were beds, on the other side they were bunk beds the whole way along. When we set off it was only the seats taken up, so I stupidly assumed that to each chair belonged a bed! How wrong I was when we stopped soon after setting off, and the driver proceeded to cram as many people as possible into the small bed compartments. Whole families were shoved in and their bags piled on top of them, paying far less than the 200 rupees we had forked over for our luxury ticket!

The bus arrived to Jodhpur after nearly 7 hours, and after the customary haggling exercise, we arrived to our guesthouse nestled deep within the backstreets of the old blue city. The guesthouse had an impressive view of the Mehrangarh fort above, but that was about all it had going for it!

Jodhpur, "The Blue City"

The fort from the roof of our guesthouse

We immediately set out to explore the town with what little day light we had left.We made for the main square set around a rather impressive clock tower, it was Sunday and with that the market was in full swing. There were bangles and traditional clothing all for sale, fresh fruit and spices stacked high.

Sunday Market, Jodhpur

Clock tower, Jodhpur

 The following day we decided to visit the famous fort set high above the town. We needed to eat first, and with our guidebook it tow, we decided on a street side omelette shop, where the owner had been making omelettes for over 30 years and was well recommended. Like everything in India however, there are many fakes trying to cash in on a good review, so after a couple of attempts we found his shop. He was quick to show us newspaper articles pertaining to his identity as the “true” omelette man.

The "Real" omelette guy! 

The fort was reached by rickshaw up a windy road which gave great views of the city below. The fort was an impressive sight, owned by the local Maharaja and his family, but mainly a museum today. There were lots of interesting artefacts belonging to the old maharajas and it was a nice place to wander around seeing how the rooms would have looked in days gone by.

Mehrangarh fort

On our last day in Jodhpur, there was some kind of festival on in the town, where lots of people were dressed up as gods. Whatever the background was, we weren't really sure, but for some reason we were far more of a spectacle with people wanting to have their picture taking with us. It was nice taking pictures of families who then squealed with laughter on the results!

Cora treats herself to some more henna

After Jodhpur, we caught the short flight back to Delhi, and caught up on some of the sightseeing we’d missed the first time around. We opted for more humble accommodation second time round, as we felt better able to handle the city now. We had a whirlwind day exploring the sights by rickshaw and finished off with a nice meal for Valentines Day.

Lotus Temple, Delhi

Qutb Minar, Delhi

Place of Gandhi assassination

With a country as vast as India,it was always going to be hard to see everything in 4 weeks. What we did see however and experience was far better than either of us had expected. It was a total assault on the senses. Sure it can be a bit stressful at times, late trains, cunning touts and plenty of scams, but it’s worth every bit of it. I think we will both come back some day and try and experience even more.

Sums up India in 1 photo really!