Phase Cambodia

In order to maintain some structure, I have automatically started to divide my travels into phases by destinations. Phase Cambodia lasted for three weeks and included traveling through the poor and hot country. I was pleased to have Kimmo, a Finnish climber who I had by chance met in Laos, as my travel company for most of the part. Together it was neat to share accommodation and travels costs, ripoff incidents, experiences, opinions, jokes...

In total I spent six days on busses. Hours went by on the not-so-specious seats; staring at flat landscapes, being nervous about wreck-less driving, watching local karaoke videos and engaging in conversations. Cambodian bus tickets are rather expensive, plus some surprise fees exist, such as paying $12 extra for taking a new road. To balance off the tiring bus rides we stayed at posh but easily-affordable hotels. For example, we paid just $15 for a stylish 4-star room with a city-view balcony.

Bus stop (lenght: 15min - 90min)

Traditional Khmer furniture

Our first stop was Siam Reap. As a must-do, we went to see the impressive Anchor Wat at sunrise and continued the day among other temples. Unfortunately the museum we had visited the previous day had given us little insight to Khmer history and culture, so the temple tour was left content-wise quite shallow, yet worth it.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Thom

Ta Prohm

Actually I preferred our sightseeing day near Battambang. We rented a motorbike and drove around to see a couple of small, charismatic temples on top of hills. My favorites were colorful paintings of Buddhist stories, even though my general knowledge of the religion is quite limited to some meditation techniques. Thanks to an inaccurate map we made a few detours to drive across tiny farming villages, where local kids greeted us enthusiastically and skinny cows stood on dry fields.

Shit cave

The two towns themselves have markets, guesthouses, restaurants and some NGO run shops. We were delighted to meet many smiling and polite Cambodians, who spoke excellent English compared to their Thai and Lao neighbors. It was easy to see that the country is in development, as many new roads and buildings are under construction and people seem enterpreunally minded. The only big disappointment was a back massage; the ladies had no skills but brutally stepped on our spines, leaving them aching for days and giving no discount despite our complaints.

Battambang view from our hotel balcony

Our common journey ended to Koh Rong, a southern paradise island with clear turquoise water and fine white beaches. We escaped its party beach to quiet Koh San beach. There are plans to build a proper ring-road, luxury resorts and even an airport to the island, but for the time being our beach had only a handful of simple bungalows accompanied with waterside restaurants. For me it was good to stay for a while in a beautiful place lacking activities. All we did was laying on the beach, doing body weight exercises and read books.

The coolest boat driver

Survivor was filmed on the island!

I continued on to Kampot by myself. I spent almost a week in the expat-favored peaceful town; going for morning runs along its riverside, writing job applications at my hostel and meeting interesting people at dinner venues. One day I went to check out Climbodia - a newly developed small crag where Belgium David runs adventure tours for climbing, via ferrata, caving and abseiling. I was extraordinary lucky to run into my two French friends there. Wearing a helmet was justified on the new routes, as we frequently kicked down small rocks and even broke a few holds.

My Kampot office

Climbodia main crag

Happy reunion :)

My last destination was the capital, Phnom Penh. The most interesting, although depressing, places to visit were the Killing Fields and Security Prison 21. It is very hard to understand how only some 30 years ago it was possible to create a regime systematically killing thousands of people, without any international actors stopping it. The memorials are discreet and minimalist, and after learning how widely the Khmer Regime destroyed the country - its people, education, culture, business - I became even more impressed by its future driven spirit. On contrary, the most relaxing spot was a small community movie theater, where customers can lay on mattresses and pillows while watching well chosen films.

National Museum

Central Market

Posh rooftop drink

To sum up Cambodia, it was definitely worth visiting. However, three weeks is just enough for me to tour around sights resembling each other. I think I can mark Cambodia as checked and head towards new places to discover.