Welcome to the Kingdom of Cambodia… And Hang on Tight to Your Purse.

Arriving in Cambodia began on a low. After travelling through countries where people were inherently mostly friendly or at worst very polite and respectful. I was wholly unprepared to land in Phnom Penh and deal with how….. rude the guys at immigration were. Before anybody starts flipping out, hear me out. In Japan, though the Japanese speak very little English, the people in immigration were uncommonly polite, and one even apologised to me after he had asked me to open my backpack and we both had to jimmy it shut. In Seoul, immigration was quick and painless, and I barely remember the process. In the Philippines, the lovely lady at immigration greeted me a ‘Welcome to the Philippines’ and in Thailand I was welcomed with a smile. Phnom Penh airport – the staff were rude, unhelpful and made you feel like it was your fault for not understanding that you had to fill out forms, which by the way were nowhere in sight before even approaching the Visa on Arrival area. Within 30 seconds of dealing with immigration, I had steeled myself to be neutral and to give nothing away emotion wise. I’ve done a lot of travelling, and in my own opinion I find that people who are generally hostile at immigration are purposely doing it to get a rise out of you. Like some sort of sick power play. I saw two English ladies get into an argument with one of the Cambodian immigration officials over photos, and they just stood there smirking at them. Not attempting to help or be understanding in the slightest. Generally I’m a laid back person but you can only be so laid back when a 5 ft squat Cambodian man in uniform keeps yelling “No, no, 3 dollar, 3 dollar” in your face because you have forgotten to bring along a passport photo for your Visa. And yes I said dollar. The Kingdom of Cambodia trades in both Riel, their own currency and the US dollar. I’ll go into this a little bit more later.

One poker face, an airport shuttle, and a half developed road later and I arrived at SLA Boutique Hostel (approx. 27,000 Riel or €5.65 per night). I was greeted with a nice cold drink, some warm smiles and a gruelling three story walk up to my room (even one flight of stairs becomes a workout when you're travelling with a fully packed 80 litre osprey). No elevator. But all was gravy.

Day 1 saw me hovering around just in the front of the hostel, trying to stay in Wi-Fi connectivity while trying to work google maps. I had stupidly neglected to pick up a sim card at the airport and needed to hit up the nearest mall to find one. Within 3 minutes of me standing there, getting my bearings, one of the hostel staff sidled up beside me to enquire if I was ok. Motioning to my phone and letting him know of my intent he nodded in understanding. As he turned to head back in he hesitated then turned back to me grimacing… ‘Please, don’t have your phone out. A lot of theft and bag snatching from moto in Phnom Penh’. With his message relayed to me, which I now understood as his true intent for approaching me outside, he turned and headed back in, leaving me in a state of fascinated horror. This wouldn’t be the last time I would hear that message in Phnom Penh, and later, two girls from the very hostel I stayed in would be victims of having a phone stolen, and a bag stolen in much the same manner that the friendly hostel staff member warned me about in the space of two days. I eventually got that sim card. $8 dollars for 30GB of data for 30 days. Vodafone could never even imagine.

There’s nothing special about Phnom Penh. Harsh, but that is my assessment, from being there twice (beginning of my trip and the ending of my Cambodian trip). Spending more than 3 days there is a waste of your time. One day is enough to do all of the ‘sites’. Two days if you’ve flown in from far away and need a day to recover before moving onwards in Cambodia. Three/four days if you’re a lazy traveller like me and do one site a day. Phnom Penh is what I imagine Bangkok looked like 20, maybe even 30 years ago. Like Bangkok it is hot, humid, smelly in some areas and generally just messy. Unlike Bangkok however it’s also unorganised, traffic has no sense of direction and hordes of TUK-TUK drivers perch on every corner of the street (I’m not joking) yelling out ‘TUK-TUK’ uncaring if you’ve just said no to his neighbour beside him. Maybe he thinks that his Tuk-Tuk is cooler and I want a ride in his instead? It got to a point where I would just point at a random building close by, smile and say ‘no thank you, I go here’. Some Tuk-Tuk drivers in my hostel area began to recognise me as the days went on (good or a bad thing?) and instead of yelling out “TUK-TUK” would see me coming and just start yelling and laughing ‘NO THANK YOU!’.

I discussed dark tourism in a previous post, and while the experience Kanchanaburi knocked me speechless and I marvelled at the lengths that people went through for an end goal in mind, The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng in Phnom Penh truly showed me the abject depravity and inhumanity that we as humans are capable of inflicting on each other. Going through the two sites was made infinitely worse as I came to realise that much of the ‘world’ history that we are taught in school or university has a very distinct leaning to one side of the globe. None of us are taught about the disgusting genocide that killed possibly up to 3 million Cambodians from 1975 to 1979. None of us are taught about how, in an effort to turn Cambodia into an agrarian communist capital, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge massacred anyone even suspected of being highly educated (Doctors, Lawyers, even wearing glasses put you in their sights as it was a sign of being an intellectual) was brought in for questioning, charged with phoney crimes are were eventually killed or just killed outright. The rest of the population were sent to work in farms in the countryside, forced to do hard labour and cultivate farmland. Many hundreds of thousands of them eventually died of starvation or illness. The most infuriating thing is that while some of these men responsible were eventually tried and convicted (some still are in the process). The key word in this phrase is eventually. Pol Pot himself was never convicted of any wrong doing. He was put under house arrest for other crimes and eventually died. Other members of the Khmer Rouge went on to live their lives, even joining other political affiliations and lived to ripe enough old ages before they were tried for war crimes and their deprave acts against humanity.

Walking through the exhibit, listening to the testimonies of survivors, the testimonies of the families of the dead reduced me to tears. My heart ached at the knowledge that these people would forever live with the pain, however directly or indirectly. The majority of the older population currently alive and living in Cambodia had been victims OR perpetrators in this horrific part of the kingdoms history, because try as you might. You can’t forgot that yes, there was a number of people in power that ordered these heinous things but there were also tens of thousands of enforcers and jailers that are still alive today, living free lives. Working in shops. Driving Tuk-Tuks. Living the rest of their lives out on the street reeling with the knowledge of what they had done in the past. After visiting these sites, I felt a newfound compassion for the Cambodian people. I felt like everywhere I looked, particularly in Phnom Penh, I could see the shadows of the dark history that the people tried to chase away. I looked upon these people as survivors with true strength as they tirelessly worked to rebuild their country after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge tore it down. Cambodia is still the second poorest nation in South East Asia (and hilariously enough probably one of the more expensive places in SEA due to their dollar usage) but the economy is growing fast. Over the past two decades it has been the sixth fastest growing economy in the world. It still has a ways to go but changes are coming fast and I have no doubt that in 10 years, the landscape will be vastly different.

I mentioned briefly earlier that the Cambodians trade in both Riel and Dollar. During the time of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot banned the use of currency and blew up the national bank. No, really. When Riel was reintroduced after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, it essentially was worthless because the new government had to give it away initially. Eventually the country turned to dollarisation in the 1990’s. The strength and credibility of the Dollar, not only aided in stabilising the economy, it also attracted foreign investment into the country. The Dollar is the world’s most foremost reserve currency. In Cambodia, the dollar helped to buoy the country’s recovery. They still have a ways to go, but eventually, they will get there. One Dollar will get you in around 4000 Cambodian Riel. They do not use cents for change, so whatever small change is given back, is usually given back in Riel. If Cambodia is on your list of places to go, I would just go with Dollars. I wouldn’t bother going through the hassle of changing your money to Riel (I imagine that most banks will probably have to special order it in anyways). The vast majority of ATM’s in Cambodia dispense both Dollar and Riel, and most things are quoted in Dollar pricing, rather than Riel.

The rest of my time in Phnom Penh pretty much passed by in a blur. I quickly realised that though I had arrived, I really had no idea of where I would be heading next on my trip. I bided my time by going to see some of the lesser known attractions in Phnom Penh and making an effort to make some friends in my hostel and from the (quite) large population of expats in Cambodia. Unknown to me before I actually arrived there, Cambodia boasts a large population of foreign expats who are currently calling Cambodia their home. Their professions range from teaching English in schools and universities to volunteering with NGO’s to working with larger corporations to expand their reach within this region. In my trip, this would be the first time I would be actively seeking to make friends and socialise. Yeah, I had made friends and connections with people in Thailand – But for me this was my first time as the instigator. And it wasn’t as terrifying as I thought it would be. One moment I literally sat down in the common area of the hostel ready to steal myself to insert myself into a conversation that people were having, and the next moment all four of us were taking an amazing ferry ride over the Mekong river to discover a lesser known town near Phnom Penh. I would later see Diane when I got to Vietnam. Making friends with the local expat community proved to be even easier. Most of them all visited the same areas when they were finished in whatever employment brought them to this part of the world. The expats were living a wholly different life to their Cambodian counterparts, for they had specific bars and restaurants that they frequented that the local population did not. A little bit depressing when you think about it, but never the less, for now that is how the expatriate population in Cambodia live. Areas such as Bassac Lane boast trendy and hipster style bars and restaurants for the local expat population.

I’ve been hounded to discuss food in my posts so here goes. Apart from my time in South Korea, I haven't really taken the time out to do so. That's my fault I guess, as Thai and Japanese cuisine are not exactly new to me. I've eaten them before, and both are amazing yes. When it came to the Philippines, the violent attack of food poisoning I got didn't really endear me into talking about the nations food. Food wise in Cambodia, I didn’t really think it was anything to write home about. Right at this moment I’m in Vietnam, and this is the best way I can really describe Cambodian food. Thailand has absolutely mouth-watering dishes from Pad Thai, Tom Yam and Curries to Banana Roti’s and Fresh Juices. Vietnam also has very strong, delicious and distinctive dishes like Pho, Banh Xeo, Banh Mi, Cau Lao and Bun Cha just to name a few. The best way to describe Cambodia food wise? Imagine having two older siblings who are absolutely brilliant at anything and everything. And then you are just there existing, not doing anything particularly special with your life and having no real aim to do so. That is how I felt about Cambodian food. In fact, I spent more time eating food that was decidedly not Cambodian, than food that was. I even had Mexican at one point, which is hilarious as I can’t remember the last time I had Mexican food back home in Ireland. A popular dish in Cambodia is Amok, which I did try, and yes it was delicious. This was the only real ‘Cambodian’ dish that stood out to me. Other than this, their cuisine is a mash up of curries, fried rice and fried noodle dishes which, to be honest are none too special in this part of the world. The also eat red ants, tarantulas and other creepy crawlies here. Seriously.

After 5 days in Phnom Penh, and discussions with everyone that I had come into contact with, I decided to head to Kampot on a Giant Ibis bus. I was promised that Kampot was a sleepy and chill town, with beautiful views which was just what I felt I needed after spending 5 days in the big bustling city of Phnom Penh. I said my goodbyes, and I was on my way.

Until next time..

Babs