Speaking Gecko (Mum and Brian visit Cambodia) 23/02/10

Sorry-this is really late!

So Mum and Brian left yesterday for a two day stopover in Thailand (and I am informed-a luxury hotel!) before heading home from their trip to SE Asia.

I was a little nervous at first that Mum and Bri wouldn’t like Cambodia but I was wrong to doubt how quickly people fall in love with this Country, even with all its problems.

We started off in Phnom Penh with a great airport greeting then back to The Pavillion Hotel, which has been converted from the Queen’s (of Cambodia!) former residence into a lovely boutique hotel surrounded by lush tropical gardens and a beautiful pool. However, Mum and Bri’s room actually had their own pool which was ace. On the first night I decided that it was probably best to start with ‘Phnom Penh light’ so I took them to FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) for dinner and drinks on the roof terrace overlooking the river and Royal Palace complex.
The next day we headed back into Phnom Penh (Brian looking particularly bleary eyed as he had stayed up till 4am watching Liverpool loose!) to check out the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and National Museum. Brian had surprised me with a new lens for my camera, so he quickly set about taking some photographs with it.

After an afternoon of chilling by the gorgeous pool we headed to a roof terrace on the river for (small) cocktails and the on to a French restaurant for dinner. I was taking the opportunity of taking Mum and Bri to places which I usually can’t afford!!

The next morning we headed out to The Killing Fields, the scenes of the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in the late 70’s. From experiencing the genocide prison complex in Phnom Penh (S21) I knew that this was not going to be a pleasant experience but none the less I am glad we went. A huge stupa has been erected which contains the bones of the victims which were dug up during the initial excavation of the site in the 80s. It was decided, after the scale of the graves was realised, that leaving the bodies where they are is for the best and many mass graves remain untouched at the site. It is strange, but I found it to be a very peaceful place, almost verging on beautiful. There is a natural lake in the centre and other than the odd sign it is difficult to tell that this was a scene of mass murder. I’m not going to go into detail, but suffice it to say that when the Khmer Rouge were perpetrating these killings they were not ones to waste bullets on executions, so the means of death are very grim indeed. If you ever go to Cambodia it needs to be done to help understand the country’s horrific past, but the people here do not dwell. In fact, many do not even want the trials that are currently happening here to continue. Most just want to move on, which I can understand, but these horrific crimes must be accounted for and many of the Khmer Rouge leaders are still alive.

Anyway, onto something much more cheerful! That evening I took Mum and Bri for cocktails at Raffles (the best martini in Phnom Penh) then onto a NGO restaurant which does some of the nicest (and most foreigner friendly) Cambodian food in Phnom Penh.

The next day we headed off to the French Colonial coastal town of Kep and our villa overlooking the beautiful Gulf of Thailand on one side at a jungle covered mountain on the other-stunning! Unfortunately, I had chosen this day to get really sick so the most I saw of the place was my bed and the bathroom (both of which were the nicest I had been in/to in Cambodia!). The next day however we took a walk down to the crab market which was buzzing as it was Chinese New Year and many people were on holiday. So we had great fun just wandering around the market stalls selling freshly caught seafood, which went from said sea to someone’s tummy in about 10 minutes.

The following day Brian decided that we were going to go for a walk, which I was reassured, would not be going through jungle or up hills (I still felt ropey). Naturally, the walk we ended up on was straight up the hill and through the jungle. It was worth it though as after talking (hmmm) to a very enthusiastic nun and a friend of the Queen’s who had set up said nunnery, we ended up at a beautiful lookout point where you could see the entire bay area. Another stunning example of how this country is so full of the unexpected.

The next morning we had arranged a tour with Rith, a rather enterprising young man who has set up his own tour/travel agency in town and he promptly (only 15mins late) arrived to take us around the sites of Kep in his retro Toyota camry. The first part of this tour was of the ‘ghost town’ which is comprised of the burnt out French villas from the ‘30s40s. It is actually pretty creepy going around there and it is strange to see these beautiful old villas in such a decrepit state and it makes you wonder what an amazing place it must’ve been back in the day. It is also quite bizarre that there are beautiful fences and gates surrounding completely empty plots of land. Rith informed us that this is because if there is not a fence around it the government will now sell that plot of land. This is a familiar problem across Cambodia, with the government selling off huge swathes of prime real estate in order to make a quick buck, with no thought that eventually the land is going to run out and Cambodia will be left with nothing. It is happening everywhere, with massive plots having been sold here, in Mondulkiri, which are now being logged, mined and planted with rubber trees with none of the income benefiting Cambodia. The workforce are imported, the materials immediately exported (on roads built by foreign businesses) out of Cambodia and into the foreign markets with absolutely no sustainability or positive outcome for Cambodian people. When there is nothing left, the foreign investors will no doubt try and sell the land back to Cambodia for far more than it is now worth.
Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant and I’m afraid I may revert to it when I write about Bokor Mountain Hill Station!

Anyway, on the tour we also visited the amazing caves at Kampong Trach (where small children showed us around with torches) which were pretty breathtaking, but impossible to get a decent photo of! We also stopped off at a pepper plantation, where Mum took the opportunity to invest in a big bag of black and white Kampot pepper, which is famous around the world for its unique flavour. So whilst on the way back to town, Rith mentioned that the road up Bokor Mountain was open for Chinese New Year and tomorrow was the last day. I knew that this was quite a rare occurrence and that the other option was an 8hour trek each way, so we arranged for him to pick us up the following day and to take us up the mountain and then drop us at our new hotel in Kampot.

The Vietnamese company Sokha, is building a new road up the mountain as it is building a huge hotel complex at the top, which will be 5* all bells and whistles when finished. Currently, at the top there is the remains of the small town, built by the French, mostly consisting of a Hotel/Casino. This must have been beautiful it its day, with some of the best views I have ever seen of the jungle and coast. However, rather than refurbishing this beautiful, albeit run down, building Sokha is creating a hotel which would not be out of place in Dubai or Las Vegas. The word travesty does not even do this justice and it makes me very sad. They are going to flood an entire valley to create an artificial lake where they’ll be water sports. Seriously. I cannot even comprehend the damage this will do to the ‘national park’ and the wildlife which has all but departed. Saying that, we were fortunate enough to see a couple of eagles and great hornbills whilst on the road, which was pretty amazing. I feel very lucky that I have managed to see this beautiful place before it is ruined by ‘development’.

The next day we felt pretty exhausted from doing about 1hr of walking the previous day...so this called for a massage. We had a recommendation from a VSO in town and had appointments booked. Brian had opted for the ‘steam’ option and the result was one of the funniest things I have seen in my life. One has not lived until they have seen their father wearing a sarong and crouching down so that two tiny Khmer ladies can baste him in bright orange paste to then seat him on a commode covered in a plastic bag then lighting a fire under his bum.

Flights/hotels/trips: $2000
Steam/massage: $9
A photograph which will forever be used for blackmailing purposes: priceless

Ahhh anyway. Soon it was time for us to head on back to Phnom Penh, as Mum and Brian were leaving in a couple of days and we still needed to shop!! So this we did and Brian decided that a trip to the S21 torture and genocide museum was a more appealing prospect than going to the market with Mum and I!! So, I am sure all of you who are now the proud owners of silk scarves know that they were indeed bought in a Cambodian market!

There is so much more to tell but this blog is already way too long! So I guess you will all have to come to Cambodia to experience it for yourselves!

xx