21 May 2017

Otres Beach 01.05.18 - 08.05.17

Otres Beach Bums

We spent a wonderful week living the beach-bum life in Otres, a small coastal village that reminded us in some ways of Goa (minus the trance music, thank goodness). There is a lovely community of both locals and expats that are all working together very creatively to develop the area. The growing village is around 8km from the much more developed, in our opinion less inviting Sihanoukville town center. The best part of our stay was the Saturday Night Market. It was set up by two friends from Australia who spontaneously bought a plot of land with no initial plans of what to do with it. With their artistic design skills they built a festival inspired venue that every Saturday night becomes a glorious hub of creativity. Expect a selection of world food street vendors, handmade craft stalls, second hand clothing stalls, a well stocked cocktail focused bar and a magnificent stage space for a selection of live artists and DJs to perform throughout the night. A minute taste of Glasto had us feeling slightly homesick, but happy nonetheless. We also enjoyed playing guinee pigs for a lovely French man who has built a jungle zip wire experience by hand. He waited until we were up in he trees to tell us we were some of his first customers, I can't work out whether that was a good or bad thing! 

Here's 10 photos from our time spent relaxing Otres style...





















Le Petit Train 28.04.17

Le Petit Train, Phom Penh - Kampot 

Taking the train in Cambodia is a tourist attraction in itself. Similarly to Laos the rural parts of the country have been too dangerous to develop at the same rate of the larger cities due to un-exploded ordnance, and so there is still only one major train line operating today. I've read that there are plans in the pipeline to expand on this, however as it stands the nation is limited to a four stop service that runs (drum roll please) three times each way a week and carries (further drum roll) 100 passengers each way.

It's not only the timetable that's retro, but the machinery too. At 3pm on a rainy Friday afternoon we boarded a shiny white and blue train that looked as though it had tumbled right out of a kinder egg; small, kitsch and an absolute treat. After chugging along through picturesque Cambodian countryside for a few hours a man appeared from the driver's cabin and gave an announcement over megaphone. He told us that at the next stop we would have 10 minutes to stretch our legs along the tracks and buy a selection of snacks from local vendors. As we pulled into the tiny station around 10 locals and their families excitedly began fussing over their stalls and waving frantically at the second and last set of passengers they would be serving that day. They were selling a delicious mix of BBQ meats, sweet potatoes, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruits and vegetable chips. We enjoyed vegetable chips, fresh pineapple and some hard boiled eggs with a salt and pepper mixture that came wrapped up in somebodies algebra homework! 

We arrived at our stop in Kampot after 6 charming hours of travel. I never thought I would write '6 hours of travel' and 'charming' in the same sentence, but there you have it! Perhaps some imagery will justify my words... 













4 May 2017

Phnom Penh 24.04.17 - 28.04.17

Phnom Penh, an introduction to Cambodia


We arrived in Phnom Penh by bus from Saigon just over a week ago and already feel very well acquainted with this fascinating country. The fast developing capital is currently a modest size, and from our experience its residents are equally humble in nature. We definitely didn't run out of things to do during our stay, the city's main tourist attractions are all reasonably priced and easy to get to by foot or tuktuk whichever side of the city you chose to stay on. There are also plethora of vibrant markets, a variety of decent bars dotted around plus a good mix of local restaurants and backpacker style eateries.

From what we have experienced so far Cambodia is still very much recovering from times of suffering, times that really weren't so long ago. Similarly to Vietnam, this was very prevalent in the city and its people. However, I couldn't feel the sense of pride that shone through in Vietnam. Instead a sense of gratitude and absolute serenity towards the current times embodied almost everyone we met. This shared spirit was something we came to understand after visiting The Genocide Museum and The Killing Fields. 

A brief history: 
On 17th April 1975 the Republican government was defeated when the Khmer Rouge proclaimed the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea, this lead to the party leader Pol Pot claiming complete power over Cambodia. He had an extreme communist vision for the country based on agriculture, demanding that rice production was to be tripled immediately in the aim of Cambodia becoming a completely self-sustained nation. Under his leadership it was the year 0 and anyone who came forward as having skills from 'the past life' was taken unknowingly to be executed. This included doctors, teachers and anyone who could speak a second language. Males, females, adults and children were separated and required to work up to 19 hours a day farming rice and other crops. Executions took place across the country at sites now named 'killing fields', there were also torture houses set up such as what is now The Genocide Museum. During Pol Pot's 3 year reign an estimated 1.5 million people were executed. 

This harrowing history is told with commendable courage and honesty at both The Genocide Museum and The Killing Fields. There is little anger or even blame conveyed towards the era, only a deeply ridden grief. I can't fully explain how it feels to walk across the blood stained floors of The Genocide Museum, or to face the tower of human skulls that looms over The Killing Fields. What I can put into words is how as I walked and listened I felt so choked with tears but so completely unworthy to let them fall. How could I, so untouched and privileged in these capsules of pain and suffering stand and cry? I hope this somehow explains the depth of emotion these two sites provoke. 

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Ten photographs taken in Phnom Penh:






 








From Phnom Penh we moved south to the small riverside town of Kampot, and then to Otres Village right on the beautiful coastline. We'll be here for a few more days before heading up to Siem Reap!