TRAVEL MAP CAMBODIA

SIEM REAP/ANGKOR WAT (CAMBODIA)

We kept Siem Reap/Angkor Wat as the highlight to the very end and it was worth it. We spend the first day visiting a silk farm and spend the rest of the day in the market shopping. It’s so much fun to haggle.

Next day we got up at 4am, took our bicycles and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We set ourselves an itinery and after seeing 3 temples we were pretty tired and had enough till we entered Bayon. It’s a breathtaking architecture and by then our favourite. We watched locals feeding the monkeys and nearly missed the sunset at Phnom Bakheng.

We hired a tuk tuk for the second day as Banteay Srei and Roluos Temple group are much further away from Angkor Wat. We saw some fantastic sandstone carvings and also the first temples in the area. At the very end we went to see Angkor Wat. It’s huge and very different inside than we expected. It even reminded us on Roman architecture with the inside baths and monastery look.

As it was our last day/night in Cambodia we decided to buy some of those $5 vodka red bull pitchers. Who would have thought that we are still drinking 4am in the morning having to catch a bus at 7am? How we managed is magical with not even losing a single item while packing. We were even still buzzing while heading towards the boarder in the taxi.

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BATTAMBANG (CAMBODIA)

We stopped in Battambang to visit some of the temples in the surrounding areas, our built up for Angkor Wat.

Again the motorbike rental seemed the most practical and of cause cheapest way to do that. We managed to do that tide program within a day: Wat Ek Phnom, Phnom Banan, Phnom Sampeau and also visited an old Pepsi company. It was shut in 1975 after Pol Pot took over and was never reopened again. There is still some old machinery in there and hundreds of empty bottles. The care taker took us around and even let us in the building after Phil begged him for getting an empty bottle. Hope we won’t break it while travelling.

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KOMPONG CHHNANG (CAMBODIA)

We stopped here for a day only to see the floating village and the only pottery place in Cambodia.

The banks by the floating villages were overfilled with rubbish, not a pretty side. The ceramic at Ondong Rossey is very simple with no glazing but we found a teapot and a little bowl for so little money.

Food was a little harder to find, no tourists-no restaurants. We bumped into an nice NZ couple in their 50th who are travelling around on a motorbike for 6 months. We were amazed and hope we will still be that adventurous when we are older.

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CHI PHAT (CAMBODIA)

What is there to do in Chi Pat? People in Krong Koh Kong heard about it but don’t really know anything about the place. All we read was Wildlife Alliance started to set up ecotourism in the community to prevent further hunting and logging.

Rather taken the advertised boat we took on the journey on motorbike to give s the chance to turn back if we had too. We found the right turn into the gravel road leading to the village but it didn’t end there. There were many different ways to go and we had to wait a few times before anyone came along to ask for directions. It was also slippery and raining but Phils motorbike skills were amazing and we didn’t fall of once. The last stretch was nearly unbearable with big mud pools and the afternoon heat. Our last obstacle was the ferry ride over the river where Phil had to balance the bike over a small piece of wood. It took us nearly 2 ½ hours for 20km of dirt road.

We weren’t disappointment by the Chi Phat establishment, staying in a homestay at our first night on an orange farm with battery operated electricity and a really friendly family.
We decided to hike for 2 days/1 night including camping in the jungle with sounded promising. We hired a guide “Le Heng” and a cook “Mr Hung” who knew the bush well. They made fires from scratch and put up our camp quickly as it started pouring down with rain. We slept in hammocks under a tarpaulin in the bush which we always wanted to do but never had the opportunity. We saw 3 snakes and gibbons; unluckily it wasn’t quite the season to see any animals as they don’t need to come to the lagoons in the wet. The 21km hike on the 2nd day was tiring at the end but our cook treated us with a fresh coconut from his garden when we returned.

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KRONG KOH KONG (CAMBODIA)

Reading up about this place it sounded very promising. It’s a jump off point to Botum Sakor NP, Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary and the Southern Cardamon Mountains, the sad story its not very well developed to get into these areas. Some roads are inaccessible as little streams turn into big rivers and travel agencies aren’t very enthusiastic, at least not in the low season.

We hired a motorbike to see the mangrove forest and Tatai Waterfall, visited a cute settlement on the other side of the river and had dinner at a quiet place at the beach on our way back. The town was out of power for most of our stay as a ship crashed into a cable leaving us with no fan for the night and being unable to charge up any of our equipment.

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SIHANOUKVILLE (CAMBODIA)

We got offered a cheap ride in a taxi for this 4 hour trip and knew it would be pretty cramped. I ended up on Phil’s lap for most of the journey.

Sihanoukville hasn’t much to offer apart from nice beaches and cheap beer. We had a rat in out bungalow but it was so cute till it chewed through our headphone cables. We booked a relaxing day and snorkelling trip on a boat and left the town to find something more adventures to do.
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KAMPOT PROVINCE (CAMBODIA)

It was our first experience of the wet season and it just didn’t stop raining. We hired a motorbike anyway and visited a pepper farm and the cave temple near Kompong Trach.

We included an overnight stay in Kep to try the legendary crab in green pepper sauce at the market. We weren’t disappointed, even better we just couldn’t stop licking our fingers covered in delicious pepper sauce.

Next day we drove around Kep NP with beautiful views over the lush jungle forest and
Phu Quoc Island which they lost to Vietnam. Before heading back to Kampot we couldn’t resist eating at the crab market once more.

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PHNOM PENH (CAMBODIA)

Phnom Penh is the capitol of Cambodia and has two very diverse sightseeing to offer. There is the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda representing the wealth of king Sihamoni. Controversial there is S-21, security prison led by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot between 1975 -1979.
We spent 4 hours in there learning about the inhumanity towards their own people, killing nearly 2 million with torture, starvation and diseases. Only a few years ago they started prosecuting some of the main leaders and still there are so many open questions about the meaning of Cambodia’s darkest years.

There is an interesting but also very sad book called “First they killed my father”. It’s a heartbreaking story and gives a better understanding how people suffered and how they just managed to simply survive.

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KOMPONG CHAM (CAMBODIA)

We were positively surprised by this peaceful little town. No one hassle you to buy but on the other hand nothing was advertised to see the surroundings either. We already heard it was nearly impossible trying to find t independently on a motorbike and we nearly gave up when we started to chat to a tuk-tuk driver. He wanted a reasonable fare but we pushed it down to $10 to show us all in 2-3 hours. It was a trip we won’t forget. He took us to all the places we never would have found ourselves.

First we visited a rubber plantation. He had a lot of knowledge as his dad used to work there. Our second destination was a weaving village. he know the people, gave the kids some treats and showed us the different trades involved in producing money for the community. Our last sight of interest was Wat Maha Leap, a wooden pagoda over a century old and used as a hospital under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

To save some petrol we took a short cut back along the Mekong River. It was an off road journey in a tuk-tuk only skilled drivers can do and it was great to see all those remote villages.

All in all our tour took 5 hours. We gave him $15 as we could not have had anyone better looking after us and giving us so much information. We did forget his name which is a shame as we would recommend him to anyone with pleasure.

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KRATIE (CAMBODIA)

We made a stopover in Kratie to see the Irrawaddy Dolphins and we weren’t disappointed. We had a great boat driver who took us on the Mekong River, stopped his engine as soon as we spotted them and took us to 3 different sights. It was so peaceful seeing them swimming around and we even saw them fighting for fish. Unfortunately our battery had died by then and we have no records of it. Have a look at the video we took to get a brief introduction what we saw within an hour.

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