Cambodia's stunning beaches

I last visited Cambodia some 6 years ago, when we toured Ankor Wat (my second time) and previous to that, I was backpacking in the country in 2003. Over Christmas we went down south and I got to see Sihanoukville ten years on, Koh Rong for the first time and the amazing Otres.

I remember I had stayed in a bungalow up on the hill, just past the Lion roundabout where you followed a gravel track to the beach. The place has changed beyond recognition and the beach is much cleaner. However the main Serendipity strip I wouldn't want to hang around too long. The scene is very much backpackers and old men;  the beach itself is dominated by government mandated promenade-front bars, all the same, all with the same furniture.

A night later and we headed to Koh Rong, a largish island off the coast. As our last trip was enhanced (or as Chi would say -  'ruined') by a very interesting boat trip to Battambang, I hoped this one might be better. A new half-million dollar catamaran would be our vessel cutting journey time from 2 hours to 30 minutes. As we sat aboard with the engine turning over I was still optimistic. As the Cambodian engineers disappeared into the engine compartment, half an hour went by and travelers started hopping off to drink beer at the jetty-side bar, my faith wavered. An hour later, chugging along the coast in a distinctly non-Koh-Rong direction, a Russian regular delivered the hilarious truth...they're taking us to the slow boat. Once deposited right back to square one and the best sunbathing spots had been bagged we were off again, this time to our destination.

I had no idea where Paradise Bungalows was, but we would be able to walk there along the path, which didn't exist, but at the least the tide was out aiding the dragging of unjustifiably heavy luggage through sand for 800 meters. Never presume anything travelling in this part of the world: hopefully you'd hop on the boat, be disembarked, checked in and ready for a swim before sunset cocktails - realistically, prepare for the fact that despite your destination being maddeningly close, you could end up there after dark and feeling like you've just been long hauling it across a continent.

Koh Rong is stunning. A small stretch of crowded cheap accomodation surround the pier but at the end of the beach is the much quieter Paradise Bungalows. The place is slightly stuck in a time-warp in terms of tending to guests, and our $60 a night beach front bungalow was basic, open to the elements with not a shelf or drawer in site, just two double beds with saggy mattresses and mosquito nets. Having had our food chewed through by a critter we soon disposed of anything aromatic to avoid more visitors. Other guests staying up in the hills talked of monkeys in their rooms! They were complaining in the nicest way possible, the staff just looked amused and shrugged their shoulders as if to say 'This is paradise, take it or leave it!'. The beach front water-buffalo added to the faraway feeling. One mesmerized tourist whispered to me in awe as she slowly raised a long-lens, : 'What is that...'. Newb.

Paradise Bungalows, Koh Rong

The mandatory jungle trek was the closet to a jungle trek I've seen on a tropical island, a moderate climb followed by a very steep descent over large boulders. As usual the flip flops I had weren't doing me any favors. We emerged from the foliage onto a long beach which had been named by the unimaginative beach naming committee of South East Asia (who seem to have a big influence in the region) 'Long Beach'.

Long Beach, Koh Rong

The catamaran had been repaired but on the 40 minute journey back to the mainland we wished it hadn't as we pitched and rolled as if entombed in a washing machine, my daughter proceeding to vomit everywhere garnering the sympathy of backpackers who were missing their cousins back home. I sat anxiously next to Chi who I knew specifically hated boat trips of this nature and was using every ounce of mental strength not to see her breakfast again. Conversation was out of the question.

A tuk-tuk down to Otres just 3 kms from town and an utterly amazing, largely deserted beach, with very limited accommodation. We rented a terraced garden shed and shared a 'bathroom' with the rest of the resort that bilged yellow water from the well out of its taps. Safe to say I let the hygine go a little those three days, even though it was Christmas, and maintained a decent alcoholic haze the whole time. One night our whole row of bungalows lay wide awake blinking at the ceiling at 3am listening to a drunken couple having a domestic in the row behind.

The garden shed

Otres Beach

A scenic two hour drive took us to to Kampot and 'The Mango Tree'. Traditional Khmer houses sit in a lush tropical garden by the river, the breeze swaying the palms and sheep grazing in the garden; all a welcome background as you sit on the veranda over the water and enjoy the sun setting behind Bokor mountain. Renting a three bedroom house on stilts for $60, the place had the atmosphere of a French summer camp: kids, swings and board games, kayaks and bicycles for hire. We took the night trip on the river to see fireflies in abundance and disturb the bioluminescent algae, the next day took the bikes and pedaled through a maze of grassy, single lane tracks bordered by the residences of smiling locals and shady banana trees. A lot of over-exuberant barking dogs too.

The Mango Tree, Kampot

Although its rough around the edges compared to the polished experiences available in Thailand and Malaysia, Cambodia has just as much beauty. The people are great, and one more thing, the food was fantastic.

Phnom Penh is still a good 5 hour trip from Saigon by bus/car, or a (relatively) expensive 40 minute flight. Car hire is reasonable (e.g $50 for a private car with driver Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, 4 hours).  

Cambodia : Transport

Yo yo yo! HOLD THE PHONE

Somehow I forgot to finish off my report of the Cambodia trip -- well it's just a few pictures really. Pictures however, that will perhaps bear some comic value -- maybe you'll smile a little (as if you were passing a little wind), maybe you'll call your friend in from the other room, or maybe you'll shift your chair back a little from the desk, put your head in your hands between your legs and shake it gently from side to side in disbelief.

Now seriously, I hope you'll respect the tone of this post considering I've been in Asia for around three and a half years and here in HCM for over two of them -- so when I say the things you see on the road in Cambodia are probably unparalleled in this universe, you gotta believe me. I mean here in Nam I see guys driving their motorbikes with huge sheets of glass and I hardly blink. I see cyclos with scaffold ten times their length doing a left turn into oncoming traffic -- I dodge the approaching beams actually thinking about getting home in time for Sportcenter on ESPN. Over in Cambodia, I was leaning out of the window trying to angle my camera screaming at Chi 'Look! Would you bloody look at that!'. Obviously expats living in Cambodia are used to it. Just a few kilometers from home and I'm a stinking tourist all over again.

This guy has a stack of bicycles that are bigger than the actual van taking them.

This van was literally on two wheels. The entire left side of it was rusted through and the whole thing looked like it was about to disintegrate. This is the means of public transport for some Cambodians, sitting atop a van or a pickup. The vehicles are loaded until not one more limb can be squeezed in, there must be 20 people sometimes, that's forgetting the cargo.

Finally...this one....which is just.....errr....well....funny? Or ridiculous?

Siem Reap to Battambang

Heading out of Siem Reap to Battambang, I bought two boat tickets which would take us out onto the Tonle Sap and then up the Stung Sanker. What a lovely day in store I thought -warnings that the journey took longer in dry season due to low water levels didn't perturb me. They should have, because we were on the boat for eight hours sat on a wooden plank. There was a time, in my backpacker days, when I would put it down to 'experience' or say 'half the fun is getting there'. For a while, I was living that dream, gazing out onto the floating villages and Cambodian life on the river.

This contraption was commonplace. It's a huge net which the fisherman can raise and lower out of the water using the ballast you can see hanging above the bamboo platform.

As a mother and her children paddle by, a one woman floating market of clothes and material is 'pulling in' between two water bourne houses.

The boat we caught was more like the water bus. One of those backpacker specials.... someone making a mint out of cramming pasty white faces into the hull. The boat would drift slowly through riverside villages, occasionally revving the engine to signify it's arrival. Those who needed a ride were ferried to the waiting boat by a family member, sometimes their kids.

So, five hours down, and just before the ass-numbness became chronic, we stopped for lunch. The wife still seemed to be enjoying herself. All was well. After lunch, the 'low water' part of the journey began. This entailed navigating the bends in what was normally a river now reduced to not much more than a stream, vegetation on the bank above looking as thirsty as most of the passengers. With the vocation of staring out of the boat at the scenery pretty much removed, there wasn't a lot to do except 1) concentrate on what it feels like to sit on a wooden plank, 2) listen to the droaning of the engine, housed in a wooden box about 4 metres to my right or 3) looking at my wife's face, which was staring at me as if I had just called her a stupid cow, which even if I had have done she wouldn't have been able to hear because of the deafening noise. Chi said to me later it's amazing how all the westerners simply refuse to complain about the conditions, pain and suffering they must undeniably be in. Just as the backside was issuing its most violent of complaints (not audible, just muscular) we unexpectedly stopped and were ordered from the boat.

The water was too low to continue any further, but those harbouring any hope of us being 'near' Battambang would have done well to look around them. I for one couldn't see anything resembling a city, a town or a village, let alone a corrugated iron shack. The only thing visible was a field of ploughed dirt and two pick-ups. I knew it would be the end of my marriage if Chi realised we were expected to clamber into the back of the pick-up, so I quickly secured seats in the cab whilst all the backpackers pretended to be having a good time. After about 30 minutes of carefully arranging limbs and securing bags, we were ready to go.

Doesn't look too bad does it. Well try sitting on the edge of the truck over a road that looks like this. This is one of the places we got stuck.

It took three hours from boat to Battambang, in distance no more than 35km.

With all that said and done, and me unable to explain the 'joys of travelling' to Chi, we had arrived in Cambodia's second city, Battambang. It is split in two by a river that looks like this

and full of streets that look like this

and a market that looks like this

Notes from Cambodia : Part 1

Let's start from the beginning. Cambodia is a small country in the.....nah actually I can't be bothered with that. I could rave about the miles of paddy fields and charming children, but I'll give you the honest account as far as I saw it.

Our journey took us from the capital Phnom Penh to Siem Reap (base for Ankor exploration) and then to Battambang, Cambodia's second city. The map is from here.

The trip from big brother Vietnam, HCMC, takes around 5 hours to the Cambodian capital (by bus). Comparison of the two cities is futile, Saigon being a sprawling bastion of a booming economy whilst Phnom Penh still resembles a provincial town around goldrush time. For a few kilometers after the border huge Casinos line the road, a legacy of the illegality of gambling in Vietnam. If you really want to ruin you and your family's life, Cambodia gives the foolish man a chance to jump across the border and do so. The Casinos even got together to build a bridge in the locality for players to jump off once they lost everything -- or maybe it was there beforehand anyway.

Enough! As you would expect PP oozes colonial-ness, a prime example being the old Raffles Hotel.

Like a gameshow girl showing off the tumble dryer, Minh Chi models a nice green area that looks down towards the spire of the town pagoda.

Does this everyday street scene look like somewhere familiar?

The central market, with PP's biggest shopping centre off to the right (with the domed roof).

The city has some nice park areas, however they are strewn with litter, as are the streets. The main focus of the city is the riverfront, where the Tonle Sap (Sap River) visibly merges into the Mekong. Here you can see package tourists dining in posh restaurants whilst landmine victims and the homeless beg for anything they can. Whole families can still be seen sleeping on the streets of the capital, and also in park areas. The expat community have a yummy choice of cafes, restuarants and bars to satisfy both thirst and hunger. The idea of this disparity always has me a little confused about what to make of it, especially with the backpackers who treat SE Asia like Disneyland.

There is one word I can use to describe the temples of Ankor - circus. I remember my one previous visit to Siem Reap and Ankor Wat in June 2003 being a much more peaceful experience. The town has changed into a night time freakshow with thousands of tourists strolling around 'pub street' and it's adjoining alleys, whereas before there seemed to be little or no nightlife. Around the temples, coaches, motorbikes and tuc tucs transport tourists between various sites, most of which you can't move in for loud tour groups. The temples of Ankor should be a place of quiet and reflection -- this is almost impossible. The only hope is to give up the main attractions and find the smaller less popular temple ruins. However, Ankor Wat itself is unmissable.

The infamous steps at Ankor Wat -- near vertical.

This scene looks like something out of a CS Lewis novel -- you can even see a unicorn in the middle.

Looking back from Ankor Wat. The odd white circle in the distance is the Ankor ballon, which will take you about 200m above the ground. We have one of those in Bournemouth too.

An indication of the unbelievable number of tourists is that some of the hundreds of tuc tucs carry advertising!

A typical scene inside a temple complex : Koreans.

The funfair in full swing.