Phnom Phen to Siem Reap

The city of Phnom Phen was a pleasant surprise, it was much quieter than the other South East Asian capitals I had visited and it moved at a more relaxed pace. Restaurants serving delicious khmer food and rooftop bars serving well priced cocktails overlooked the mighty Mekong river and in the side streets there were more than a few trendy Café’s. I parked the bike at the guesthouse and took the opportunity to explore the city by foot, I managed to pay a visit the royal palace and the national museum to learn a little Khmer history. I could have quite easily settled into a routine and soaked up the atmosphere of Phnom Phen but I was keen to see the temples of Angkor Wat so after an enjoyable 3 days I was out of the city and making my way along the country roads to the town Battambang.

Battambang was another very nice riverside city, a ride through town promised some very nice local restaurants but by the time I had settled into my hotel the rain had also settled in. I made a dash to the nearest restaurant, ordered beef lok lak and watched the downpour over a few glasses of 50 cent beer. I had half a day of good weather before I left for Siem Reap and decided to visit nearby Phnom Sampeau cave, which the Khmer Rouge used to execute prisoners in the similar way as the killing fields. Unlike Cheoung Ek I was the only one here, there was no audio tour, actually there was very little information at all except what I was told by my young guide. Once again this was a reminder of the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime, victims stood on the edge of a hole at the top of the cave where they were beaten to death and dropped into the dark pit, you could actually climb to where they stood and look into the abyss, a horrible view.

Cambodian roads for the most part are flat and straight, I had my headphones in to keep the boredom away and I was soon in Siem Reap, which was the base for visiting the famous temples of Angkor. With the Angkor world heritage site attracting visitors from all over the globe, Siem Reap is a town that is built on the foundation of tourism and I must admit I fell for its appeal. It doesn’t matter how you prefer to travel, Siem Reap will cater for your needs, fancy hotels to cheap hostels and guest houses, pubs, clubs, cocktail lounges, restaurants, cafes and night markets….. you would be hard pressed to get bored here. I took a ride out to the Artisan Silk farm with my new travel buddy Mel, we were a little worse for wear from all night happy hour the previous evening so we thought we’d save the temples for the next day. The silk farm was a great experience, the tour took us through every stage in the production of silk, from harvesting the threads from the silk worms cocoon to the beautiful finished products. It was good to see that the farm trains locals in various skills required in the silk making process providing them with a source of income and steady employment.

Although there was a lot to keep me occupied in Siem Reap the reason I was here was to see the temples and they were spectacular ….. but I think they deserve their own post so I’ll save them for the next update.

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Phnom Phen, genocide museum and killing fields

While in Phnom Penh I visited the genocide museum and the killing fields to see the horrific legacy of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It’s hard to comprehend that out of Cambodia’s 8 million population approximately 1.7 million died of execution, starvation, disease or overwork during Pol Pot’s Tyranical 4 year rule between 1975 -1979. It’s amazing that the world was either blissfully unaware or turned a blind eye as this atrocity was taking place and mind boggling that 15 years after their crimes were discovered the Khmer Rouge were allowed hold a seat in the UN and be the voice of the Cambodian people. After rising to power in 1975 Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge immediately set about turning Cambodia into his warped idea of what a maoist-commununist Utopia should be. The population was moved from the cities to rural labour camps where they worked strenuous 12 hour days with little food and no rest. In his effort to create a classless society Pol Pot banned schools, books, money, personal belongings, religion and even western medicine. People who spoke another language, were educated, had soft hands, wore glasses and even those that drank milk were perceived as intellectuals and were seen by Pol Pot as a threat that needed to be eliminated.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide museum is located in what was once a school but was converted into a detention centre by the Khmer Rouge. Known as S21 the prison was so notorious that only 7 of its roughly 20,000 inmates were known to survive, often inmates were just average people who were tortured until they confessed their crimes against the state (often fabricating a story to end the torture) and then murdered. Walking through the prison complex was very unsettling, the cells were on display as they had been found, some with a black and white photo on the wall of the last victim that was found there. Reading accounts from the few inmates that survived about the treatment of prisoners, especially the methods of torture was quite disturbing and the looks on the faces of the other visitors to the museum echoed my own feelings. The Genocide Museum was shocking, but I think it needs to be, so people can really understand the barbarism that went on in this place.

As more and more prisoners came through S21 and other similar detention centres throughout country the body count grew, to avoid suspicion the Khmer Rouge began moving prisoners by truck to the outskirts of cities to be executed and buried. Known as the killing fields, places like this were located throughout Cambodia, the best known being Choeung Ek which now serves as a memorial to those that were murdered there. When you begin the tour of Choeung Ek you can immediately see the very impressive memorial stupa, it’s not until you walk closer that you realise that behind its glass walls the tower is filled with 8000 skulls of the victims that were killed here. The Audio tour informs you of the horror that these poor people went through as they arrived and waited to be executed in the most brutal of ways (The Khmer Rouge preferred beating someone with a blunt object to avoid using precious bullets). The mass graves were very emotional to walk past but without doubt the hardest thing to stomach was the tree, upon which babies and young children were beaten to death and thrown in a nearby pit.

The leaders of the Khmer Rouge have much to answer for, but let’s not forget that China, The United States and ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) all supported the Khmer Rouge one way or another after they lost power and that many of its leaders were only convicted of crimes against humanity in 2007 ( Pol Pot dying peacefully in his bed in 1998). I wonder how followers of the Khmer Rouge could have turned on their countrymen so viciously and I’m reminded of an experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram on obedience to authority. The Milgram experiment had a volunteer ask a second volunteer (secretly an actor) questions, everytime a question was answered incorrectly an electric shock was administered, increasing in voltage everytime an incorrect answer was given.  The voltage went up to 450 volts, labelled “Danger: Severe Shock”, some people were horrified at being asked to do this but the majority continued on the basis that it was part of the experiment and they wouldn’t be held responsible. Even when the second volunteer pled for mercy, complained of a heart condition and fell alarmingly silent 65% of people went all the way. Perhaps this is an insight into what ordinary people are capable of in extreme situations and what we don’t like to consider is the possibility that normal people can participate in such horrible acts





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Bangkok to Phnom Phen

It was a great feeling to pick the bike up from the mechanic and start packing to get back on the road. Once again I was pleasantly surprised by the Bangkok traffic, it was definitely a pain making my way through the city but it was nowhere near as bad as I had been lead to believe. I had messaged my friend Wim, who had recently toured through Cambodia and he had advised me to follow the coastal road through Thailand and cross into Cambodia via the South border crossing, this was a great piece of advice as the crossing couldn’t have gone smoother. He also made me aware that there was a law against riding with headlights on during the day (and that it was optional at night) I didn’t want to mess around with my electrics so I duct taped over my headlight and used the fog lights at night time. Cambodia was the first country on my journey where they ride on the right side of the road, I didn’t realise this until I was riding on Cambodian roads, luckily I avoided any incidents and was soon on the highway heading to the riverside town of Kampot.

Kampot had a very relaxed feel to it, the streets were lined with French colonial buildings which housed cafes, restaurants and cool little bars. It almost seemed that every second restaurant was a pizza joint with the word “happy” in the name, I had heard about these “happy Pizzas” and thought I’d give one a try with some fellow travellers, I was pretty happy but I was also asleep at 7:30 pm so maybe they accidently gave me the sleepy pizza.  The highlight was visiting Bokor Hill station, Once a resort town established by French colonial settlers in the early 1920’s but abandoned in 1972 when the Khmer Rouge took over the area. There are many empty buildings on Bokor Hill but the most impressive is by far is the very spooky looking casino, no doubt it once opened its doors to some very wealthy guests but now it sits as a ghostly reminder of this towns glory days. The 42 km ride to the top of the hill along newly paved, winding roads was also a welcome chance to do some twists and turns after recently riding too many straight roads.

It had rained very heavily on my ride from Bangkok to Cambodia and the sun was starting to finally shine through, I decided to make the most of the good weather and headed to Sihanoukville for a few days. Sihanoukville and its surrounding area is blessed with beautiful beaches and I spent 3 days relaxing by the ocean. Tourism in this area is flourishing and along with the bungalows, restaurants and bars I was surprised to see an incredible number of casinos in the small town. Obviously everyone is trying to cash in on the lucrative tourist dollar but I wonder if a rapid influx of casinos (and possibly the vice that comes with the industry) is the best strategy for long term growth. It will be interesting to see the difference in this place in 5 or 10 years time, and also to see the difference in the tourists that come here, perhaps this paradise for leisure seeking beach lovers will more resemble the red light district of Pataya in Thailand, guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I was soon back on the road again and was heading to Phnom Phen via the little beachside town of Kep. I was cruising along the highway and to my surprise I passed another BMW, I gave the rider on the 650 GS a wave and we rode together for a few km until we found a place for lunch. The riders name was Mike and he was an American living in Phem Phen, it was a nice feeling to meet a rider randomly on a Cambodian highway and talk about bikes and touring over lunch and coffee. I said goodbye to Mike and was soon riding into Kep, this beautiful town was a real Gem, it was almost  the complete opposite to Sihanoukville, it was quiet but it had real character and I was told the local council don’t allow clubs, casinos or karaoke bars in the centre of town. Kep is a fishing village and it is well known for a row of waterfront restaurants called the crab market, the pepper crab is a local speciality and I can say I wasn’t disappointed. I could have quite easily spent a few more days in Kep but I was quite keen to see the sights of Phnom Phen and it wasn’t long before I was once again dealing with city traffic in the countries capital. 

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Bangkok

I thought being stuck in Bangkok for just under 2 weeks was going to be a bit of a nightmare but the Thai capital had quite a bit to offer to keep me occupied. I paid a visit to most of the major attractions including some very impressive temples, the grand palace, several museums and the floating markets. The two highlights that really stuck out were the abandoned Sathorn Unique tower (see previous post) and the museum of anatomy and forensic science, which included some quite grotesque exhibits such as mummified serial killers, human skulls with gunshot wounds and displays of murder weapons. I came to Bangkok with no idea where to stay and after a quick google search ended up where most backpackers end up, Khao San road. The problem with hostels is that they rarely have secure parking for the bike, after a few hours of walking around in the midday heat, dressed in my riding gear I eventually discovered Oasis hostel.  I was really lucky to find this place, it had secure parking for the bike, an outdoor area to chill out and the staff were super friendly. Oasis was also located in a really cool neighbourhood across the canal from Khao San, which meant it was far enough to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the quaint cafes and restaurants but close enough to walk to the bars of Khao San. As always a big reason for enjoying the place so much was because I was lucky to meet some really great people, we also discovered that if we planned for the next day after we had a few beers we would generally have a lot more fun.

While I was waiting for the final drive on my bike to be fixed I decided to get out of town, not wanting to go somewhere that I was going to later visit on the bike I decided to visit Pataya. I had been told that there were some very nice beaches and island here but I had also heard a few stories about this place being the red light capital of Thailand and when I arrived I could see why. I’ve never seen so many gogo bars, clubs, dancing girls and lady boys in one place before, not to mention the many old men with young girls on their arm. I visited a few bars and a few beaches but 2 days was more than enough for me, I thought it might be wise to leave before I decided to stay for longer. I arrived back in Bangkok to the news that my bike was fixed and after a decent going away party in Khao San I headed to Cambodia with just a slight Hangover.

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