The journey home

Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh, a flight to Bangkok and a plane the same evening back to London. Need I say more?
We were both exhausted when we eventually landed in a cold and rainy London at 6am the next morning. It was pretty sobering to be back on the tube in rush hour. All I wanted was to have a good cup of tea and a hot bath (two things I had missed while being away).

Sihanoukville

After our twelve houre spent one night in Phnom Penh and the next day we caught another bus (a luxury one this time) down to Sihanoukville on the coast. Sihanoukville is Cambodia's Phuket/Bali/French Riviera. The town centre itself isn't much to rave about but a short moto ride to the beach area gives most beach-hungry travellers what they are looking for. Like Thailand, the beaches are lined with bamboo beach huts selling cheap cocktails and $3 fresh fish BBQs, firejugglers and groups of young tourists. But unlike Thailand it still retains much of its 'local' vibe - less the resort, more the backpackers' hangout. Women wander the rows of reclining deck chairs offering fresh fruit, back massages and manicures; beggars sift through the crowds requesting spare change and children approach tourists in the evenings with bracelets and fireworks for sale. Al was himself a victim of a small boy's sales pitch: after insisting we didn't want a beaded bracelet the boy struck a deal with Al - if the boy wins a round of tic tac toe (noughts and crosses) we buy two (rather overpriced) bracelets, if we win we keep them for free. Al entered this deal because he was sure he could win at the game. Well he lost (even though he insists that he let the boy win) the kid was ecstatic and we had to splash out on two bracelets we didn't really want. Oh well - it's good to support the local economy I always say.

The next day, in true Cambodian style, we hired a motorbike for the day and did some exploring. We drove to a beach 5kms east of town that was recommended in the guidebook. This beach was incredibly beautiful and traquille. We passed the day relaxing on our deck chairs, swimming in the warm sea and generally enjoying the sunshine.



The highlight of our trip to Sihanoukville was a a day's scuba diving with a night spent on a 'desert island'. We went with Eco Sea Dives who were very professional and good fun. We met the group early in the morning, got kitted up and jumped in a minibus to the port of Sihanoukville. The port was a fascinating place. We'd never seen such an undeveloped port before. Most of the buildings rested on bamboo stilts and there was a small dockyard where wooden fishing boats were being repaired or repainted. Next to this were houses on stilts and next to this again was an area for loading and unloading ships.


We helped pile all the gear into our dive boat and off we sped with nutella baguettes for breakfast.


The diving was great, we didn't see anything spectacular but it was very beautiful indeed. (Unfortunately we haven't yet developed our underwater camera film). In the late afternoon we were dropped off on the island of Koh Rong and shown to our basic, but really nice, cabins. We wondered around the island's deserted beaches, had a dip in the warm, crystal clear sea, and checked out the local village. As we walked through the village for the first time (down the sandy 'high street' just next to the beach) we noticed a huge pig which lying fast asleep... at least it looked that way at first, but on closer inspection it was dead. The saw us looking and came over. They hadn't known it was dead but weren't too surprised - apparently it had been castrated the day before (although the desire remained it couldn't perform its manly functions and so in order to prevent any testosterone-fuelled rampages they had castrated it.... but then it died. Very sad. Anyway, on our way back the villagers had already started shaving the pig in the middle of the street and the whole village had turned out to watch the spectacle. We decided to grab a beer from the bar (more like a shop with a table and 2 chairs) and sit to watch the gruesome sight. The pig was shaved of its hairs, then one man picked up a knife and sawed the head off while another gutted it. Nothing was wasted and everyone seemed very excited - Christmas had come early to this small impoverished community! We left the gory scene and went back to the beach huts for dinner and to get an early night before our boat back early the next morning. Sadly I left my camera in someone else's bag and it was taken back to the office, I took a couple of photos with our underwater dive camera but haven't developed it yet.

On arrival back in Sihanoukville we relaxed with the usual beach activities such as getting a lady to thread the hairs from both of your legs - OUCH! And I hasten to add that she persuaded me to get it done which she clearly regretted two hours later when she had eventually finished with a crick in her neck!


The usual pina coladas in the evening the best cocktail to drink on a tropical beach!

and watched yet another beautiful Cambodian sunset.


We really enjoyed our time in Sihanoukville. It was our first taste of beachlife since Australia and we liked the fact that it wasn't as developed as Thailand - more like what Thailand would have been 10-15 years ago. There were a couple of downsides though. Unfortunately the beach was really dirty with rubbish strewn across the sand, plastic bags often spotted in the sea and beachside restaurants not doing their bit to keep their part of the beach tidy. If you dared to walk round the back of any beachside hotels/restaurants you would spot rubbish dumps, overflowing bins and dirty kitchens/bathrooms. It was a real shame as a cleanup effort by the council would surely result in a more pleasant experience for everyone but walking down to the beach was often a hazardous, even dangerous, pursuit and no one seems to care. We also discovered that the main beach (and others in the area) are marked for massive developments by large Chinese-owned hotels. The main beach where you see us sipping our cocktails and playing with local kids will soon only be enjoyed by a privileged few and the buzzing, fun, hippy atmosphere will be gone. Well maybe if they clean up the beach it would at least be better for the environment... but the damage to the local economy would be higher and anyway, much of the coastline of Cambodia is a rubbish dump because the hotels there haven't made any effort to do their bit.

So if you want to have the same experience we had you'd better get there quick before the beach life disappears! But no doubt the beach huts, their deckchairs and the hip, young tourists will just find a new stretch of coast.

Ban Lung, Ratanakiri

We arrived in Ban Lung to be greeted by a crowd of hotel owners, all vying for our attention. We picked one and off we went to the Tribal Guesthouse. We took one of the higher priced rooms as the cheaper ones were pretty dingy and ended up with a great room in a chalet separate from the main hotel. Once we had negotiated some clean sheets (they try to get away with giving you dirty sheets in most budget hotels in Cambodia) we set out for supper. We decided to go it alone (without the guidebook) and ended up in a pretty interesting little place with a funny menu, well just take a look at the picture below, fancy some "pregnant egg", "tin mushroom" or simply "?" (see last option)... we had a good laugh and ended up ordering chicken and noodles.


The next day we took a short walk around the centre of town (which consisted of just a few sandy 'streets') , walked around the local market and watched the local life go by. The people here wear pyjamas as well and as you can see the children start from a young age! All very laid back.
We decided that the best way to get around the surrounding countryside would be to rent a motorbike. Our hotel was charging double the price on the street so we found some guys with an old motorbike who were willing to rent it to us for $4 for the day. We filled up with petrol at the nearest 'petrol station':
decided on a route and off we went!

Our first visit was to a famous volcanic crater with a lake inside that you can swim in! We had in fact specifically come up to this area to witness this spectacular natural treasure. We were very excited. We zoomed off on our bike, the wind in our hair and masks covering our faces from the dusty roads.
I couldn´t see a volcano on the horizon but presumed that it may be covered in jungle. We reached our destination, parked the bike and ran down to the lake. We reached the 'volcanic crater' aka 'just a big lake':
and tried not to be too disappointed as we realised that there was no volcano, not even a crater, just a lake. On the positive side it was still a very nice lake and we made the most of it. We walked around the whole lake, through the forest which was beautiful, watched some local children playing and relaxed for half an hour in the sunshine. Swimming was ruled out as an option as the edge of the lake was covered in rubbish and we didn´t fancy swimming with the it.

Still we loved our moto and sped down the road to a nearby waterfall which was really impressive.


We had an awesome lunch of burger and chips (just what we needed after days of noodles) at the hightly recommended Sal´s restaurant, where Sal herself served us in her nightdress (I kid you not - she hadn't had time to get dressed she said) and headed off for a jaunt around the countryside. We passed wooden houses on stilts:

Villages where people shouted hello to us as we passed them:

Groups of kids playing and wondering who we were:

And rather unpleasantly I witnessed a pig being beaten to death with a stick as we passed by. I didn´t take a photo of that but urged Al to speed on to escape the noise of the pig´s screams.
Onwards we drove, up a hill near to the town where children were playing near a Buddhist monument
and I tried out my skills on the bike

For sunset we took the bike down to a big lake on the outskirts of the town where we watched locals fishing and water buffalo eating grass on the shore.


The perfect way to end a day of motorbiking in Ban Lung? A warm shower to wash off all the red dust that has turned your skin orange!

We awoke at sunrise the next day and made our way into town for a very long bus journey. The bus came and we began the 10 hour slog back to Phnom Penh with a couple of baguettes to keep us company. Amazingly the bus only stopped to refuel at a petrol station and didn't stop at any restaurants. (As we were at this crowded petrol station we saw one very smart guy throw a lit cigarette onto the ground right next to someone refuelling their car - maybe a sign that this country still has a long way to go to educate its people and through this become more developed).

We only spent one full day in Ban Lung. It is certainly interesting to see these off-the-beaten-track parts of the country but we decided that maybe it isn´t always for us. We could have stayed longer, gone trekking in the forest or something, but this part of Cambodia is really underdeveloped which makes tours like this difficult as you don't always know what you're getting. We were also a bit annoyed with Lonely Planet for recommending the 'volcanic crater' which doesn't remotely resemble a volcano or a crater - just a lake. We've learned to not always take what guidebooks say as the gospel truth, sometimes in their enthusiasm for a country they hype up the mediocre and turn it into a 'must see' attraction. We would recommend a visit to Ban Lung for those visiting Cambodia with time on their hands (the bus journey here is very long indeed and it's the only road from the south) and it's a good place to go if you want a taste of typical Cambodian rural life. Although poor, the people here are relaxed and friendly, there are good hotel options and some surprisingly good restaurants.