ABOUT THIS TRAVEL

• INTRO ABOUT CAMBODIA

• THE TRAVEL IN CAMBODIA (Impressions)

• PHOTOS OF CAMBODIA

• FUNNY STORIES

• TIPS

• SIEM REAP

• PRINTABLE FORMAT

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INTRO ABOUT CAMBODIA

Kind of travel: alone in a wholly independent travel

When: heart of the wet season (2003 summer)

How I moved: by minibus, by bus, by pirogues and by moped

Where I slept: in very cheap hotels (hotel...uhm.. it's a big word)

What I liked: "not pushy at all" attitude of the people, how much "history" I learnt just travelling there and travelling on the roof of the boat from Stung Treng to Kompong Thom

THE TRAVEL

 I don't really know why it's years that the idea of hanging out in Indochina buzzes in my mind; attracted by this cluster of nations so known as stages of some past human madness (from the '65-'73 war to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge), on the opposite so few mentioned in their actual situation.
At the beginning I was mainly focused on Vietnam and Cambodia, but then, for several reasons, despite already handing an expensive Vietnamese visa, I swapped the Hochi Min country with the earth of the elephant: Laos.
To fly to Bangkok rather than directly to my goals was the only way to save bunches of euros and if you add  I had to wait the Laotian visa for 5 days in the north of Thailand you figure out why part of my travel passed through the former country.

PREPARATION I prepared this trip for months before leaving: first of all reading pages and pages of funny reports to plan my itinerary and at the end I completely changed my way following my instinct and some funny fellows known on the road (thanks Leigh, thanks Enn). But this is the fun of travelling.

"Travellers don't know where they are going, while tourist don't know where they have been". Moreover I straived to carry just the indispensable stuff on my shoulders encompassing gears for my daily fight against supposed mosquito swarms. However evidently they were on holiday somewhere else and, as every travel (maybe even more than others), I utilised just a part of my 19 Kg bag... this freaks my out every time I come back!!!!! (equipment tips)
I've promised myself next travel just two pairs of slip and a toothbrush (I'll borrow the paste) in a plastic bag ;-))

ITINERARY IN CAMBODIA

[In Thailand]
[In Laos]

I enter Cambodia from the border with Laos after having spent few wonderfull days on the Mekong.
It has been an hassle to cross the border and I immediately experienced how these two countries differ.
Cambodia few years ago came out from a 30 years war, and this obviously cannot be devoid of consequences: while Laotians are far far more laid-back and smiling, in Cambodian I felt a kind of melancholy. It took one day to get to Stung Treng by a kind of wooden boat floating on the Mekong and this was definitely an off-of-the-beaten-track leg. I got well impressed by this colonial town far from everywhere, where I knew my first cambodian friend who took me to know his mother in the darkness of his "hut" (read the story). Then another day to Kompong Thom, still sailing, but now on the roof of a fast steel boat... no way, the first steel boat I've seen in the last 20 days!!
And finally one day more through the dusty bumpy roads of the flat Cambodia to get to the famous Siem Reap, where I stopped some days enjoying the eases to be in so a touristy place.
Then again on the road for the last bumpy hours before reaching the Thai border, where a four lane highway takes you to the crazy Bangkok, where I spent three days sweating and sorting out images, thoughts and memories crowding my mind.

IMPRESSIONS ABOUT CAMBODIA

Cambodia, Kampuchea, Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge.... all these names echo fears and sadness in those who know the Cambodian thirty years long civil war. Now the war is over, but the present is inevitably son of the past and as result Cambodia still shows his deep wounds. Neither Laos is a develop country but when I entered Cambodia I immediately noticed a general different mood. The calm and kindness were the same characterising the whole Indochina, but I felt a kind melancholy and a hidden anger in the people, being aware of a bad past and an uncertain future: not so many smiles handing you your fried chicken, just bought at the stall, compared to the ones you received in Laos or Thailand. The roads and the means of transport are the worse you can find in Asia and the UXOs (unexploded ordains) are still spread in many areas. In addition the country is governed by the vietnamese party (CPP (07/2003) that exploit the resources and threat the Cambodian confidence. But for a traveller, not for a tourist scared by the bumpy roads, Cambodia is charming. No pushy or dodgey people, no real hassles crossing the country; on the opposite it has been a great chance of understanding an important part of the world's history and its consequences.
I still remember how fun it has been driving a crap moped in the night in Stung Treng searching a stall for a noodle soup, or floating on the slow and endless Mekong in one of the wildest part of the country sit a kind of big trunk called "boat".
I think in Cambodia, unlike Laos or Thailand what really pays you off is what you understand of the country more than what you see, and if you're eager of it than get there, despite the hot, the humidity and the pouring daily rain typical of the wet season (June-August).
If you're heading just to Siem Reap, you'll see a cute town (I liked it, maybe just cause I finally rested there) and awesome temples, but Siem Reap is not representative of Cambodia, you must be aware of it!
Cambodia is fast changing and, for a traveller, not to the wrong way.

Alby

Note: the paragraphs   INTRO, PREPARATION and ITINERARY are equal to those in the Loas and Thailand chapters since the travel was the same, while the last one about the IMPRESSION differs for the three countries