Andy Brouwer's Cambodia Tales
December
2000 - Trip overview
Just before my
sixth trip to Cambodia in as many years, my plans were severely
jolted by the unexpected death of my good friend, Sok Thea, a few
weeks before we were due to meet in Phnom Penh. Although my hoped-for
adventures into the Cambodian countryside were now shelved, I did
manage to discover some new places, re-visited old haunts and
more importantly, forged many new friendships in my three week
visit.
Arriving
at Pochentong Airport via Singapore, I booked into the Dara Reang
Sey Hotel for one night and immediately hit the road with Ly, my
motodub, to visit Phnom Baset, 30 kms northwest of Phnom Penh
along Route 5. Two hills, modern pagodas, a large reclining
Buddha, an ancient temple with a unique cave inside and a life-size
replica of Angkor Wat made it an interesting afternoon. For my
first evening meal in Cambodia, I ate at the River 4 open-air
restaurant on Sisowath Quay with Peter Leth, a fellow adventurer
and schoolteacher in Phnom Penh. Early next morning, five hours
in a jam-packed speedboat with an excrutiatingly loud Khmer video
in my ear, took me up the wide Mekong river to Kratie. I was hoping for a relaxing visit to this
old colonial port and I was not disappointed. The only guest at
the Santepheap Hotel, I ended my first day with a meal at the
Mekong restaurant after a trip around town and beyond with Phanna,
my teenage guide, and a half-decent sunset. Next day, I was
collected early by Veang for the forty kilometre trip north to
the temples of Sambor. A bumpy ride, we also called in at Kampi
to catch more than a glimpse of the rare freshwater Irrawaddy
dolphins at close quarters and the four pagodas of Phnom Sambok.
After lunch, Phanna and I rode out into the countryside along the
Prek Te river and rounded off the day with a dazzling sunset
across the Mekong (pictured above) and 'tikaloks' along the river
bank.
The
speedboat to Kompong Cham left at 7am the following day and
took 2½ hours. The Mittapheap Hotel was my first stop before my
motodub Vy took me 20 kms north of the city to Han Chey, his home
village. Along a track hugging the Mekong, it was the roughest
ride I've ever experienced in Cambodia but viewing the 7th
century temples on the hill and meeting Vy's family and friends
was more than adequate compensation. I ate at the Hoa An
restaurant that night. Heavy overnight rain continued the
following morning, so I decided to move onto Kompong Thom earlier
than planned. My taxi stopped at the ancient temple sites of Wat
Nokor, Phnom Thom and Tang Krasan on the way to delivering me to
the Neak Meas Hotel by 2pm. I met up with my trusty moto-driver
from a year earlier, Sokhom and had dinner at the Arunras. The
extensive Sambor Prei Kuk temple complex was our target the
next day and we called into a remote cluster of temples at Krol
Robang Romeas on the way. The ride there and back was thoroughly
enjoyable and we visited the town's tourism office and arts depot
on our return. An eight hour, six temple tour south along Route 6
took up most of my sixth day in Cambodia; the Angkorean temples
that Sokhom and I visited were Kohak Nokor, Thnot Chum (two
temples), Prasat Phum Prasat, Kuk Veang and Kuk Roka, before an
evening meal at the Arunras.
Route 6 north of
Kompong Thom is in a shocking state. It took my pick-up truck,
eight hours to complete the 150 kms to Siem Reap, with a few
stops, including the ancient Angkorean bridge at Spean Praptos.
In Siem Reap, I stayed at the Bakong guesthouse for a couple of
nights and moved to the friendly Golden Angkor (Sovann Angkor)
Hotel for the rest of the week. For my first day, Rieng, my moto-driver,
took me to Angkor Wat, the Bayon and parts of Angkor Thom
including the West and East Gates, Ta Nei and back to Angkor Wat
to shelter from a storm and to view a cloudy sunset. Meeting up
with my Khmer friend, Phalla, we visited the Angkor Conservation Depot the following morning to see much
of the 
free-standing
statuary removed from temples around Cambodia for safe-keeping.
After a visit to Ta Prohm, we had lunch at the home of Noung and
Sokchata, two souvenir sellers from Angkor Wat and then a group
of us headed for the Western Baray for the afternoon to swim,
play cards and eat snacks until dusk. In the evening, I met up
with Lonely Planet author Nick Ray and was treated to dinner at
the Banteay Srei restaurant by Tan Sotho, the MD of Hanuman
Tourism. In what turned out to be over 13 hours on motos, Phalla
and myself took off at 5am for an adventure across Phnom Kulen on the hunt for ancient temples. We visited
Prasat O'Thma Dap, Prasat Chrei, Sam Phon Thlei, Aram Rong Chen,
Prasat Neak Ta and Prasat O'Pong before rounding off an
exhausting day with a whistle-stop hike to see the waterfall and
superb rock carvings in the riverbed at Kbal Spean (right).
Dinner at Liquid with some friends and a drink at the lively
Angkor What? pub set me up for a well-deserved deep sleep.
For
my fifth day in Siem Reap, sunrise at Angkor Wat was followed by
a trip to the Roluos Group, 15 kms east of Angkor with Phalla
and Lom, our reliable motodub. Included in our visit were the
three rarely-visited temples of Prei Monti, Trapeang Phong and
Totoeng O'Thngai. A trip into the countryside surrounding Siem
Reap beckoned in the afternoon, as we headed for Wat Chedei and
Wat Athvea before returning to Angkor Wat for sunset and then
onto the Arun restaurant for dinner with some Khmer friends.
Another 5am departure, for the sunrise at Srah Srang lake and
breakfast at Pradak village, saw us head for Phnom Bok. A
rewarding but exhausting climb to see the ancient temple at the
summit was followed by stops at Banteay Samre, Prasat To, Leak
Neang, Pre Rup and Tatry village, on the look-out for a friend,
Pete Calanni, who we eventually located in his new house back in
Siem Reap. After lunch, we visited Angkor Thom again, Krol Romeas,
Preah Khan and sunset at Angkor Wat. I chose a return visit to Beng Mealea for my final full day in Siem Reap. Lom and
I set off at 5am, stopped at Damdek village for breakfast, looked
in at the nearby old temple of Prasat Banteay Srei before
reaching Beng Mealea by 9am. The temple is still in a ruined and
overgrown state and Kin, my guide, was able to show me a lot more
in the two hours we had, than I'd seen a year earlier. We managed
to return to Angkor Wat just in time to catch the sunset and
ended the day with a meal at the Bayon restaurant with a group of
Khmer friends.
Waved
off by friends at 6am the next morning, the boat to Battambang
was a tiny rowing dinghy with an engine, seating just nine people
and spraying us all whenever we hit a wave. I was relieved when
three hours later we reached Battambang and I booked into the Teo Hotel.
My young driver, Chetra and myself, headed for Ek Phnom and then
Phnom Banan before crossing the Sangke river and visiting the 'hello!'
village and tikaloks along the river. My flight to Phnom Penh left at 8.30am the following morning and I
returned to the Dara Reang Sey Hotel, wandered around town and
accepted an invite from a Khmer family in Tuol Kauk district for
my evening meal. Early next day, I toured the prosthetic and
wheelchair workshops and rehabilitation centre of Veterans
International at Kien Khleang, before returning to stop off at
the National Museum, which has lots of extra exhibits on show to
the public these days. After lunch, I was accompanied by Sok Thea's
family to pay my respects to his memory and his ashes in a formal
ceremony at Wat Ounalom on Sisowath Quay. A visit to the Russian
market and to see friends at the Walkabout hotel preceded an
early evening moto-convoy back over the Japanese Bridge with
eleven Khmer companions. After corn-on-the-cob in hammocks at
Prek Leap, we enjoyed a scrumptious meal and cabaret show at the
Ta Ta restaurant.
Kampot
and the South coast was my destination the next day. The share-taxi
from Dumkor market took three hours before depositing me at the
Borey Bokor Hotel in Kampot. In the afternoon, Phalla hired a
250cc motorbike and we took off to see the ruined villas and
deserted beach at Kep, and the caves of Phnom Sia on the return
trip. Sunset across the Prek Thom river was nearly as good as the
Kratie sunset and dinner with a Khmer family rounded off the day
nicely. The following morning, Phalla, Bunly and I set off for Bokor mountain. After two hours, a very rough track and a
long steep climb into the clouds, we reached the first set of
ruined villas followed by the deserted casino and hotel (pictured
left), church and other buildings. The cloud lifted and the sun
shone to reveal gorgeous views across the sea to the nearby
island of Phu Quoc. At noon, we had our lunch at Popokvil Falls
before leaving Bokor and stopping at Tek Chhou rapids and picnic
area on our way back to Kampot for a lovely sunset, a meal at the
hotel and tikaloks on the street.
After two days in Kampot, I
returned to Phnom Penh by taxi and back to the friendly Dara
Reang Sey Hotel, had a massage at Seeing Hands before a final
evening meal with my Khmer friends in Tuol Kauk. Goodbyes at the
airport the following morning were a wrench as I boarded my
flight for Singapore. With ten hours to kill, I met up with Lina
(pictured right), a journalist with the Singapore Tatler magazine,
who'd offered to show me the sights. However, it rained heavily
as we left Changi Airport and we decided to spend our time in
Chinatown, wandering amongst the shop-houses and tasting the
local cuisine at a hawker centre and shopping mall. I thanked
Lina for her excellent company and returned to Changi, where the
facilities are first-class, before my midnight flight back to
Heathrow. My latest visit to Cambodia was over and I had the
Christmas holidays to recover from my exertions and revel in my
experiences.
- Click once on any
photo to see a larger version or on the highlighted text
to see an in-depth travelogue article.
- "I
truly enjoyed reading your December travels in Cambodia.
You pack more into a trip than most could or would do in
a dozen trips. You've made so many Cambodian friends. It's
sheer pleasure and joy to read your tales. May they go on
forever." Dawn Rooney, Cambodia scholar and
author.
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Arriving
at Pochentong Airport via Singapore, I booked into the Dara Reang
Sey Hotel for one night and immediately hit the road with Ly, my
motodub, to visit Phnom Baset, 30 kms northwest of Phnom Penh
along Route 5. Two hills, modern pagodas, a large reclining
Buddha, an ancient temple with a unique cave inside and a life-size
replica of Angkor Wat made it an interesting afternoon. For my
first evening meal in Cambodia, I ate at the River 4 open-air
restaurant on Sisowath Quay with Peter Leth, a fellow adventurer
and schoolteacher in Phnom Penh. Early next morning, five hours
in a jam-packed speedboat with an excrutiatingly loud Khmer video
in my ear, took me up the wide Mekong river to Kratie. I was hoping for a relaxing visit to this
old colonial port and I was not disappointed. The only guest at
the Santepheap Hotel, I ended my first day with a meal at the
Mekong restaurant after a trip around town and beyond with Phanna,
my teenage guide, and a half-decent sunset. Next day, I was
collected early by Veang for the forty kilometre trip north to
the temples of Sambor. A bumpy ride, we also called in at Kampi
to catch more than a glimpse of the rare freshwater Irrawaddy
dolphins at close quarters and the four pagodas of Phnom Sambok.
After lunch, Phanna and I rode out into the countryside along the
Prek Te river and rounded off the day with a dazzling sunset
across the Mekong (pictured above) and 'tikaloks' along the river
bank.
