THE THREE ALPHA TRAVEL

So how was Cambodia? What’s the national psyche? And where is it going?

Portrait of an ex Khmer Rouge official - S21 prison

If I had to use one word to describe Cambodia – I know this is unfair to begin with – I would just say “dark”. But dark can be beautiful for some people. I like the black color in general myself. The look into the country’s recent, very recent  past influenced me here. It is not only this though. The present is a state were the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, nothing we have not seen before elsewhere but especially in this country I do not think there is much more margin. The ATMs dispense dollars, the NGOs are doing their best but leaving their mark and the people well… what can they do. It is definitely not worse than before so there you have it. Is this enough though? Hun Sen – an ex-member of the Khmer Rouge – is the Prime Minister of the country not seeming to be moving from his position. The political opposition likes the king. So little space there for democrats. Buddhism is back and spreading in a quick pace something that thinking of the context I consider a good thing. How do the people feel in terms of options? I reckon they do not think about it too much. The tourists in their majority are particularly careless and irresponsible giving out money to the street kids (that carry their street brothers and sisters) because they pity them. On more than one occasions I had North Americans declaring to me: “What could I do, it breaks my heart seeing them like this”. Maybe they should have thought this earlier. For now, you most definitely know that this money is not going to who you are giving it to…

I know I am not answering my own questions but I also think that is the point I am trying to make. I do not know. In the beginning I wanted to go to the East, the provinces of Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri but that has not been possible due to the weather conditions. Going in the Northwest was also difficult (and expensive because of lack of public transportation). So I was stranded in the places the main roads were passing from and I have to say that my exploration was far from profound this time. It’s a pity because Cambodia is changing rapidly and I do not know when I’ll be here again. Alas this brings me to the question of where is Cambodia going.

Just a week ago or so, Hun Sen accepted Thailand’s ex Prime Minister Shinawatra Thaksin as a political refugee and a personal friend. If Cambodians never really liked the Vietnamese, they really dislike the Thais and Thaksin is far from an angel. I will not refer on his persona here (a kind of a Thai Berlusconi) but with this act Hun Sen showed a little concern for his people. Economically-wise the tourists are more and more every year. This is a good thing for the Khmers but with it being the only real source of income, Cambodia is very dependent and elsewhere… naked and vulnerable. This means that the prices go up without the services getting any better. Where will it end? Probably at the point of tourists being sick of it, their number dropping and once again Cambodia having to come up with something. I just hope it’s not prostitution and child begging again. In any case I might be all wrong (I sure hope so) but being here in Hong Kong now, I find the contrast to be so bright that I find it difficult not to be pessimistic…

The transition from Laos to Cambodia was smooth. From Khong island I had to pass the river by a longboat (typical) and then from there I flagged down a bus full of backpackers going to the border. I knew I had to deal with dollars from now on so I was prepared. Cambodia is a country that sadly its ATMs dispense the green stuff… In any case the Visa was 20 USD plus 1 USD for the medical guy’s bribe (Laos part) plus 1 USD for the checkout guy’s bribe (Laos part) plus 2 USD for the Visa guys’ bribe (Cambodia part). A total rip-off but hey that’s what you get when you mess with the “officials”. On the Cambodian border I had to find transport to what I thought it would be a good first destination; Kompong Cham. After bargaining for about an hour I took a minivan to there with a delay of about 2 hours. With me a couple from Nederlands that we finally ended up sharing a room both the night before in Khong island and in Kompong Cham.

I chose Kompong Cham because I had not made up my mind where I was going and from its location it seemed perfectly in the middle of things. Originally I wanted to go east, where the real Cambodia is but the typhoon that had hit Vietnam was making impossible. The roads were just too bad. So after spending a day in Kompong Cham I decided to go to Phnom Pehn and then think it over from there. I remember that entering the capital from the north through the Japanese Friendship Bridge there is a big difference between the suburbs and what lies after the bridge, a sign that Cambodia’s “opening” to the outside world has only made the poor poorer and the rich richer. The US dollar obviously is helping towards this direction… In Phnom Pehn I stay near Boeung Kak; the “backpacker centre” of the city. It’s ok but knowing I will return here I’ll look for a more chilled out place to crash. Phnom Pehn is a very interesting city but also one of the dirtiest and poor capitals with many contrasts. Everything can be sold and bought here.  The next couple of days I walk a lot and visit the National Museum; one of the most impressive museums in Asia. It has also one of the biggest populations of bats known to inhabit a city building in the world. All that just gets me more and more anxious of arriving at the Angkor temples.

Kids in the rice fields of Kampot

Next destination is Kampot in the south. I thought if I could not get to the jungles of the east let’s try the beaches of the south. On my way to there I pass through Kep, a very kitsch beach town made for the Asian tourists mainly but the weather is still moody and very cloudy. Kampot is not that bad. Its French colonial buildings and the smiling people make it perfect for endless strolls. I get a bicycle and spend some days there. I meet a couple of Kiwis and we rent a tuk-tuk to the caves that proves to be quite an adventure as the driver is kind of lost on the way back. I asked around to find out how is the weather in Sihanoukville; the gateway to the beaches. The answer is not that good so I decide once more to leave it behind and go north to Battambang through the capital. Now Battambang is one of those “real cities” that I guess I would have seen in the east too. Again full of French colonial buildings and an abandoned train station makes want to walk it. Thus I do, meeting a lot of interesting people and I find out there is a boat from here to Siem Reap. Excellent! I was a bit sick of traveling by bus by now…

A Cambodian youth with a Greek football top. Some things are still a mystery to me...

The boat trip is very nice. With 16 USD it takes me about 6 hour to get there and the scenery is just beautiful. We pass through the biggest lake of Southeast Asia, Tonle Sap and luckily the weather is very good. Once more I realize how important is for people to live near the water. For them it is everything and it reminds me the Mekong delta in south of Vietnam. Arriving in Siem Reap it is chaos. Tens of tuk-tuk and motorbike drivers attack me and I finally settle for a half a dollar ride to the centre. Angkor ancient city is now within easy grasp. It is just that everything I heard about them is so positive! Luckily I have a contact here. David, a Catalan friend of some friends in Spain is operating his own travel agency dealing with package holiday tourists from Spain. We meet and he fills me up on what to see and when to go. It has really been very helpful because the most difficult thing about Angkor is the fact that it’s so popular. Naturally you have to think about where to go at what time because you do not want the hordes of tourists to spoil your experience.

Mr. Mony, the man with the tuk tuk. Useful for going around the Angkor ancient city during 3 days

Finally I have a plan. And I also have Mr. Mony, my personal driver for my three day adventure. We agree on 10 USD per day and I can tell him where to go at what temple. The three day pass costs 40 USD, a bit expensive but I guess is one of those things you cannot miss. The first day I visit the temples, Banteay Srei, Banteay Samre, Kbal Spean, the East Mebon and Pre Rup. It is exhausting but very fulfilling. The second day in the morning I visit Ta Prohm, Ta Keo and Ta Nei. In the evening; Preah Khan, Neak Pean and Ta Som. I live the “big” stuff for the last day. In the morning it is Angkor Thom with its endless sights and of course the Bayon. In the evening it’s the great Angkor Wat and I also climb at Phnom Bakheng, a popular place to see the sunset from. Unluckily there is no sun thus no sunset. It’s all good though; my visit was very successful as especially during the last day. I saw many people but I was not necessarily with them. The trick is simple. You go visit the most popular spots when everybody goes to eat (mid-day). As a result it was only me and five more people in Angkor Wat when I went. I would definitely go back if I was given the chance.

After this it was back to the capital for some urban feel of Cambodia. Read this on the next post…

I have been thinking… I am very slow in posting lately and for a reason. I was in Laos. Oh what a terrific country! But then to keep up to date I would have to write only one post on the whole country! It has only happened with Singapore before and it does not reflect at all, my liking. Laos for me was the breath I wanted after traveling nearly 11 months. You know, you have been around S.E. Asia, you have seen a lot of limestone rocks, beaches, mountains, volcanoes and people but then comes Laos. Also let’s not forget that Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia they will remain virtually the same in the years to come. Laos not. Their tourist industry is very young still, which allows people to see travelers as people and not dollars. That is exactly what I took advantage of… read on.

We cross the border from the north legitimate pass with Thailand, Chiang Kong. With 40 Baht we cross the Mekong river (once again) and there we are; Laos! The Visa price is different for different European countries. For example for the French is 25 USD for the Spanish is 30 USD and for the Greeks 35 USD! Oh well I thought, you can’t win all the time. There is a slow boat to Luang Prabang stopping at Pak Beng overnight – a total tourist trap but hey… The first impression from Pak Ben is very good with the people being the protagonists. This was to be true all-Lao-long

Reclining Buddha at Phu Si

Reaching Luang Prabang I knew from before it was a World Heritage city and it lived up to my expectations. Comparing it to Hoi An though (another WH city of Vietnam) I have to say that the owners in Luang Prabang have found some ways through this title. In any case it is a nice place with loads to explore around and inside it. As all the plains of the Mekong river it was very hot. Spending a couple of lazy days we walk through the village visit the temples (it has more than Vientiane) and climb Phu Si. We also arrange a 3-day trek a bit north of Luang Prabang, an area called Phapuang. As the price is originally very expensive we agree with the guide to do it “off the record” so the company would not know. The nice things of Asia. The trek results very beautiful and we go through one the most primary jungles I have seen yet. The only downside, the food. We had to eat sticky rice for three days and two nights when we got assured by the guide that we would be OK without bringing our own food. Detail but an important one. We follow the route; Phapuang – Hoi Vai – Jek River – Buak Khoi – Saking River & village. When this is over we spend another two days in Luang Prabang and it is now time for Sofia to go back to Greece. Alone again – it had been more than 3 months.

A youth at school near Nong Khiaw

Next stop the quiet town of Nong Khiaw. With this my Lao experience is getting extra marks. It is a place of karsts and rivers. My bungalow is just by the river and I spend my time writing my diary getting to know some interesting people and walking to the nearby villages. The north of Laos as I was rightly told so was to be the reason why Laos is for me one of my top visits.  North of Nong Khiaw lays Udomxai which looks like a huge truck stop but serves the traveler with its many bus connections. I went there and took a bus to Luang Nam Tha, home of the Nam Tha National Park.

One of Luang Nam Tha's many faces

The place looked beautiful even from the bus so I rent a motorbike for my first day, with Livy, a girl from Israel. Simply beautiful. The minority villages are very unpretentious (not like some in Sapa, Vietnam) and even reach the borders with China. The ride is out of this world with rice fields alternating with high mountains and all kinds of rock formations. It seems that all the borders of China are just beautiful. Too bad I did not think at the time to visit Kumming… The next days I would go on a 2-day trek with Zac, Gina and Farell, a group of friends I have met the previous day. Mr. Kit is our guide and the trek is very enjoyable as it is easy enough (about four hours of walking everyday). Nonetheless the jungle is very welcoming and during the night we sleep in a hut in the middle of nowhere (or so it seemed). Thanks guys for the nice memories and the good times.

Muang Sing

Muang Sing was very close from Luang Nam Tha thus I give it a go. A very interesting mix of tribes attracts me but not enough so I give it a couple of days and one night. After this is back to Luang Nam Tha where I thought it would be possible to go all the way up to Phongsali, the remote North. Alas I have lost the only bus and I would have to wait a whole day. Balancing the remaining days and what’s to see down south I decide to take the bus to Vientiane. After all it only takes 23 hours. And so it did.

Vientiane

I arrive in Vientiane in good company. A Hmong youth and his wife write in my notepad all kinds of words and phrases in Hmong. Another guy I meet on the same bus goes to Vientiane because he just learned his brother was killed in a motorbike accident… Vientiane is compact and an OK city for a capital. It must be the most chilled out capital of the world though! I spent a couple of days there seeing the temples and talking with the locals as much as possible. I even so a homeless expat, if that can be said about the status of a foreigner in this country I find out something very interesting while in the capital. At Tha Khaek there is a chance to do a loop motorbike trip seeing very interesting stuff. It is still very unpopular with the tourists and that seems like a good idea after what I saw in the city. So I do and after about six hours I am once again near the borders with Thailand.

One of the many wonderful visuals during the road trip of Tha Khaek

Here it seems not many people speak English. Central Laos is definitely not on the “trail”. I rent a motorbike for three days having planned the plan the day before and I am off to what has been so far the most interesting road trip for me. Many interesting things have happened in these three days and I have once again been stunned by what I saw. I could not possibly give a full account of what happened here but just some incidents include crossing a river with the bike, eating at a restaurant with some Vietnamese officials and getting drunk in village with only five young people (including me) and a guesthouse (yes for out times it seems strange for it to be only one). Finishing the loop I am all smiles and on the way back I visit the famous “Buddha Cave” too (after having done 280 km on the last day).

A Buddha between two trees in Champasak

Getting closer to the end of my stay I take a bus to Pakse (the usual 6 hours) and rent a motorbike to visit Champasak and its World Heritage temple – a first touch with the Khmer architecture I was to see lots of in Angkor. From there and having met a Dutch couple we travel together on a pick-up truck to the Khong Island – a beautiful place and part of the Si Pha Don (literally meaning “a thousand islands”) – and off to cross the border. Cambodia is next but after Laos I reckon it will only be the Angkor Wat to get me off my shocks.

Overall Laos was as refreshing as I needed it to be after traveling for a long time. You kind of reach the point that many things look the same and your focus is somewhere else (but you don’t exactly know where). Laos reminded me how it was when I was travelling in Indonesia or in New Zealand. Happy and smiling 24/7 just like a Zen saint, not caring very much about whether you are seeing the ‘highlights’ or if you took the right way. I’ll never forget it and I hope it does not follow the model of Thailand in the years to come although it has to be said that it is changing rapidly…

… this time it was the north – what I always heard that it is worth the most, if you are into talking to real people. In the south of Thailand it seemed it was all for the money We did not have many days though and so we decided (after a lot of thought I have to say) to go for Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and around and after visiting the Golden Triangle enter Laos from its northern and most popular amongst travelers, border.

Muay Thai in Chiang Mai

Many things are said about Chiang Mai but as always I held my expectations not so high. It’s a good trick because you don’t get disappointed! I have to say this though; Chiang Mai was the place that I was proved wrong about the Thais. I do not know if it is a thing of the north but the people there were really friendly and answered your questions free of charge Being a place of considerable historical significance and a heaven for the expats, I was surprised to see it almost deserted. We had a nice time wandering around the temples and eating the food of the north. Oh yeah… there I also witnessed my first Muay Thai boxing fight. very violent and very, very spectacular.

From there to Thaton; a very nice village was a four-hour ride. As a base to explore a bit more of the north we rent a bike and we went to Mae Salong (an even better one) and around – my favorite place of Thailand. Getting close to Ban Klang it started raining so much that we had to leave the bike in the middle of a muddy road – we couldn’t even walk up ourselves and we started looking for shelter. We finally found a monk living by himself in a meditation retreat and spent the night with him. Beautiful experience  and I will always remember him! From there it was off to the Golden Triangle.

Glimpse of Burma

We rent a bike for two day and follow the road to Mae Sai. Passing through the mountainous region of Doi Tung it was one the most beautiful of journeys. On the top we could see the all-green , all-lush mountains of Burma. The checkpoint before Mae Sai was something out of a Indiana Jones movie (you know the part that Indy and his dad pass the borders from East to West Berlin?). After staying one night in Mae Sai in a beautiful home stay (Chad House) we visit the Hall of Opium, Sop Ruak (the actual center of the Triangle) and Chiang Saen. It was then back to Chiang Rai and to the border of Laos (Chiang Kong). The north definitely made me want to go back to Thailand some time…