Postings from my recent travels in southeast Asia, Italy and England. As usual I found that travel reveals more about oneself than about ones destination.

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

Cambodia and Saying Goodbye to Southeast Asia

Hello all - first of all I apologize for the tardiness of this note - it was hot in Siem Reap (base town for exploring the temples of Angkor) and Internet access was relatively expensive ($2 per hour). The complaint about the heat refers to the fact that most of the Internet places were not air-conditioned and typing with sweat dripping in your eyes is not my idea of a fun way to spend time.

Anyway - let's backtrack to Cambodia. Despite the undeniable friendliness of its people and the majesty and splendour of Angkor I didn't enjoy Cambodia. First shock was its relative expensiveness - accommodation was nowhere as good a value as Vietnam and food was also very expensive with it seemingly impossible to get a 'western' style meal for less than a dollar (something easily accomplished in Vietnam).

By western style I don't mean western food but local food at a decently hygienic looking restaurant with an English-language menu. Sure you could point at dishes in local-patronized cafes but to tell the truth the food really didn't look so appetizing - it looked greasy and there didn't seem to be a lot of vegetables available.

Second shock was its state of dilapidation - it reminded me very strongly of India - which is really not surprising given its very sad and still recent history. I'm not saying other places in Laos and Vietnam weren't dirty and littered and poor - but there people seemed to be energetic and making an effort to improve things. Here I got the sense that people didn't really see any of it as a problem (again reminiscent of India where after a while I began to wonder if I wasn't the one with a perception problem :-) ) and they certainly didn't make much of a move to clean things up.

Despite all this Angkor was magnificent and I especially enjoyed some of the less visited temples. The first three days I did by bicycle which was both wonderful and horrible. The bike I took for the first two days had a very narrow, hard and uncomfortable seat and by the end of the second day I could barely sit down without pain as my bum was so sore. For the third day I got another bike and then changed it again before setting out in the morning for the same model but with a functioning rear brake.

Everything was great until just before the Bayon temple in Angkor Thom - about 5 km from my final destination for that day's exploring - when the chain broke. There was an old man by the side of the road and he did his best to fix it for which I paid him 2,000 riel (50 cents US - lest you think I am cheating him that is about half a day's wages for the average Cambodian and he seemed quite pleased with it). Unfortunately about half a kilometer down the road it broke again.

I was now within about 4.5 km of where I wanted to be and I didn't want to go back to Siem Reap at this point so I chained the bike up and headed out on foot. A passing guy offered me a ride - at first for $1, then for 2,000 riels and then for nothing - I really didn't want to pay anything more that day after renting the bike (which was shaping up as a complete waste of money). I took his ride to the most distant temple (for 200 riels - about 6 cents) and then started working my way back on foot.

I spent about three hours walking and looking at temples - which was really quite lovely, although it was hot the traffic wasn't very heavy and I could hear and occasionally see birds in the trees. After looking at the last temple where I had left the bike I started trying to figure out how to get both the bike and I back to Siem Reap (about 12 km away).

There was a guy with a wagon kind of thing pulled behind a motorbike but he wanted SIX DOLLARS to take me back to town. I started walking and he came after me on a motorbike and said we could put the bike and me on the back of the motorbike. Now I have seen Cambodia folk (and all kinds of other people in this part of the world) do this with no problem but as I expected I was not up to the task. Plus the bike dipped dramatically with both me and the lead-alloy (as opposed to titanium alloy that our bikes are made of :-) ) bike on the back. So we chained the bike to a post and he gave me a ride back to town for $2.50. An expensive day.

After that experience I decided no more cycling round Angkor. For the next three days I hired a tuk-tuk (like a rickshaw) and driver.
I won't try and describe the temples except to say that if you are at all interested in ancient ruins you must see them. Words and pictures can't really do them justice. Having said that you must look at these Images of Angkor - fantastic!

The other 'highlight' - if you can call it that - of Cambodia was a trip to the Toul Sleng Museum. This is the infamous S-21 where innocent Khmers - men, women and children of all ages - were tortured by the Khmer Rouge. I knew what to expect in terms of how it looks because it (as well as the temples of Angkor) is in the movie Baraka (which I highly recommend for those of you that have never seen it - if you are in Victoria it comes regularly to Cinecenta). But it was very moving and informative nonetheless.

From Phnom Penh I flew to KL (Kuala Lumpur) and as far as I'm concerned I'm not really in the 'real' southeast Asia anymore. Of course it is much more expensive than Vietnam (and even Cambodia) from an accommodation point of view. I have a pretty crappy room with air-conditioning (it is not really that hot but I find I don't sleep well if I am too hot and I think a good sleep is important) and a shared bathroom down the hall. It's 30 ringgit or $8 US. And it's really not that clean.

Yet everything else here is so modern and up-to-date. I splurged and took the new KLIA express from the airport - air-conditioned to the nth degree, very fast and efficient - $9 US!!! Not two minutes walk from my hostel there is a Starbucks, a Burger King and at least two McDonalds. I must admit that I have been patronizing the latter as they do a nice ice cream cone with chocolate dip for 1.50 Ringgit (sorry folks - it's easy to be politically incorrect when no one is watching that knows you).

Tomorrow morning I am off to Fraser's Hill which is supposedly an 'unspoiled' hill station with excellent bird watching. Hopefully I'll be able to find accommodation that isn't an arm and a leg and there will be grocery stores so I can buy food rather than eating out (although here in KL - as it is known- you can eat for $1 for lunch/dinner if you eat in local restaurants that serve Indian, Malay or Chinese food).

And - here's a confession for you - I am spending the last three days of my time in SE Asia in a very non-SE Asia place - the Genting Highlands. This is Malaysia's 'City of Entertainment' with the main attraction being for me (and for most of the other people that go there I think) a pretty good-sized casino. I took a visit to it the other day to see if I would like it and the answer is a resounding yes. And they have a special on right now with a standard room (with your own bathroom - yahoo) for 46 ringgit (or just over $12 US a night). I'll just lay in supplies from KL to take with me (peanut butter, fruit etc) cause of course the food is expensive. Disgusting aren't I :-)

I'll probably send one more note before I leave Malaysia - perhaps fill you all in on how I did at the casino. I'm back in England on the 25th of May and off to Italy on June 1st. Hope you are all well and happy.