Globetrotting Adventures: Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Koh Rong & Siem Reap

Phnom Penh 13/06-14/06

We took the bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh. We stayed in Phnom Penh for two nights and tried to see as much as we could during that time. Our first full day was pretty heavy going. From our hotel we walked to Tuol Sleng Museum, otherwise known as Prison 21. This was where the Khmer Rouge held all their political prisoners. It is estimated that around 20,000 people died there. Prior to being a prison it had been a school which made it feel even more sinister, if that’s possible. The rooms were very eerie but what was most haunting were the thousands of photos of the prisoners which had been taken by the Khmer Rouge guards upon their arrival. There were also some fascinating accounts from 4 of the 7 survivors of the prison who lived to see the invasion of the Vietnamese in 1979.

After lunch we then took a tuk tuk to the Killing Fields. This was another deeply harrowing place which just made you feel so sad that humanity can do such evil things. There was a very informative audio guide which talked you through the sites, the history and what actually took place there. In the centre there was a huge memorial which holds over 9,000 skulls inside. I won’t talk too much about the Killing Fields, but if anyone is interested in what took place I would very much recommend the book ‘First they killed my Father’ which offers a first-hand account of the tragic things that took place in Cambodia. We both left the Killing Fields feeling very sad and sombre, instantly declining our tuk tuk driver’s offer of taking us to a shooting range (I find it impossible to believe someone would actually want to fire a gun after going to such a place!). So our first day in Cambodia was quite distressing but we both agreed that it was very important to see the prison and the Killing Fields in order to understand what the country has been through and what a lot of Cambodians are still coming to terms with.


The Memorial at the Killing Fields

We spent our second day in Phnom Penh walking around the city centre. We visited the National Museum which was full of old Angkor statues which had an interesting mix of both Buddhist and Hindu influences. Whilst looking around, it began to absolutely pour with rain! We sought refuge in the Museum lobby for quite some time, playing our super cool game called Quiz in which we basically just test each other’s general knowledge! Even after several rounds of Quiz, the rain had still not desisted and was now up to mid-shin in some areas of the road, so we decided to abandon our walk and head back to our hostel.

Independence Monument

Looming rain clouds!

Outside the Royal Palace

National Museum in the rain

15/06 Sihanoukville

From Phnom Penh we took a 5 hour bus to Sihanoukville on the coast of Cambodia. We stayed here mainly as a hub to reach the nearby islands. We stayed at ‘Mick and Craig’s Hostel’, pretty much because we liked the name! We booked our next accommodation and ferry to an island called Koh Rong. We’d decided to splash out a little bit on a beach hut as it was going to be our 3 year anniversary on the 20^th. Unfortunately, the saleswoman informed us that the weather front was not going to let up and in fact it was forecast to become rather stormy!

For our entire day in Sihanoukville it did not stop raining (did I mention it was rainy season?!) so unfortunately we were unable to really look around. Although we did have a lovely dinner of fried seafood and fish ‘amok’ curry.

16/06- 19/06 Koh Rong

We took a VERY rocky ferry boat to Koh Rong in which all the passengers including ourselves sat in silence staring helplessly at the horizon! As soon as we reached the island the torrential rain began! However, even in the rain, the island looked very beautiful. A sleepy fishing village was next to the port with white sands and deep blue sea. We walked along the beach to find our ‘Paradise Bungalows’. The main beach is split in two; on one side is the local village and the other is the resorts. Apart from that though the island is mainly uninhabited jungle! We felt like real ‘Flash-packers’ in our beach bungalow! It was a simple wooden hut with a hammock in the front overlooking the beach. It was awesome!

The view from the Port on Koh Rong

Our Beach Bungalow


The View from our Bungalow

On our second day on Koh Rong we luckily had no rain!!!! We decided to use this rare opportunity to try to hike across the island to the recommended ‘long beach’. A local guide had told us that this was a relatively easy 45 minute trek so we popped on our Merrells, pocketed some bug spray, sun lotion & water then headed out. Due to the vast amount of rainfall over the past few days some areas were very muddy and for the most part our path was a small stream! It was quite fun trekking through the wilderness, we both agreed it was the closest we were ever going to get to recreating ‘The Beach’ (minus the armed Thai drug dealers and jumping off stupidly high cliffs). At one point the path became very overgrown and we started to hear waves so we figured we were nearly there! We then came across some very large rocks and painted on one was a skull & cross bones with an arrow pointing to the path we had to take! We also noticed that there was now a steep descent downwards and someone had tied a rope to the edge to help you abseil down the rocks! We had to be careful where we put our hands because there were lots of ants’ nests and twice I walked into HUGE spiders’ webs which were home to equally HUGE spiders! Whilst clambering down the rocks we kept thinking that this perhaps this didn’t quite fit the description of ‘a relatively easy walk!’ An hour and a half after setting off, we finally reached the long beach! Exhausted and dripping with sweat we were welcomed to a completely empty beach with golden sands stretching for 7km!

On the way back we had two rather close encounters with some snakes which made us do the return journey at a doubly fast pace!

We had continued luck with the weather and the third day was beautifully sunny! We spent the entire time on the beach (not the one through the jungle, thankfully the one just next to our beach hut!) We found a shady spot and enjoyed a day of swimming, sun bathing and reading!

20/06-22/06 Siem Reap

On the evening of the 19^th we began the WORST journey of our entire trip so far!!! We said our goodbyes to Koh Rong and took a ferry back to Sihanoukville. From there we boarded the 8pm, Gold VIP sleeper bus (most definitely an ironic name) bound for Siem Reap. At first we thought the bus was pretty decent although I did notice that we were driving rather slowly and the driver kept having to roll start the bus. By 10pm the bus had broken down in the middle of nowhere! It soon became apparent that this was no easy fix and we were going to be stuck for some time. This was made even clearer when the driver and his assistants went to bed in the back of the bus! We then had to come to terms with the fact that we were going to have to sleep overnight on the bus- which had been turned off so didn’t have any A/C in the 30’C heat! It was an awful night sleep! At 4am a mechanic arrived but it still took another 3 ½ hours for the engine to start! In the morning I had to use a local toilet around the back of a small restaurant for school children. The toilet itself was fine but I had to pick up the disconnected door (of which half of it was nowhere to be seen) and manoeuvre it in front of the large open door frame! At 7:30am we started moving again and we had been expecting to arrive in Siem Reap at 6am! The bus reached Phnom Penh and then we had to change buses for a further 7 hour trip to Siem Reap. We arrived at our hostel 13 hours late! We ended up spending our entire anniversary on a bus both agreeing it was the worst day so far!

After recovering from our epic journey we managed to have two full days exploring in and around Siem Reap. We visited the War Museum which proved to be a very thought provoking place. We had a tour from a man who had tragically lost his arm from a Claymore mine. He was made to fight in the army at only 14 years old during the Civil War against the Khmer Rouge. In 1992 he lost his arm when one of his comrades stepped on a Claymore and the ball bearings tore through his arm. He talked a lot about the problems in Cambodia with landmines. There are still around 3 million left and on average 2 people a day are injured by them. He also talked about how the government is still paying off huge debts to China, Russia and the U.S for all the weapons used during the 30 year civil war- including everything that was used by the Khmer Rouge. It was a really unique experience to speak with someone first-hand about the war and the genocide.

On our second day in Siem Reap we got up super early in order to head to Angkor Wat for sunrise. Our sunrise wasn’t all that spectacular- it seemed like one minute it was dark and then it was light! However, Angkor Wat still looked very beautiful and it was really cool to walk around inside. We spent the whole morning looking around lots of temple complexes. Our favourite was Bayon as it has lots of stones with the king’s face on them so it’s meant to seem like he’s always watching you! After Angkor Wat the crowds seemed to disperse and for the rest of our time there weren’t many people around. We also had a look around Ta Prohm, the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. Huge tree roots had wrapped themselves around stones and buildings which made for some great photos!