Cambodia - Part 1

When the driver returned, we were all ushered onto the bus and weren't sure what to think. In that situation it was hard not to imagine explaining to Cambodian border officials that "we have no idea where they came from" and the infamously accommodating prisons in this part of the world. We made a plan that we would pretend that I couldn't find my passport and that I must have packed it in one of the rucksacks. We got off the bus and headed on foot to the border and popped into a little shop for drink and toilet stop where we went through the rucksacks as best we could. To our great relief they looked untouched, although we felt a bit stupid for suspecting something was wrong, we felt we'd learned a lot about backpacker rule #1.

Kdyz se ridic minibusu vratil zpatky a bylo nas sdeleno, ze mame nastupovat, protoze brzo vyjizdime, nevedeli jsme poradne co si o tom myslet. V teto situaci si neni tezke predstavit jak vysvetlujete na Kambodzske hranici ze "nemame tuseni, jak se to tam dostalo" a hlavne taky kdyz kazdy vi jak to chodi ve vezenich v techto castech sveta. Vymysleli jsme plan, ze budeme predctirat, ze nemuzeme najit Peteuv pas a proto musime projit nase ruksaky. Jak jsme vystoupili z autobusu a pomalu kraceli k hranicim, odskocili jsme si na zachod a piti do maleho obchudku, kde jsme si zkontrolovali ruksaky nejlepe jak jsme v teto situaci mohli. S velkym oddechem jsme zjistili, ze ruksaky vypadaji nedotcene.I kdyz jsme si delali starosti asi trochu vic nez jsme museli, tak myslime, ze jsme se poradne ponaucili a pravidlo cislo 1 jen tak z hlavy dlouho nevypustime.

We went through immigration, were given the worlds quickest health check, and pointed around from place to place. We had already noticed that despite everyone being very helpful, offers to carry bags, pass documents to officials, point us where to go it all came at a cost. Eventually we found our driver and were driven to our hotel in Koh Kong, it was great to have a swim, a quick meal and some sleep before going on to a 6hr coach trip to Sihanoukville. When we arrived we took a tuk tuk to the backpacker area and checked into Monkey Republic.

Prekrocili jsme imigracni, byli jsme bleskove lekarky prohlednuti a pak odkazani z mista na misto. Uz v teto chvili jsme si vsimli, ze i kdyz se nam kazdy snazi sebevice pomoct, odnest ruksak, pomoct vyplnit formulare a ukazat nam cestu kam jit....nicevo zadarmo ani kure nehrabe...a vsechno stoji penize.Nakonec jsme nasli naseho ridice, ktery nas odvezl do hotelu v Koh Kongu. Bylo super se osvezit v bazenu, neco malo snist a poradne se vyspat pred 6ti hodinovou cestou autobusem do Sihanoukvillu. Kdyz jsme tam dorazili, vzali jsme si ryksu do batuzkarske oblasti a ubytovali se v hostelu z nazvem Opici Republika.

Sihanoukville was the first place we settled and it was the first place we started to see some of the bad side of Cambodia. The poverty has driven kids out onto the streets where they beg and try to sell you things. Its difficult to deal with, on the one hand $1 here and there is not a lot to us but on the other giving that $1 causes the parents to send the kids out in the first place.

Sihanoukville bylo prvni misto, kde jsme se na chvili usadili a taky hned prvni misto, kde jsme videli spatnou stranku Kambodzi. Je tu takova chudoba, ze deti jsou nucene prodavat veci a zebrat na ulicich. Je tezke to prehlizet a i kdyz 1 dolar pro nas neni moc snazime se jim penize nedavat (ne vzdy se to podari), aby jsme nepodporovali to, aby je rodice posilali do ulic.

We spent a few days doing bits and bobs around the town but to our disappointment the main beach had been recently been washed away by the storms in the Philippines. We applied for Vietnam visas and hired moped's to find a nicer beach. We were told to not travel between 2-5pm as this was when the police were out looking for bribes from foreign bike riders. Otres beach was beautiful and far more peaceful, we had great day there and when we took the bike back we sat down at the bike shop and spoke to the Canadian guy running it. He recommended we stay in a place called Bodhi Villa in Kampot and as we were booked to go there the following day we decided to go for it. He spent the next hour or so getting us beers and trying to contact them to reserve for us, whilst showing us pictures and talking about his cats.

Stravili jsme tam par dni delanim ruznych veci. Nejvice jsme byli zklamani z toho, ze hlavni plaz bylo odplavena diky bourkam na Filipinach. Zazadali jsme o Veitnamske viza, pronajali si motorku a nasli krasnou plaz.Bylo nam receno nejezdit mezi 2-5 hodinou odpoledni, protoze policie zastavi kazdeho a vybira ani ne pokuty jako uplatky, za to, ze jste cizinec a nemate Kambodzsky ridicsky prukaz.Otres (nazev) plaz byla nadherna a celkem poklidna od ostatnich, kde nabizeni jakekoliv sluzby a veci co minutu. Pote jsme se vratili odevzdat motorku. V pujcovne pracoval nejaky Kanadan, ktery nam doporucil ubytovat se v Kampotu na miste z nazvem Bohdi Villa. Tak jsme tam s nim stravili par hodin a vypili par piv, zatimco se nam snazil pres telefon rezervovat misto a ukazat jeho obrazky s jeho kocicimi mazlicky.

The next morning Danny our mini bus driver turned up to take us on the 2 hour journey to Kampot. It was really nice to be driven by a European for once (the Cambodian drivers seem to think they can see around corners whilst overtaking a moped, lorry and a cow) and he was great with stopping for photo opportunities and explaining some of what was going on.

Dalsi rano nas Danny, ridic minibusu, vzal do mesta Kampot vzdaleneho asi 2hodiny. Bylo dobre jet pro zmenu s evropskym ridicem(protoze Kambodsky ridic dokaze videt i za zatacky kdyz predjizdi at uz moped, nakladak nebo jenom kravu.),ktery nam udelal i par zastavek, aby jsme si mohli udelat nejake fotky.

When we arrived at Bodhi we were checked into the most unique room of the stay so far. The bungalow had three walls, a pond where the 4th should be and a very large (highly necessary) mosquito net. We borrowed some bikes and cycled around town and then went to Bodhi's bar in the evening where we met some guys and booked a trek up Bokor Mountain for the next day. To be honest I kind of thought it would be a little stroll in a bit of jungle but as it turned out we spent most of the time on all fours climbing, definitely the hardest walk we have done. At the top there was an old abandoned village from the 50's with casino and some beautiful views, a really exhausting day but good fun.

Kdyz jsme prijeli do Bohdi Villy, byli jsme ubytovani v zatim nejvice jedinecnem pokoji. Bungalov mel tri steny, rybnicek misto steny ctvrte a velkou sit proti komarum, ktera byla neodmyslitelnou soucasti. Pujcili jsme si kola a vyrazili do mesta, kde neexistuji silnicni pravidla. Pak jsme se vratili, dali si par drinku a potkali lidi, se kteryma jsme si na dalsi rano domluvili vyslap na horu Bokor. Naivne jsme si mysleli, ze to bude celkem prijemna prochazka ve velkem lese, ale jak se ukazalo skoro vetsinu cesty jsme se skoro plazili po ctyrech, rozhodne nejtezsi prochazka, kterou jsme zatim sli. Na vrcholku je vyprazdnena vesnice a kasino z 50tych let a prekrasny vyhled.Byl to vycerpavajici den, ale stal za to.

Pete, Bonna (our Bokor Guide - nas pruvodce po Bokoru) and Verunka

For the next couple of days we hung around in Bodhi villa and relaxed by the river, and then Danny the bus driver picked us up to take us back to our night coach to Siem Reap and the famous Angkor Wat. As we'd already seen the photo stop etc we weren't expecting to stop, but how wrong we were. Usually it’s a dog or a cow that gets stuck on a road and needs a bit of help crossing, but this time it was a boat. There were 20 local guys trying to push a fairly large boat across and we thought they could do with a bit of western weight behind them so four of us got out and pushed. The extra hands did the trick* and before we knew it we were back in Sihanoukville waiting for the world’s campest bus taking us to Siem Reap and the Angkor temples. . .

Zbytek casu jsme pak jenom odpocivali ve Ville vedle reky nez si pri nas zpet prijel Danny, aby nas vzal zpet do Sihanoukville, odkud nam jel nocni autobus do Siem Reapu a znameneho Chramoveho komplexu Angkor. Protoze jsme na ceste tam meli moznost vyfotit si par veci, neocekavali jsme zadne zastavky, ale i tak nejake byli. Normalne je to bud pes nebo krava, ktera blokuje dopravu, ale ted to byla lod. Bylo kolem ni asi 20 chlapiku z vesnice, kteri se snazili ji popostrcit vedle do reky. Tak chlapi z autobusu se rozhodli pridat ruku k dilu a zatlacit s nima*. Ctyri pary zapadnich rukou pomohly a lod byla na vode.Nez bysme rekli svec, byli jsme zpet v Sihanoukvill, kde jsme cekali na nas "nejvic prihraty" nocni autobus na svete, ktery nas poveze do Siem Reapu a Chramum Angkoru....

. . . To be continued...

. . . Pokracovani priste...
















* Just to add to this, Danny spoke Khmer and later told us that they were quite impressed "those foreigners were quite strong", although we only helped them for the last 5% of the push we felt like heroes!

*jenom mala poznamka od Dannyho, ktery mluvil Kmersky, ktery nam pozdeji rekl, ze ti Kambodzani byli celkem prekvapeni a rekli: "ti cizinci jsou docela silni" a i kdyz jim kluci pomohli asi jen z 5% citili se jako hrdinove!