So I had a break in between and decided that a backpacking trip is in order. I have previously backpacked up to Siem Reap in Cambodia and this time I was looking to get to Phnom Penh, to check out the Genocide Museum.
The regime of Khmer Rouge ( 1975 - 1979 ) for some reasons, has intrigued me in more ways than one. I have always found myself drawn to the suffering endured by the Cambodians during that era, and the stories of triumph over evil. More than that, I guess, is the feeling of anger on how people of Cambodia can kill their own people. And also probably because it happened not too long ago, still in living memory of a lot of people I know.
I packed up and left for Haadyai, at the Thailand border, from KL via the night bus. Upon reaching Haadyai, I wasted no time in getting a minivan to Bangkok, knowing from previous experience that it will take at least 13 hours to reach Bangkok, and I have got no accommodation secured yet.
The agency that sold me the ticket was called Lovely Tours, and after this trip, I would discourage ANYBODY from buying from them. The ticket the sold me was pretty cheap - 600B, which was standard for the minivans. She gave me the ticket and told me that we'll arrive Bangkok at about 11pm that night. I bought some toasted bread and coffee and settled for the long journey ahead.
The driver seemed to be picking many passengers on the way, and dropping them off accordingly. At one point, barely 10 minutes after we left Haadyai, he stopped for a 20 minutes break, which was purely waste of time. After about 6 hours on the road, he rolled into Surat thani, the jumping point for Phuket and the beaches, and beckoned me to get off.
" Bangkok , get down and wait " he said.
I got off and wandered into the ticket office and looked at the time, 3pm local time. I asked how long are we going to wait, and he said 4 hours.
4 hours??
" But we were supposed to reach Bangkok at 11pm, according to the agency " I protested.
' Oh the agency would have said anything to make money, and sorry, the bus will only leave at 7pm, if you're not happy, you can go to the police " he told me arrogantly, in broken English, before continuing his drinking and card playing session with his mates.
I was truly dumbfounded. I know in this part of the world, people would go to extra mile to rip you off especially the Thais and Cambodians, but I did not expect such arrogant behavior. I was told that we will only arrive in Bangkok at 4am the next morning, which shattered any plans to find a place to stay and wash. I was feeling sticky and uncomfy after being on the road, and I was also hungry.
I walked around the town, passed another small ticketing office with English speaking staff, and ranted about what happened. They were sympathetic, but as I and everyone else know, there is nothing else to do but wait.
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| The ticket office where I was conned and dropped off in Suratthani |
At about 6pm, someone came and gave me a ride on their bike to a small shack by the roadside, that served both as a restaurant and a bus stop.It was close to 7pm by then and there was no buses in sight. I frantically raked my mind for plan B in case the bus don't turn up and I need to spend the night in Suratthani. The shack was a little outside of the town centre, but I figured I could walk and get a cheap accomodation nearby or hop into any night bus bound for Bangkok.
As it turned out, a tuk tuk arrived, bringing 3 backpackers. We got talking. Poley and her boyfriend Jack, from UK, just graduated from university and are on a 5 week break to explore South East Asia. The bus arrived at about 7.30pm, and we all got in. It was a comfortable bus, with blankets for every seat, and there was only 5 of us. The bus did not stop even for a toilet break. It zig zagged its way through the Thailand plains until we arrived in Bangkok at 4am.
Once in Khao San Road, we were surrounded by the tuk tuk drivers. The ones who were planning to stay on in Bangkok got away, and I was being harassed by the touts. I paid 150B for the short trip to the train station, and because I HAVE been there before and know how far is it, I told him up front that it was very expensive. He told me that the train station is 70 kms out of Bangkok. LOL. Whatever.
I was still early, it was 4.30am and the train to Aranyaprathet does not leave until 5.55. I was too sleepy, tired and restless that I longed for a shower and bed. So I decided that I will spend the day ( night ) today in Siem Reap and get to Phnom Penh tomorrow. I walked into a pharmacy and saw that they had hot food and coffee, so I grabbed a Mexican Chicken puff and a bottle of mineral water. Only when I bit into the chicken pie did I realise how hungry I am. I haven't had anything proper to eat since leaving KL ( except for some rice and a packet of biscuits ).
The train lurched into the station, and I picked my seat. 3rd class seats costs 48B to the border. Another long journey, one I have been on before. I spent it observing the people around me, the vendors who came in selling their wares from fresh picked vegetables to ice cold Cokes. The rural countryside of Thailand is best viewed from the train, for the scenery is beautiful. When I got bored, I slept. Or took photographs. At one station, 2 boys not more than 3 or 4 years old, boarded with their mother. They kept staring at me and I kept staring at them, and we kept each other company that way for a good 2 hours.
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| The adorable duo who kept me company with their antics |
At last, Aranyaprathet. Immediately we were surrounded by tuk tuk drivers shouting ' border, border '. I shared a tuk tuk with 2 Japanese girls and since they didn't have a visa, they had to stay a bit longer to do one, so I proceeded to get stamped out of Thailand and into Cambodia.
At this point, while waiting for my turn at the Immigration, I bumped in Poley and Jack, the couple I met in Suratthani. They were heading the same way as I was, so we boarded the same bus.
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| Attreversiamo ! Let's cross over to Cambodia! |
I always understood that tourism rakes in a lot of money, and Cambodia, although very poor and is still coming to terms with its troubled past, uses US dollars for transaction. They accept their own currency which is the riels, and also Thai baht. However, I strongly believe that the Government need to do something about the touts ( specifically, the cheating touts ) who cashes in on travelers just to make money.
At the bus station, I was asked by the ' coordinator ' to change my USD into riels, so I can better use it in Siem Reap. Typically, 1 US dollar equals to 4,000 riels. The bus station money changer quoted 1 US dollar = 380 riels. You do the math. I changed 100B and got about 10,100 riels, and just I was turning, the ' coordinator' came to me and asked how much I exchanged. When I told him, he sounded as though he was in anguish, claiming that it will never be enough for my stay in Siem Reap and urged me to change more. He only stopped when I told him I was there before and I know how it works.
We were all piled into the minivan for another 2 hours ride to Siem Reap. The last time I was here, the van brought us directly to the area where most guesthouses are located, and we were free to go or to choose where we wanna stay. This time, however, its different. They dropped us about 15 minutes from the centre and was told that it is the ' bus station ' and if we wanna go to the city, we need to pay additional 3 dollars. ( Another classic case of cheating and making money off unsuspecting travelers ).
I was really getting fed up with all the schemes. On top of that, I was having brain splitting headache that seemed to not go away. It's the lack of food and water. And the heat. I piled on a tuk tuk with Poley and Jack and he took us to a hostel but Poley didn't quite like it so we went back to Popular, the one I stayed the last time. The tuk tuk driver was dissappointed that we didn't take his choice of guesthouse, so he jacked up the fare to 5 USD. Simple ways to make money in Cambodia.
During this time I was already blacking out and vomiting. I checked in, staggered to my room and lied down on my bed for a good 30 minutes. Still it wouldn't go away. I staggered out, walked to a restaurant and ordered something to eat. There I vomited again. I walked across the road to the pharmacy, bought some aspirin, popped one and went back to the restaurant and had my meal.
Feeling a lil bit better, I took a shower, and rested a while in my room with a book. Then, I went out to join the throng of travelers and locals to Pub Street, and to the night market. I even had time for massage before the rain poured all over town, deserting it in a few minutes as people ran to seek shelter.
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| Some of the paintings sold at the Siem Reap Night Market |
The rain stopped after an hour, I walked back to the guesthouse, stopping on the way to get a morning bus ticket to Phnom Penh. I slept so soundly and fitfully and anticipating the journey next morning.
7am. I was at the bus stop, and boarded the bus. Bought a couple of baguettes from an old street vendor and sat munching it with some coffee that weirdly tasted like mixed with coconut. The bus rumbled along the road to Phnom Penh, and along the way we passed Kampong Chhnang and Kompong Thom. The previous nights' rain resulted in paddy fields being drowned by water, but the scenery was typical South East Asia, green fields, coconut and banana trees, cows and buffalos roaming the roads.
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| Sceneries along the way to Phnom Penh |
Finally, we arrived in Phnom Penh. I decided to take a walk and away from the touts who were asking me to take their tuk tuks. And learning from yesterday's experience, I really want something to eat. So while finding for a place to eat, a moto driver pulled up near to me and asked if I needed to go anywhere. I told him I need to go to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, The Choeung Ek Killing Fields, and Wat Phnom for now. The time was almost 2pm, and the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng closes at about 5.30pm, so I guessed I can only do either one today, and Wat Phnom. We negotiated prices, and he agreed at US$8 for all three places. So off to Tuol Sleng we went first.
There were many people milling about, and after paying the US$2 entrance fees, I went in. There, I was looking directly at all the places and the torture chambers that I have only read and saw in photographs. It was the most unusual school I have ever visited, with barbed wires all around, crudely partitioned wooden and brick classrooms that served as torture chambers and whole classrooms displaying things used in the torture.
Rows and rows of photographs stared back at me; men, women, children, babies. The Khmer Rouge apparently were meticulous in their documentation, so after their forced ' confession ', all of them were taken to the Killing Fields to be executed. An estimated number of 17,000 people died in Tuol Sleng, and another 2 million died in Cambodia under the regime of Khmer Rouge.
I felt an overwhelming sadness for those who perished, and an overwhelming anger to those who caused it. It is a terrible thing to happen to any country. Someone who was obviously disturbed with what they saw as well, wrote on the walls ' Don't let what happened here, happen again!! PLEASE !! " I could almost hear the distress in those writings.
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| One of the cells and metal beds used during the torturous Khmer Rouge |
I spent about 1.5 hours in Tuol Sleng with my huge backpack, wandering around the tiny cells, taking photos and reading captions. I went back to my moto driver and he took me to Wat Phnom, a majestic Buddhist stupa and temple in the middle of the city. Since Cambodia was ruled by the French colony, traces of it still remains. They even drive on the right side of the road, a situation I have only seen in France and had no idea a similiar situation was close to home.
I spent a quiet few minutes reflecting in Wat Phnom, of the genocide and the people who perished. Truthfully, something of that scale is truly overwhelming. After a good solitude moment, I went back to the moto driver, and told him in the best possible broken English I could that I needed a backpackers or a guesthouse to stay for the night.
The guy just didn't understand what I was saying. He took me to the city center and veered off towards the outskirts and dropped me off in a guesthouse that charged me US$10 for a room. I was looking for a dorm room and they don't seem to understand what dorm room is either. The moto driver looked completely lost and helpless. Finally in exasperation I told him that I need to use the internet and could he wait. So left with no choice, he waited for 30 minutes while I frantically logged to hostelworld and found a backpackers called The White Rabbit. I wrote down the address and gave it to him and he stared at it, and beckoned me to get on the bike.
But he still didn't know the place! Here is a local who is asking ME where the White Rabbit is. He had to stop and ask his fellow tuk tuk drivers, who thankfully directed him to the correct place. I went in, asked the English speaking friendly staff for a dorm bed, dumped my bag and came out again to settle with the moto driver.
Since we have yet to go to The Killing Fields, I gave him half of our agreed fare ( US$4 ) and told him to come the next day at 11am so we can go to the Killing Fields and then I can go to the airport.
To my amazement he started saying things to me in Cambodian ( like I understood ) and gesturing at the $4 that I handed him. I explained again, but he doesn't seem to understand. I called the backpacker staff and explained the situation to her, and told her to tell him that I will pay him the balance when he comes to take me the next day. He said something back and she translated it for me;
' He said he spent the whole day with you, and you only gave him $4 '
' Well not the whole day, I only just arrived at about 2pm and now its about 6.30pm..and plus he still hasn't taken me to the Killing Fields, and that's part of the agreed fare. I'll give him a couple extra dollars tomorrow' I told her.
She translated this to him and he seemed to accept it, maybe with the promise of a couple extra bucks. He went off after telling her that he will be there at 11am tomorrow. Sighing, I went inside.
The White Rabbit is one of the loveliest backpackers I have ever visited. They have a fully equipped bar, free wifi, playstation, books, everything. The staffs are friendly and they also have an in house restaurant where you can find deliciously cooked Khmer food ( my fav is Amok, ANYTIME ).
I went upstairs into my 5 bed dorm, took a shower and came downstairs for dinner. After dinner I sat reading a South East Asia Lonely Planet that I found at the reception. It was so cozy with fluffy cushions and sofa and even a giant flat screen tv that I just spread out and almost dozed off. They also have a resident cat, Alice, who loves bringing her cockroach friends inside the backpackers and play catch with them.
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| The White Rabbit |
At about 12.30am I went up to my dorm and saw that none of my roomies were back. I did not really have a good sleep although I was tired, possibly because I was still reeling from my visit to Tuol Sleng. If the Genocide Museum can pack such a punch, I wonder what the Killing Fields can do.
As it turned out, I didn't have to worry, for the trip to the Killing Fields was massively and sadly cancelled. I woke up to the sound of drizzle and when I went downstairs for breakfast, the drizzle had developed to a full blown rain so heavy that the White Rabbit was partially flooded. Across the streets, drains were overflowing and the rain was pounding hard on the roofs. We all huddled inside waiting for the rain to stop, I was praying it will stop before it's 11am.
It didn't, and as I feared, the moto driver didn't turn up. I waited until 12pm, and when he didn't turn up, I was forced to make other plans, as I needed to be in the airport by 2.30pm for my flight to KL. So I opted to go to the Russian Market instead. Here, it was the usual wares, clothes, souvenirs, CDs and DVDs, handicrafts, fruits and vegetables even. I got some souvenirs and a CD, and then it was time to go.
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| The Russian Market |
The trip to airport was well, wet. The streets were flooded and dirty water was splashing everywhere. Nevertheless, I arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport intact, and the driver demanded an extra $2 for no reason! I just waved him off.
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| Flooded Cambodian streets |
The ways Cambodians try to rip tourist off never failed to amaze me. I can understand that they are a poor and they could do with the extra money, but I believe there absolutely no reason to con. At the airport, my bag apparently was over the weight limit. I have travelled with that bag before and there wasn't a need to check in, but at the PP Airport, the ticket counter woman waved me off, but I was stopped by the security, who wants me to go back to the counter and get that lady to tell him that it's okay to go.
So I went again, and this time, they demanded US$36 to check in my bag. I told them I do not have US$36 and I have always been able to travel with my backpack without checking in. I guess I was loud and they just couldn't match my English, they let me go.
My flight was at 4.40pm, and I arrived LCCT at 7.20pm. Stepping on the tarmac, I walked to the main terminal, breathing the musty Malaysian air, I can't help but smile at the whole adventure.
It was a good adventure indeed :)
Kuna, first and foremost.. ur such an awesome writer.. having a passion for travelling is one thing.. but to be able to narrate and put it 'in words' so the ones who were not physically there with you, could literally follow up your sense of journey and 'wished' they were there is another thing.. its gave me this whole 'movie watching' effect.. Totally a tempting article on your journey worth knowing. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteAww:) Thank you so much mate :)
DeleteAbsolutely. I'd love to go there...
ReplyDelete