Tuesday 28th March 2006. Pattaya to Koh Kong, Cambodia.

The drive to the border was no bother at all and the formalities on the Thai side, although a little convoluted, were ok. First we went to immigration and got stamped out of the country, then we had to go to a little office and get some paper work for Hector which was then handed over to another guy who stamped him out. We then drove into No Mans Land where we had a minor hiccup when we realised that the final guy had kept the piece of paper we were given when we entered Thailand and which we now needed to hand over. So back I ran to the office, got the magic piece of paper back which was then handed over and we were into Cambodia.

Formalities to get into Cambodia were again surprisingly straightforward. We got our 1 month Visa from the Visa office and then walked along to Customs to sort out the paperwork for Hector. We weren't too sure what to expect here as our Carnet doesn't list Cambodia as a signatory. However as soon as we produced it they knew what to do and it was stamped there and then - and that was it! No bother at all. From the border we drove over the new bridge to Koh Kong where we found a place to stay for the night before our drive through the jungle to Sihanoukville tomorrow - can't wait!

Wednesday 29th March 2006. Koh Kong to Sihanoukville

We left Koh Kong to follow the dirt road towards Sihanoukville.  There were no road signs but thankfully there is only one track.  In parts the track is actually pretty good - flat and graveled, but for the most part it was just dirt and corrugated.  We arrived at our first river crossing, and were informed that the car had to be reversed onto the 'ferry', I (Amy) was driving.  I wasn't particularly keen on reversing Hector down a steep hill and onto a ferry that looked a little unsafe, but with the ferry man directing the wheels I managed it, albeit at a very precarious angle.  What an experience, I did it once more as there were 4 crossings.  Cambodia is a very pretty country, jungle covered hills and gorgeous coastlines.  Mark took the last 2 crossings and this time one of the ferries was no more than a deck floating on 3 canoes! all good stuff.  We arrived in Sihanoukville and I directed us to the Romny guesthouse, which is about 100m from the beach.

The dirt track to Sihanoukville      The 'canoe' crossing                 Monsoon clouds over Sihanoukville.

Thursday, 30th March 2006. Sihanoukville.

We spent today on the beach relaxing.

Friday, 31st March 2006. Sihanoukville.

Today we arranged to go on a boat tour.  We left at 9 and boarded a wooden leaky fishing boat.  It was raining when we got up and when we stopped to do some swimming and snorkeling it was still raining, fortunately we didn't really notice it when we were snorkeling.  We had great fun but the visibility wasn't great.  The boat then took us to 'coconut island' where we had a fish lunch before being allowed 1 hour to explore the island.  Mark and I took this to the extreme and our walk around the island became a small nightmare when we discovered that the island was about 6 times as big as we had thought.  We only had half an hour to return to the boat and we thought that it would be quicker to continue along the island in the same direction (at this point we didn't know how big the island was).  This turned out to be the wrong decision as we ended up wading chest high along the coral reef shore line getting stung by black sea urchins and cut by the coral.  We were now 30 minutes late and there was still no sign of the boat.  After another 30 minutes of painful wandering we arrived back at the boat to our great relief.  The afternoon was spent snorkeling before returning to Cambodian mainland at 4pm.

What a day.

Mark Snorkeling.

Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd April 2006. Sihanoukville.

Two days spent exploring the town and beaches. On Sunday we were pulled up outside book shop when another Land Rover pulled up behind us and out jumped Michelle, a lovely French chap who had driven to Cambodia via Russia, Mongolia and China to take up a job helping to open the airport at Sihanoukville. We had a great time chatting and looking over each others vehicles - his had a pop-up roof which he wasn't that impressed with, but the way that he had re-modeled the interior was fantastic.

Exploring the beaches                        Michelle's Land Rover in Sihanoukville.

Monday, 3rd April 2006. Sihanoukville to Bokor Hill Station.

After a few days lounging around it was time for a something a little more adventurous, so we headed 120km East to Bokor National Park where, over 1000 meters above sea level, there is a deserted French Hill Station. The road leading up to the national park entrance was in good condition, but we had heard that the dirt track up to the actual hill station is horrendous.  We eventually found the turning to the Park and paid $5 each to get in.  The first 100m the track was huge boulders and deep ruts which we thought were almost impossible to traverse, but we made it and continued with our journey up to Bokor.  The track continued to be in bad shape apart from a few parts here and there and we must have been going for a good hour when we thought we must nearly be there, little did we know that we still had another hour to go!  The track was very interesting and the scenery amazing - it was good to be offroading again!  Bokor hill station is located on a plateau on top of the hill which is covered in thick jungle - it was built by the French as a kind of half way house for those colonial administrators who had to acclimatise to the Cambodian weather.  As we got nearer to the top the fog began to come down and we were soon driving along muddy tracks with the threat of rain literally hanging over us in thick black clouds.  Nevertheless we pressed on and eventually arrived at the plateau where the first thing that we saw was the Catholic Church which looks like is was only closed yesterday, looking very spooky surrounded by fog and covered in lichen the colour of dried blood.  The buildings up here were finally abandoned in the 1970s when the Lon Nol regime left it to the Khymer Rouge forces that were steadily taking over the country, but they look like they were abandoned back a lot more than 30 years ago.  We wanted to camp at the back of the "Bokor Palace" Hotel, which is like something out of "The Shining", but were told by the Rangers that it wasn't permitted so ended up staying at the ranger station for an extortionate $10.  After wandering around the old buildings up here, we went back to the Bokor Palace hotel where we watched the sun set into the sea beyond the jungle beneath us. In the evening we got chatting to an Australian called Matthew who had made it up on a dirt bike - had a great time drinking our way through a bottle of Gordons!

On the jungle path          The Catholic church                 The Bokor Palace.

Tuesday 4th April 2006. Bokor to Sihanoukville.

We were up with the lark this morning, and once we had mastered our hangovers we started the journey back down the hill. The journey back down from Bokor actually felt better than the journey up, but maybe that's because we knew what to expect. On the way back down we bumped into Matthew who had run out of fuel, luckily we were still carrying some unleaded for our stove and we were able to help him out with enough fuel to get down the hill. We arrived back in Sihanoukville around lunch time, so we checked into the Blue Frog guesthouse, and had a great lunch.  

Wednesday, 5th April 2006. Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh.

Before we left for Phnom Penh we called into the Starfish bakery where we enjoyed a great breakfast and bought some T-shirts.  The money goes to a charity called "The Starfish Project" which helps deprived Cambodians who need the money for anything from emergency medical care to getting a business idea off the ground. The staff at the bakery are all people whom the charity has helped at some point, so you are likely to get your breakfast made by a chap who only has one arm, having lost the other to a land-mine.  The road to Phnom Penh is paved all the way and we made great time arriving again at lunchtime.  We hadn't realised how difficult it would be to find somewhere to park Hector, but thankfully after driving up and down a few roads we were able to park on the road outside the Bali guesthouse and cafe, which is right on the bank of the Tonle Sap river, and from our window we can see where it merges with the Mekong.  We then went for a little walk around the town.  Phnom Penh is a lovely place with nice wide roads on a grid system, and traces of French colonial architecture all over the place next to fabulous golden Pagodas and Wats - its an intriguing place, although you can't help feeling a chill run down the back of your neck when you look at the crowds and remember that just 30 years ago the Khmer Rouge marched the entire population of the city out to the killing fields.

Cambodian house on the way to Phnom Penh.

Thursday, 6th March 2006. Phnom

Bit of a rude awakening today as we were woken up at 0630 and asked to move Hector of the street - because the King was coming to town and the police didn't want Hector (who is, admittedly, a little filthy) making the place look messy...honestly...so we had to move him off the road and drive him up into a shop doorway until the King had passed after which we got the OK to put him back onto the road. As we were up we decided to make the most of the relative cool of the morning and went for a walk around town, stopping off at the Royal Palace, the National Art museum, the independence monument and a few other touristy places en route. We also stopped of at the covered "Central Market" where Mark had read you could see some of the local delicacies like fried frog and insects, but when we got there they'd all been sold for lunch!

Street scene, down-town                       Interior of the Art Museum.

Friday, 7th March 2006. Phnom Penh.

Today we had to make up our minds where we want to go next. Our original plan was to head up to Siem Riep to visit Angkor Wat, then head off back into Thailand where we would drive North up to Laos. However, it seems like a real shame to come all this way and not see the East of Cambodia or the South of Laos, and we had heard that the border between Cambodia and Laos at Veung Kham was unofficially open - but you can't get Visas on arrival there. We ummed and ahhed over breakfast and finally made up our minds to give the unofficial border crossing a go - there are some fantastic places to see in North Eastern Cambodia and it'll be good to take the roads less traveled again. So off we sped to the Laos embassy to sort out our Visas, only to find that they had closed for lunch...never mind, we carried on to the "Russian Market" where you can buy some great clothes from all the brand names like Columbia, Quicksilver, Aigle etc that have factories in Cambodia - some of the finished items "leaking" into the market. There are also thousands of copy CDs, DVDs and computer programmes - much like in the "Smugglers Market" outside of Peshawar. After a bit of retail therapy in the furnace like heat of the covered market, we hopped on the back of a scooter and whizzed back to the Laos embassy where we handed our passports over and arranged to pick them up when we get back from Angkor Wat next Wednesday. To celebrate our new plan we had a great night out at the Foreign Correspondents Club, downing G&Ts on the 3rd floor verandah whilst a huge tropical storm raged outside - fantastic. (PS - the fee for a 30 day visa from the Laos Embassy is $40, not $35 as the Lonely Planet says).

Foreign Correspondents Club, Phnom Penh.

Saturday, 8th March 2006. Phnom Penh to Siem Riep.

Me: "What's the time?"

Amy, not very impressed: "Four thirty AM..."

Me: "Can you hear that music? Sounds like it's coming from outside..."

Amy, rather angrily: "Well go and have a look then, and then tell then to turn it off....my head hurts..."

So out I wandered onto the balcony where to my eternal surprise I saw the entire river-side covered with people performing some organised dancing to what sounded horribly like Cambodian Country and Western, pumping out of a massive portable sound station. I stood there, watching them dancing away as the sun came up, trying to work out whether they were finishing a fine night out or were really early risers - we still have no idea what it was all about. Anyway, there was no chance of getting any more sleep so we arranged to head off for Siem Riep early and at 07:30 we were driving over the bridge and out of town. One again we were surprised how good the road was and very unsurprised at how bad the driving is here - Cambodians are certainly in the same league as Pakistani Truck drivers and Urban Iranians!

Got to Siem Riep in good time and found a nice guest-house to stay at...but what a surprise Siem Riep was! It's huge, and there is every sort of hotel here from backpacker hostels to 6 Star luxury resorts. There are also thousands of tourists everywhere, most of them wandering around in huge packs as they are decanted from their luxury tour busses outside restaurant, souvenir shop or picturesque photo opportunity...it's certainly a lot busier than we were expecting and goes to show how much Cambodia (or at least Angkor Wat) is now on the main-stream tourist trail.

Sunday, 9th March 2006. Siem Riep and Angkor.

We decided to hire bicycles to see the temples of Angkor and at 08:30am set off on the 6km ride to the National Park entrance, where we parted with $40 each for our 3 day passes (not a cheap outing this!) We wanted to drive ourselves around in Hector, but this isn't allowed for some reason - we could only be driven around if we wanted to take a car or motor-bike in. Anyway, we peddled around on the really rubbish "sit-up-and-beg" bicycles that we'd hired and took in the vast scale of the place. Angkor Wat is probably the most famous temple here, but it is only 1 of hundreds and is by no means the largest...of course, the huge size of the place means that it's a long way from site to site -especially on bike! We started off at Angkor Thom which is a 3km square walled city surrounded by a moat. As you walk across the bridge you pass under an arch-way decorated with four smiling faces of the king who built the place - Jayavarman VII - facing North, South, East and West. In fact, you see quite a lot of this chaps face as it also seems to decorate every side of each one of the 37 towers of the "Bayon" temple - although the face could also be that of the Buddha...no one knows for sure. From the Bayon we cycled along to the "Terrace of the Elephants" and the "Terrace of the Leper King" where you can admire the intricate carved stone reliefs.

Faces at the "Bayon"                        Carvings at the "Terrace of the Leper King"

We spent a fair amount of time wandering around the temples, and to be honest we were a little disappointed as everything seemed to have been cleaned up, tidied, restored or given a helping hand - and we also were walking around trying to dodge the aforementioned coach parties...However, things really improved when we got to the temple complex known as "Ta Prohm" as here the jungle has been allowed to slowly reclaim the place for itself so you see collapsed temples with massive trees growing out of the rubble. The place is so picturesque that this is where part of the film "Tomb Raider" was filmed, and we had a great time clambering about in relative peace.

The jungle reclaiming the temples at "Ta Prohm"...

We were ages here, and when we eventually left it was time to head home as we were both filthy dirty and sweating like Apes - only 12km to go! In total we cycled about 30km (20miles) today...and boy can we feel it now...This evening we had a fantastic dinner in a local restaurant - it was a Cambodian BBQ where we had all we could eat for $3 each - between us we must have put away about 25 prawns, kilos of beef and pork and 4 or 5 squid!

Monday, 10th April 2006. Siem Riep.

After our exertions yesterday we took it easy today walking around the town, exploring the old market and generally having a look around. We also visited an organisation called "Artisans d'Angkor" which trains people in the art of silk weaving, stone masonry etc etc and then sells their produce in their shop - very good, but a bit too expensive for us.

Local delicacies in the market

Tuesday, 11th April 2006. Siem Riep. 

One of the souvenirs that you see everywhere in Siem Riep are reproduction stone heads of either King Jayavaraman or the Buddha. The quality of the stone masonry varies enormously - some of the really poor ones for sale in the market have really strange, grimacing expressions! We'd read in a magazine that it was possible to visit the actual stone masons and see them at work, and to buy stuff directly from them rather than from a middle-man, so off we set for a little walk along the river-bank. Soon we were out of the guesthouse and restaurant area and in the back-streets of Siem Riep where people still live in wooden stilt houses overhanging the river and the market sells food and iron-mongery rather than stone heads and fake statues. Eventually we came across the stone-masons area and walked into one compound where we could watch the amazing skill of these guys, some of them teenagers, as they worked the stone with mallet and chisel to produce really excellent works of art. Some of the friezes that they were working on had already taken over 2 months labour and would take another month to finish! A small stone lion caught Amy's eye and after a little haggling became hers. They don't get many tourists in this part of town and the lads in the yards were very proud to show us around and point out which items they had carved themselves - it was a great morning.

At the stone masons.

In the afternoon we headed back to the temples - this time in a Tuk-Tuk. We spent the afternoon walking around Angkor Wat, the most famous of them all and an immense construction, which was lucky as we were sharing the place with thousands of other people! We enjoyed walking around and climbing up the really steep stairs, and the huge carvings which run around the interior walls are amazing.

Angkor Wat, and some of the monks

Wednesday, 12th April 2006. Siem Riep to Phnom Penh

Back to PP today to pick up our passports and our visas for Laos. There was lots more traffic on the road today and progress was a lot slower - and the Cambodian drivers earned their place towards the top of our "International Champions League of Crap Drivers". On the way we were stopped by two giant demons who only let us pass when we made a donation to the monks standing by the side of the road who were collecting for their monastery. Eventually made it into PP where we found the Sky Park guesthouse and got a room with a double bed, Air Conditioning, Cable TV and hot water for $10 per night...not too bad!

The Road Demons

Thursday, 13th April 2006. Phnom Penh.

Today we went t collect our Lao Visas, and then went to the Russian Market where we bought some really cheap clothes.  Tomorrow we begin our journey north to Laos!

Friday, 14th April 2006. Phnom Penh to Kratie.

It's an easy drive to Kratie and there seemed to be less on the roads than normal so we made good time and were pulling up to a guesthouse by lunchtime. Kratie is becoming famous as a place from where you can catch a boat to watch the rare Irrawady Fresh Water Dolphins in the Mekong river, and consequently the guesthouses can fill up quickly if you arrive after the tour busses - like us. Eventually we found a place to stay for a couple of nights, and in the evening walked into town and had a lovely meal at the newly opened "Silver Dolphin" restaurant which is run by an English guy. There was a home for abandoned kids next door and as we were sitting outside some music came on and some little kids, not older than 5 or 6 and dressed up in their Sunday best, started dancing to the music and showing off in front of us...it was lovely to see kids who had to little look so happy.

Monk on the back of a scooter on the way to Kratie.

Saturday 15th April 2006. Kratie.

We were going to go and watch the dolphins today but have heard that you can also see them in Laos, so we spent today re-organising the back of Hector (again). This time we were fairly ruthless and chucked a lot of stuff out and managed to put a lot more things under the rear decking, so that we now have quite a lot of room in the back. We also checked things over and noticed that the rear drivers side shock-absorber bush is in the process of disintegrating...it's got a few kms left in it, but is something that will need changing sooner rather than later (luckily we have the address of a good mechanic in Vientiane).

Sunday, 16th April 2006. Kratie to Ban Lung

Back onto the dirt tracks today as we headed to the little town of Ban Lung in Ratanakiri province. To get here involves a 120km drive along an unsurfaced track, and as all of the soil here is red soon everything becomes covered in a layer of dust. There are also some terrible stretches of corrugations, where it's like trying to drive over corrugated concrete - the noise is horrible as everything vibrates and you imagine that the gear-box has shaken itself free! However, it's also great fun to barrel down these tracks kicking up a huge dust cloud behind you!

We arrived at Ban Lung and the whole town is also covered in a layer of red dust, so we fitted right in. We went for a walk around the local market which was interesting, and then pottered about the place before dinner.

Kicking up the dust on the way to Ban Lung.        One of the many bridges on the way

Monday, 17th April 2006. Ban Lung

There are lots of natural sights around Ban Lung, so we started the day with a drive out to a near-by lake. This is described as a one of the most beautiful places in Cambodia in our guide-book, and whilst it is very pleasant we thought that it was taking things a bit far! When we got there the first thing that we saw was piles of litter around the area where everyone was picnicking, which is fairly typical but doesn't give you a very good first impression. However, things really improved as we walked around the lake and got away from the crowds and soon we were able to find our own little spot on the shore to swim from and sunbathe in...this is when the magic of the place hit us, and we were lulled into a really peaceful state of mind by the gentle lapping of the waters and the noise of the forest surrounding us. All too soon it was lunch time, so we headed for a little roadside place in Ban Lung for a lovely lunch, which like everything else in the town soon became covered in red dust!

Us and the lake.

After lunch we drove out of Ban Lung again and headed for one of the nearby waterfalls - Ta Kieng. To get here was an adventure in itself - 10km down a very narrow muddy track, driving through some tribal villages, and then all of a sudden there's a river in front of you with a very steep, muddy hill on the other side. Being cautious for once we parked up on our side of the river and I (Mark) waded through to see how deep it was, and clambered up the slope on the other side to make sure that we could make it - sure we could! So back in the drivers seat it was into low/diff-lock, enter the water at a steady pace to create a nice bow wave to follow, watch as the water came up to just over the front bumper, then let Hector pull himself up the steep and muddy slope on the other side - excellent fun! Not far from the top of the this slope was the waterfall itself, and we climbed down to it and actually walked behind it which was great fun, as was going for a swim in the very brown and muddy water! Once we'd dried off we headed back the way we had come, had a great time crossing the river again (we've got some good film of this, but unfortunately no photos!) and made friends with 2 little girls from the nearby village who had been following us around all afternoon, and who turned out to be very keen on our stash of Werthers Originals! On our way back to Ban Lung we stopped a couple of times to enjoy the scenery and the feeling of having done a bit more adventurous driving in Cambodia!

The waterfall, and the 2 girls who ate our sweets!

On the way back through the villages.

Tuesday 18th April 2006. Ban Lung to Stung Treng.

Back along the dusty and corrugated track to the main road (which itself isn't fully surfaced yet) and then North to Stung Treng, the last town in Cambodia before the Laotian border at Veung Kham. Found a place to stay with no bother, asked about how we get across the river tomorrow (answer, on the ferry - which can cost anything from $5 to $15 dollars depending on how many vehicles are on it - the more vehicles, the cheaper it is), and got ourselves ready to cross into Laos tomorrow. We've really enjoyed our time in Cambodia - and the people that we've met have been among the nicest of our trip.