#2: CAMBODIA
March 7 | Don Det (Si Phan Don), Laos.

Midday sun on Don Det (Si Phan Don, which translates from Lao into 'Four Thousand Islands'). Whiel cK's having his quiet hours reading Garland's all-time classic The Beach, I use the time to hide in the shades of an internet cafe, feeding you from the content of my journals. Right after this is done we will consider either heading for the tubes or a kayak, no-one can tell. Then again, for the moment it feels like we will simply get stuck in this incredibly delightful and laid-back island paradise... why bothering with the world's allegedly most boring capital and a fading Vang Vieng? Well, because we can. XD

However, this second blog entry will be covering adventures from some two weeks traveling through Cambodia and starts right where the first one ended: at the Thai boarder in Krong Koh Kong (who wouldn't wanna live in a town bearing this name?). After two hot nights and one day bicycle exploring we headed straight on to the country's capital, Phnom Penh ($8 with a local bus). The highway proved fairly stable, almost smooth - unlike concerned reports of fellow travelers. Phnom Penh! After having spent your fair share of time in Bangkok or Hanoi you might either get bored quickly or simply relax and enjoy the sights, wondering how the city must have looked like under Khmer Rouge control some 30 years ago plus how it will look like in the near future! Massive new construction sites are on the way, Cambodia's blooming. Slowly, but unmistakably. However, I just need to mention the incredible amount of waste lying around virtually everywhere and it proves true (far from merely being a Cambodian issue - Southern Italy often doesn't look better): the people completely lack the education and consciousness to take care of their environment; it's just not something you happen to be concerned with. Then again, just yesterday we've encountered a group of some 30 local children collecting waste on one of these islands), probably as part of a school project. Might there be change on the way? Give it some 20 more years and one can tell.

Phnom Penh to us meant fighting for a good-value guesthouse (literally crowded with backpackers!) and after having found one heading on to see the city. We loved it! Not only were the rooms among the best and luxurious we ever had, we wonderfully got along with the locals and teamed up with two Norwegian girls to see the Killing Fields and the S-21 prison the day after. (The Khmer Rouge dictatorship technically lasted 'only' from 1975 to '79, but it didn't seize influence until the 1990ies. Millions of people were killed by their fellow countrymen and -women. Watching the 1984 film, The Killing Fields by Roland Joffé is highly recommended.) Other then that we got lost in side streets, purchasing way too many fancy things on both the Night and Russian market.

We found a $6 bus connection from the capital to the wonderfully countryside town of Battambang (arriving on February 27) which had been my favorite so far. The main activity is clearly to rent bikes and cycle around, thereby catching just another (but less painful) sunburn, discovering ancient temples (Wat Banan) and meeting a rather delightful German/Spanish individual randomly in front of a cookies shop. I had a blast of a time in some way or the other. We later took the speedboat to Siem Reap: since it's dry season now the trip proved rather strenuous, but the surrounding Floating Villages and later entering the "Great Fresh Water River" (Tonlé Sap) covered up for that! Already on the bus to Battambang we got to know two lads from England (James and Robert) who seem to share (the Banana Pancake) track with us since, it's all just one big youth adventure, isn't it? (Welcome you soon to Don Det, boys!)

Siem Reap literally means Siamese Defeating and hence woudn't sound too appealing to anyone of Thai origin, I figure. However, it's high style on any visitor's list simply because it's the gateway town to the magnificent as completely overcrowded Temples of Angkor. Many, including myself, often only think of the one most famous temple among the many there are (which is, clearly: Angkor Wat - literally translated: "City Temple"). However, there are in-numerous more, so there clearly is a reason why they sell 1-day, 3-day and 1-week passes ($20/40/60 respectively). Now, after having seen (and incredibly enjoyed) Tikal in Guatemala some 2 years ago I dare-day that I do fancy big ancient religious buildings, but more than two days would prove a little too much for me, personally. However, that is most likely due to the amount of tourists of all kind and I therefore prefer the morning hours, getting quickly fed up at midday. As a result, cK and I bought our 1-day pass in the afternoon, walked to Angkor Wat in order to experience the sunset, crawl around the outside walls only to eventually get chased away by the guards after darkness hit (altogether just grand entertainment!) and come back the day after for the full, lengthy experience. We did it by bike, opposing the idea of hiring a tuk-tuk driver that we would just feel weird about waiting for us to get on to the next temple (the Temple area covers an incredibly huge amount of square meters). And bikes proved clearly just the perfect choice! (Go for it, Stefanie!)

Consequently, one of the best and most exciting things had been hitting the dark and poorly lit streets of Siem Reap to make it to the temples before sunrise (I should hereby mention that the whole city was without electricity, including our guest house which not happened to own its own generator), so we did without lights and fan in cute, but basic bamboo huts with fly nets. Since I turned a little sick by then, I really didn't have my best moments then. As a result, we didn't actually see the place we stayed in daylight often). However, we decided to make Ta Prohm the one temple to enjoy the sunrise in and indeed managed to arrive right in time, with only one other guy before us. Sharing the magic moments with loads of bats and purely adventurous spirit when entering the overgrown ruins. Highlight! Only moments later somebody would steal cK's daypack plus entrance ticket and it heavily started raining for the first time since months, even leaving the locals stunned and rather confused. But that story is to be told when being back home...

We originally planned to directly make it from Siem Reap to Laos (for a mere $22), but didn't count on an extremely unorganized company that would not only take a longer route, but also failed in informing us about the boarder opening times and a necessary overnight stay in Stung Treng (close to the Lao boarder) where we could at least spend the last riel (the Khmer currency) and refresh ourselves in a $5-luxus guest room, overlooking both the grand local market and the mighty Mekong. Superb. Nothing went on smooth really, but that's exactly what one can expect here and since it wouldn't be the same without infinite delays and boarder hassles and stories evolving from it - who would complain? The end. For now. Beach time coming! It's 8am in Berlin, I hope you will all just have a lovely day, where-ever you are reading these lines.

All the best and much sunshine (you can have it, take it all, we have too much of it).