Cambodia Part 5

Ok time to finish this thing!  This will be my last entry about the trip as I am reaching the end of my diary.

Day 13: (10/1/11)
Today we visited our final NGO in Cambodia (unfortunately I just can't find the name because their brochure is lost in my luggage somewhere! (which has still not been completely unpacked!  They do however, manufacture 'Eco Nut' earrings and 'Funky Junk' recycled plastic products.

A couple of pics:

Explaining how 'Eco Nut' Earrings are made out of coconut shells.  They were really beautiful products!

Manufacturing 'Funky Junk' plastic products out of recycled plastic strips.

The name says it all :-)

After visiting the NGO, the bikes needed cleaning so a few of us got stuck into it.  They were pretty filthy by the time we reached the end of the trip, so soapy water, scrubbing brushes and cloths were a necessity.  We also had to return all of the little bits and pieces, map pouches, bike lights and bike locks (I was actually so impressed with the bike locks that we used that I went out and bought an identical one from Kathmandu today for $20 (half price sale item).

Bikes cleaned, we Tuk Tuked into Kep itself to have some lunch before hopping on the boat to Rabbit Island.  I could not believe the prices of the food compared to what we had been paying throughout the country.  I felt that the food prices were roughly double what we had been paying at our various lunch stops throughout the countryside.  Kep is regarded to be a tourist destination, so I guess the minute you put 'tourist' into the equation, the prices go up, same old story.  I can say that in any major Australian tourist spots it is the same, no difference here.  But I found some of the mains priced at $10 steep compared to say, buying lunch back home in Australia for the same price.

Catching the boat to Rabbit Island was very interesting, the police officer came up to us and insisted on no more than 7 people could be on the boat at any given time, citing safety as the reason.

So we got halfway to the island, only to have our driver on his mobile phone and he turned back, where he picked up two more people that were not with our group and exceeded our magic number!  Like our guide Adam said "we have already paid for this boat, whoever they paid to get to the island has that money straight in their own pocket."  I don't think the corruption is as bad as some other places though and people only really engage in such practices as a matter of survival.

Anyway, we FINALLY made it to the island where the group engaged in a game where we got a netball and had to keep it in the air (not the water) for as many hits as possible.  As Shahin commented 'how could we get so much enjoyment from trying to hit a ball in the air as much as possible?' But it was true, the simplest things are the best.

Some photo moments:

Beautiful Sunset

'Spirituality' - I loved it!

Catching the sun with Rithy.

As we left Rabbit Island, the sun set and the moon rose above us.  This was a truly great day and the buzz generated by the group was infectious :-D  We finished the day with another fine meal from the Vine staff and it was again hitting the hay early for me!

Day 14:  
Today was the saddest of days, time to return to Phnom Penh and say goodbye to others in the group who kept going to other places or who were heading home.  The group who remained behind sang us a farewell song:

Awhh!!!!

After managing the difficult goodbyes, we hopped on the little bus to head back to Phnom Penh.  Ironically, it took two hours back on the bus and had taken us two days on the bikes!  Bike riding was more interesting anyway ;-)  Our bus driver drove straight past the airport, so had to do one of those amazing manoeuvres through six lanes of traffic where we arrived safely at our destination :-P

The rest of the time pretty much passed very quickly, before I knew it, it was time to get on my plane to Kuala Lumpur, and for another night in this city.  I'll briefly cover what happened in Kuala Lumpur the next day.

Day 15:  Kuala Lumpur
With a day's grace, I decided to travel into KL Sentral and explore the city for the first time.  I discovered a large, modern city with many amenities (Monorail, frequent public transport and MASSIVE shopping centres!).  Although the shops were many, I found many of the prices to be exactly the same as Australia, particularly identical pricing in electronic goods which was disappointing.

All around me I found signs wishing everyone a prosperous New Year, and advertising the year of the Rabbit (Chinese Zodiac).  A passing Kenyan tourist was kind enough to take this photo for me:

Other than getting on the plane back home, this was my experience.  I will reflect a little later on about how life changing this journey has been, but for the time being I am filled with many good memories :D

Cambodia Part 4

Well now I'm up to day 11, time to hit the road again!

Day 11:
We left Phnom Penh really early today, approximately 4:45 AM.  The reason being that it was another really long 100 KM day, so to beat the sun (and the heat) this is what we did.  On the way out of the city (which still had crazy traffic at 5AM!) we stopped for an egg or rice / noodle breakfast.  Two of my favourite breakfasts were omelettes with rice and also a chicken noodle soup with vegetables.  I must say though, that since returning to Australia, I have found it difficult to eat either noodles and especially rice, because I wasn't used to eating so much of it I am now on a little bit of a rice fast here at home!

Today was a very hard day of riding, it was a long day in the saddle and also the sun from around 10AM was very hot and it was difficult to keep going in the heat.  We reached the restaurant for lunch and considering that many lunches had cost around $2.50, $4.00 was quite an expense today.  However, this restaurant was considered quite a luxury one and around us was a 100 day wake celebrating the life of someone who had passed away.  This restaurant was a kind of function centre, used to celebrate special events in the lives of Cambodians.

Today's lunch didn't actually go down too well with me, and made me feel quite ill.  Once we got back on the bikes for the last 30 KM, I really struggled to keep going and I felt, keep up with the group.  I was ill and worn out by the time we got to our homestay and was only able to drink a coconut and have a little bit of plain rice for dinner.  I felt pretty bad when I had to ask our guides to take me to the homestay family early, I would have loved to stay longer and meet more of the elders from the group.  They were so kind too and their hospitality was excellent.  I did manage this photo before the sun went down, just around our homestay area, pretty special :-)

Sunset outside Chuuk.

I was taken to my homestay family, who were considered to be quite affluent because they had a fluorescent tube connected by a battery, to provide light.  The bed was a wooden frame with a bamboo mat and blanket on the top.  I must say that I am spoilt by my mattress and felt bad that I wasn't appreciating the hardness of the bed!

A very interesting night! To wash, I had to wear a sarong that was kindly provided by my hosts and douse myself with ladles of water from a big water tank.  I didn't mind the cold water, being reasonably hot weather it was ok.  I had to wash wearing the sarong though, which got soaking wet in the process and try and soap myself underneath the fabric!  This is a tradition that the local people don't actually entirely take all clothing off when washing, which many westerners find to be a strange concept. (during the next morning the father of the house washed himself at the pond directly washing with buckets of water from the pond).  Then I retired to bed early to let my stomach settle and I drifted in and out of sleep the entire night.  The men played loud music until midnight and dogs in the surrounding houses barked every time someone walked past on the road, which was quite often!  All 30 roosters then proudly crowed around 3:40AM.

Fortunately, upon waking in the morning, I felt quite a lot better which was great!  I reflected back upon the achievement of another 100 km day :-)

Day 12:
Today was our final day of riding, a 60 km journey towards the Vine Retreat, which is just outside Kep on Cambodia's coastline.  However, this is one of the hardest 60 km days I have ever done, considering the heaviness of my pannier bags, as well as the amount of off road / dirt road / uphill riding that was required.  It really tested my limits, but once again, at the end of the day, the sense of achievement was great as well as relaxing at one of the nicest places I have ever stayed at during my time at Cambodia.

Despite my best efforts (and continual application of sunscreen!) I was burnt.  I put this down to my sweat washing off the sunscreen every time I reapplied.

About half of the ride was on a sealed road, but during an incredibly hot part of the day with little shade and cover, I stopped frequently every time I found a tree on the side of the road with a little bit of cover.  I also took great advantage of coconuts and sugar cane juice!  It was a hot and slow trip for me.

All the way through these days on the bike, you certainally knew that you were the celebrity and star attraction!  Little kids would come from everywhere and excitedly shout to you 'HelloHowareyouWhatisyournameWhereareyougoing!?' in such a rapid fire fashion.  I really appreciated their enthusiasm, though:

1. You are usually going at a speed that prevents you from answering all of the questions!
2. Later in the day you are so tired you can barely croak out a weak 'hello' in reply, even though you really want to!

Towards the end of the day, the quality of the track got more 'offroad' and not only that, the gradient of the road started to go up!  Panniers on a flat road are fine, but I had to get off the bike many times in those last 7 KMs to make sure that I didn't topple over.  In saying this, I don't regret the experience one bit and it strengthened me!  I was on my road bike today and felt like I was flying in comparison, a legacy of the hard days on the bike.

I remember reaching the top of the path that we had to climb up and the view of Kep and the surrounding coast was completely worth it!  There was a downhill section of dirt road that I initially attempted, but then stopped about halfway down because I didn't quite trust my downhill skills.  I continued down the road for another couple of KMs.  By then my backside was literally about to fall off my body!

We arrived at the Vine retreat.  I was filthy, covered in red dirt and sunburn.  Here's a photo I took to remember this day!

I look pretty stuffed lol!

I must say that the Vine was one of my favourite places to stay, even though they destroyed my laundry (putting bleach in the machine with colours??).  The food was fantastic, the rooms were lovely and the view was pretty spectacular.  Here's an example of what I'm talking about when I say view and atmosphere:

All around the verandah were these lovely cushions to recline on, armed with your drink or iced coffee you are set!

Lunch was late (around 3PM) but it was amazing, fresh salads with rice.  The salad included fresh cucumbers and red tomato (it is very common to be served green tomato here I have found).  I was not too far off bed after dinner happened that evening around 7:30.

All in all I had reached the end of the riding component of this trip!  Approximately 600 km later the most amazing sense of achievement!  I could rest easy that night knowing that tomorrow PEPY had organised a NGO visit and a wonderful trip out to Rabbit Island for us :D

Cambodia Part 3

I'm back home in Australia now, so I am transcribing from my travel diary that I kept during the trip.  Up to day 9 I think!

Day 9: Phnom Penh
Today we visited a NGO (Non Government Organisation) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, run by a gentleman from the US.  Here they make clay water filters that are distributed in local communities to improve the quality of drinking water with local people.

Water borne illnesses and bacteria are a huge killer for people (especially children) so these $10 filters are sold to try and combat, or at least reduce this problem.

This organisation also makes their own educational puppet TV shows in their own custom built TV studio. Episodes are made in Khmer, and little LPG fuelled Daewoo vans travel around the countryside with a TV in the back showing these progams.  A TV station in Cambodia also cottoned onto this and broadcast all 13 episodes.  Although the TV run is now complete, the TV station are asking for more episodes.  This will happen when possible.

The water filters are being tested in a tank of water to ensure that the water flows though them at a certain rate.

This NGO group also tests the quality of the water across Cambodian wells.  Because Cambodia has a large amount of naturally occurring Arsenic in the ground, many people are being poisoned by their wells and ground water.

So from here, we had lunch at one of those soup kitchen places.  You get a massive soup pan with the broth in it and you add all of your own ingredients from a tray of meat and vegetables in front of you.  The trick is making sure that you add the ingredients in a way that some are not raw and some are not cooked at the same time!  After lunch I wandered off on my own to find an internet place where I could print off my boarding pass for the following week.  I ended up finding an place that charged me 700 Riel to search the net, confirm and print out my boarding pass.  That's about 20 cents!

One of my observations about Phnom Penh is that in quite a few places, MAJOR roads are ripped up and are an absolute mess of potholes and gravel.  People just continue 'business as normal' driving their cars, motorbikes and bicycles through these messy roads though going along them is like bush bashing in outback Australia!  Our Tuk Tuk ride was so bumpy, it must really be hard on vehicles.  We had dinner at a Khmer BBQ restaurant which was pretty special.  I love how the soups (like Tom Yum!) come out in a special dish with a flame in the middle to keep them piping hot, delicious!


Day 10:
Today was reserved to witness a darker side of Cambodian history, the effects of the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979).  Although actual figures are unknown, approximately 2 million Cambodians were tortured, executed, worked or starved to death. 

We visited two specific locations, Tuol Sleng genocide museum, also known as S21, and Choeung Ek, otherwise known as The Killing Fields. Cambodia has many killing fields or places of execution, however, Choeung Ek is known as one of the best examples of what happened.  Some 17,000 people passed through Tuol Sleng Centre (also known as S-21) before they were taken to sites (also known as The Killing Fields), outside Phnom Penh such as Choeung Ek where most were executed (mainly by pickaxes to save bullets) and buried in mass graves. Of the thousands who entered Tuol Sleng only seven are known to have survived that I heard about. These prisoners had skills that were useful to the prison, such as photography (photos were taken of each prisoner as they were admitted and also of their dead bodies if they died during torture) and were kept alive for this purpose.

Although in tears, I tried hard to stop myself from bawling my eyes out which was really hard considering what I saw (some photos are quite graphic so be warned and were not published on Facebook because I believe that is not the place for them):

One of the beds that prisoners were strapped to used in their interrogation and torture.  The photo on the wall was of the man's body that was discovered there by the Vietnamese forces in January 1979.

Photos in the museum of victims exhumed from the Killing Fields in 1980.  Many victims are still wearing their blindfolds.

The sign really explains what the building was used for.  The balconies were covered with barbed wire.

This is the building that contained the iron bed frame shown earlier.

All victims that died during torture required a photographic record so that the Prison Governor (Duch) had proof that they were dead. These are copies of the original photos.

Each prisoner had to be photograhed upon admission to the prison.   I did not see one smiling face :-(

The memorial stupa at the killing fields.  This is used to store the bones of the exhumed victims.

 

Finally, the skulls of victims stored at the memorial stupa of Choeung Ek.  These skulls belong to young women aged between 15 - 20, very sad.

The thing that struck me the most was the Khmer Rouge policy of killing children and babies.  The idea was if they were not killed, then they might seek revenge against the Khmer Rouge when they were grown adults.  There was absolutely no heart in this regime.


I was saddened by what I saw, but was still grateful that I had the opportunity to see what I saw, because it opened my eyes and made me more aware of the world around me and as well as happiness, there is sadness that will be with us and that is our legacy and hopefully...we might just learn from past mistakes.

Cambodia Part 2

Here I am again, the final night at the Tattoo Guest House, Phnom Penh before we head out on our huge second 100 KM cycling day.  This morning, we visited Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, otherwise known as S21 and the Killing Fields, just south of the city.  What a morning, I am pretty much wiped out emotionally after what I have seen and heard the Khmer Rouge doing to the people in the way of execution and torture.  But a story for another blog entry......

Day 6: (apologies if the days are mixed up!)
Today was our first major day of travel south on the bikes.  I woke up of course with major flu symptoms and generally feeling like poo.  I am very lucky that John was able to give me some of his Canadian 'Vicks Day Quill' tablets.  I took a couple then hoped that I would be feeling better very soon!

We left Siem Reap early to cycle to the dock / pier at the north side of the Tonle Sap Lake to head south on a five hour boat ride to the southern end of the lake.  This is basically one of the biggest freshwater lakes in the entire world and the Mekong River empties into this lake.  While on the boat, the sheer size of this awesome lake boggled the mind!


View Larger Map

So while on the boat, i managed to find a seat to curl up on and went to sleep the best I could.  Later, I found the boat crew had set up a hammock up the back near the most noisy part of the boat (motor) but I was literally so sick and tired i curled up on the hammock and slept.  I woke up with a very hot bottom because I was laying right above the engine and the motor heat was warming up my backside!

Lunch was brilliant sandwiches in a decorative little palm leaf lunchbox, catered for by a really awesome bakery / restaurant in Siem Reap, the Blue Pumpkin.  I had chicken and salad sandwiches, fresh fruit, banana bread and a little packet of BBQ chips.

The boat trip passed quickly (because I was asleep for most of it!) and we arrived at the other side of the lake, past many floating villages.  The boat kinda beached itself and then we had to literally try and jump from the height of the boat onto the shore.  Then it was another 50 km to Kampong Chaang via the bike.  I arrived exhausted and fortunately was able to get quite an early night after dinner.

Day 7: 
Today I had a very quiet rest day.  I still felt unwell, so while the rest of the group did a big bike ride, I stayed back at the guesthouse all morning and slept.  It was great!!

In the afternoon, I met up with some others for lunch.  I had a chicken soup and rice, perfect to try and knock the flu bug away.  Then a couple of us went for a wander around the local market.  This was definitely not a tourist market, but one for the locals.  The beef and chicken was hanging up on hooks and were swarming with flies.  I could not help but wonder how many of our restaurants bought their 'fly meat' from places such as these :-/  Then I tried not to think about it too much after all.

We rode to the restaurant that night and since this has become the trip of 'firsts' this was my first time riding at night with a bike light.  Interesting!!  Crashed and headed to bed after....

Day 8:  120 KM on the bike!!!!!!!
Today pretty much tested my limits of what I was able to do on the bike, both physically and mentally.

I knew that it was going to be a hard day (and would be hard on a road bike!) but this was a fully loaded mountain bike with panniers and gear to boot.

The majority of this ride was on the dirt roads that headed towards Phnom Penh, but helped us avoid the main roads where the traffic was not really the best.  There were local villages along the way, many people who did not see 'Barang' (foreigner) on a regular basis.  One of our guides, Joe, told us that some people were shouting that they had never seen such 'white' Barang in their lives!  It really made me laugh!

So we kept riding and riding and riding, by 10:30AM we had reached the halfway point and stopped for lunch.  The afternoon was SO hard, the heat set in and at one point I had to stop, totally drained because my legs and backside were rebelling against me.  One of the guides was kind enough to stop and wait with me while I got the exhaustion out of my system.

So with 30 KM to go, I don't know how I made it to Phnom Penh but I did!  Riding around the city was scary and crazy. The traffic in Phnom Penh was INCREDIBLE!  It was just a swarm of humanity and everyone in the traffic just seems to part to let you into the traffic flow.  If you need to turn against the traffic, you basically just cut in front of the oncoming traffic and everyone else (no matter how big or small) either slows down or just goes around you and it ALL seems to work out in the end!

So we arrived at our guest house and I was completely exhausted and elated all at the same time.  I was covered in filthy red dirt, sweaty and gross with my hair sticking out all ends.  The BEST thing was the hot shower!!  We went to Friends (which supports street people) restaurant and I was totally impressed by their grilled antipasto, greek salad and pumpkin soup.

Sleep came quickly that night ;-)

Cambodia Part 1

So here I am in Phnom Penh!  I have been on this trip now for at least 8 days :D

I have seriously lacked updating this blog on a regular basis before I left for the trip to Cambodia, but I do hope to update a little as I am here now at my guesthouse using the complimentary guest internet.

Luckily I have kept a written journal, so I can go back over the experiences so far:

Wednesday 29th December:  Day 1
In the mad rush of trying to get to the airport and make sure I got on the right plane (I actually went to the international terminal when I was supposed to go domestic from KL to Siem Reap!)  I actually forgot that it was my birthday until I was on the plane, four hours after I woke up!

From Siem Reap airport I was picked up by Lucky from PEPY.  On the way to the accommodation I could practice my Khmer!  The Tuk Tuk ride was a new experience for me, a motorbike pulling a kind of trailer on the back that is designed to seat people and transports four people comfortably.

When others in the PEPY / GAFC group found out that it was my birthday, I was treated to Lao Beer (a new favourite of mine!) and the most wonderful birthday cake.  Life is good!

Day 2:
Today was given to exploring PEPY projects as well as learning more about NGO's.  We visited a local school that is supported with PEPY projects and I was especially interested in the school library that we visited.  The kids were great, enthusiastic about their lessons and really kind and welcoming.

I am also getting more used to squat toilets, though you must carry a handy supply of your own paper and are unable to flush the paper down as the plumbing system does not cope.  Most toilets in rural areas don't have cisterns at all, rather you ladle water into the toilet at the end and the natural plumbing does the rest :-/

Overall a very long, but rewarding day!

Day 3:

Today was the first official group bike ride!  We were fitted out for our bikes and I found the transition from Road to Mountain bike quite interesting!  For someone who is used to a very light carbon fibre road frame, the transition to the heavier, more robust mountain bike was interesting.

As I started riding along the local roads, I realised why a mountain bike is so necessary.  The roads were mostly dusty, pot holed and in many cases around this local area, very sandy!  Riding on a road made of very loose, fine sand is very interesting let me tell you!  Most of the time, your back wheel slides out from under you then you either stack it, or come very close.  I have a very interesting bruise on my inner right thigh from where I almost fell off the bike but slammed my inner leg into the bike frame instead.

We rode around an enormous reservoir, totally hand dug by the people of the ancient Khmer empire and the whole area is completely mind boggling.  The ride ended up finishing by passing by the AWESOME Angkor Wat temple.  Here we had some lunch (inflated tourist prices) and cycled home.  I found getting used to my mountain bike with pannier bags on the back totally exhausting so I was well and truly ready for a rest by the end of it!

Alas there was no time to rest, PEPY organised a scavenger hunt for us, so we ended up running all over Siem Reap looking for clues, which led us to a waiting Tuk Tuk where we raced to the foot of a Buddhist temple high on a 'mountain' watching the sun set for 2010 and listening to traditional Cambodian music!

I wish I could upload pictures here, but it is really difficult with file sizes etc, so I might wait to get back to Australia then upload pictures :-)

Day 4:
Today was a 'choose your own adventure' day.  SO what do I do?  Get up at 4am and watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat to start the New Year of 2011!  I totally loved it, through there were about a billion tourists there with the same idea, so it kind of made the experience a little crowded :-/

Here is one successfully uploaded picture, sunrise at Angkor Wat, brilliant!! 

Other things that happened today:

• Caught up on sleep, 2 hour mid morning nap to make up for 4am start!
• Late breakfast.
• Checked out the local markets and saw such tasty fare as deep fried tarantulas! Too scared to try though ;-)
• Had a massage at Body Tune for $16.  Such a blessed thing after a previous day of hard riding!
• Went to the National Angkor Museum.  At $12 for a ticket, it was a little bit exxy, but I loved reading all about the history of the Angkor Empire and seriously, these guys achieved some amazing things!

I have much more to write but I think it is a bit rude of me to hog this computer for so long, so it is goodbye for now and I hope to be back (if not soon when I am back in Australia as I can transcribe the events from my travel diary)

Nic oxo

Fundraising BBQ photo

Firstly, I haven't been around because I've had a particularly busy end of school term!

Here's a photo from the BBQ, I'm in  the background and my excellent helper providing some assistance!  Though I have permission to use the photo, I might just keep names confidential for privacy reasons.  It was a great day and I'm so grateful to the people who gave up their time and helped me out!

Cooking up a storm at the BBQ on October 30th!

So, I finalised my fund raising early this week and If I haven't already given the total, I raised $888.25!!  This is a great result and I went past my $750 goal.  I'm really happy with the final result and what I've achieved in such a short space of time.

The rest of the trip is starting to come together, my Cambodian Visa was approved and emailed to me the other day and I have just organised my airport pickup with PEPY to take me to the hotel when I arrive on the 29th Dec.

I'm hiring the mountain bike and panniers off PEPY too, so I need to go to their headquarters to organise a bike fitting and sort that all out.

Not long now!

The Generosity of Spirit :-)

I have been completely amazed by the generosity of people who don't even know me personally, yet are prepared to donate to my cause :-)

I have been to visit three of my sponsor shops and the result on the money tin collections at their front counters is unreal!

Sister Cafe at Cotton Tree:  Raised $70.20


Sister Cafe at Palmwoods:  Raised $80.50 (someone left a ten dollar note in the tin!)


Collection of Rainbows Giftware:  Raised $23

This is incredibly excellent from all of you!! I am very grateful to the kindness of your staff (some of which emptied your tip jars for me!) and your wonderful customers!

So the total at this point is $660.20! Not long until the target goal of $750 :-D

If you are able to donate at Canada Helps, I would be most appreciative!

http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=9374

Thanks for dropping by! I'm off to practice my Khmer now ;-)

Nicole