Well it’s been an adventurous few days. Kim from South Africa and I are still traveling together and we went to Kampot and we are now in Siem Reap, both are places in Cambodia.
We went from Sihanoukville to Kampot via a shared taxi. That is the only way to get there. Busses do not travel there and the train that is suppose to go there, the locals won’t even take. We were told it would pick us up at 9:30 am. It was late and then we went to another guesthouse to pick up three people for the two hour ride. We waited at this guesthouse for over 45 minutes, with the driver telling us, “10 more minutes, 10 more minutes.” Finally I went into the guesthouse and asked what room the people were in. I went to their room and asked what time they had been told, 11 am. I said we were told 9:30 and had been waiting. So about 11:15 and we hit the road. Only to stop at the local market and have the driver attempt to get another person in the taxi. The taxi was a 1980 Toyota Corolla that seats five people at home, but four in the back seat here and three in the front. One straddling the gear shift is no problem. I was in the back and took advantage of the seat beat that was still there and squished in with the other three in the back.
We made it to Kampot, a rural area on the river. It was great. A true Cambodian town, not many tourists and the downtown was very old and dilapidated. The guesthouse we stayed at was awesome. We had a bungalow on the river with three walls ($8 a night). Where the forth wall should have been was open to the river. There were no locks on any of the rooms in the place. It was interesting. It was a very relaxing place. The bungalow was floating in the river on those blue plastic barrels we have at home and also use to make rafts. We had a mosquito net over our beds. It was a great room; we could roll out of bed and jump in the river, which was a salt water river. There were a lot of people hanging out at this place relaxing in the hammocks, reading and swimming. They also had a speed boat and you could go tubing.
You go to Kampot to see Bokor National Park and Bohdi Villa’s where we stayed. We went to town and signed up to go to Bokor National Park with a company that would pick us up at 8 am the next day. We waited again until 8:45 am and a guy came by on his motorbike and asked what company we were waiting for? He said, oh this company is sh**.” Well he was right. They picked us up in a truck full of people. We were in the cab, which turned out to be a good thing as there was something to hang on to and a little cushioning as we climbed the mountain to a deserted village. The village is part of the National Park. With the $5 each person pays to get into the park they could use it to fix the road. It is a terrible road. It is so rough. Picture the worst farm road or cottage road you have been down in Canada and multiple it by ten.
The truck broke down and we tried to walk to the top. Our “English” speaking guide did not speak much English. So we walked up this terrible road for over an hour then stopped and waited for three hours. We were told the truck would be fixed in an hour and a half and that it would meet us. It never came, so we started to walk down. We passed the truck and there was no way that would be fixed anytime soon. You can look at a picture to verify this. So we had to walk down the mountain. It took six hours and no truck came to pick us up. Once making it to the bottom we had to pay to take a taxi back to town. It is also the hottest month of the year in Cambodia with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius. We were dirty, hot, sore and thirsty. So the next scam, 10 of us have to climb into this taxi, again a 1980’s Toyota Corolla and he charges us $1 U.S. each.
Once getting to town and complaining with the company they gave us our money back for the tour, but we had to pay the taxi. The guy said he was sending a car and the guide told him not to come. I am sure the guide was in on the taxi money. As the guide got in a car on the walk down and went to the bottom making us walk. He was to be going to get us a vehicle, but no.
So people discussed our situation with the park and they were going to honour our admission the next day. There is a separate entrance fee on top of the tour to take you to the top.
Day two of trying to make it to Bokor National Park resulted in a different company and another break down.
Three quarters of the way up you could walk part of the trail. Three of us decided we walked enough yesterday and had seen enough of the jungle and we would take the truck up. They stopped to let the people out and shut off the one truck. It would not restart. They attempted to jump start it by rolling it backwards, on the side of the mountain, with us in the back. We yelled stop as it was going over the side of the cliff and we jumped out, when they did not stop. People following us in their car tried to help and the one truck towed the other for a while with black smoke billowing out of the engine on the lead truck. I ended up playing “go fish” with Mija and Katrina from Denmark and Cambodian children that were in the other vehicles while we waited for them to fix the vehicle.
Four hours it took to get up the mountain to the disserted village. It was a happening town in the 60’s but after the war in the 70’s it is in ruins. It is suppose to be haunted. Once making it finally to the top the heavens opened up and it POURED rain. Luckily we were under a sun shelter. It stopped and left a fog around the area, creating a spooky feel. There was a Casino/Hotel, Catholic Church, school and other buildings to check out. It was neat, but seems like a lot of effort to get there and a ton of wear and tear on those vehicles. I would not want to be the guy that has to drive up there every day. The day ended with a boat cruise down the river and a free beer on the boat, as we did not get to go to the waterfall (part of the tour) as it is dry at this time of year.
Kim and I took the bus from Kampot to Siem Reap at 7 am. It had a stop in Phnom Penh for an hour and a half. You could buy a ticket to Phnom Penh and then another to Siem Reap. We bought a ticket straight though to save the hassle once we got to the bus terminal. A good thing as the bus was over sold and we would have had to stay another day in Phnom Penh. So guess what two seats were over sold. Seat five and six, our seats, as they give you assigned seats. They wanted us to get off, but we showed our tickets and we were early and sitting in the seats when the others came. We made it luckily to Siem Reap. We had just said, well it looks like this is working out as we questioned if we would have problems with a ticket from another town. But it worked out and we made it in at 8 pm. A long travel day, 13 hours by bus. My ears were sore as the guy was laying on the horn the whole way. If you watched the road, it looked like we were going to hit every dog, cow, motorcycle or other vehicle in our path. He was insane.
Taking in the walking sites around town today and found a lovely park with nice gardens. We are going to Angkor tomorrow to see the temples. They look beautiful. If you have time search Angkor on the internet.
Click on the following link for pictures, or copy the link and paste it into the browser as clicking on it may not work this time.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/KampotCambodia
We went from Sihanoukville to Kampot via a shared taxi. That is the only way to get there. Busses do not travel there and the train that is suppose to go there, the locals won’t even take. We were told it would pick us up at 9:30 am. It was late and then we went to another guesthouse to pick up three people for the two hour ride. We waited at this guesthouse for over 45 minutes, with the driver telling us, “10 more minutes, 10 more minutes.” Finally I went into the guesthouse and asked what room the people were in. I went to their room and asked what time they had been told, 11 am. I said we were told 9:30 and had been waiting. So about 11:15 and we hit the road. Only to stop at the local market and have the driver attempt to get another person in the taxi. The taxi was a 1980 Toyota Corolla that seats five people at home, but four in the back seat here and three in the front. One straddling the gear shift is no problem. I was in the back and took advantage of the seat beat that was still there and squished in with the other three in the back.
We made it to Kampot, a rural area on the river. It was great. A true Cambodian town, not many tourists and the downtown was very old and dilapidated. The guesthouse we stayed at was awesome. We had a bungalow on the river with three walls ($8 a night). Where the forth wall should have been was open to the river. There were no locks on any of the rooms in the place. It was interesting. It was a very relaxing place. The bungalow was floating in the river on those blue plastic barrels we have at home and also use to make rafts. We had a mosquito net over our beds. It was a great room; we could roll out of bed and jump in the river, which was a salt water river. There were a lot of people hanging out at this place relaxing in the hammocks, reading and swimming. They also had a speed boat and you could go tubing.
You go to Kampot to see Bokor National Park and Bohdi Villa’s where we stayed. We went to town and signed up to go to Bokor National Park with a company that would pick us up at 8 am the next day. We waited again until 8:45 am and a guy came by on his motorbike and asked what company we were waiting for? He said, oh this company is sh**.” Well he was right. They picked us up in a truck full of people. We were in the cab, which turned out to be a good thing as there was something to hang on to and a little cushioning as we climbed the mountain to a deserted village. The village is part of the National Park. With the $5 each person pays to get into the park they could use it to fix the road. It is a terrible road. It is so rough. Picture the worst farm road or cottage road you have been down in Canada and multiple it by ten.
The truck broke down and we tried to walk to the top. Our “English” speaking guide did not speak much English. So we walked up this terrible road for over an hour then stopped and waited for three hours. We were told the truck would be fixed in an hour and a half and that it would meet us. It never came, so we started to walk down. We passed the truck and there was no way that would be fixed anytime soon. You can look at a picture to verify this. So we had to walk down the mountain. It took six hours and no truck came to pick us up. Once making it to the bottom we had to pay to take a taxi back to town. It is also the hottest month of the year in Cambodia with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius. We were dirty, hot, sore and thirsty. So the next scam, 10 of us have to climb into this taxi, again a 1980’s Toyota Corolla and he charges us $1 U.S. each.
Once getting to town and complaining with the company they gave us our money back for the tour, but we had to pay the taxi. The guy said he was sending a car and the guide told him not to come. I am sure the guide was in on the taxi money. As the guide got in a car on the walk down and went to the bottom making us walk. He was to be going to get us a vehicle, but no.
So people discussed our situation with the park and they were going to honour our admission the next day. There is a separate entrance fee on top of the tour to take you to the top.
Day two of trying to make it to Bokor National Park resulted in a different company and another break down.
Three quarters of the way up you could walk part of the trail. Three of us decided we walked enough yesterday and had seen enough of the jungle and we would take the truck up. They stopped to let the people out and shut off the one truck. It would not restart. They attempted to jump start it by rolling it backwards, on the side of the mountain, with us in the back. We yelled stop as it was going over the side of the cliff and we jumped out, when they did not stop. People following us in their car tried to help and the one truck towed the other for a while with black smoke billowing out of the engine on the lead truck. I ended up playing “go fish” with Mija and Katrina from Denmark and Cambodian children that were in the other vehicles while we waited for them to fix the vehicle.
Four hours it took to get up the mountain to the disserted village. It was a happening town in the 60’s but after the war in the 70’s it is in ruins. It is suppose to be haunted. Once making it finally to the top the heavens opened up and it POURED rain. Luckily we were under a sun shelter. It stopped and left a fog around the area, creating a spooky feel. There was a Casino/Hotel, Catholic Church, school and other buildings to check out. It was neat, but seems like a lot of effort to get there and a ton of wear and tear on those vehicles. I would not want to be the guy that has to drive up there every day. The day ended with a boat cruise down the river and a free beer on the boat, as we did not get to go to the waterfall (part of the tour) as it is dry at this time of year.
Kim and I took the bus from Kampot to Siem Reap at 7 am. It had a stop in Phnom Penh for an hour and a half. You could buy a ticket to Phnom Penh and then another to Siem Reap. We bought a ticket straight though to save the hassle once we got to the bus terminal. A good thing as the bus was over sold and we would have had to stay another day in Phnom Penh. So guess what two seats were over sold. Seat five and six, our seats, as they give you assigned seats. They wanted us to get off, but we showed our tickets and we were early and sitting in the seats when the others came. We made it luckily to Siem Reap. We had just said, well it looks like this is working out as we questioned if we would have problems with a ticket from another town. But it worked out and we made it in at 8 pm. A long travel day, 13 hours by bus. My ears were sore as the guy was laying on the horn the whole way. If you watched the road, it looked like we were going to hit every dog, cow, motorcycle or other vehicle in our path. He was insane.
Taking in the walking sites around town today and found a lovely park with nice gardens. We are going to Angkor tomorrow to see the temples. They look beautiful. If you have time search Angkor on the internet.
Click on the following link for pictures, or copy the link and paste it into the browser as clicking on it may not work this time.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahemoloney/KampotCambodia
No comments:
Post a Comment