Cambodia just won't stop surprising me

I just got a socket brought to me by a waiter in a bar in Phnom Penh! This is called good service!! Anyways, since I have been a little lazy recently, here’s the update from Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.

So we got there safe and sound – surprising after the night bus, huh? 6am, logged into a hostel and started looking for some cheap local breaky and motorbikes for rent. Trying to be scrooges we ended up overpaying 14$… foreigners tax… but we got to a lovely beach as a consolation prize. Not like Boracay, much quieter and with less palm trees, but with really cozy beach restaurants, straw umbrellas and… “massagi” girls! Loved the chill out place – well deserved afer sooo many days of hard work of visiting the temples. So basically we lazed on the beach the whole day, treated ourselves with huge prawns (2 for 1$), some traditional Khmer food and talk with the locals. Of course there can’t be a day without annoying SMarta, so some Polish guys had chosen their straw umbrella not far from ours and made me listen to their sometimes more but usually less interesting conversations.

After we got back we decided to discover one of the surrounding islands, but since there was no accommodation on the Monkey Island any more we chose the all-inclusive boat trip to Koh Rong Saloem. It was a perfect day in a paradise island. Who’d guess that Cambodia has some of the most beautiful beaches, untouched by Western consumerism? We were the only ones there! White sand, that felt like powder, clear water and a jungle. Juuust perfect! The jungle trekking was quite lame and burnt my feet but the river walk was amazing. We walked in a brown colored river, breast high water and cameras in our hands. We got to see a place largely untouched by humans (only by tours organized by that German guy, and he was very strict about not touching anything and following him exactly) with Mangrove trees, snakes living on trees and a Tea tree. The latter was responsible for the repulsive water color. Apparently, wherever a tea tree grows, the river turns brown because of the leaves that fall into it. The snakes were harmless – at least that’s what we’ve been told. We got back very relaxed, just in time to grab some fish’n’chips and take a bus to Phnom Penh.

First day in the capital started bad. I had a bad night, nightmares and got up annoyed. And the tuk tuk guys didn’t help either… it was hard to walk 2 steps without being asked constantly if we want a tuk tuk. But we did our visiting part anyway. Got to see the Killing Fields and the S21 – something comparable to Auschwitz. It made us both think a lot. Firstly, what’s the point in killing the people who were supposed to be the work force for fulfillment of the ambitious Plan of rice growth? After all, they (the Pol Pot regime) was making it impossible for itself to succeed. Secondly, why did they decide to go back to agricultural based economy when theirs functioned quite well?! And lastly, why was it the well-educated people (nearly all of the highest ranked officials studied in Paris) came up with such ridiculous ideas…. The more I get to know about the massacres and the Khmer Rouge, the less I understand. All things considered though, it seems that the Communists were the ones who killed the most people in the name of ideas.