trekking n traveling

After leaving Kampot we head straight to our next destination of Sihanoukville which has a few beaches but is incredibly crowded. Lots of people come to visit this city and it is by far one of the most crowded of places. However Sean had been given advice by a well trusted source that there is an island that you can get a boat trip to and then stay at a small guesthouse. As we arranged our trip to Koh Ru we were very excited to land on the island. Walking through the jungle area to the other side of the island takes about 15 minutes and then we are there. On our way to the beach we hear yapping come from a house and it turned out that there were seven little puppies waiting for us. They were so fosh darn cute with their little tails wagging and soft fur playing around our feet. I was missing not having animals in my life that it definitely put a big s,Ike n my face, after spending an uncounted number of minutes we walked on to a large wooden shack. It’s a quaint little restaurant with an open space where you can lounge and order food, big pillows were clustered around low lying tables perfect for sitting and relaxing. Here we spent one week, under the hot sun enjoying the easy life and even playing a volley ball game which is actually such a challenge in sand. Here we went snorkelling and had a fire at night relaxing by the waves. One of the most unique things about this island was the water. You see, this water is phosphorescent meaning that in the dark of night flakes actually light up in the dark when they are disturbed. You move your arm and a hundred little specs light up! It was truly one of the most amazing experiences I have had here in Asia.

Once we had left Koh Ru we stayed a night in Sihanoukville on the Chinese New Year. Once again the streets could be heard with little firecrackers going off and everyone relaxing and having a little party. Unfortunately the hotels actually bring their price up by 400% for a room, no joke. We ended up finding accommodation for something in our price range not too far from the big market either! 

I ended up getting a bus ticket to Phnom Penh and Sean took the bike back to Kampot, then was going to meet me in a couple days. While in Phnom Penh I learned that moto taxi drivers don’t always know where they are going also that sometimes it’s better to not be a pedestrian on these roads! I was walking down the street and I had seen people take their motorbikes on the side walk before but one came out of no where and knocked me down! Which of course then created a small domino effect knocking down some woman on a bike carrying a large sack. No serious injuries or anything just a few scratches. During the Khmer Rouge back in 1975-1979 they had the entire city of Phnom Penh evacuated and moved every one to the fields to be farmers. The Khmer Rouge shut down schools and killed anyone who was an intellectual, they envisioned a future where Cambodia was nothing but farmland. Anyone who tried to fight against them or hadn’t even done anything were persecuted here, they selected one school called Tuol Lueng to be a detention centre where people were taken here to be tortured to death. It was a bleak time in Cambodia and they lost close to one quarter of their population! During this time there were a few fields that are called the Killing Fields where the Khmer Rouge would take the civilians to this field an execute them, the horrible image is that because the Knmer Rouge were so poor that they couldn’t afford to waste bullets on these people but instead beat them to death. The fields are open to visit however the property was bought buy a Japanese business so the money you spend to go there is not even going back to the country or the people this happened to instead to some Japanese bigwig’s wallet! It’s crazy to think properties with this much significance are sold away. On a brighter side of all of this gloomy details Sean and I are heading to Siem Reap where the much anticipated Angkor Wat and other temples will greet us! Until then..