Backpedaling (Posted on 2/9/16)

Heading back into Thailand after just over three weeks in Cambodia. Due to the hot and humid weather, and our intolerance for it, we didn't do as much as we planned. (For instance, we didn't go back to the temples at Ankor Wat or the capital, or visit the Mekong valley (which I imagined to be steamy). Instead, we stayed on the south coast, spending a few days in Koh Kong, which was mentioned in the last post. Next, we spent five somewhat stressful days in the seaside resort town of Sihanoukville. Our first hotel, which I booked online, turned out not to have a/c (though I swear I triple checked this on booking.com) and was really in the middle of nowhere. When I asked the host where we could rent bicycles, he didn't know. The next day we found another hotel that was quite nice, but still pretty far from the places we wanted to be. When we finally found a place that rented bicycles, they were pretty junky, so Matthias declined. But the next day after I went on about the lovely beach I rode to, he acquiesced, and we both had junky bikes for the last two days. But Sihanoukville had worn us down - it's very busy and touristy (hardly a moment without someone wanting to take you somewhere and/or sell you something), so we were more than ready to move on to Kampot after five days.

Riding out to the beach in Sihanoukville

Kampot is a more laid-back riverside town (no beach). Still very touristy, but no where as busy or big as Sihanoukville. Our hotel (booked online again) was pretty nice, and once they switched us from our assigned room where the a/c didn't work, to another which had continuous a/c (even after we removed the key fob that supposedly cut the electricity to the room) we were set. We rented bikes the first day and rode out of town through villages and salt flats looking for the coast. Because of a wrong turn, we didn't make it to the coast, so we tried again the next day and made it. But (as advertised) there was no real beach for swimming - just a rocky coast that made a nice a resting spot. It was a punishing ride on a really bumpy dirt road (and did I mention heat?) so even I was pretty much over bike riding after that. We didn't plan to rent motorbikes in Cambodia because we had heard that foreigners are often pulled over. But then we saw so many tourists on motorbikes, and so many rental places, we decided to take a chance. The first day we rode 25 km out to Kep, a small seaside resort town, where I thought we would also spend a few days. Kep had a great crab market where I had my best meal yet - Crab with Kampot Pepper! However, the town was pretty spread out -just a bunch of guesthouses, a beach and the crab market - but no real downtown area. So, we decided to spend another few days in Kampot.

Our ride to the coast near Kampot (well, 11km away down a dirt road....)

Crab in Kampot Pepper Sauce!!

At the Crab Market in Kep

The next day, we went to Bokor National Park, and rode up toward cooler weather on the mountaintop. The ride was lovely, and the cooler temperature made us happy. On top of the mountain, there was a huge Chinese casino/hotel (but hardly anyone there), a burned out old hotel/casino built by the French, a mountaintop temple and a trickling waterfall (due to the season). It was cool to be up in the clouds but I found most of the attractions to be pretty creepy, which became my new German word for the day:  gruselig.  Google also creeped me out by automatically creating a panarama photo made out of a few I pictures I had taken.  It came out really nice (though I can't figure out how to upload it here).  Now I'm waiting for Google to send me pictures I  didn't even take (e.g.,  "Your trip to Bangkok.  Google created a photo of you getting a massage.  Save to library?")

Up in the clouds at the temple in Bokor National Park (the panarama shot is better)

Inside the ruins of the old resort casino

On our last day in Kampot we rode out to a pepper farm. Kampot pepper is world famous (in France, apparently) and we were shown how it's organically grown here. Matthias had originally planned to bring some back, but when he saw how expensive it was (meaning, more than it cost back home) he decided against it. Probably the right decision. It was quite tasty, but we probably wouldn't know the difference.

at the pepper farm

As I mentioned, we thought it would be too hot to head inland to the capital, or anywhere else for that matter, but we still had some time to kill so we went back to Sihanoukville to spend a few days at the beach and a few nights eating delicious seafood.  We did find a quiet beach where people weren't trying to give me a pedicure, sell me a bracelet or tell me how much my legs needed their hair removal services every three minutes.

Back on the beach in S'nookville

Our favorite beach bar/restaurant on a quiet stretch of beack in S'nookville

Although we didn't do a whole lot in Cambodia, we did come away with a new experience and some general reflections; I'll start with the good, the bad and the ugly...

The good: To our delight, the food in Cambodia was as good as remembered, and we like it perhaps even better than Thai food (although after three weeks of it, I'm looking forward to Thai again). We found a few good versions of fish amok (coconut curry fish), seafood in pepper sauce and great noodle soup. We lasted in Sihanoukville as long as we did because the restaurant on the beach (Aloha cafe, where we spent our days) served good and cheap curry and fried veggies. Plus there was comfy a British Pub (Snooky's) near our hotel that served $0.50 beer at happy hour. And, the much recommended Cabbage Farm restaurant was even better for evening meals.  It had an extensive menu of all kinds of Khmer (Cambodian) dishes, with lots of seafood. We tried almost all of them - eel, shark, whole fish, squid, crab,  shrimp, and our favorite - "sea lobster" which looked more like large "sea roaches" (or maybe craw fish) but were delicious!

At Cabbage Farm with "Sea Lobster" in green pepper sauce

The bad: Cambodia is of course a very poor country and seemingly quite corrupt. And it felt at times they were trying to make up the national budget by taking advantage of tourists. It started at the border, where they tried to extort money for an unnecessary "health check" and overcharged for a taxi into town. Then, after renting a motorbike when we were back in Sihanoukville, we got pulled over for a "random check", or as Lonely Planet puts it - "fundraising activities".  Apparently, they pull foreigners over and give citations for not having the proper license (which, of course, the rental place doesn't check or even tell you about).   Fortunately, we got out of paying a fine, but gave up on motorbikes after that.   The day before getting pulled over we got a flat tire on the way back from the beach.  While that was bad luck, we were fortunate to be about half a mile away from a repair guy.   As Matthias wheeled the motorbike over to the guy he asked "how much" to which the guy replied "I have to see". Well, Matthias probably spent the most agonizing 20 minutes watching the guy repair/patch the tire (which he did without removing the wheel, by the way) wondering how much we were going to be charged.  When he finished, the guy asked for one dollar. We gave him $1.25 and drove gleefully away.

Patching our flat tire - with fire!

The ugly: Cambodia was dirty. There was garbage everywhere - on the street, in the fields and in the rivers (a LOT in the rivers). And they often pile it up and burn it. It seems a shame, but particularly where there is so much building and development going on - grand hotels and casinos being built - but the surrounding area is covered with garbage.  And people regularly toss garbage out of car windows and into rivers.

Cows feeding on burning garbage in the countryside

Other:

Language:  We were able to get by with English as most people could speak at least a little.  That made it easy for us, particularly for something like a haircut.  On the other hand, I  was stumped by some of the translations, as shown below.

Can water really be ultraviolated?

Matthias getting his hair cut

Currency:  They use American dollars and Cambodian currency (riel) interchangably, which made it easy for us when we went to the ATM and got dollars (not worrying about having leftover currency).  But it was also confusing.  One dollar equals 4,000 riel, soyou could think of 1,000 riel as a quarter.  Prices were quoted in either currency (but never both) and you would pay and get change in combination.  For example, if the bill was $8.50 and I paid with a $10 bill, I might get $1 and 2,000 riel back or just 6,000 riel.  It was good brain work trying to pay or count change and I think it does wonders for math skills - everyone was lightning quick at figuring it all out.  Unlike back home where many wouldn't know how much change to give back in a single currency if the cash register didn't tell them.

What's hot:  Smart phones, selfie sticks, skinny jeans, silk scarves and.....sleepwear. I really got a kick out of people wearing pajamas on the streets.  And I don't mean old sweats like one might wear on a day out to Walmart. I mean actual pajama sets.  And not just little kids.  But why not?  Cute, comfy and cool!

Pajamas!

Fast forward (or backward) back to Thailand. We are in Trat again, and we planned on going to the beach today (the first beach we saw - mentioned in the last post - and the reason we came back here) but ironically, it's too windy and cool! We're heading back to Bangkok tomorrow so I can go back to the dentist for a filling, which I'm not too psyched about. Bangkok should be nice, although I suppose it's too much to hope for that it will be as cool as it is today in Trat. Tomorrow is the lunar new year - a big deal here - so we'll see what comes with that. After that, we'll be heading through southern Thailand to Kuala Lumpur from where we will fly back to the US (via Tokyo) at the end of the month.  

Last day in Cambodia