If life's about the trip,.. we sure are living!

Cambodia is a place unlike any other we have ever travelled: fascinating, devastating, and beautiful in it's own way. It is probably also the poorest place I have ever been (so far, although Laos is coming up shortly!). The people smile more and are more welcoming than those Thai people who are tainted by tourists. Everywhere we have been in this country we have been welcomed with what we like to call "hello ambushes".  Drive-by greetings on scooters, passing kids on the street, everyone calling out the sometimes the only word of english they know: "Hello!".  However, the country is sadly also very corrupt- we saw a group of people surrounded by police in a situation that looked fairly intense, only to find out that they had all parked on the street illegally and were discussing a price that would be fair to pay off the policeman to not give them a proper ticket... Tough but fair? The country is full of contrasts in society, food, nature, you name it.  It strives to have some modern technologies even though in most other ways the country is still undeveloped. For example, there are kids everywhere with no shoes but wearing an angry birds t-shirt, stilted wooden  shacks barely standing that are cell phone shops, garbage lines the side streets and non-tourist beaches yet almost every single place to eat has free wifi. The shops all have energy-efficient light bulbs because electricity is so expensive here they need to save wherever possible. Seeing all of this very clearly shows how much the Cambodian people have been through relatively recently, and how they are still trying to put their country back together.

Beautiful pristine beach on the island of Koh Rong

The first sight we see on the mainland after returning from the island.

Some of the wealth in Phnom Penh

The reality of many homes outside of Cambodia's capital city,

We've been here for almost two weeks now and it has been a tumultuous ride! Just as Cambodia seems to have conflicting character, so are our opinions of Cambodia double-sided.  Mostly good, but you sometimes have to look past the bad to see it.  In the more touristy areas you are constantly reminded of the poverty. Begging on the streets is continuous with land mine victims, mothers with children and mostly young children who have been sent out by elders to beg or sell bracelets on the street.  We are so lucky to have had such positive experiences with both locals and foreigners as these relationships and encounters help us to move on from more negative ones. The big city of Phnom Penh looks pretty flash, but in traveling between major city destinations the bus passes rural areas which show the more harsh reality that many of the Cambodian (Khmer) people face. The food has also been hit and miss: we ate the most delicious fresh pepper crab literally grabbed out of the ocean (Kimly's Restaurant at the Crab Market in Kep = the best!), yet days before I had the worst BBQ experience ever, with the fishiest prawns I've ever had and something dry and chewy which I'm pretty sure wasn't the chicken I had ordered! Our accommodation was also an experience.  One night we stayed in a guesthouse in Kep that was newly built, probably less than a year old. The room was flash for our standards, AC and everything!  But then in the morning I tried to open the door to the bathroom and it was locked from the inside. Chris took apart the whole handle (my Mr. Fix-It!) but even after it was unlocked the latch wouldn't release. I went to get a guy to come look at it. He came in, tried the handle once and then without hesitation wound up and karate kicked the door in, breaking the door knob but leaving the door intact. Apparently this happens all the time and it was the cheaper model door handle..? Anyway he replaced the door knob which will probably last another week before the same thing happens again. Just crazy!

Our delicious green Kampot pepper crab meal in Kep!!

Anyway, here's how it all went down. We left Phnom Penh for Sihanoukville. It was touristy and apart from the French Boulangerie with fresh bread and delicious crepes, there wasn't much for us there. Instead, we stayed on the beautiful island of Koh Rong where we went scuba diving and floated in the clear waters of a 4km long white sand beach.  Paradise Bungalows was a beautiful spot to chill out and eat good food and we practiced doing as little as possible for a couple of days.  A nice break (I know, I shouldn't be saying that to the working world right now, but it's true..)

They don't call it "Paradise Bungalow" for nothing!

Our last stop in Cambodia fortunately ended up being in Kampot, a city on an estuary close to the Gulf of Thailand which is famous for the harvesting of both salt and pepper.  Here we checked into a guesthouse for $7 a night (!) and one night's stay quickly turned into three. So much of traveling experiences are shaped by the people you meet, and we met a sweet crew of travelers in Kampot. Five other peeps from all over the globe: Canada, NZ (obviously this helped spark initial conversation) US and Bulgaria!  The first night we met we ended up partying until after the last tuk tuks, so we stayed up playing charades, jumping off a makeshift diving board into the interestingly-smelly river, giving each other ninja names (I shall from here forward refer to myself as Night Gator) and dancing to a random mix of mostly awesome tunes! We hit sunrise up after deciding to walk home, a great way to end a solid night (and morning) out.  Two of our new buddies, Jeff and Neda, had been in Kampot for almost a week and the next day they took us on a culinary tour of the city. That was the beginning of a relationship where we continue to be taken care of (they call us the 'kids' and we often fit the bill pretty well).  Fried chicken, chocolate chip pancakes, mango smoothies without added sugar (very important!), peppered dishes (the local specialty) and cheap cocktails at sunset- all for prices within our budget! Needless to say, we took a liking to them straight away! They are both passionate about yoga and spirituality and we have learned a lot of travel tricks from them already (check out their spiritual blog, it's awesome!)... I sometimes wonder what our contribution to this travelling partnership is, but I don't think they're sick of us quite yet! Frank, Cat and Claudia completed the crew and we spent two days bonding with them in Kampot as well and they are awesome people too (and great countries of origin)!

Claudia, Jeff, Cat, Me, Neda, Chris and Frank 

Watching sunset on the Kampot estuary... we're so lucky to see sunsets all over the world and be able to take the time to sit and enjoy them.

Our culinary tour guide, Jeff, and some delish street-fresh fried chicken.

On our last day together we went on a fishing trip to get a feel for the local culture. It was awesome being out on the boat, but definitely had two ways of looking at the trip (again fitting for Cambodia)- on the one hand hanging out with a crew on a small boat, jumping off for a swim in the ocean, drinking beers and iced coffees on the boat and stumping the others with "this is the pointing game" was an awesome time!! We had a lot of laughs and it was a good day... However, the 'fishing' left something to be desired. Upon the original sizing up of the fish hooks we were pretty sure the fish would be puny. We were unfortunately all too right! There is apparently no size limit for the fish the people here will eat- we're talking 10-15cm people, TINY!  Not only were the fish so small that one could only wonder how you would get more than two bites per fish, but the traditional method that the Khmer people have of killing them leaves something to be desired. They don't actually kill them, but rather put them in freshwater so that they gradually suffocate. Then, dead or alive, they chuck 'em on the grill. Pretty ruthless compared to what we are used to. The look on Chris' face when he first saw this cannot be described  another priceless moment. Combine these odd fishing habits with a small boat 'sans keel' that left people clutching their wrist pressure points, throwing back cans of ginger beer and trying not to hurl (some were more successful than others ;) due to stormy weather and major rocking, and again we found ourselves shaking our heads thinking: "why"...?

This happened a lot in Cambodia. Our top three "why's" are:
3. Why don't the builders make a small effort to bury the drainage pipes instead of having crisscrossed blue plastic all over what would otherwise be quite beautiful places?
2. Why are there buildings that blast recordings of birds chirping all day long? Is it too add ambience to an already noise-polluted environment? How long is the loop for this recording? Where does it come from?
1. Why is it that so many Khmer people (of all ages) wear their pajamas all day long (although this is quite hilarious, it could also be followed with the question why not?!!)

The boys up front on the boat.. note the background weather, not exactly sunshine! 

The crew - chris.  The boat is already rocking and we haven't left shore.. :S

Part of Khmer culture is seeing how many people you can squeeze onto a scooter.

Gotta love the Khmers! Ah Cambodia, we will miss you!! So many times we have said to each other 'it's all part of the experience'- hell, I've probably already said it in this blog already, because that is the joy of travel! It's not always easy, sometimes downright unpleasant, but you accept those as memories you will look back on and laugh at and in return you have countless positive, unforgettable experiences in between. After all, "Life's about the trip, not the destination", right?

Our frisbee buddies.  My favorite part of Cambodia was the people we met. The kids are so innocent, loving and happy to play for as little or long as you're willing. 

And so we say goodbye to Cambodia and follow our savvy travel buddies to Vietnam for some more culinary adventures (we hope)!

Lauren and Chris xo