Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia. As it sustains a lot of wildlife and small communities it’s a great place to visit once you get “templed out”. After the amazing temples of Angkor a change feels good.
I visited the submerged forest and one of the villages on Tonle Sap on my third day in Siem Reap. It is pretty easy to arrive to the lake – and all the villages nearby gladly provide you with a motorboat and skipper.
While Angkor Wat is the most famous temple complex in Cambodia, there is a huge diversity of temples in the area. I think a whole week would not be enough to visit every little temple – so everybody has to pick some of the main attractions in the area.
I will start with some photos taken at Banteay Srei, one of the more remote temples near Siem Reap. The amazing level of detail, the beautiful statues and the surrounding areas made the agonizing tuk-tuk drive completely worth it.
This is not going to be a cheerful post. S21 – for those who do not know – is the codename for one of the most brutal prisons, where thousands of people were tortured. It all happened when the Khmers Rouges rulled Cambodia, between 1974 – 1979. In the name of creating a better society – a perfect agrarian utopia – the Pol Pot regime managed to kill more than 3 millions Cambodians. From the moment the Khmers came to power and Phnom Penh fell, a giant program of extermination started. Until the Vietnamese army invaded in 1979 and put a stop to the madness, Pol Pot regime hunted its own people. Mass exodus from the cities (the city symbolized corruption), imprisonment, torture and ultimately death were what Khmers Rouges did. Even though that 30 years have passed, only now one of the last chapters of the nightmare ends. Deuch – the chief of the best known prison S21 – faces the tribunal for genocide. Some of the leaders of that regime already escaped justice – Pol Pot died.
Visiting S21, an old high school located in central Phnom Penh is an eerie experience. The countless photos of the killed (men, women, children) are haunting.
Random thoughts and pleasant memories.
Written while waiting in Phnom Penh airport – have to put free WiFi to good use, right? Unfortunatally when I wanted to post this, my connection fell to pieces. So here it is, a few days later.
- riding with Frida from Denmark, Mike from Kenya and the hostel owner in the back of a friend’s pickup to go to a local place to eat
- riding an elephant – all by myself and without howdah!
- when leaving the guesthouse in Siem Reap having Monty Python “bright side of life” played as farewell – also now there’s a 5 ron note on their wall to add to the collection of currencies
- having a lazy late breakfast in Phnom Penh – sweet strong coffee, steak and bean tea (local variant of bubble tea). Total check bin @ 4.5 usd…
- started to use ‘same same’and ‘hot small’in casual talks – my English is same same but different from when I left home…
- starting to get confused on the currencies – Thai baht, Laos kip, Vietnamese dong (yeah…) and of course the Cambodian dollar (US dollar). By the way – it’s funny to receive US dollars at an ATM outside US.
- having a slight start of budgetitis – the state of mind when you start haggling for eveything and deplore the hike in prices brought by Japanese customers. After being spoiled by Laos probably even Thailand will seem expensive. Probably I should avoid traveling in Europe for the following months as I will have a panic attack…
- as much as I dislike shopping, the night market in Luang Prabang is a real gem. Bought a lot of interesting stuff that will probably find no useful purpose
- traffic in Phnom Penh is insane. Having to cross a boulevard while keeping an eye on all the bikes, motorbikes, tuk-tuks and Lexuses was giving me a headache. No streetlights or zebras make crossing the street adventurous.
- next time I get to SE Asia (probably next year 
) I will come prepared with a t-shirt that reads “no, i do NOT want a tuk-tuk! I can WALK thankyouverymuch”
And now I should finish my tea and go to board the plane!
…which obviously I did, as now I am in Hanoi, Vietnam.
