Phnom Penh: Introduction to Cambodia

Over the last eight months many of our travel plans changed and morphed - we skipped Indonesia entirely, reworked our Japan itinerary, stayed twice as long as we had planned in Malaysia, added an extra month to Australia, and added a stopover in New Zealand.  Of course those are just a few of the changes to our plans; there were so many other smaller shifts and re-jiggerings while on the road it was sometimes difficult to remember the original plan, which usually stops mattering once you set off anyway.  A bus breaks down, you get kicked off a bus outside your destination unable to understand why, a city captivates you immediately, a city repulses you even more immediately.  Whatever the specific circumstances, real-life travel is rarely much like imagined travel at all.  And that is indeed one of the beauties of travel.  But one plan that remained un-fussed with and that we're glad about leaving alone, even though it would have been easy to squeeze out entirely because it was our last destination, was our decision to go to Cambodia at the end of our trip.  For many reasons, Cambodia has been the perfect place to end our journey.

We did not know much about Cambodia when first planning our time in SE Asia, but we knew enough about Angkor Wat and its surrounding, crumbling splendor to plan for at least one week in Cambodia between Vietnam and our flight home from Bangkok.  Now that we have been in Cambodia almost that full week, we can tell you that one week is not enough time to fully experience and appreciate the warmth and wonder that is the Cambodian people and spirit.  But for us one week is both perfect and necessary, as we are quite literally running out of time (something we didn't think was possible with eight months to work with) and looking more and more forward to seeing our friends and family as our flight home draws near.  We are also burning out, as bug bites, small ailments, and exhaustion have all beaten us into near submission.  We will hopefully come back to Cambodia to explore the path less trodden, which many other tourists skip (ourselves included) as they take about six or seven days to hang out in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, just long enough to get a taste of the capital and thoroughly templed-out at the Angkor temple area.  Judging by the small, delightful taste we have gotten, we can imagine that if Cambodia had happened somewhere around June or July, or even August or September, we might have gladly tacked on an extra week or two!

Cambodia is a beautiful country that, despite it's difficult recent history, exerts a quiet, consuming energy that is surprising and infectious.  Our first stop, Phnom Penh, helped bring us closer to the country's culture, history and people, and we saw very quickly, even in Cambodia's largest city, some of the shining personalities Khmer people are famous for.  A waiter at one of our lunch-stops was so excited to talk with us and practice his English that he spoke with us for a good ten or fifteen minutes after we had finished and paid.  This was not a tip or any hospitality industry massaging.  This young man was genuinely interested in meeting us and learning about us.  He smiled and laughed and joked his way to getting our contact information so he can Skype with us when we're back home.  There was nothing but a real excitement to make new friends in his approach and discussions with us.  Beyond the language barrier, he was curious about us and what we thought about Cambodia (as well as the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum we had just visited, which will be the focus of our next post). 

PP is a city of over 1.5 million, but it feels a bit smaller - a la Vientiane, Laos.  There are many expats and tourists, as well as many busy roads and large buildings, but the city is laid-back almost to the point of lazy.  It is just a really easy city to be in, whether that means to live in, sight-see in, explore, or whatever you like.  Phnom Penh effortlessly becomes almost anything you might want it to be. Fancy restaurants and hotels for the snooty, really excellent and dedicated charities and NGOs (that help landmine victims, disabled Cambodians, and street youth find better lives using innovative and sustainable methods) for the giving, river-side bars and restaurants for the fun-loving.  Although cozy and friendly, PP has a lot to offer.


Also on offer, whether sought out or not, is an introduction to Cambodia's sad and often violent history.  Reminders are everywhere - from young children with landmine injuries begging on the street to museums grimly recounting the colonialism, civil wars, genocide, and upheaval that has rocked and divided Cambodia for the last 100 years.  PP can excite and horrify all within a matter of moments, but the emotional realities brought to light in PP are important to learn from.

PP captivated us, and we held our gaze for better and worse.  We stared and took note when PP surprised and warmed us with it's friendliness, culture, and big-city pleasures.  And we stared still, in a different way altogether, when PP terrified and disturbed us.  Undoubtedly and unreservedly, Phnom Penh introduced us to both sides of Cambodia - its dark, sad past, as well as its bright, hopeful future.

Travel Daze: Two buses and a Boat, and Nong Khiau for Bonus Points

The standard two to three week falang tour through Laos is pretty set:  Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Luang Nam Tha. 

The route between the main Laos destinations, while similarly set, can be free-styled upon a little bit.  For fun, we thought we'd share with you how we got around:



> We entered Laos at the Huay Xai border with Thailand by boat (5 minutes).

> Bus from Huay Xai to Luang Nam Tha (5 hours).

> Luang Nam Tha to Nong Khiaw by bus (about 7 hours).  The extra-slow paced Nong Khiaw had beautiful karst mountains, a river, a few falang outposts for eating and sleeping, lazy hammocks, a bridge, and not much else.  Paradise?

> Scenic boat ride from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang, below stunning karst mountains and past villagers fishing and children bathing (about 6.5 hours on a low, wooden bench).

> Rough and winding roads for most of a nearly 12 hour (yes, that's TWELVE HOUR!!) bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane.

> Flight out of the pleasant Vientiane international airport to Hanoi (the flight was just over an hour, but take off was delayed without reason or notice for nearly an hour).

Vientiane: The Chillinest Capital City in SE Asia

Note:  We have just two weeks before we come home!  And we have this ridiculous notion that we'll be able to catch our blog up to date before we board our December 2nd flight in Bangkok.  We still want the posts to be good, but we're going to try to pack more into each post.  Hope you still enjoy the ride!

Enjoying b-fast at the Scandinavian Bakery

Even with just over 750,000 people, Vientiane feels more like a small, dusty town than a capital in SE Asia.  Friendly, relaxed, and compact, Vientiane turned out to be one of Jeff's favorite cities in SE Asia.  It had a certain level of quirk and authenticity you only get in a city that hasn't fully erupted with a full-fledged tourist boom yet.  There are good hotels and restaurants (including some wonderful cafes, like the Scandinavian Bakery, which we visited twice) and shops aimed at tourists, but Vientiane didn't have the same phoney gloss that made Luang Prabang feel at times like it could be any city in Western Europe.  LP had its own charms and little nuances that set it apart in the end, but Vientiane had a perfect blend of Western comforts and unspoiled Laos style that made it unique to many of the cities and towns on the beaten SE Asia trail - also known as the "Banana Pancake Trail." 

Even Buddha takes it easy in Laos

The Buddha Park outside of town, provided a nice half day trip and lots of photo opportunities.  The Buddha park itself is only about 60 years old, but since all of the sculptures are made out of concrete the place looks ancient.  The combination of Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist symbolism made for some very interesting sculptures!  An unexpected bonus at the park were the few young Laotian men who genuinely want to practice their English with us.  Jeff was approached by three total, and was initially dubious, but the Buddha park has become a popular place for English practice, as the tourists in town are too wary of strangers (due to hard sells on everything from tuk tuk rides to marijuana).  Jeff had two great conversations with these friendly young fellows, and even started corresponding by email with Lar (pronounced La-a), a young monk hoping to go to university in Australia or the US.  Apparently there is a very difficult English test that can make or break a young Laotian's hopes of going to university abroad and it was cool to chat with them and try to help them pass their tests.

There is a large expat community in Vientiane (well, it felt large since we saw them everywhere and ate at their restaurants), which made for some excellent eating.  But the food in Vientiane was a (distant) second place behind the few hours we spent at a temple outside the city.  We biked four kilometers to Wat Sok Pa Luang, often referred to as the forest temple, and the calm, green setting was welcome indeed.  We attended a meditation session, where we learned about and attempted to partake in some Vipassana meditation - a meditation style of monks and nuns all across Laos.  Our Vipassana session consisted of three parts: a sitting meditation and a walking meditation, finished with another sitting meditation.  Each of the three parts are twenty minutes, their end signaled by a small gong.  We found, unsurprisingly, that clearing our minds was extremely difficult.  Jeff found that the act of walking helped, which he didn't expect.  We were instructed to focus only on each step we took.  Having a task maybe helped Jeff clear the rest of the rubbish out of his skull.   We found the practice, overall goal, and teachings helpful, difficult, and totally rewarding.  We could really see, even from just that one session, how beneficial meditation could be to us both.  We were also lucky enough to have the founder of these weekly sessions, held every Sunday and open to foreigners, with us that day.  She was an old nun who, with the help of an interpreter, answered some questions and talked a bit about why she thinks meditation and Buddhism are so important.  

Also at Wat Sok Pa Luang, we got some traditional Laos massages.  The messages were a little like paying to get mugged, but Jeff really liked the back-cracking and rough stuff.  Annette was less of a fan, but her lady did hit a few really nice notes between handing out a royal beat down.  The meditation and message were a nice compliment to the temple, especially since the meditation type is common in Laos and we'd only read or heard about it.  (Check out the Macklemore song!)

The sleepy capital of Laos was a fitting place to do a little final shopping while contemplating the brief and splendid time we spent in the slow-paced, fast-developing gem of SE Asia.  There is a great non-profit organization called Mulberries in Laos that works with female artists to make beautiful handicrafts in a positive, sustainable way.  All of the items are fair trade certified, and the company is dedicated to empowering Laotian women and their communities by creating a strong collective of self-sufficient artists.  Naturally we loaded up on gifts (check your stockings and trees come Christmas time!) and were inspired by the mission and work of the Laotian-run organization.  Laos is a difficult place to live for many, and we feel strongly that groups like the one in Vientiane help the country grow and develop.  They are, in short, an example of how tourism can help a country like Laos, as tourists are the target market for the goods produced.

In a region of the world that is developing at a breakneck pace, it was refreshing to hang out in a city like Vientiane.  Laos is developing very quickly these days, and seems to be experiencing some growing pains in the process.  For now, Laos is still known for being super chilled-out, which is the opposite of what our next destination, Hanoi, is known for.  Loud, frenetic, passionate, and intrusive, Vietnam proved all around to be bizzarro-Laos in all the best ways!

Luang Prabang

One of the best parts about the former Laos capital of Luang Prabang was how we got there:

Driving on winding, washed out roads in buses and mini-vans for the first few legs of travel in Laos moved us to agree that traveling by boat down the Nam Ou river would be the best way to get from the small, worthy town of Nong Khiaw to Laos' tourist center, Luang Prabang.  Indeed, our boat ride was a welcome departure from the mad-cap adventure that is driving on roads in Laos - that guy behind you isn't just clearing his throat, his face is buried in a plastic bag for a reason.

Even though booking the boat involved running all over town and riding in the boat involved six hours on a thin wooden bench with a prehistoric engine roaring in our ears, scooting to Luang Prabang on the river was definitely the way to go.  This fact is a proof of both the beautiful scenery along this stretch of the Nam Ou river and how insane the roads can be in Laos.  We must also thank the friendly North Carolinian, Adam, for sharing his inflatable sleeping pad as a seat cushion.  Spectacular limestone karst mountains and the common sight of waving local children bathing and playing on the banks made our river ride to LP one of the best parts of traveling in Laos and the noise and the back and butt pain faded away just faded away.

Luang Prabang is an easy place to be a tourist.  The main drag felt a lot like any city in Europe and really disappointed us at first.  We had been really excited to visit LP as we had heard a lot of good things from other travelers and read much about its charms and atmosphere.  If Chiang Mai is the Acapulco of Thailand, Luang Prabang is the Chiang Mai of Laos which, we decided after we got to know the city beyond the absurdness that struck us our first night there, might not be such a bad thing.  The same things that make LP a tourist safe-haven in Laos, also make it comfortable and easy.  That first night we were repelled by the buffet food and crepe stalls aimed only at tourists, the glossy shops and restaurants on the main drag that stripped the area of anything resembling a unique personality, and the tired, uninspired nightly night market.  By the time we left we had found quite a few gems at the night market, explored LP beyond it's main strip, and discovered that the small town did in fact have some character of its own. 

In a way it is really good that Laos and South East Asia have a place like Luang Prabang.  Everyone travels differently, and if LP's safe and familiar atmosphere helps get people to Laos and SE Asia, then we approve.  A lot of people that might not visit Laos otherwise were there with their friends and families getting a dose of the region and the country.  Who are we to judge, anyway?  We had one of our best breakfasts in months at a fancy French cafe in LP and shopped and meandered the town's backstreets as though we were right back in Europe four years ago.  The more time we spent in LP, the more we liked it.  And it was an excellent reminder that tourism has two sides, positive and negative.  The potential homogenization of LP is a negative, but the tourist dollars that all of the NY Times readers and wealthy foreign travelers bring to Laos are a positive (as long as tourism continues to develop naturally and healthily in the town and country alike).

As safe and touristic as it is, LP has a lot to like.  There are some magnificently crumbling temples (Wats) and in some areas the streets are frequently flooded with more monks in brightly colored tangerine robes than tourists.  LP used to be the capital of Laos and it's interesting Royal Palace Museum was well worth the visit.  Annette liked the palace for it's fairly recent history - many of the rooms and living spaces were decorated with items and in styles from a time not too far removed from our own.   We also found a few shops that specialized in arts and crafts that were from the region, rather than just whatever tourists were likely to buy.  A trip out of the tourist core to a bustling local market was also good for our souls.  This place was the Fred Meyer of markets, as it had stalls selling everything from fish to garden tools. 

Even sunsets are an event in LP

We're finding that natural beauty is continually the thing we are most attracted to in any country we visit.  Laos is no different.  Mount Phousi, for example, is a great place to marvel at the beauty of LP and Laos around sunset, but it isn't for people who think sunsets are about peace and tranquility.  Hoards of tourists (us included one night) clamber up the mountain each evening to snap photos of the hill-top Wat perched on its summit and to ogle the setting sun.  If you like to push and elbow your way through crowds, and to defend your position, when viewing sunsets, you'll love Mount Phousi.  Otherwise, it is interesting for the people watching and philosophical implications.  Any glimpse you might be able to sneak of the horizon is a bonus!

Our experience with the slack-jawed masses on Mount Phousi convinced us that we should leave early to visit the nearby and famous Kuang Si falls.  Haggling with a bunch of wily tuk tuk drivers early in the morning is always a great way to start the day, and before we knew it we were put-putting up to the falls.  Kuang Si falls are a special set of small falls and pools below one large fall.  Minerals in the water (we think) turn the color a distinct minty color.  Those same minerals cling to rocks, dirt, trees, and even a staircase leading up to the top of the large fall, making the many areas in and around the falls look like they are dripping, alive with a shiny, rumpled substance.  The pools themselves are excellent for swimming, leaping into from a rope swing, and getting your feet nibbled fish (a service tourists all over SE Asia pay for in malls that we were tickled - literally - to get for free).

In a surprising and educational twist, Kuang Si falls is home to The Bear Rescue Sanctuary (also called Bear Laos, a play on the favorite national beer, Beer Laos), a sanctuary that rescues sun bears from all over SE Asia.  The sanctuary works to teach people (Laotians and foreigners, alike) about the plight of bears in Asia, who are hunted legally and illegally for paws, fur, and bile.  We also learned that sun bears really like hammocks and solving food puzzles to get their daily meals.  The Bear Laos project was a nice addition to a beautiful area outside of the tourist-crush of Luang Prabang.  We hung around the falls for almost 4 hours and hopped in the back of our tuk tuk, after summoning the driver away from what looked like an all tuk tuk driver pool tournament, and sped back to LP just as everyone else was starting to crowd the falls and pools in the heat of the afternoon.

We left LP liking it a lot more than that first night, but still less hypnotized by it's tourist friendliness than other "tourist towns" we'd been to.  The charms and pleasant surprises that remainged in LP left us wanting what we couldn't have: The entire town, it's buildings, temples, monks, and Mekong vistas, to ourselves.  LP was really an excellent stop in some ways, but for us two days was enough.  We left LP one day earlier than we planned, curious to see what the current capital, Vientiane, would be like.

Crossing into Laos: A Trip Through Time

Crossing the Thai/Laos boarder from Chiang Khong, Thailand to Huay Xai made us feel like we were finally in South East Asia. Since we'd already been in SE Asia for a combined total of nearly 2 1/2 months, we should probably rewind to the beginning of this strange-feeling travel day day to explain:

We left our Chiang Mai hotel at 7:30 in the morning, bus tickets to Chiang Khong in hand.  Our bus was scheduled to leave at 8:30, though we didn't get on the road until about 10am due to the bus being late and having broken air conditioning (which was never really fixed, just tinkered with and imagined to be repaired).  Our bus tickets were for a "VIP" bus, which is supposed to have nicer seats and be a comfier all-around ride.  In a business savvy move, the bus company gave everyone the old switcharoo (and eventually a small refund) by putting us all on a much crappier, older bus with broken air, and an uncomfortable triple-seat on one side.  These buses can hold more people, so the bus company was able to pack it full and make a few extra bucks.  Since the journey is over five hours, this changed the happiness-level of our day considerably.

Speaking of rating systems, the triple seats had a comfort level of negative 13 on a scale of 1 to 10.  The back of the seats were separated and curved like horrible, tiny bucket seats, but the actual seating portion was a bench.  This was the first time we had ever seen bus seats like this, and we hope it is the last!  The bus ride may not have been the worst we've ever taken, but it went briefly from unpleasant to a true pain in the back when we had a third seat-mate for about an hour.

Our bus arrived in Chiang Khong an hour and a half late, but that was no biggie because we really had no plans.  And, as thumbs down as the bus ride was, Jeff will always pleasantly recall his conversation in broken English with a mother and daughter.  The latter was on break from studying to be a nurse in Bangkok, and the former was an English teacher (which made us curious about her students' English, because hers, while not terrible, was basic at best).  Having the opportunity to have a conversation with locals is always priceless.

Our day got interesting after we tumbled off the bus in Chiang Khong.  You see, the bus drops you off at the bus station, which is some distance from the "port" (we'll use that term really loosely here).  We caught a tuk tuk to the "port" where a man in a small room asked us where we were going in Laos and stamped our passports.  We then walked down to the edge of the mighty Mekong and bought two tickets for the boat across to Laos from two women sitting at a folding table under an umbrella.  They had two books of tickets, the lower priced tickets presumably for Thai and Laos citizens, and a money box like the one used at high school basketball games and car washes.  We had our long tail boat to ourselves.  Our driver didn't say anything, but he ferried us swiftly from one country to another.  A true professional.  He wasn't responsible for the beauty of the setting sun, mountains, or atmospheric clouds, but they really helped make our ride with him memorable.  His boat can be best described as rickety. The silent captain, rickety boat, and misty mountains made the scene perfect.  For some reason crossing the Mekong the way we did completed some old, deep-set imagery we had in our heads about what SE Asia is supposed to look and feel like.  Oddly, we both felt like we were just then going to the rural, makeshift, developing South East Asia we'd been expecting. 

The only official building at the Laos side of the Thai/Laos border at Huay Xai

Two other things, one on each side of the border, helped set the stage for our Laos adventure:  A small shop with a homemade sign above the "port" that apparently exchanged money caught our eye as we exited our tuk tuk since we needed some Laos Kip.  We were able to haggle for a better exchange rate (a first for us both) and waived goodbye as the owner slumped back down in his chair, guitar in hand.  The other was just the general state and atmosphere of the offices on the Laos side.  There is nothing really stopping you from running up the boat ramp and into Laos.  We chose to go the legal route and checked in at a small window we guessed to be immigration.  Passport scanning equipment?  Computers?  Forget about it!  This is probably what this border crossing looked like 50 years ago, except maybe for the AC unit that turned the office into a refrigerator.  There wasn't any customs to speak of, but some guys dressed in t-shirts got our paperwork going for our Laos visas.  We paid a uniformed man who also signed and stamped our visas and passports, and were on our way.  The whole thing was as laid-back as a border crossing can get.  We'd heard Laos took it pretty easy, but we never expected a border crossing quite like the one we encountered!

We found a guest house and wondered the town a bit before finally settling down with a mind-calming view of the sun setting over the Mekong.  We added some of Laos' favorite cold beverage, Beer Laos, and let the beautiful scenery take center stage.  The large brown river and the misty mountains in the background really felt like SE Asia. It's hard to explain, but we felt like we finally made it!