>> Cambodia <<

A lovely hello back home to you sugarplums,

We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the beautiful spring weather… :)

We have completed another great month of our journey, this time in beautiful Cambodia. In this post, we not only want to share our beautiful travel experiences and pictures with you, but also raise awareness about the history of Cambodia. For us, this country was one of the most emotional stops on our journey so far, mainly because we were hardly prepared for the background and past of Cambodia (and we have even briefly traveled to the country about 5 years ago).

Just like Laos, this country is not as advanced in terms of modernization, so you can still find many more original places here and sometimes have to communicate with sign language because many locals do not speak English… We are extremely glad to have experienced Cambodia at this time because a lot will change here in the next 5-10 years. The city where you can already feel this the most is definitely Sihanoukville in southern Cambodia… the Chinese have seemingly bought the entire city and are building huge hotel complexes and casinos on every square meter of the city... a complete shithole ;). So we wouldn't recommend it to anyone, we only spent one night here to continue our journey to the beautiful islands and apply for our visa for Vietnam... Otherwise, in our opinion, you could scratch this place off your travel list. But let's start from the beginning...

We crossed the border from Laos to Cambodia and started our journey in northern Cambodia. Some of you may wonder who those two people in half of our pictures are… well, this is what happened... when we were waiting for our bus at the border and sipping our iced coffee, we met Irene and Dani. The two are from Seville, Spain and are traveling in Southeast Asia for 3 months. The connection and travel route matched right away, so we spent 60% of our time in Cambodia with them. It was dreamlike and incredibly uncomplicated... When we weren't exploring together, going on bike tours, or enjoying delicious food, we spent our time playing card games... If you know the Spanish card game 500, you know how addictive it can be... Thank you Irene and Dani for enriching our lives through this game! :)

Instead of taking the typical route directly to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, we decided to travel further east first. After spending our first journey together squeezed in the back seat of a small rickety minivan with 19 other locals, it was clear to us that Irene and Dani fit perfectly with us.

The northeast is probably the least touristy part. The small town of Banlung is known for its beautiful nature, numerous waterfalls, and hiking tours. We took a day to take a scooter and drove a big round through the area. Afterwards, we were completely covered in the red powdery dust that is on all the roads there. Madness - like a river of red powder that goes up to your ankles.

On the way to Phnom Penh, we made a stopover in Sen Monorom, where you can also do nice scooter tours. A little tip on the side: definitely try "Kralan". It is sweet sticky rice combined with grated coconut and red beans, roasted and cooked in bamboo tubes. Very delicious and great for on the go!

Phnom Penh was the complete opposite. Skyscrapers, heavy traffic, and even more people... However, the capital city has its charm. You can find many cute cafes and restaurants, or wander through one of the winding markets.

We also visited the S21 Museum here, where you can learn in great detail about the history of Cambodia (definitely get the audio guide!).

S21 used to be a former school which was converted into a literal torture chamber by the Khmer Rouge, where more than 20,000 alleged "enemies of the state" found a cruel death. Here, we intensively dealt with the history of Cambodia for the first time - unfortunately, this chapter is not part of the curriculum in German schools, even though a genocide occurred here just 40 years ago, in which more than 2 million people lost their lives.

The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979 and were a group of radical "communists" who wanted to transform Cambodia into a purely agrarian state. Only the lifestyle of a farmer or being armed on the front line fit into their worldview. Everything else was "counter-revolutionary" and had to be destroyed. If you live in a city, you are an enemy. If you are wealthy, you are an enemy. If you are intelligent, you are an enemy. If you speak foreign languages, you are an enemy, etc. As incompatible as it may be with the ideas of communism, the Khmer Rouge were also "nationalists" - not unlike the Aryan cult of the Nazis. They saw the Khmer as the superior race, which made ethnic minorities and all foreigners automatically enemies.

This paradoxical ideological cocktail, combined with their paranoia of a political upheaval, resulted in a cruel genocide. All city dwellers were deported to the countryside overnight to start farming. The food that was produced did not go back to the workers, but was delivered to China to pay for weapons that the regime needed to maintain their terror. Those who collapsed during work did not pass the "reeducation" and were therefore... enemies.

For us, it was a very emotional chapter of our journey - shocking to learn how flexible morality can be and how history repeats itself, which must not be repeated. We also cannot help but see the country and its people with different eyes... after all, every Cambodian you meet who is over 40 years old was there - as a victim, as a perpetrator, or both.

That's a short summary of the history of Cambodia that has deeply moved us... You can find more information online.

After Phnom Penh, we made a stop in Kampong Thom. Here lies the Sambor Prei Kuk Hindu temple complex, which is the remains of the city of Isanapura and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017. A bit like a small Angkor Wat, but even older historically (founded approximately in 615). Sambor Prei Kuk is the first stone temple city in this part of the world... a real oldie... So if you are into ancient temple cities, be sure to visit here.

We then spent the next week in Siem Reap. A friend of Irene and Dani came from Hong Kong to visit Siem Reap over the weekend. He had reserved a fancy hotel including a pool for the three of them... which was great in the heat, and luckily we could also use the pool :). This was the last time we spent with the Spaniards... Mine went to a yoga retreat for 6 days on Sunday, and Sergi rented a backpacker hostel in the city. The two of them have already continued their journey south.

The Hariharalaya Retreat, about 15 km outside of Siem Reap in the Angkor Wat National Park, is a beautiful place surrounded by nature with inspiring teachers and a great program consisting of a mix of yoga, meditation, and self-discovery workshops. 6 days without a phone, vegan food, and only with yourself just do you good :)... So if you're into that kind of thing, I can only recommend this retreat, here's the link again: www.hariharalaya.com

After the retreat, we stayed in Siem Reap for another two nights and then took the night bus further south to Sihanoukville. Finally, back to the beach! :)

(P.S.: No, we did not visit Angkor Wat! Mine had been there 5 years ago and Sergi simply didn't feel like it ;))

We met Irene and Dani again on the island of Ko Rong Samloem and spent relaxed 6 nights there playing card games, eating, and floating on the beach.

We also celebrated Khmer New Year and Irene's birthday here. We danced on the beach to Cambodian music with locals and tourists, drank rice wine, and covered ourselves with baby powder. It was wonderful! :) But after Samloem, it was time to say goodbye... the Spaniards continued to Vietnam and the two of us had to wait for our visa for Vietnam in Sihanoukville... Since we didn't want to stay in the city, we went to the equally beautiful island of Ko Ta Kiev.

The island belongs to the military and there are only 4 guesthouses, one of which is Kactus. Actually, it's more of a resort with different bamboo bungalows built directly into the jungle. Everything is very natural and beautifully decorated.

And the food was simply amazing. Since the chef is Cambodian and the owner is French, the food is a mix of local and Western cuisine - simply amazing! Unfortunately, the owner will change soon, so we can only hope that he will maintain the style. We even considered staying there for a few weeks, but since the rainy season is about to start and the hotel will close anyway, they didn't need any more volunteers. Well, our visa for Vietnam was waiting for us anyway, and it was time to move on...

On the way to the Vietnamese border, we made stops in Kep and Kampot. They are also very beautiful places that can be explored by bike. We visited Buddhist temples, took a guided tour at a pepper farm (now we know why this Kampot pepper is so damn expensive :)) and saw the famous salt fields on the coast. And of course, we ate fresh crab and prawns at the fish market - YUMMY!!!

We had a not so great experience at our guesthouse in Kampot... We had a visit from the meanest of all creepy crawlies a backpacker can get... bedbugs! We were lucky to notice the bugs right away and left the room... Since no one was at the hotel anymore and the gate was locked, we had to sleep in the restaurant on the bench... It was okay... better than getting the bedbug plague... :) That was probably a sign that we should finally leave Cambodia... :p

That was our time in Cambodia. Now we are really looking forward to our 2 months in Vietnam!

Feel all hugged tightly! We send lots of love and baby powder back home!