Cambodia

So after two contemplative weeks of vacation at home, it was time to say goodbye again and pack our backpacks for Southeast Asia. Said and done, Marius took us to the airport taxi in Frankfurt. This time, Nina's brother Thommy joined us for the next few weeks. Ficken Schmidt was of course with us again. 12 hours flight to Bangkok. No big deal. This time we had a layover in Bahrain. Now that Gulf Air is finally off the blacklist, you can also fly to Bahrain. For those of you who love dark, smoky dive bars, it is worth mentioning that the Sky Bar (without windows) at Bahrain airport is highly recommended. A small cool Heineken is available for a measly 8 US dollars, including a smoker's cough. But we deserve it, don't we?
Young and fresh, we arrived in Bangkok, quickly searched for a room and went straight for a Thai massage. After a short nap, we met up with Saw and Micha, two old friends from Freudenstadt. After a few relaxed Chang beers at a street-side restaurant, we decided to go out for a bit. What started as a little bit turned into a lot, but we had a lot of fun, dancing and laughing. The only downside was that after three hours of sleep, we had to board the bus again to take us to Cambodia. Since crossing the border in one day was too far, we decided to make a short stop on Koh Kood, a small Thai island off the coast of Cambodia. On Koh Kood, we enjoyed island life, with beaches, hammocks, riding scooters, and exploring the bars at night. Hot beer, bad service, and live music, that was the slogan of our favorite bar, where a jam session was held every night, and Dennis was able to indulge in his passion for playing the drums.
After four relaxing days, we left Koh Kood and headed to Cambodia. When we arrived at the border, we entrusted ourselves to the smuggler of the bus travel company we were traveling with and paid the usual tourist expenses for our visa. As a Swabian, it hurts to know that you're paying way too much, but there's nothing else you can do except play along with the scam. In Cambodia, we exchanged our air-conditioned minibus for a slightly older coach that was driven without a clutch. Who needs a clutch these days anyway? After a few hours of driving, we had to change buses again. This time, the new bus had a clutch, but we had a breakdown. Luckily, the bus driver was also a mechanic, and he showed us that you can tighten M16 nuts with a small pair of pliers. And so, after a 12-hour bus marathon, we happily arrived at our first destination, Sihanoukville. We stayed in Sihanoukville for a few days at a beach outside the city and then went to the island of Koh Rong Samloem. The island is almost uninhabited. There are no roads or cars, and life there is very, very relaxed. We had no trouble adjusting to island life, and we spent two extensive days in hammocks on a lonely white sandy beach, surrounded by palm trees.
Next on the agenda was Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Finally, we were traveling by bus again. We were curious to see what awaited us this time. After about two hours of driving, it happened. After a daring overtaking maneuver of a truck, we were startled by a loud crash. The truck we had just overtaken crashed into the back of our bus. Thomas dropped his phone, which broke, but more on that later. Fortunately, not much happened other than a scare, but our bus was so damaged that we couldn't continue driving. When the police were informed, the truck driver fled into the jungle. So there we were, on the side of the road, waiting and waiting. No one spoke English, and so we hoped that something would happen.
After about two hours of waiting, a new bus finally arrived, which took us safely to our destination, albeit with a considerable delay. After a short search for a hostel, we had a delicious meal and plunged into the nightlife of the city. The bars were all decorated with beautiful red lights and had an unusually large number of waitresses. The beer tasted pretty good that evening, and we partied extensively. After a night of partying, the nights are usually quite short, but for Dennis it was even shorter because he got a severe food poisoning.
Thommy took advantage of the next day to replace the display on his phone. A very nice cafe owner helped him find a reputable repair shop. After several phone calls and a lot of waiting, Thommy finally got his phone back. The display hadn't been replaced, and the phone didn't work at all anymore. The next day, Thommy tried his luck again at a different repair shop, where it turned out that the phone was not Thommy's, but another defective one with Thommy's broken display. So, we went back to the other repair shop with the sad and very helpful cafe owner and confronted the seller. At first, he denied everything and became very loud. We were a little scared, also for our new friend. Eventually, he made an offer to give us the phone back for $70, plus the $40 repair costs for the display. Police? Nonexistent! That's Cambodia! In such a corrupt country, we wouldn't have found a police officer who shares our idea of law and justice.
So, we had to accept it and buy a new phone... (Unfortunately, Thommy's phone also had many of our vacation pictures, so all the photos in the blog are from the temple complex.)
Next, we went to Siem Reap, where we visited the breathtaking temples of Angkor Wat.

Never drive with the bus company 'Bahala'...
In Siem Reap, we decided to leave Cambodia and continue our journey to Laos. So, we booked a bus that was supposed to take us across the border into Laos. We had to wake up early because the bus was supposed to leave at 7:00 am and the tuk-tuk picked us up at 6:30 am. However, for some reason, the bus didn't leave until 8:00 am, so we had plenty of time to have an overpriced breakfast at the bus company's restaurant. Since we were an hour later than planned, the bus driver claimed to be Michael Schumacher's cousin and said he would make up for the lost time. After two or three hours of driving, a French couple realized that they had been placed in the wrong bus by the bus company. The driver didn't care and continued driving at full speed. There was no bathroom break. After about 5 hours of driving, our driver had to go to the bathroom and generously stopped on the side of the road in no man's land. For the male guests, this is usually not a problem, but for the ladies, it was. They decided to walk a few hundred meters back and were able to use the toilet of a family. The bus driver was not happy about it at all, and his mood became even worse. After another hour, we arrived in a very interesting settlement where we had to change buses. We had to wait there for three hours. So, the whole speeding was completely unnecessary. The prices at the associated restaurant were also very high, but the biggest outrage was that there was a little girl sitting in front of the toilet, demanding 2 dollars per use. That's about the price of a meal. In Germany, it would be like paying another 14.50 euros to use the toilet after having a steak with onions. Well, at some point, we continued toward the border with Laos. When we arrived, we immediately made acquaintance with the border smuggler of the company. An incredibly sympathetic guy who created a total frenzy and responded loudly to any questions.
It's okay for border smugglers to offer their services and make visas a bit more expensive because of it, but they could also offer these services politely without becoming aggressive if you don't want to use their services. Unfortunately, we had no choice because we knew that it would be difficult to continue traveling by bus on the Laotian side, and it was getting dark, and we had to rely on Bahala to take us further after the border. It was all very annoying, but in the end, we reached the island of Don Det on the Mekong River in the evening.

Conclusion on Cambodia

Cambodia is a very poor country with beautiful nature and fascinating temples from a long-forgotten time. The people are generally very warm and welcoming to tourists. However, one always feels that most people want to rip you off. There are also a lot of thefts, some of which are even accompanied by threats of violence. We feel that tourism is growing too fast in Cambodia. In the mid-1990s, the country was still in a civil war, and now it is being bulldozed for mass tourism. We can very well imagine that the island we were on, which was still original, will probably look like Ko Samui in 10 years. Whether that is good or bad, everyone can form their own opinion about it.
We had a great time in Cambodia and will remember it fondly, despite some negative experiences.

PS: We donated part of the proceeds from our farewell party to landmine victims in Cambodia. We also gave something to our tuk-tuk driver who took us to visit the Angkor temples. He was super nice and very shy. On good days, he earns 15 euros, with which he has to maintain his vehicle and feed his family...