19/20/21-11-08

Dear all,

It is getting hotter and hotter, and this time we all are very annoyed because of it. Impossible to do to anything meaningful... but I have a lot of stories for you, so there we go:

Trijnie did a research for the spider, I do not know if you read the comment yourself with the previous report: it is a tarantula!! That sounds quite terrifying, and being a person taking out the vacuum cleaner if I see a 1 cm big spider, it is pretty courageous that I was eating it!! I asked Trijnie to find out how they remove the spider's teeth: does a specialised tarantula dentist exist?
Annette, I received your email and your comment via the weblog, so you did both right!

Then I communicated following info. via a private email to Toshiharu-san and Florence : "The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek I was talking about in a previous report have been recently privatised and is now controlled by a Japanese company. Part of the deal involved upgrading the road, which is now surfaced all the way, but many Khmers and foreign observers alike were deeply disturbed that a foreign company was permitted to exploit Cambodia's tragedy. "
Toshiharu-san likes to know what is meant with ''exploit Cambodia's tragedy". First of all, I was citing my guide book Lonely Planet. Secondly, I can imagine that it is surprising to observe that a foreign company is controlling a museum so deeply related to Cambodia's tragedy and that such should be rather controlled by the country itself (by a private company or by the Cambodian government). By no means it is a critics related to the relation between Japan and Cambodia. Personally, I think it is a good thing that the museum is exploited by a foreign country and one 'rich' as Japan is, in order to be sure, that the testimonies of this tragedy will be conserved. Such is not sure if it would have been maintained by the corrupt government, in which still former Khmer Rouge members are present.

19-11-08
Last morning in Phnom Penh. At breakfast we were seated at the same table as a Canadian investigator appointed by the UN (United Nations), who just flew in the day before to cooperate with the Khmer Rouge tribunal hearings which are finally starting. Pretty sure that he will not have enough time in this year to finish all of it...
Around lunch time we were seated next to a Dutch man, former professional soldier, and since his retirement 10 years ago working as a consultant in Cambodia. This time he was accompanying a team of the German army involved with the classification and storage of 'safe' weapons of the Cambodian army and the destruction of the 'wrong' ones, i.e. the dangerous ones.
I was surprised to notice that the German government is still supporting the Cambodian government, since I understood that for instance the Belgian and the Dutch government withdraw themselves since the constitution of the democracy in Cambodia is too slow and the government is doing too little about the corruption. The Dutch consultant answered me, that the reason is different: apparently the person responsible in the Netherlands seriously disliked his counter-party in Cambodia and decided to close the funding-tap!
Well, the truth will be somewhere in the middle!
One thing is sure: there are numberless NGO (Non Governmental Organisations) in Cambodia and especially in Phnom Penh. Another personal observation: lot of health clinics and other projects supported by NGO's look like deserted... pretty sad to see.

Another observation: lots of the land cruisers cruising around in Cambodia are made by Lexus, Japanese car producer!

Anyway, after our breakfast, the 4 of us went to the Special Market, Psar Thmei, in Phnom Penh. The huge domed hall resembles a Babylonian ziggurat and some claim it ranks as one of the largest domes in the world. There again interesting exhibitions of all kind of meats, interesting to see that early in the morning ...
Unfortunately it was here that one of our group members has been stolen that same morning from her camera by a passing motor rider. As our Dutch guide said, it happens once at all his trips in Phnom Penh. The saddest thing for her was that she lost 900 pictures, well, if that is the saddest, then it is pretty OK ... She told that she had alike experiences in Rio de Janeiro (threatened with a knife) and Columbia (foolished by false police men). So anyone thinking that travelling is fun !!!

From this market we started a walk through the centre of Phnom Penh, which we liked a lot, because it allowed us to see and taste other parts of it than only the touristy highlights.
We passed again by the Royal Palace, the sun was shining this time and then it looks different, beautiful. Interesting to mention is that the Silver Pagoda, part of the Royal Palace, was preserved by the Khmer Rouge to demonstrate its concerns for the conservation of Cambodia's cultural riches to the outside world. Although more than half of the pagoda's contents were destroyed under Pol Pot, what remains is spectacular. This is one of the few places in Cambodia where bejewelled objects embodying some of the brilliance and richness of Khmer civilisation can still be seen.
We also made a stop at Hotel Le Royal. From the golden age of travel, this classical colonial-era hotel is one of Asia's grand old palaces, in the illustrious company of the Oriental in Bangkok and Raffles in Singapore (which I visited in approx. 1997 just for having a drink). Between 1970 and 1975 many famous journalists working in Phnom Penh stayed here, and part of the film 'The Killing Fields' was set in the hotel (though filmed in Hua Hin, Thailand).
We enjoyed here the best cake ever we had since our stay in Cambodia: delicious!
Worth and sad to mention: the railway station: nowadays there are no passengers services at all anymore in Cambodia, only merchandise transport. Very odd to visit such a deserted railway station.

At 1.30 p.m. we all left Phnom Penh heading for Kep.
The woman stolen from her camera managed, without giving any bribery to the police, after 3 attempts at different police stations to report the theft of her camera, necessary to claim the loss from her insurance.

20-11-08
Kep is a seaside resort and was founded as a colonial retreat for the French elite in 1908. The Khmer Rouge were known to harbour a particular hatred for the town and the destruction they wrought was nearly total. Today, dozens of Kep's luxurious pre-war villas are still just blackened shells, poignant reminders of the long years of Khmer Rouge rule and civil war. Inhabited by squatters, the mansions - remnants of a once-great (or at least rich and flashy) civilisation that met a sudden and violent end - have a post-apocalyptic feel.

Besides of that, in general I dislike seaside resorts and especially when I am travelling: I am not sitting 10 hours in an airplane to sit down on a beach. Anyway, do not imagine a seaside resort like Saint Tropez, after all we are in Cambodia, so the place unfortunately was quite run down. Our hotel was pretty OK, but the efficiency of its staff was - let me resume - memorable.
We arrived after the sunset, so no time to explore the village (big word for it..). We decided to have dinner at the hotel. Kep being famous for its splendid seafood, we all ordered crab, but also that was a deception.
Next morning, courageous as we were, the 4 of us went off for a walk in the Kep National Park, without a guide. The area is fully demined, so no danger. In the contrary, on the other side of the mountain there are still many mines, so impossible to hike their on your own. It was hot, hotter, hottest, incredible. Anyway, on the top of the only 154 mtr high hill we met 3 nuns living their on a pretty isolated place who kindly invited us in their best Cambodian (impossible to communicate, but with some smiles you come a long way) to visit their simple Wat (= temple) and enjoy some delicious fruits, which we have never eaten before. No idea what it was; it had the shape and the structure of an avocado, but the skin and content was bright orange, and containing 1 big and 1 little nut. Anybody any idea??
One of the nuns invited Sandra and myself - no entrance for the 2 men! - to admire the pictures inside their squat and we understood that the pictures were taken during their visits to Japan, Tibet, Taiwan,.... but we had difficulties to believe that these 3 poor-looking women were visiting all these countries. Well, that is certainly due to the lack of language comprehension!
Surprising to see all those indeed stripped off villas on our way. After some false starts, Kep finally seems to be rising from (or among) the ruins. According to the Lonely Planet, it's getting popular again, especially on weekends and holidays, with the wealthy elite of Phnom Penh. For me it is difficult to imagine, that even if you are driving a SUV, you are willing to drive for 4 hours over bad roads to go to such a basic place with nowadays not so nice beaches.

We came back at our hotel around 3 p.m., exhausted and so hot, so hot.... But refusing to hang around at the resort, Hans & I continued (flat) walking to the Crab Market, a row of wooden waterfront shacks. We made a reservation at a restaurant, highly recommended by the Lonely Planet, and there we were eating a delicious squid (Thai) Tom Yam soup and some steamed vegetables.
Just before we were arguing for about an hour with the hotel about our bill ....
Slowly but surely we are both eating meat and fish, and so far so good, no serious tummy problems. Apparently today (21-11-08) just one of us out of the 15 would have some minor problems, so such is pretty good.

21-11-08
Off again to another beach resort - yes, these days are definitely not my lucky days ... - at Sihanoukville, the closest thing you get to Costa del Cambodia. For the time being the city and its sandy beaches remain pretty laid-back.
And here again, it is hot, hotter, hottest. We were planning to get out tomorrow for another hike in another National Park but if the weather is staying like this I am afraid, that we will remain the full day in the swimming pool, varied by a massage and some delicious pastries we have already found this afternoon.
Right now I am sitting in a simple friendly Internet café just in front of our nearby 4-star (Cambodia's stars..) hotel, where the Internet connection is not working right now, and unknown when the service will be resumed: welcome to Cambodia! At least it has a swimming pool, so Arjan is very happy! It seems to have a TV with some foreign channels like BBC, so maybe I can see what is happening in the world, first time so far!

Enjoy all your weekend; I may come back to you tomorrow since I am foreseeing that I will be very soon bored at this beach resort ...

A&I - 21-11-08 - Sihanoukville, sun-is-down; possible-again-to-breath!