Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Vietnam

Donovan Writes: We've seen quite a bit since the last post. We ended up staying four nights in Sihanoukville. It was a great beach town, easy to relax but lots to do. There were about five different beaches, each with their own character. our favorite beach, Otres, was about a 15 minute drive (due to the rough road), but we nearly had the entire beach to ourselves. We returned the second day, hoping to rent a Hobie and sail to the nearby islands but there wasn't enough wind. We spent part of the day on the beach and the rest exploring the town. We ran into a woman, Ushma from Mexico City who we had met several days earlier in Siem Reap. Ended up eating dinner with her. She is just hanging out in Cambodia for several months, waiting until she can re-enter Thailand. I went to bed, while Jess headed to the Chiva Shack with Ushma for some happy drinks and good company.

The following day we took a snorkeling trip to the nearby islands. There wasn't a huge aray of fish, but the corral was very impressive. We then spent several hours on Bamboo Island. It was a small island, but there were a couple restaraunts/bars and several small huts for rent on the beach. No electricity on the island. For lunch, we had some fantastic fresh fish that the crew grilled over an open pit in the sand. Later, we took a twenty minute hike to the other side of the island. On the other side, we found one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. There were several huts, but only about 5 people there. I don't know if the pictures will do it justice.

Sihanoukville is really a great town with fantastic beaches; somewhere I would love to visit again. I especially enjoyed traveling through town on Friday night. It appeared that the main strip through town was the place to hang out for teenagers. They would cruise slowly down the street on their motorbikes, sometimes three or four abreast. Looked like they were all having a great time, although watching a girl send a text message as she was riding down the street with a friend on the back of the bike seemed a little dangerous.

This town, like Siem Reap, is feeling the impact of tourism. Many foreign companies are building large hotels and resorts. They are also buying up large tracts of land and one of the main beaches has already become private. Hopefully this trend won't continue. One of the restaurant owners on the beach where we were staying said that there were zoning laws that prevented hotels from being constructed on the beachfront. Not sure if those laws apply to the other beaches.

After four nights in Sihanoukville, we headed to Phnom Penh via bus (we couldn't find a boat to take us to Vietnam). We arrived in the early afternoon with enough time to visit the genocide museum and the killing fields. Neither of us really wanted to see the evidence of those events, but we new it was something we needed to do. I had heard bits and pieces of what had happened in Cambodia in the late 70's, but didn't really have an understanding for the scope of what occurred. Over 1.7 million men, women and children were killed from 1975 to 1979 from the Pol Pot regime. Essentially, the people from Phnom Penh were tricked into leaving the city to the country side. There, all educated people and any others deemed to be a threat, were tortured and executed, While others were sent to grow rice in the fields. I could continue because there are many more interesting details to the events, but google could probably provide you with better (and more accurate) information. The genocide museum was a school that had been converted to a prison and interogation center from 1975 to 1979. In 1978, there were upwards of 5,800 prisoners there, most of whom were executed. The prison was very well preserved. After the museum, we visited the killing fields. Although the fields were spread about the country, the particular one we visited was one of the larger ones. They still haven't uncovered all the bodies, but they have already thousands. Pieces of victims clothes and bones were still visable around the grounds. Most visitors walked around in silence. A memorial at the entrance contained hundreds of sculls. The most disturbing thing about this visit and the events that occured is how recently it happened. This was occuring less than 30 years ago. Afterwards, I was glad we went but we needed something a little more upbeat. We hung out with some Aussies and Norweigans at the guesthouse bar for the rest of the evening.

Phenom Phen to Ho Chi Minh to Hue:

We got up early and caught the first bus to Ho Chi Minh city. Jess has caught the traveler's bug, so we weren't sure how far we would be able to travel. Luckily the bus was empty and we were able to spread out. After we crossed the boarder into Vietnam, a couple of friendly Malaysians joined us. They brought beers, so I drank and we chatted for the rest of the trip into the city.

We decided we would try to make it to Hue so we wouldn't have any time to spend in Ho Chi Minh. Within one hour in Ho Chi Minh, we were able to find an ATM, buy a new memory card for the camera, eat a great meal (another beer for me), talk with a radio operator from the south Vietnamese army, and buy two plane tickets that would take us to Hue two hours later. We found all of this within half a block. We were both impressed by the friendliness of everyone there. After that hour experience, we regreted not spending more time in the city.

By 6:30 in the evening, we were checked into a great (and cheap) hotel in Hue. Jessica was a great sport throughout the trip. After I had a tasty six-course meal and Jess unsuccessfully tried to keep her meal down, we both had a great nights sleep. On to a few days exploring Hue...

(We added more photos to the Siem Reap & Temples folder. Hopefully we'll add more photos this evening.)