11st Jan - 6th Day (Adventurous Journey from Phnom Penh to Saigon)

Gotta take this opportunity to thank my dear friend (my batch-mate from my Mandarin Public Speaking Class ages ago haha.....), Bryan who's kind enough and let me bunk in with him in Phnom Penh. A successful guy who's now a Finance Director with a Malaysian hotel in Phnom Penh, he accompanied me to the Killing Field and roam around Phnom Penh.

Take k Bryan!

After Bryan sent me to the Psar Thmei, I quickly settled my breakfast with this nice "沙河粉"-type of noodle. Delicious - the chicken is salted and the soup is simple.

Doughnut with thick caramel-like dippings - my lunch as I travel from Phnom Penh to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), an adventurous journey which I will remember anytime.

The famous and unique Psar Thmei.

I couldn't be blamed for taking this shot right?

He was waiting for a bus with his daddy and usual, the friendly-child-magnet me attracted him so much and I ended up taking this shot. You can tell from the pics, he wanted me to take the photo!

Anyway, we were heading to different places and they boarded their bus while I am still waiting for mine. I didn't take the conventional or normal bus routine straight to HCM City but chose to delve in to a little adventure as recommended by the travel bible, LP (Lonely Planet). Stories ahead......

Taken in front of the bus-station.

This tuk-tuk driver insisted that I take his pics and show him afterwards! Taken with the sun at the back hence the ray cutting across his face.

I was determined to take on some adventure so I forgo the option of taking a direct bus to HCM City via Moc Bai which costs US$9. Instead I took a local bus to a small town near the Mekong river called Neak Luong. From there I have to take a outboards to Kaam Samnor, which is the border of Cambodia-Vietnam. Then, I have to take a moto to Vinh Xuong and finally to Chau Doc. From Chau Doc I will have to take a bus to HCM City.

The trip was full of surprises!!!!!!!!! Indeed, tonnes of surprises. I should know what lays ahead of me when I boarded on the bus heading to Neak Luong. I was the only non-Cambodian on board which of course draw lots of gaze from the locals. Looking back now, I am sure that they must be laughing at me for taking such a stupid decision to take this route!

After a strenous 2-hr ride on the bus (surprisingly the bus is not that bad indeed cox it's better anytime than the red Leila bus in Sandakan or the city bus in Ipoh for that matter, Got air-cond somemore my fren!), I finally arrived at the town of Neak Luong. I asked around and made my way to the small jetty to Kaam Samnor. As usual lots of locals surrounding you hoping you to take their boat and being the budget traveller I am, and as recommended by LP, I wanted to wait for other travellers so I can share the whooping cost of US$20 for the entire boat! However, as I realized there's no other traveller around (oh....... I started to feel a bit worried here......), I couldn't wait any longer as it's already almost 1pm that time. I decided to charter the whole boat and yes, US$20 left my hands unwillingly but I have no choice.

As we were leaving the river banks (it's Mekong by the way), a medium-height man in uniform jumped in and there we go.... me, the boat owner who speaks no English and a suspicious man in army camourflage uniform. I couldn't confirmed his identity whether he's a real soldier whatsoever so I just shut my mouth. Yes, the mouth is tightly shut but my mind went haywire that time. As in Ally McBeal's plot where Calista's character will imagine some stupid unimaginable things, I had my fair share of that. What if he's some robber? The whole boat ride is about 1.5hrs along the wide big Mekong river and I was not conversant in Khmer! If he's a robber, he may work with the boat owner and rob me off then just throw me into Mekong River! No one will know or see them doing that!!!!! I'm going to die in foreign land!!!!!

Of course that didn't happen as it turned out he's a real soldier who's posted at the border of Cambodia.

Taken during the boat ride along Mekong River. Got my tan there as well, no shades on the boat for a 1.5hr ride in the noon time.

OK, back to the story of the adventure, I reached the border and immigration office finally and rushed to get my passport stamped. Another shock came as I'm the first passport the officer stamped on that day on the route Phnom Penh-HCM!!! Again, I am worried about not being able to reach HCM on the same day which means I have to stay a night in Vinh Xuong or Chau Doc. But thank God I got on a moto and reach Chau Doc after about 1 hr ride on the moto with my 20kg backpack on my back.

I wasted no time and went to the bus station in Chau Doc. The moto driver tried to abandon me before crossing the river via ferry to reach Chau Doc, saying it's very near within walking distance but I insisted that he send me to the bus station itself. It turned out the moto ride from the ferry jetty to the bus station is about 5mins! This shows how important for us to insist on something sometimes!

There were still plenty buses around and I was relieved. However, it's already 3pm and the journey from Chau Doc to HCMC takes about 6 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I immediately regretted my decision to take on the alternative route because otherwise, I will be having my shower in the comfortable cheap hostel in HCMC by then!!!

Taken on the ferry crossing unknown river, on the way to HCMC.

It turned out the journey is endurable. The bus is actually a modified MPV and surprisingly new and comfortable indeed. My regret subsided subsequently as I get the chance to see the picturesque sunset view above and met some nice Vietnamese in the bus. What a way to start my journey in Vietnam?

The small doughnuts of course is not sufficient for me. I bought this small packet of glutinous rice with some sweet paste (something like 莲蓉) and sprinkled with some peanuts. Regretted not asking for the name of it.

Met this uncle in the bus from Chau Doc to HCMC. Pics taken in a foodcourt along the way. His name is 阿国 and he can speak a little bit Cantonese with some Hongkie accent. He used to work with Vietnamese government and travel to a lot of countries and persuade the Vietnamese to go back to Vietnam and ensure them no legal action will be taken on them. That is why his English is quite good and he can speak some Cantonese. A lot of Vietnamese who fled the country during the war were making fortunes everywhere around the world and the country wants them to come back and invest their money in Vietnam. It's a logical move, just like Malaysian government's effort to recall all the Malaysian professional overseas. 阿国 now quitted the government job and now doing his own business. The shot above was taken in insufficient light and he really looked like the father of my buddy.

The adventure ended about 10pm as our bus reached the bus station. I took a cab from the bus station to the HCM city centre and I settled in the Yellow House in the famous backpacker street in HCM City, the Pham Ngo Lau.

10th Jan - 5th Day (Killing Field and Tuol Sleng, Phnom Penh)

Start the day with a walk inside the market with the dominant dome, Psar Thmei. As I am a big breakfast-supporter which literally means that I will die without breakfast, the first mission will be to scout for a place to eat and the ambience of the food market in the pic above is pretty similar to the ordinary market we have back in Sandakan, only more jam-packed. (Oh, this brings me to the sentiment of the Old Market back in Sandakan, which had been torn down to give way to a new road in town and a financially-controversial-new and sanitized version was built but that's another story)

The rule of thumb of selection food in foreign unknown places : Go for the stalls where lots of ppl waiting and queing. The stall owner managed to crack some broken English, i.e. Thank You and OK though I wish I can speak some Khmer with her.

Stalls selling fresh produce.

Another section fo the market, with cobblers and tailors stalls lining up to serve you.

The Skulls Pagoda (Memorial Stupa) - Killing Field of Choeung Ek

Reached there via a tuk-tuk along some dusty-nasty road so, prepare a surgical mask or small hankie or towel if you have respiratory related allergy or sickness. Contrary to its appearance which resembles the Thai palace architecture, this marble-white building with golden colored roof houses all the skulls of the victims who had been killed mercilessly in the Killing Field of Choeung Ek. It's an episode of unbelievably sad chapter of Cambodian history where approximately 17,000 men, women, children and infants were transported to this extermination camp after being detained and tortured in S-21 (or better known as Tuol Sleng Museum now, used to be Tuol Svay Prey High School - the Khmer word Prey may mean something else but the place it turned into during Pol Pot's time really befits the meaning of the word in English)between 1975 and 1978.

This is the tree where a loud speaker was held and blaring out maximum volume of music when the extermination was carried out to mask the horrid sound of screams of the victims.

God bless the souls of the victims. No offense. I posted this out of respect, hoping that ppl realize the trauma of the Cambodian caused by Pol Pot.

Tuol Sleng Museum (S-21 or Security Prison 21)

Not for the faint-hearted visitors as this is a testament of the cruelty and monster-like actions of human kind comparable to Hitler's doing. The site is actually quite suburb-feel and less dramatic save for some obvious structure used for torturing. The school is ordinary, with plenty of classrooms now with displays of black and white photographs of all the men, women and children detained. The Khmers made a questionable effort to meticulously document all the details of the detainee including their names, origins, background etc which later become essential in setting up the whole museum. The whole experience is horrifying in a very calm manner. It's like watching a horror movie without all the cliche plot and predictable musics. It's silent but not quiet. The pics were harrowing because all the ppl in the pic were spotting some despair, desperate and hopeless expressions. I found the pictures were more emotionally-haunting than the sight of the torturing device on display.

Again, it's NOT a place for those who's squeamish.

The classrooms which were turned into the torturing rooms during the Pol Pot time.

The torturing bed. God know what happened in that 3 years from 1975 to 1978.

Guillotine-like structure where they hang the prisoners and immersed them into basins of human excretes for interrogation.

The number represents the number of cell-like division in the classrooms housing the prisoners for interrogation.

This poster really captured my attention as it really did convey the message. The map of Cambodia made up of skulls.

SIDE NOTE :

During my visit to the Tuol Sleng Museum, I was listening to the guide explaining the whole gruesome chapter of the darkest episode of Cambodian history and I couldn't help but noticing the guide was speaking with sadness and anger. But who wasn't? From what I learned from the locals, it's the unspoken taboo or incident which still provokes some haunting memories of any Cambodian till this day. Almost every family had one or more of its member who was killed during the Khmer Rouge time.

10th Day - 5th Day - Part 2 (Phnom Penh City)

Nice porridge with char-kuew. The stainless steel kole is leng-teh.

Cambodia National Museum.

Me in Cambodia National Museum

At the National Museum entrance

Royal Palace, reminiscent of Thailand's architecture

Another shot of the temple

Minangkabau ke Siam?

Love this shot

Temple in the Royal Palace

Silver pagoda

Silver pagoda 2

Unique tree with nice Buddha statue

The unique flower close-up

Cambodia National Museum as the sunset approaches............

The Cambodia National Museum entrance in silhoutte

The city tour ending here.... before walking back to Sunway Hotel

Dinner at Lemongrass Restaurant

Nice view from the rooftop bar

All the popular drinking holes are strategically located along the Sisowath Quay where you can find a row of flag poles with flags of all the countries around the world. A dull game to play, is to guess correctly the country which the flags belong to.

Nice view from the Foreign Correspondence Club (FCC) rooftop bar

Foreign Correspondence Club (FCC) rooftop bar

Nice place and it's chic and stylish. Full of foreigners or foreign expats. Not a place to try out the cheap and cheerful local beers though cox the price is just not worth it. For local beers, try out the local joints instead.

9th Jan - 4th Day (Bus Journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh)

I found the journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh extremely comfortable. The bus itself is quite new and there's an in-drive hostess who serves you the drinks and snacks and act as a tourist guide as well. He will explain to you some of the attractions along the way, with some history thrown in, in both Khmer and English. Impressive huh? We didn't even do that in KL!!! I mean yup, maybe most of the local Cambodian know about the history of the places but they still do that. Amazing, the way they go beyond what is expected from them. Really have to learn if Malaysia want to gain more income from tourism.

A small town where we stopped by for lunch on the way to Phnom Penh.

Sparkling nescafe for a change? I prefer the old plain nescafe instead.

US Embassy, taken from the room in Sunway Hotel.

Wat Phnom from afar. Not really an attraction for those who had seen better in Angkor Wat.

Forgot the name of this interesting market, which is located very near to the strips of casino. This badly taken shot shows local having their meal while lying on the buaian made of fish net (I guess) - what's that word in English? Interesting way of having your meal and there's a TV set as well.