Cambodia: from ruins to paradise

The busride to Cambodia was crazy. The bus left three hours later then it was supposed to, broke down three times. While sitting on the street, watching the guys fix the bus with some water, I already realised: I think I love this country. It was the first time on my trip that something went wrong. The Asians nowadays really know how to adapt to the foreigners. But I like the craziness more.

Phnom Phen is a weird city. There was a festival going on so all the shops were closed. It was like a ghost town and the first tuktukdriver right away warned us for people mugging you. So I stayed in Phnom Phen for a day, just to see the killing fields.

I met some cool people from Argentina in the hostel where I was staying. With them I went to the killing fields and toulsleng; the school prisons. The Killing Fields were really impressive. Walking there everything seems so peaceful. But what happened there is one of the most horrible stories I've ever heard. The Cambodians had a long history of violence. About 2.5 million people died during the Khmer regime. Innocent men, children, women, even baby's. They call Pol Pot the hitler of Cambodia. He wanted to kill everyone whom he think had contact with foreign countries. Our tuktuk drivers dad died during this time. Then I realised this country is still recovering from all of this.
Toul Sleng was even more impressive. Pol pot thought there is no need for education so he closed the schools and turned them into prisons and torture rooms. They kept everything the way it was, you can even still see the blood on the floors. Seeing all the pictures of the people getting abused was horrible. It hits you in the face, but it's a piece of history you really need to know about before travelling around this country. Because it happened only 30 years ago.

After Phnom Phen to Siem Reap. I met someone from Holland in the place where I was staying, so we decided to go cycling like real dutchies the next day. We rented a bike for one dollar for the whole day! And we got a free bottle of water. My bike was so cute. It had a purple bell and a blue basket. :)

Angkor Wat was beautiful,  but the fact that we went cycling made it much, much cooler. We did the tour that most people do in three days, sitting inside a tuktuk, in one day. We saw all the temples, but we didn't climbe them all though.. and at some point you've seen enough ruins. But still it's beautiful. Glad I've seen Cambodia's pride!

The next day we decided to go to the floating villages. The people living there are really poor. They live on the water so they don't have to pay tax and they live from fishing.  I had mixed feelings about it. It was interesting to see how they live, but they try to get money from you in many ways. Alot of money. I wanted to buy some rice for the school children but they asked 45 dollars for the whole bag. We just left after that, I really wanted to give something but this was not feeling good. All and all, still an impressive village to visit!

The beach! Haven't seen one during my trip so I was really looking forward to sticking my feet in the sand and taking a dive in clear blue water. Also my friend Evert from Holland was coming to visit me. I was so happy to meet him here. Sihanoukville serendipity beach is a quiet party beach right now, in high season it must be packed. Everything is so cheep over there! I went a night out and I had spend only four dollars...

Enough party on serendipity, time to relax at Koh Rong island. The atmosphere here is so chilled out, and the Cambodian people are so cool!!!
On the first night there was a birthday party going on the beach, right next to our hostel. It was a birthday party for a two year old baby. This wasn't a birthday party with clowns and "broodjes knakworst." They were playing really loud Cambodian party music and everybody; foreigners, Cambodian were dancing, jumping, having a good time. I loved it!!!
After that there was a huge bonfire on the beach and we went swimming in the dark to see the plankton lid up. It was amazing!! What a great first night. 

                                                               

                                                                I.am.in.paradise.