Cambodia - A summer frozen in time



One of the most beautiful places I've visited in my 27 years of life has been Cambodia. It's no wonder Angelina Jolie loves this place so much, that lady has taste. After over a month of backpacking in South East Asia I made it through Cambodia by land from Bangkok, Thailand. I took a cheap train to Poipet, which is in the border of Thailand and Cambodia, and one of the first images that caught my attention was a truck pilled with detained illegal immigrants from Cambodia being returned to their country. For a second I thought to myself "what the heck am I getting into?", but I decided to continue my journey to the country. Once I had passed customs I proceeded to pay the Visa Fee (35 USD) which would grant me a 30 days tourist visa. Whilst I was quite used to the many stories that other backpackers had said regarding the corruption of the country, I was still impressed at seeing Chinese tourists turning in their passports to get their stamps with extra cash, even though they had already paid their visa fees. I had met two Czech tourists and we stuck together for the whole day, and none of us knew if we were supposed to bribe the officers as well. At the end we didn't, and apparently we weren't expected to. I don't know if it was because we were foreigners or it's simply because of some unspoken agreement with other Asian tourists. 

The moment we crossed the borders the hassle began. Tens of taxi, buses and van drivers trying to get us to pay as much as possible to take us to Siem Reap, which is about an hour and a half drive from the border. After grouping with some other tourists, we got a van for 5 USD each and began the journey. First lesson in Cambodia; even though they have their own currency, they mostly do transactions in USD, and they tend to give change in their currency because they don't use quarters or dimes. Careful, USD can be tricky, specially if like many tourists you try to withdraw a lot of money at once so you don't pay the ATM fees that usual ruin our trips. ATMs will probably give you big bills which can mean a bigger risk of losing a lot of money at once.

Siem Reap

It truly is a beautiful town. It's got vibrant night life which is greatly welcome after a day of traveling or a day of exploring. Even though we didn't come to this side of the country to explore, it's always worth it to try the typical cuisine and the night life. If you're a young backpacker, you will immediately love the hidden cheap bars that sell beer for 25 cents, yes, 25 cents of a USD. And the tuk-tuks which still play an important role in our South East Asia adventure.

Angkor Wat

First things first. We came here for the famous ruins of Angkor Wat and we're going to get more than what we bargained for, which in this case is good. If you're anything like me, and generally don't like to do tours, but to do things at your own rhythm, get up as early as you can, rent a scooter and head over to the office ticket, which is on the way to the ruins, and buy yourself a ticket. This summer, about a week because I arrived, prices went up, 37USD for a one day pass, 62 USD for a 3 day pass and 72 USD for a whole month. Before you start thinking of way of re-selling your ticket, you should know that it comes with your picture, so it might not be the best of ideas to buy a 1 month pass hoping to resell it. This ticket will grant you entrance to all the ruins in the circuit of Angkor Wat, which are over 10 ruins, with Angkor Wat and Preahh Khan being the biggest and more attractive. The circuit of temples is over 1,000 years and it's truly beautiful. My recommendation is pack a couple of bottles of water and enjoy each one of them as you which. The ones on the east usually don't ask you to show your ticket to enter them, as they're less important and less visited by tourists, so if you bought a one day pass, you can still visit them the following day.

Many tourists love seeing the sunrise in Angkor Wat, but in my opinion, the sunset is more beautiful. By this time of the day there'll be less tourists trying to get that perfect picture and as the sun will be on the west, the lighting will be better for that great picture with the ruins reflecting on the artificial lakes in front of them. There aren't enough words to describe how beautiful this site is, I visited Machu Picchu a few years ago and Angkor Wat is a close second to the most beautiful ruins I've ever seen. You can still see monks praying and meditating in these beautiful temples, even though some have turned to the commercial side selling amulets and praying for you for money, it still doesn't lose it's magic. 

When you've finally recovered your breath, you'll proceed to plan your next adventure. I have a recommendation for you that you won't see coming.


The Mondukiri Project

A must-do in South East Asia is elephants. They beautiful, majestic and it's one of the first animals we became obsessed with when we were kids. Most people choose tourism with elephants in Thailand where the animal is sacred and very popular. However, their sacred status doesn't save them from mistreat and though many reserves claim to treat them fairly, this might not be the case. Cambodia also has elephants, but in this country, it's elephant population is decreasing rapidly because of habitat loss and the beliefs from the native tribes of the country. This is a very complicated issue and I'm probably not the best to explain it, but native Cambodian tribes believe in the existance of the "spirits" of the nature, and as families own elephants, they believe that mating of said mammals should come with massive sacrifice of buffalos, that they can't afford because of the precary conditions they live in. According to many reports, there aren't been a birth of an elephant (owned by tribes) in a couple of decades, in the meantime, the wild population decreases for the poaching, habitat loss and poaching.

The Mondukiri Project is an amazing initivative started by an Australian called "Mr Tree" in which they buy elephants from poor families at a reasonable price and leave them to live freely in the foundation. The elephants are not ridden, they're well-fed and taken care of, and they're never forced to do anything they don't wish to do. I paid for the 2 day tour, which was simply amazing and taught me a lot about the condition people and elephants live in Cambodia. Because this whole project is run by educated locals, you see a whole new side about a country we know so little. I spent an amazing time feeding and bathing elephants, they showed their happiness playing with the small group of youngters that came across this project, ate local food and spent a night in the jungle sleeping in a hammock. It was honestly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. If you'd like to learn more, you can visit their website (http://www.mondulkiriproject.org/)



Once you're done with Cambodia, if you wish to go to Vietnam you can do it by land, which cost me 5 USD to the border or go back to the capital and fly to Ho Chi Mihn City. However, beware of the visa to enter Vietnam. My recommendation is to pay an agency in Siem Reap to do it for you, trust me, it'll be cheaper this way. 


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