You feel Cambodia coming before you have crossed the border as Cambodian's greet you when you get off the the bus in Thailand. They very kindly help you across the border; Telling you which direction to go, providing you with all the appropriate forms to fill out and follow you all the way across the border. I probably should have read up more on the scams in this area, but come what may approach to travelling somewhat prevented this. The border crossing itself was hassle free, though the Casino placed in no mans land between Thailand and Cambodia is a bit odd! Thailand doesn't allow Casino and Cambodian government probably doesn't want to promote it in the local population, so they build it in between the two countries. The is also a 'friendship market' (as the are friendship monuments and bridges, aimed at building relations between nations!) which allows the poorer Cambodian food producers to sell there wares in Thailand. Cambodians are given a border pass which allow them easy access to Thailand though I believe they are restricted to the market area only.
Now there are some changes as you cross the border that are easy to digest; such as the road rules change from left to right handed roads.
There are others that are not so easy. Like, there are suddenly no sealed roads!! In Poipet, the border city in Cambodia , that I estimate has about 100,000 people, probably more. There is not a single sealed road in the whole city. When I said that going from order to chaos when crossing the Malay/Thai border, I didn't really know what I was saying. Because Poipet is chaotic. Once you get on your tuk-tuk - infinitely less glamorous than those in Thailand, and make, no rock/bounce, your way down the dirt road, with moto's, trucks and buses beeping their way over the dusty roads. I felt a insecurity wash over me as I couldn't gauge what the city is like have never been anywhere like it. This was the first place were I really felt unsafe and out of my comfort zone. This was somewhere really new! This was Africa in Asia. This was, need to go to my hotel and watch some TV to acclimatise.But first there were things to arrange. After crossing the border, under the stress I relented to my helpful assistants who took me to a hotel, which was nice (little more than I would like to pay, but nice to have the comfort) and close to the bus station. After arranging the room I should have let them (by now there were four of them) go. But due to my insecurity I let them assist me to exchange money, at a poor rate (partly because it was a roadside stall that tried to rip me of 2000 riel as well, and because exchange rates are generally a bit loose in Asia), buy a bus ticket (ata significantly inflated price) and was about to say goodbye, rejecting there offers to take me other places, when they mentioned the dreaded word; Tip. I presumed they were on a commission basis, but no, they were in it for the tip and they wanted 100 baht no less! Each!! What can you do! There is no doubt that they helped me! I managed to get it down to only paying two off them and went on my way, (after a while you realise you are losing money by paying the tourist fee at every point so you get over it quickly) at which point they no doubt return to the border for some further scalping.
But, I survived! Without losing too much and I had the all important ticket to Phnom Penh. (though I wasn't entirely sure that my ticket was even valid, as it was bought from a guy behind a small desk in the front of a building with a bus. No signs, but the ticket looked real)
By this stage my nerves had calmed somewhat and I was feeling a little more relaxed
however I would find that in the week I spent in Cambodia I would never I felt totally comfortable or safe. I managed to find a place to eat and after pointing at some food managed to get a meal, before walking back to the hotel. The view from the hotel wasn't too bad! But this is not a place you want to out and about at night. I did not see any crime or corruption, but you get the feeling that it is not far from the surface. It is amazing how dirt roads can change your perception of a place!The wealth differential with Thailand is obvious everywhere, the buses, trucks, tuk-tuks are all older. The houses simpler and people are really working on the streets. It was here that I also saw my record of 6 people (admittedly children) on one moto. But, despite that people still get there hair done at the hairdresser, have clean clothes and could easy walk around the streets of Sydney without anyone noticing anything; if only they could get there.
The next morning I woke up and due to a slight miscalculation in time, had to run to the bus station were I was pointed onto a bus which I presumed was heading in the right direction. I turned out that everything was fine. In Asia you just have to trust! So I headed off down the boulevard of broken backsides, so named by the lonely planet due to the quality of the road between Poipet and Siem Riep. Now because I took a right turn to Phnom Penh, I only had to endure an hour and half of it, so I thought it was a bit overstated. However for those that went to Siem Riep and endured all five hours long, I heard a very different story. Now the toilet stop was little more than stopping next to a paddock were everybody gets of the bus, wanders to a point they feel comfortable with (further away for the women!) and do their business. Garbage accumulated from the purchasing of food is dropped onto the floor of the bus. However as you make your way through the villages, and the road becomes progressively better, gradually Cambodia seems a more cheery, friendly and normal country as you get closer to Phnom Penh. Surprisingly the air-conditioning on the bus survived to whole trip which is better than in some other countries.
Arriving in Phnom Penh, in a freshly washed while you wait bus, you are greeted by an established city, built in largely french colonial style with trees lining the streets and nice views of the Tonle and Mekong Rivers. It is rough around the edges but it looks quite charming, even inviting. Much like you see the movies about journalists sitting at cafes in Vietnam and Cambodia. I got dropped of at the central market and greeted with the usual moto drivers wanting your business and in need of some personal security and reassurance, I quickly made a deal with one of them to take me to the tourist area of the city to find a bed for the night.
This area, down a rather unappealing alleyway that you wouldn't find unless you knew it was there, sits on the banks of Boeng Kak.
This is a lake near the centre of the city and a perfect place to watch the sunset. However it is not a traditional sunset view. Weeds that cover most of the lake giving it a green colour and the far side of the lake is lined with shanty towns of tin, wood and rust. Giving a memorable yet contrasting image. You pay no interest in the contrast of wealth as you sit on an open air deck, drinking beer will the people living in the buildings your looking at are probably struggling to find a meal. On the other hand, however looks can be deceiving as it is not uncommon for a a decrepit building on the outside to be quite clean, with tiled floors, TV and happy family on the inside.But it is in this tourist area, surrounded by westerners that I retreated to for most of my time in Phnom Penh as, one, it was ridiculously hot (the hottest I have been in Asia) and two, Phnom Penh is also not the most safe and relaxing place to be.
I did venture out to see the main attractions, including the royal palace, and various monuments, which are nice but lack the finesse of Thailand and Malaysia. But it is the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek and the Tuol Sleng Museum (S21, a school turned prison camp by the Khmer Rouge, and now a museum) that are the main attractions.
The story of the Killing fields is of course a tragic event in history however the Killing fields themselves, for me did not live up to the impact that you would expect from such an atrocity. When you look at a pagoda full of skulls from babies through to adults one can't help but feel moved, but I found it difficult to recreate a sense of what it was like. All the more confronting was S21, which contains 100's of fotos of the people inturned at the prison camp before being killed at the Killing Fields. The fear, anger, denial and strength of the different individuals is clear in the fotos. It is easy to recognise the nuanced responses people have to such a situation. You are also confronted with photos of what the soldiers originally saw when entering S21 after the fall of the Khmer rouge, which includes dad bodies tortured in different ways and left to rot. 
This place left me numb! You don't know what to do with those photos or with the whole place. It is a memorial to some terrible atrocities which are blatantly put in your face without censorship. The tour guides, who are victims themselves of the Pol Pot regime, speak to you of the atrocities with a very detached tones and some can even laugh when they talk of the killings and the events that took place. My guess is that it is all you can do!!All these events and situations as well as the reminders of the crime and gangs in the city made Cambodia a very confronting experience. You get frisked when you enter certain clubs and you are told that not even locals stop a traffic lights at night for fear of being mugged. But for all the danger only in place like Cambodia will a child run up to you, jump into your arms and starts kissing you on the cheek. Wanting nothing more than a little bit of love, and happy to move on with life five minutes later. The plight of children is ever apparent through the multitude of NGO and orphanages working in the area or a line of 300 odd parents and children waiting to get into a hospital which looks decidedly inactive. No doubt there are many positive things happening in Cambodia but there is still a long way to go.
It is a fact that I was glad I was leaving Cambodia to go to Vietnam and also that I would meet my mum in a weeks time. While I have not covered all the events of Cambodia this at least gives you an idea. When I return in a few weeks, I shall cover it in more detail. Vietnam is a whole different kettle of fish from Cambodia, but you will have to wait for the next blog to find out why.
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