I'm so aware that I am behind on blog posts and other than the meditation course and one short post about being sick I realise I haven't posted anything on Cambodia! My month in Cambodia was pivotal in my travels, largely because of the meditation course but also because of what I saw and experienced throughout the country.
After two days in Phnom Penh we went straight down south to Kampot. Kampot is a really chill town that doesn't have much of a nightlife, which turned out to be for the best because John was sick the day we arrived, and I got sick two days after. In between bouts of inevitable illness from weeks of backpacking we rented scooters and explored Bokor National Park.
The ride up to the park alone was an incredible experience and for me was more scenic and enjoyable than the Hai Van pass. The drive is along one, long, winding continuous road which inclines steadily and I could feel the temperature dropping, so if I were to give only one piece of advice for visiting this park it would be - take a jumper. What a mistake. Despite being freezing I didn't let it detract from the incredible views. We mainly visited the park to see the abandoned church and casino which are both really cool to explore. They were built by the French as a retreat from the heat (something I wish I would have read before my visit, don't forget that jumper!) The casino is huge and really eerie, with nothing much to indicate the glamour of gambling, and the church is still full of Christian religious statues which really surprised me as I thought it would be totally empty.
After Kampot we headed to Sihanoukville and caught a boat to the island of Koh Rong. The community of this island really touched me, it's a pretty small island and all of the locals know each other and look out for eachother. The kids are so independent (although this is pretty common for South East Asia) and the younger ones seem to know their way around pretty well. The electricity is pretty erratic, we witnessed two short power cuts whilst sat in a bar one night in the space of fifteen minutes. There's also no hot water and the wifi doesn't work that well so it really is a little out of civilisation but this really adds to the experience, so if you want a more authetic taste of island life then go.
We took a boat trip out one day and went fishing with hooks and bait on wire, visited a private beach and went swimming in the ocean at night with bioluminescent plankton. WOW. Every movement created a starry underwater universe that drips shining from your body once you emerge. There's some scientific reason behind why the plankton glows, but I don't know it and I don't plan on finding out. This was magical for me.
Cambodia is popular with backpackers and tourists for Angkor Wat, an ancient civilisation of temples and ruins. All of the temples (especially Ta Prohm or "Tomb Raider" temple) are shrouded in such a powerful mystery that no temple will ever feel the same again after a visit here. I visited Ayuttaya in Thailand which was cool and very worthwhile, but it was nothing compared to how compelling Angkor Wat was for me. Some of the temples are set back in the Cambodian jungle and we passed through local villages to get there. We hired scooters which is the easiest way to get around most places in South East, but you can hire a tuk tuk for the day and barter them down to a cheap rate. The temples left me hungry for more knowledge. Who lived here? How did they build it? What did the people look like? Imagine being the guy who discovered all of this!
I got the impression from most backpackers I spoke to that Cambodia didn't seem to be a country many stay in that long, some stopping only for a few days in Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. There really is so much more to explore here, and places have a less "touristy" feel (Angkor Wat aside). On a more personal level, Cambodia is definitely the country I learnt the most in so far. I got sick there, my biggest fear, but I got over it. With sickness came another kind of sickness, for a few days I craved home and home comforts, but I got over that too. Being able to meditate in a country with such a painful recent history was also a huge privilege, one which I am only fully realising now, and a powerful way to end my stay in Cambodia.
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