TET Holiday – Phase 1: Cambodia

The start of my Asian Adventure:

After having spent 6 months in the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, eventually, the Lunar New Year holiday arrived and we officially had 2 weeks off work. My friends and I out in District 12 (yes, it was like The Hunger Games) decided to plan our trip together. My friend, Lizzy, who studied French and Italian with me at the University of Glasgow, was stopping off in Asia before going home to Scotland after having spent 5 months in Australia. We planned the trip so that she was able to join us for the full two weeks. It was incredible as I had a little bit of home with me through all of the fun and debauchery of the next two weeks.

The first part of our trip started in Cambodia. Lizzy, Kayt, Georgia, Aoife and I all got a bus at 6am in District 1 straight to Phenom Penh, just north of the border. The bus costed around 200,000 VND (£6-7) each and should have lasted 5-6 hours. However, as it was the TET holiday, everyone was trying to get out of the city back to their home towns, so we were delayed getting out and it ended up taking about 8 hours to get to our destination. Nevertheless, once we get to Phenom Penh, we jumped in a Tuk Tuk which took us to our hostels.

Phenom Penh:

Lizzy and I booked separately so we ended up staying at the Lovely Jubbly Hostel whereas the girls stayed at The Base Villa. The hostels were bout 5mins walk between each other and both had pools and served western food and drinks. One night cost us around 6$ each.

Phenom Penh was great! It is a much smaller and quainter town in comparison to Ho Chi Minh City. We spent the first day walking around the city and drinking Angkor beer. The main street gives you a feel of the city's bustling energy with bright street lights and wizzing scooters. We explored the streets around the temples, observing the monks relaxing on the grounds around the walls and the river. In the evening, we went to the Beer Street - yes, the streets are literlally named after what they sell. A few beers in, our lack of sleep hit hard and we had to call it an early night. It gave us the rest we needed for our next day of exploring.

Killing Fields and S21:

On the Sunday morning, we got up to go on our tour to the Killings Fields and Prison S21, built during the era of mass genocide by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia after its many years of Civil War. The regime lasted from 1975 to 1979 which was responsible for the death of over 1 million people. It was a dark and hard hitting day. Yet it was great to learn about Cambodia’s dark and sad history; something which I knew very little about. The day costed around 15$ for the tuk tuk plus the 6$ entrance fees at both sites. There is an amazing book called, First They Killed My Father, written by Loung Ung, which is a tale of a young girl who lived through the genocide era of teh Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It really opened my eyes to the whole history and helped me to understand the difficulties that Cambodia still faces even today due to its troubled past. If you're going to Cambodia, I would suggest reading this book to get a bit of insight before going.

At the Prison S21 we witnessed torture chambers and the awful living conditions of many political prisoners who were kept in the school-turned-prison. The Killing Fields were arguably even more brutal as we saw the area where mass graves were discovered. There were posters and plaques explaining the atrosities that took place all over Cambodia. Nowadays, there are still risks of undiscovered mines throughout the country. In order to pay respect to the victims of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Regime throughout the 70s, a massive memoral was built at the Killing Fields filled with the bones and skulls of the bodies discovered in the mass graves. It really is worth a visit if you want to learn about Cambodia's past but be prepared for an emotionally challenging tour as the information is very hard hitting.

Siem Reap:

Phenom Penh was a pit-stop of our South East Asia tour and after only two days in the city we headed up to the famous Siam Reap via night-bus to continue our journey. The night bus was composed of double beds so when booking try to do so with a friend to avod sleeping right beside a complete stranger. There were five of us so one of us had to pull the short straw. Kaytlyn unfortunatey had to sleep next to another young girl however the experience could have been much worse for her. Just be aware that transport in Asia is not always what it is sold to be. We got to Siam Reap around 7am which was hours before our check-in to The Garden Village hostel at 2pm. The hostel in Siam Reap also had a pool and all-day bar so we made use of our free day to chill and drink by the pool while catching the sun.

Once we were allowed to check-in we all had a short-ish nap and then got ready to check out the Siam Reap Night Market. It was massive! It extended out to the Beer Streets which were packed with people and illuminated with bright, colourful lights. We all bought lots of cheap souvenirs such as silk scarves, lanterns and spices from its stalls. After a few tastey and colourful cocktails in one of the busy bars, mixed with various delicious street food snacks we all then decided to hit the hay in preparation for our early start at the renowned temple complex and one of the biggest religious monuments in the world, Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat:

It was a day that we were all looking forward to. We woke up to get our tuk tuk at 4:30 am which took us to the ticket office to get our one-day entrance ticket, which included a photo (50$ for a full day). There is the option for a 3-day or a 5-day ticket, but to be honest, I thought one day was more than enough!

From the queues at the ticket office, the tuk tuk took us (lol) to the entrance of Angkor Wat. Just a tip; if you plan on going at sunrise, like we did, bring a jumper as the tuk tuk ride gets pretty cold on the open roads in the night. We eventually made it to the famous viewing points of the notorious temples seen in the Lara Croft film, Tomb Raider. The sunrise created a beautiful pink and orange backdrop, silhouetting the ancient temples. It was stunning and well worth the early start!

Once the sun was up, we started our adventure around the ancient city. Climbing precarious steps up to the main dome where we saw a full view of the city and its temples and grounds extending out as far as the eye could see. We stopped off for a noodle breakfast at one of the various restaurants before going back to our tuk tuk.

Our driver then took us on to the various sites such as the Elephant Temple, the massive Buddha statues and the famous site of an old tree climbing up the side of a temple’s walls.

It truly was an amazing morning, but by 11am we were exhausted. It was getting warmer and warmer so we eventually decided to call it a day - we had seen plenty!

Angkor Wat is breathtaking. I felt so lucky being able to see such an ancient and impressive series of structures. The area should be considered as one of the World's Wonders as it really is impressive and should be given such recognition. There are some horrible tourist attractions such as Elephant rides and overpriced coffee stalls but if you can ignore these aspects, it truly is spectacular and worth a visit.

With a 5-day ticket you can definately explore more of the ancient city, but for us a few hours seeing the sunrise and the main sites were enough for our limited time in the beautiful country of Cambodia.

Once we were back at the hostel we had yet another nap before our night out in Beer Street. We found a Scottish bar where we sat for a local beer - I was dissapointed with the lack of Tennents. Then we went for some Khmer food in one of the local restaurants. It was a great way to end our few days in Cambodia. It’s a stunning country, and everyone was so smiley and friendly. People were waving and saying hello at every corner, and they seemed genuinely happy to see us!

Despite the 50 $ visa at the border, Cambodia is a country that is worth a visit. It’s recent and ancient history are intriguing yet not well known. Having the opportunity to discover and experience life in Cambodia was a pleasure. It is a country that I would definitely go back to!

Lizzy and I with our favourite Tuk Tuk driver, William.

Photo gallery