The Wandering Donkeys © Made With Serif WebPlus.  Friends of the Donkeys | Contact Us | Terms & Conditions | Advertise

Cambodia - March to April 2016

Over the border to Stung Treng

After the border crossing from hell coming from Laos we stopped off in the small border town of Stung Treng. The bus dropped everyone off at a small service station in the middle and we ended up catching a tuk tuk with 3 local guys into the little town. We stayed in a hotel on the main stretch overlooking the market stalls. Outside was hectic, especially the markets where we had our first glimpse of the illegal animal trade. The stall holders did their best to stop us taking photos of the carcasses of otters, slow loris and bats. It was heart breaking. We were only here for the night and made the most of our time exploring the backstreets and little stalls, grabbing some fresh fruit for breakfast the next day. Everyone was so friendly and the children came running out of their houses to greet us as we passed!

Siem Reap

From Stung Treng we took a long mini bus ride to Siem Reap. We stopped off to have some lunch at a small stall on the side of the road and ended up eating rice with soy sauce because all the dishes had meat in them. (Beggars can’t be choosers!). Once we arrived we sat in a little restaurant and booked a nice hotel to stay for the next couple of nights to celebrate Nicks 30th birthday. It was located down the dusty back streets and our room was more like an apartment. Nick was happy with his big stone bath! We spent the next couple of days exploring the temples including the famous Angkor Wat and surrounding temples. The local food was delicious and fresh fruit shakes were plentiful! We visited the circus (with no animals) and watched acrobats acting out traditional Cambodian stories.

 Sihanoukeville

From Siem Reap we took a bus to Sihanoukeville, a beach side town. We ended up being dropped off in Phnom Penh where we missed our connecting bus because it took so long to get there and we waited for our next bus with the locals watching boxing on the TV . By the time we finally arrived in Sihanoukeville it was late and a warm shower was just what we needed. Our guest house was a bit of a trek from the town centre but we are used to that. The owner of our guest house was a very helpful Russian guy full of suggestions of things to do. We took long walks along the beach and hired a motorbike to explore the outskirts and other beaches. We did get pulled over by the police but after flashing them an international driving license they let us go.

Kampot

It was a short, cramped minibus ride to Kampot, a town famous for its pepper and my favourite stinky fruit, durian. There was even a large durian statue on top of the roundabout near our guest house. We loved this sleepy little town and could have spent a lot longer here. We visited two pepper plantations while we were here. We hired a scooter to visit one of them and the journey took us along the dusty back roads, through little villages and past rice paddy fields where the buffalo grazed. The vast expanse of salt fields were a fantastic spot to watch the sunset as the workers raked away at the white salt which reminded me of snow. During the last couple of days here we discovered a family run restaurant offering delicious home cooked vegetarian meals.

Kep

Instead of staying in Kep we decided to hire a scooter and take a ride there along the main road that hugged the coast line. On the way we stopped to check out some of the villages lining the banks of the river where little painted boats were moored up to makeshift jetty's. Upon arriving in Kep we visited the Crab Market where crowds of people were bringing in baskets of crabs and other seafood. We grabbed some raw sugar cane juice and took a look around the busy market before exploring the dirt roads where we took a walk through a National Park and visited a beautiful butterfly farm.. Nick spotted a sign for ‘Free Monkey Cuddles’ and we ended up spending an afternoon cuddling a beautiful rescued monkey called Kiri and chatting to her owner whilst overlooking the jungle.  

Phnom Penh

From Kampot we headed up to Phnom Penh in a tiny minibus with leaking aircon. It took so long to drive through the busy city where we were dropped off in the middle of the market and surrounded by guys trying to make us stay in their hostel. Eventually we managed to find somewhere to stay, on the very top floor of a hotel with no lift (that was a lot of stairs!). We arrived during the New Year celebrations and there was a lot going on along the banks of the river. We hired a tuk tuk for the day and got the driver to take us to the Killing Fields and S-21 Prison. It was a dark day but interesting to learn about Cambodia’s past. After looking at visas for Vietnam we decided to try the free 15 day visa which was a fairly new concept. Then we booked a bus to take us over the border to Ho Chi Minh City.