....Playing Spot the Paedophile.
It is the holidays again and most of us are looking forward to a few days off where we can do nothing but make merry. A select few, however, have been squirreling away their pennies and are ready to travel. This article is for those of you who are looking forward to something more exotic than fish and chips in London. You may be thinking Asia but the recent troubles in Thailand and India have seriously narrowed down your usual travel routes. Sure, you could go to Fiji and sit around a resort pretending you are a wealthy Westerner, while the locals smile disdainfully at you, or you may be thinking of lazing around Bali yet again, but c’mon people, you’re paying good money, money you have scraped together over a long hard year of routine and monotony. No, what you really want is an adventure!
You want to go somewhere that is the cross-roads of Hindu and Buddhist culture, someplace where the food is a mix of local and French fare, where the people are so grateful to be simply alive that they aren’t concerned what the corrupt government officials are doing, where you can hire a scooter at a measly dollar a day without a licence of any sort and just take off on your own, or if you are a little lonesome for company, strike up a conversation with the curious and blatantly direct locals. And if by some bizarre chance you are still finding it hard to fill up your time, then why not do what I did and play spot the paedophile.
But enough generalities, lets get specific. By my estimation, you will need at least three weeks to travel the length of Cambodia. This will give you about five days to really explore the ancient and immense city of Angkor Wat with its numerous ruins, as well as a couple of days to take a break from temples and shop at the local market for high quality Cambodian silk, visit the Land Mine Museum where you can learn interesting facts about landmines and the western countries that produce them, drop into the local hospital to give a little blood to help the landmine victims and just generally eat delicious foods ( the breakfasts especially are lovely, with condensed milk tea a perfect accompaniment to an omelette or a baguette and cheese feast). But if you are pressed for time then three days should be more than enough to visit the main temples and do some shopping at the Seam Reap markets.
At this point those of you with a short trip planned will probably fly to Phnom Penh to visit the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng genocide museum as well as to buy up an assortment of cheap designer rip-offs and local souvenirs at the massive markets where you might even meet a tarantula or two. Oh and by all means avoid the French run restaurants because they are frankly a huge rip-off and if visiting the night-club strip, then be warned that the Australian inspired bars are merely a front for brothels — though the beer is still cold and the staff, attentive if nothing else.
But if you have a bit more time and want to see rural Cambodia, you would well be advised to spend around three nights in Battambang before heading on to the capital. The city is filled with multi-cultural cuisine served in eateries with a French provincial bent, thanks to the NGO’s who have long been based in this little administrative town. The town is a great little base for day trips to the country where you can explore often overlooked temples with intricate cave systems that were extensively used as a refuge to escape the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Here you can photograph the bleached skulls of victims and then, if you are brave enough, let the little boys guide you through the intricate network of caves. Oh and do make sure to finish up your trip of the flooded rice fields and peanut drying beds by loading up your scooter, your guide and yourself on an open-platform bamboo train for the trip back into town. If you are lucky you will meet locals loaded up with their shopping and heading home, because then you can witness first hand the unloading and dismantling of the little bamboo train in order to let the others past on this single rail network.
But back to Phnom Penh now where you have spent three days or so shopping and visiting the night scene. Now either you are heading to the airport to fly out of Cambodia or the fun is just beginning as you bus it down south to Kampot. Now Kampot is definitely a must stay before even contemplating heading to the beaches in Sihanoukville. Kampot is a little riverside town that is built around the foot of the Bokor Mountains. Hire a scooter or pay for a ride on one and head up the mountain to the old abandoned and isolated hotel which is almost always shrouded in a mist. Not unlike the one in “The Shining,” it is incredibly spooky and also incredibly picturesque.
After a fine meal and a relaxing sleep hop on your bike again and travel along the coastline towards Vietnam. With the beach to your right and the green lush hills to your left, take a break on the open platforms overlooking the beach in Kep while the locals cook you up fresh fish and replenish your water supplies. Don’t forget to drop by at the nunnery in the mountains where they grow their own medicinal herbs and are happy to prescribe some small thing for your ailments. And if you are really game you can ride all the way to the border and spend a little time in Vietnam!
But you’ve been in Bokor for about five days now and you’re getting a bit restless so I guess it is time to head to Sihanoukville where you can while away some time marvelling at the kaleidoscope of a happy shake sunset whilst the rave music thrums behind you from the temporary bamboo shack on the beach that has miraculously transformed into a bar over the course of the evening. Not much to do but chillax now though the pesky drug mules are always buzzing around trying to sell you Ganga. So, yeah three days is the most you want to spend here.
Had enough yet? But there is so much more to do! Oh well, you are probably right, time to head home I guess but wait what about the paedophile count?? Let’s see… three at the Thai/Cambodia border, one in Angkor Wat, two in Phnom Penh and one in Sihanoukville. How do I now they were paedophiles? Well, apart from the obvious mispairing of fat white tourist drooling over a little girl, the locals were complaining about them in their broken English but, that’s another story.
So do your bit, travel Cambodia and let your tourist dollar lessen the need for money earned through the sex trade.
!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."
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