43) Cambodia: Backpacking. 30 July to 16 August, 2016.

We had itchy feet and finally we were able to leave the boat and set off in a taxi to Sihanoukville, or ‘the ville’, to catch the Giant Ibis bus to Phnom Penh. Once out of the two cities it was quite a picturesque and pleasant drive north. Heading into the centre of Phnom Penh we really did get a glimpse of a bustling city in transformation, from an older poorer capital on its way to a modern city. We caught glimpses of everyday life for the poor on the outskirts of town to the more upmarket areas where the well-off now reside. One memorable moment that was not able to be caught on film, was how to fit a family of five, a dog and two bags on one bike and still keep it upright, amazes us to this day.


We had booked a hotel on-line that would be central to sites that we wished to visit in the capital. We had not used on-line bookings much before, as for decades we always arrived in a destination, we went to the area we wished to stay and hunted for the right hotel based on cost and checking the room. So we were a bit dubious about what we were going to get, as pictures can be a bit deceiving at times. As it turned out we lucked out, as we were right in the centre of the action and just off the Mekong River. Luckily our hotel was set back from the road and was quiet, as we don’t mind ‘cheap and cheerful’ as long as it is clean, comfortable and quiet, and that is precisely what we got.


The restaurant and bar scene around our area was fantastic and every night we tried something different – Cambodian cuisine similar to Thai food, Cambodian cuisine similar to Vietnamese food, Khmer food (traditional Cambodian food) and of course western food. This was usually followed by a visit to a local bar, talking to other tourists, ex-pats and locals, while consuming a two sensational and very cheap Margaritas’.

The Royal Palace, Phnom Penh.

Through the day we spent hours walking everywhere, and was great exercise for us. Being on a boat, unless you are swimming or snorkelling daily, there is a distinct lack of aerobic exercise, as running around the deck does not really cut it. It was indeed a hard slog for us though, because it was full sunshine every day, very humid, and with the temperature ranging in the mid to late 30 degrees. Luckily we were well accustomed to this type of weather, having lived in the tropics since 2013. We visited the stunning Royal Palace, the Russian market and Psar Thmei (the immense art deco market).

The Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace is a must see as the buildings are many, very ornate, and spread around a reasonably large site. Hence many visitors come to visit – locals, monks, Cambodians and foreigners. There are two visits sessions per day with a break in between for lunch. We easily completed the site in about 4 hours during the afternoon setting. The Russian market is very interesting in its own right and you can find anything from food, groceries, hardware, metal work, basic kitchen and household appliances. Warning, it is a bit of a rabbit warren and you can easily lose your bearings and end up going down the same set of stalls many times over. Psar Thmei is vast looking at it from the outside and houses a lot of very upmarket stalls, particularly a lot of gold jewellery stalls. Very tempting but we resisted somehow.

The Royal Gardens.

Some sites we did not visit – namely the killing fields of Choeung Ek and the S-21. Having lived during the time of PolPot’s 4 year reign of terror we were reasonably well versed in the gruesome history. It is estimated that the Pol Pot regime tortured and killed between 1 to 3 million Cambodians in that short time and mostly the elite and educated. After visiting Auschwitz some decades earlier I have never been able to erase from memory the horror that I experienced visiting there and really did not want to add this terror to the list. We did not live during the Second World War and felt it was important for us to visit Auschwitz to see things for ourselves. Similarly, if you did not live during Pol Pot’s reign, I think it is mandatory that you learn first-hand what went on there. After talking to locals of all ages it is easy to see the devastation that this history has had on Cambodians. They are moving on and get on with everyday living, but the trauma experienced is still very much evident and hidden just below the surface of their smiling faces. I think the younger generation will be able to propel the country forward into what we hope will be a more prosperous and happy future.


By day 5 we took the Giant Ibis bus to Siam Reap which is the town where the stunning wat region is located, known collectively as Angkor Wat. We purposely got a hotel a few kilometres out of the bustling party scene town and one with a pool, usually walking into town for dinner every night.


You can visit the extensive Angkor Wat site by hiring a bike in town or just inside the gates to cycle around, which would be fun if you are very fit and used to cycling. However, It is the vast distance to be covered in tropical heat that is the draining part of this option. For the less fit, all hotels organise package tours of the Angkor Wat site via a tuk tuk (taxi) driver. There are two main packages commonly on offer, which allow you to view a selection of Wats, all in a day. You could of course visit every wat on offer but you would need to negotiate this with the hotel to extend beyond the general package option and you would need at least a week, as there is a lot to see. However, even taking one of the day tours is enough to immerse yourself in the region. The tuk tuk driver takes you firstly to the wat ticket office located just outside the town, whereby you can purchase a daily, 4 day or weekly pass.

Each bust is unique.

Then it is off to the main gates of the site where you can elect to walk across a bridge to enter into the grounds. On both sides of the bridge are carved stone busts of everyday people, each is totally unique and not one is repeated. Your driver then takes you to the various individual wats and you have plenty of time to see each wat, while your driver waits outside. It is an extremely long hot and humid day and luckily we were there in the best season when the daily temperature only reaches 35 degrees and not the early 40’s in the hot season. We were prepared though and wore breathable long sleeved shirts, pants, a hat, and comfortable joggers. We carried plenty of block out, insect repellent and the most necessary, plenty of water. Other tourists toured the site in shorts and T-shirts, most were burnt to a frazzle by the end of the day and some even suffered heat stroke.

Impressive Angkor Thom.

We stopped for lunch at one of the small outdoor restaurants and replenished water supplies before heading off for further wat inspection.

Walkway to Phimeanakas.

Later in the day we finally visited our last and best wat - Angkor Wat. It was a great idea to visit the most impressive wat last. We managed to queue to reach the highest platform to see the vista before 5pm, when the viewing from this level ceased.

Vista from the third tier.

After visiting the inside and outside of the wat it was a most memorable experience to view Angkor Wat from across the lakes, as the sun set. All up we had managed to see about 8 wats in various stages of repair and disrepair before the crescendo of Angkor.

View of Angkor Wat.

After a long hot exhausting day we cooled off in the pool for an hour before heading out to dinner. It was truly a fabulous but exhausting day. We had intended to do more tours in the following days but on reflection felt we were sated and did not need to experience more.


After 4 days we returned to Phnom Penh for a further two nights before heading back to the ville by bus. We were told there is a rail journey that now connects the two cities and goes through some lush territory en-route. We did check this out and found the return journey we needed was mostly overnight and totally defeating the purpose of the scenic rail journey, so we opted for a quick Giant Ibis bus ride instead.


On return to 'little Harlem' and our boat in the marina we were so pleased to note that no damage had occurred while we were away, even though the region experienced some SW season storms the boat was tied well and we were safe. The electricity supply did not fare so well though and we were told that the area had suffered regular power outages most days. We did lose a few items in the freezer and luckily it was not a lot as we had not provisioned since Pattaya, Thailand. Having re-assured ourselves that all was good and the boat was in good hands we felt safe to head off on our next journey – Vietnam.


Procedures: We would recommend the procedure we undertook for entering Cambodia. It is costly but essential if you want longer than a1 month tourist visa. If 1 month suits then you can easily arrange a taxi driver to take you to the various offices and check in to the country by yourself without the associated costs.
Fuel and Water: The marina does have water but no fuel. The water is rain water collected in a tank. We did replenish with it as we have a very good filtration system on-board and suffered no problems after drinking it. If you do not have a great filtration system it would be wiser to drink bottled water, available everywhere. Fuel can be brought from the local service station nearby via jerry cans and a taxi. We had filled our tank before leaving Pattaya, Thailand and given the small Cambodian coastline did not need to replenish. Provisioning: There is a fabulous dry and wet market in town, offering a huge range of vegetables and meats. Within walking distance there is also a reasonably well stocked supermarket that caters to local and international tastes. Cambodia uses American dollars and there are many ATM’s on offer.

42) Cambodia: Cruising the Southern Shore. 14 to 24 July, 2016.

We have had an awesome time in Malaysia and Thailand since late 2015 and have enjoyed the Sail Malaysia rally, meeting and cruising with new sailing buddies, the sights, the smells, and as always the friendly locals. Combined they have made our time here truly exceptional. But we are so excited today to be entering a new phase of our cruising life story; as it marks the start of our Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos tour.

Cambodian mainland and islands.

The coast line of Cambodia is relatively small in size, but it certainly does pack a punch. What it lacks in quantity it definitely makes up for it in quality. The islands are all very close, which is great as there are no long hard slogs to do and certainly no overnight passages.







The islands are forested; some have resorts and some just small local villages.
Importantly, there are also some great protected anchorages. The east side of the islands offer great protection in the SW monsoon while some of islands offer shelter when the NE monsoon season prevails.

We had a little bit of wind on the nose, unusual for this time of year, crossing the border between Thailand and Cambodia, so we had little to sail with and it was from the wrong direction. So we motored down the coast stopping at Koah (island) Kong and Loah Rung, overnight. We could have stopped at some of the smaller islands along the way but we had not officially checked into Cambodia yet so it was not wise to dilly-dally.




The next day we made haste to Koah Pos to anchor, for check-in. I was in the cabin preparing the documents when I noticed the Captain had started doing donuts. Returning quickly to the cockpit I understood why. He was circling around what appeared to be a human being. On closer inspection our worse fears were founded, it was indeed a human being floating face down in the water. It was obvious from the deck that the poor gent had been dead for quite some time. We immediately attempted to alert the authorities on channel 16 but no one answered. After four attempts we aborted this plan, took a photo for verification and continued on our way to Koah Pos. We took the dinghy to the mainland beach, and the Captain went across the road to attend to Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Port Authority.

Pretty Koah Pos. South of Sihanoukville harbour.

We could have elected to check in ourselves but this would have only given us a 1 month visa, and we needed a 3 month visa with multiple entries, to allow us to travel over land and back pack for the duration. This cost us $USD 300 on entry and $USD 100 US on exit, quite expensive but we thought it was worth it. The advantages of this type of visa check in were obvious from the start. All the officials from each discipline came to meet us at an easy location and the check-in was fast, seamless and no hassle. On completion they then took the Captain by car into the town to get money from the ATM and a SIM card, great service in under 2.5 hours, whilst I waited on the beach entertaining the local children. It would have been a different story checking in ourselves, going to all the different offices via taxi and waiting to be processed, all up most of a day. After the officialdom Peter notified them of the body – verification with a photo and co-ordinates of the location were given to the officials. This piece of paper was passed around the table from person to person, with no one seeming to want to take responsibility for any follow-up action. The Police were finally notified, a statement was made and we were off leaving them to deal with the situation.


Now that we were officially allowed to roam we set off to explore Cambodia’s islands over the course of the next 2 weeks. We visited Koah Rung, Koah Kong, Koah Ta Kiev, Koah Pos, Koah Rong Sam Lem and Koah Ses, on the border with Vietnam. All anchorages offered great protection from the SW monsoon and we spent our time snorkelling, swimming, circumnavigating in the dinghy and relaxing. We never saw another yacht as we were told that there was only one other cruising in the country, and 8 permanently in the marina.






Some modern housing on Koah Ta Kiev.

We were later told by an ex-pat on one of the islands that it is not wise to report bodies to the local authorities as they consider the last person to see the body, to be the murderer. It is also not unknown for bodies to wash up on their shore line and they just quietly bury them. The bodies are often fisherman that have fallen off their fishing trawler, and after witnessing local fisherman hang off their stern to toilet, it must be very common. One freak wave and they lose their footing, in they go and the boat continues on its way with the loud motor sadly drowning out their cries for help.

Looking south from Koah Ses to Vietnam.

Time was moving on and the backpack beckoned so we motored back to the marina. Once in the harbour, known colloquially as ‘the pit’, we tried to anchor, which took 8 frustrating attempts. The bottom has been scoured out to make the harbour and offers little mud to secure your anchor, and to make matters worse it is filled to the brim with plastic bags, so it is a bit like slip, sliding away with every attempt. We had been conversing with the friendly Russian manager via email for a number of weeks and he was expecting us, but on arrival he was not there. Luckily one of his friends and fellow yachtie made arrangements. Rumour had it that the manager had been rounded up by Interpol and taken back to the homeland. There is a large population of Russian ex-pats in Cambodia and a lot of Russian money and it is apparently quite common for Interpol to do a regular trawl through the population looking for people of interest. Whether that is true and also included our manager, we will never know.

The ‘marina’ is really just one long jetty with rust issues and you tie up stern to the jetty, whilst a local boat boy dives down through dirty water to secure your bow rope to a sea floor structure, and fenders are placed between all the boats. The marina is located in the SW corner of the pit in an area known as ‘little Harlem’. We were quite concerned about leaving the boat there as the SW storms do pummel the man-made rock wall harbour, and we imagined easily scraping our next door neighbour. So change of plans, we would tour Cambodia for 10 days or so and return to assess the situation, before heading off to Vietnam and Laos for an extended period of time.