Cambodia

This is a special destination during our trip; we are spending 10 days with some Belgian folks who have come here for Thida and Bob’s Cambodian wedding.

The wedding itself starts at 6am, and goes on for 8 hours through different customs: Bob and Thida, the couple, pay respect to each of their families; then there are some traditional dances performed for the families and couple; guests pay respect to the marrying couple by pretending to cut their hair and spraying them with perfume. There were other customs as well, and the process is long but very beautiful as the couple must change their clothes for each new custom. We look up from our iced coffees and say, “Bob is green now,” and a few minutes later, “Thida is gold.”

During the night, we drink and dance and celebrate the last few costume changes of the bride and groom.

Some of us are very hung over as we climb into the bus the next morning. This will be a theme on this trip, but for now, we are drinking lots of water on our way to Siem Reap to enjoy the temples of Angkor.

Bo and I are afraid of seeing more temples after Myanmar, as we overdosed on them a bit in Bagan, but these are completely different and there is no comparison. The temples are huge, beautiful, and full of history. One king was a Buddhist, so his temples are completely different from his father’s who was Hindu. We can even see Buddhist temples that were destroyed during a Hindu king’s reign. What’s more interesting are the temples and statues that were transformed from Buddhist to Hindu. Some temples are taken prisoner by nature, where the trees grow over the stone to claim it for themselves.

Further north we explore Banteay Srei, the temple of women, which is carved from pink stone and has amazingly detailed sculptures and reliefs.

And during all this history, we never forget to drink. But now, it’s time to get ready to really party for New Year’s Eve, so we had south to Sihanoukville, a beach town. We eat ridiculous amounts of food and head to the beach bars, dancing until early in the morning.

On January 2nd, it’s sadly time to say goodbye. Bo and I go on to Kampot, a charming city next to a river renown for its delicious, albeit strong, pepper. We stop over in Kep to try the local crabs cooked with Kampot pepper, and hop over to Rabbit Island to enjoy the beach.

Now, we had started our journey in Phnom Penh for the wedding, but we never actually saw the city. So we head back to the capital to visit the Royal Palace and the S21 museum, formerly a school that the Khmer Rouge transformed into a prison. It now serves as a testament to Pol Pot’s crimes, as well as the victims who were tortured and killed every day in this place.

For our last few days in Cambodia, we choose to go to a less touristic town next to the Mekong: Kratie. We float in a boat with the remaining freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins, which look like small beluga whales to us because of the large bump on their heads.

We drive through the country on a motorbike, which is really enjoyable as there are a lot of peaceful places to stop and enjoy the Mekong, or even swim in it with the locals. We rumble past the sad ruined remnants of French colonialism, whose dilapidated buildings haunt the sides of the river.

We spend a night on Koh Trong island, in the middle of the Mekong. Life is slow here, and people smile at you. All you hear are the birds, cows and insects. What a nice way to end our trip here.

Now, we are heading to Vietnam, where we’ll start the trip with a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat.

All pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/vHC7McheebkmC1pT8