Tom’s Adventure Through Southeast Asia Part 8 — Phnom Penh & Kampot, Cambodia
The bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia was the only time during my trip that I crossed a country border on land. After a disorganized border crossing process where the passports of everyone on the bus were handed over in a giant stack (welp) I was in Cambodia, the fourth and final country of my trip.
There is a chain of hostels throughout Cambodia called Mad Monkey, and during my time there I stayed at all four of them. I even got a t-shirt for free! These hostels were great with friendly staff and fun, sociable environments at every one I went to.
On my first full day in Phnom Penh I hired a tuk tuk driver with some people I met at the hostel to visit the Killing Fields and the S-21 School. The Killing Fields, formally known as the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, is one of the sites where the Khmer Rouge carried out their executions from 1975 to 1979. During the Cambodian genocide anywhere from one and half million to three million people were killed, making it one of the deadliest genocides in history.
While I was slightly familiar with the history from doing research for this trip, actually walking through the site with the audio guide was an incredibly eye-opening and sobering experience. I will not go into the details of what happened not only since I don’t feel comfortable doing so, but I think it is something that everyone should visit and learn about for themselves.
Next was the S-21 School, now known as the Tuol Sleng Museum. This was a school that was converted into a prison where thousands of people were detained and tortured before being transported to the Killing Fields for execution. It was set up similarly to Choeung Ek in that you followed a path and listened to audio commentary at certain spots.
That night I explored the city with the people I met at the hostel. We walked past the Independence Monument and the Royal Palace, which looked really cool lit up. While looking for a good spot for dinner on Google Maps, we decided on an Indonesian restaurant near the monument. It was here that I had my first Angkor beer, although I was already well acquainted with the other major beer in the country called Cambodia beer which I ended up preferring.
Across the street from the Mad Monkey hostel in Phnom Penh is their Sunset Bar, which was a great place to go at night for cheap beers and meeting other backpackers. They also had free popcorn which is always good.
While I would’ve liked to stay longer in Phnom Penh, it was time to move on to my next destination in Cambodia: the city of Kampot. Compared to Phnom Penh, Kampot has a more natural vibe with mountains and a river running through the centre. Kampot is also known for its peppercorn plantations, and while I was never really a fan of black pepper the fresh peppercorns here easily converted me!
One of the most popular things to do here is a sunset cruise along the river. The boat makes several stops at different locations where you can see fireflies! While I was on a more relaxing boat there are party boats as well, and at one point a party boat pulled up beside ours and you could go from one boat to the other if you wanted.
The next day I visited a hostel called Arcadia for the day. This hostel is a top destination for young backpackers in Kampot, even if they’re not staying there. Why you ask? Because it has its own water park! Even if you’re not staying there, you can purchase a day pass to the waterpark for five dollars.
The park has a giant waterslide, rope swing, a “blob,” a floating dock with multiple places to dive from, and a bunch of inner tubes if you just want to float around in the water. The hostel also has a bar which is notable for having a fake snake on a string that staff can drop on unsuspecting guests! Fortunately I wasn’t a victim of this prank.
While my original plan was to stay in these two cities for a bit longer and then head to Siem Reap, home of the famous Angkor Wat, a lot of backpackers were telling me about an amazing island that I had to visit. So like many backpackers tend to do, I changed my plans a bit and ventured off into the unknown.
