too old for dreads

Things slowed down markedly as soon as we hit the Cambodian coastline.

We’re now at a remote bit of an island called Koh Rong, two hours by boat from the coastal city of Sihanoukville. It’s very sleepy here. Nothing much happens. 

And we’ve gone right back to basics with a shack on the beach; there’s only power for a few hours in the evening and the ‘air-con’ is regulated by the amount you open the shutters. Lovely.

It’s all made slightly bizarre by the fact that we’re opposite a private island called Song Saa which is just a 200m swim but a world away from here. The cheapest rate is $2600 a night (we’re paying $30) – which goes up to $12000 a night at Christmas. 

That really is madness. Does anywhere really justify that amount? 

It feels wrong somehow in Cambodia – a country that’s still picking itself up from the genocide of the Khmer Rouge and the subsequent economic collapse. 

The Khmer Rouge regime ran out of money pretty early on and they were funded by China who insisted on rice by way of payment. As a result, the already hungry people were starved as their staple food, that the regular Khmer folk grew in the fields under the stick of Pol Pot, was shipped to Beijing. It took a long time for Cambodia to pick itself up. Clearly tourism is playing a big part and that’s got to be a good thing – whether you’re paying $30 or $12000 a night. 

The taxi driver to Siem Reap yesterday was 58 and spoke eloquently about his life during the Khmer Rouge time. He remains somewhat disabled as a result of their torture and still to this day eats everything he’s offered because the pain of starvation is so very clear in his memory. Before the Khmer Rouge he was a happy 70kg soldier fighting in Lon Pol’s army. At the height of the barbaric regime his weight dropped below 40kg and his stomach was bloated by malnutrition. 

Cambodia is picking itself up and working hard to create a sustainable economy. 

But at what cost? We learnt while on a cycle ride with a great sustainable tourism company called Soksabike that the country is being deforested at a frightening rate. 25 years ago 75% of the country was forest. Now it’s only 7%. Much of the land was leased to Vietnam owned companies on 99 year leases as a way of generating income after the Khmer Rouge. The landowners have now planted it and a large proportion of the produce grown goes to China and Vietnam. There’s never been any love lost between Vietnam and Cambodia – they were seen as the enemy of the Khmer Rouge – and some Khmer we’ve met now consider the Cambodian government a puppet of Ho Chi Minh City. There’s lots of history and a natural tension between neighbours that may just be on the increase. 
We travelled between Battambang and Siem Reap yesterday to get a flight down to Sihanoukville (named after Prince Sihanouk who was the King of Cambodia before being ousted by a US backed right wing coup in the ’70s). The landscape is pancake flat and the sun glints on the flooded paddy fields on either side of the road. Workers are in the fields from first light and the roads are crammed with trucks and kids heading to school on bikes, all having to breath in the appalling fumes along their route. In the distance is the only hill for miles around. As you get closer you realise it’s made of the same beautiful sandstone that is used everywhere in buildings and decorations (including drinks coasters and hard skin removal stones!) Then look closer still and half the hill has already been quarried. Another 10 years and the whole thing will be gone. 

A good friend asked me a couple of days ago by text whether the trip was giving us some perspective. 

I’ve thought a lot about the question and can safely say that we’ve realised any sort of travel can give you a different perspective on life so long as you chuck yourself in and ask questions of all the people you meet along the way. We’ve been lucky enough to see lots of places and different cultures, as well as just being out of our normal routine for a good chunk of time. 

I definitely feel different now to how I did 2 months ago. Part of my goal was to ‘decompress’ after 10 very intense years. I’ve certainly done that and feel grateful we’ve had this opportunity (which isn’t over yet – next stop Phnom Penh and then on to Hanoi and Hong Kong). 
I think we’ve learned to appreciate the simple things in life more and recognise excess and unnecessary stress when we see it. The challenge now is maintaining this newly developed perspective. The plan for how I do that needs to be hatched. Think we’re in the perfect spot for a good old think …