Today we started off at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. We experienced some beautiful gold incrusted buildings and perfectly groomed gardens. We enjoyed the spectacular pieces of royal jewellery, meanwhile our thoughts were skewed towards the thought of selfishness, as the King has so much wealth and power, yet 25% of the population are below the poverty line.
After a hot and sticky hour at the wonderful palace we hopped on to the bus and headed towards the local slums. As we got off to walk through the laneway the smell of sewage hit us instantly. We walked through the rundown, busy laneway that was lined with small shops selling produce, with five floors of housing above. It was quite overwhelming how people can live in such conditions, with the aged stone building that looked like it would fall down. Billy told us that there would be more than five people living in each tiny room. It still exists because its location is prime real estate and the Government hasn’t offered the residents enough compensation to move. Ironically, 5000 people live along this strip, the worst housing in the city, just a stone’s throw from the palace and Australian Embassy. We really were quite shocked by what we saw.
We then got back on the bus for our four hour bus journey to Kampot. This journey was once again bumpy and dusty, as the road structure is terrible here. We arrived at our hotel at 3 o’clock and soon after we set off again towards the elephant gate caves up in the hills. When we arrived at the caves we were confronted by a group of Buddhist monks who were happy to see some visitors. These monks are up at 4am every morning, chanting for three hours before breakfast. They then work for food 10km away from their home before coming home. They don’t eat dinner and weren’t allowed to wear shoes. As we walked a very long stair well towards the caves we looked back over the beautiful views of the countryside of Kampot. The caves were a nice experience but we were all ready for a hearty meal. After dinner we took a tuk tuk tour around the quiet and sleepy town of Kampot. It felt like a ghost town compared to the capital, Phnom Penh. After the tuk tuk ride we were all ready for a good night sleep, ready for our day in the mountains tomorrow.
By Sally Barton and Wren Spence