Udong, Noch & Poona

I've been renting a 100cc "Honda Wave" scooter for the last few days. It's surprisingly practical for getting around Phnom Penh and surrounds, even though it only has one wing mirror, the headlight and indicators are broken and I can't get it into first as the gearbox is stuffed. Anyway, I decided to take the beast out on a day-trip to Udong yesterday which is 45km north of Phnom Penh. Udong was the capital of Cambodia in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries (after the decline of the Angkor Empire and before the capital migrated to Phnom Penh). There were around 10,000 people living there in the 1850's. Today, there is a large Buddhist Monastery, a few small villages and a number of crumbling old Stupa's on the hill which contain the ashes of kings and generals.

Riding through Phnom Penh was pretty crazy as usual, but the traffic eased up once I was out in the countryside which really is beautiful. The ride was alongside the Tonle Sap river for most of the way with paddy fields and fish farms on the other side. The people were very friendly, kids waving and practising their English on me as I buzzed past. Here's a short video clip taken in the outer suburbs of Phnom Penh - it's too dangerous to try this either in the city due to crazy traffic or in the countryside due to roaming cows, traffic on the wrong side of the road etc.



Arriving at Udong, a couple of kids on bikes rode up to me for a chat. They both had excellent English and were keen to show me around. I initially turned them down and scooted on to park the bike but they persevered and cycled after me to the parking spot. I figured it would be nice to have someone to chat to as travelling alone isn't much fun so I hired them as tour guides. Their names were Noch & Poona, and they were doing ad-hoc tour guiding in their spare time from school. As well as telling me all about the history which was interesting, we talked about school, jobs etc. It really struck me that these guys are not only bi-lingual at 17, but also have a real entrepeneurial spirit. In Australia, the UK and many other countries i'm sure they would have a great career ahead of them. Noch told me he wants to be a tour guide and they clearly are doing well here compared to a lot of people, but the lack of career opportunities is a real shame for young people. Having said that, there really is a positive spirit here in the kids which is great considering Cambodia's recent history and I think this is very encouraging for the future.

Here are a few more pics from the day, the one on the river is looking back across the Tonle Sap to Phnom Penh CBD - the Foreign Correspondents Club is in the middle I think for those who have been here.