Saturday 15th August

Flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia and stayed at Hendricks European Guesthouse. Had a brilliant 3 days there. Hendrick is Swedish and such a nice guy, really cheerful and helpful, and all the Cambodian staff there are amazing. When they see you they all gather to put their hands together, do a little bow and say "Hello", and their whole faces light up, its like their genuinely pleased to see you, and their kids are gorgeous and so friendly. The smallest girl who's about 2 years old just came right up to me and started running her fingers up my top like incy wincy spider, then grabbed at my chest, starting giggling wildly, then repeated this several times before skipping off. There is a bar downstairs at the guesthouse which is an open-aired lounge, and there I met a Kiwi couple Matt and Charlotte, their English mate Percy, and 2 English friends Lee and Kerry, and just hung out with them every day having dinner and drinks each night.

Early start next day, my tuktuk driver picked me up at 4.45am and we went to the Temples of Angkor, starting at Angkor Wat for sunrise. These temples are from 700-1200 AD, and they are from the Khmer Empire. Angkor Wat at sunrise was spectacular, and the detailed carvings and architecture are jawdropping. Went inside and the walls are covered in carvings of royal women dancers, battle scenes on elephant back, buddhas and kings, e.t.c. The driver then took me around some smaller temple ruins. The area is huge and some people take 3 days to do it all. The big problem is the kids everywhere trying to sell guidebooks, postcards, clothes and bracelets. As soon as you arrive outside a temple, there are 40 kids hurling themselves at you shouting "Lady you buy this, lady you buy that...", and they do not take No for an answer, they just follow you. Kids as young as 3 years old are at it, they are all sent out by their parents for the 'cute' factor and to make tourists feel sorry for them, but its well publicised in all hotels not to buy from kids as they dont see a penny, and it encourages begging behaviour. I had one little boy try and sell a bracelet for $1, I said No, so he picked up a handful and offered me 20 for $1. I was like "sweetheart, I dont want 20 bracelets", then they just whine at you over and over and over "3 for $1, 3 for $1, 3 for $1", then chase after you in the tuktuk - its so god dam annoying. I feel sorry for these kids but after a day off whinging anklebiters in your ear, I just want to scream, but you can't, they don't understand. The older girls of about 11/12 years old have better selling techniques from so much practice. They ask which country your from, when I say England they reply "Ah, England, capital London. Lovely jubbly" - and I couldn't help falling in love with these girls and their enthusiasm, plus they get to know your name and use it over and over in conversation filling you with flattery and free bracelets for goodluck. These girls know exactly what their doing, I'll give them full credit, but I would not be sucked in to buying pointless stuff I didn't need. They learn the capital city and phrases from every country to cater to all tourists. Then visited Ta Phrom which is from the film 'Tomb Raider, Lara Croft'. Never seen the film, but the temples are fantastic, there are enormous trees growing out of the ruins. Ended up at Angkor Thom with the Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King, then Bayon, which is the most famous where all the huge faces are, a face carved on every corner pf the columns. Last stop was Phon Bakheng, which after a climb up a hill I was rewarded with beautiful views over the landscape. It was so peaceful and tranquil, and I was watching all the forked lightning and listening to the roar of the distant thunder. There was no rain as 90% of the sky was blue, but it was an electric show, then the hordes of noisy Japanese tourists turned up so that was the cue to leave as the peace was shattered. Got back at 2pm and I had been templeing for 9 hours!! Met the guys in the bar as planned and stayed up drinking the local Angkor beer at $1 a pop, chatting to Hendrick.

Next day did b***** all which was lovely, they started doing drilling work outside, so when I left my room they ran up to me so apologetic as they didn't realise I was still there, and offered me a bowl of dragonfruit as a way of apology for disturbing me. Went down to the bar in the early afternoon and met Percy, he got his first aid kit out as Ive been bitten on the top of my foot, and the effect is the same from the spider bite in Oz, a white head in the middle of a huge water filled blister, so I popped it, cleaned with antiseptic and put a dressing on. I wish I would stop getting bitten. The woman there thinks it was from a red fire ant as their vicious little b*****s. We just sat drinking beer and chatting all afternoon until Lee and Kerry turned up, and we stayed there all evening. Hendrick told us about a crocodile farm literally right at the back of the place, where they breed crocs for handbags and kebabs, so he got us some rotten fish and we went up to the balcony to feed them. It was dark so I was on torch duty and Lee and Percy fed them (there was NO way I was handling rotten fish). There were tons of crocs and their eyes were all lit up, and I felt so sorry for them all being crammed in there together, so thought we had better put food in their stomachs before they ended up as food in peoples stomachs. Then went back to our beer til late. Thoses guys were great - had the best time chilling with them.

Next day another early start at 6.30am to get the boat to Battambang. The boat left at 7.30am and arrived at 3pm. It was a picturesque journey through bank-side settlements, then sailing through wetlands and water greens, scraping the marshland trees that whipped at our heads. There was not enough room downstairs for us all, so loads of us were piled on the top with the luggage, and we had the mission of avoiding decapitation by branches. I got smacked in the face several times, and the Danish girl next to me took it upon herself to slap away all the spiders and bugs that landed on me and in my hair from these whiplashing moments. The floating village children flew into ecstatic frenzies at the sight of us, jumping up and down waving and screaming "Bye" - instead of the usual "Hello". Even the adults were joining in with huge smiles. I slapped the suncream on, but after 8 hours in the sun, the places I didn't reach are so tender and red raw, its like I've been roasting on a spit!

Thursday 20th August
Got a motorbike driver/guide who took me through the countryside, down dirt track roads which sprays red dust all over you, they call it 'Cambodian Snow'. We went through loads of picturesque villages with not another tourist in sight, just whizzing through the country with the sun on my back and wind in my hair past ricefields and farmers bringing their cattle down the roads. This was rural Cambodia at its finest. Went to Phnom Sampeau which is high up on a hill, its limestone cavities are beautiful, bt it was a place of mass brutality and genocide. The caves were used as slaughter chambers by the Khmer Rouge and still contain skeletal remains of many victims, and these were taken from the old temple at the rear which was used as a makeshift prison. It was so eerie, and there was a smaller cave where the childrens bodies were dumped. Seeing the skulls and bones was horrific, especially as I was surrounded by beautiful countryside and birds singing - made it even more poignant. Carried on further up the hill to the summit, with a golden stupa and glorious views, then back down over 1000 steps to the bottom. We then went through more countryside across the river on what they call the Golden Gate Bridge and to the legendary Norry which is a bamboo cart (nicknamed bamboo train), powered by a motor engine. I went for a 30 minute ride which was great fun, I was just sat on a rug on the cart hurtling along the line. We met 2 carts coming the opposite direction, so we all stopped, ours was dismantled and put on the verge, the others passed, then it was reassembled and we carried on our way. Afterwards went back to the town on the bike and was covered in Cambodian snow. I absolutely plastered factor 50 suncream on today but burnt like a b****. Its a side effect from those god awful malaria tablets which Ive been taking so sporadically as the side effects are horrendous. One of the local guys working at the hotel said I now look like a Cambodian woman with my hair and skin. When I was in Australia working at the casino, I worked with a Kiwi Mauri girl. She asked what tribe I was from. I explained Im English and she thought I was a Mauri like her because of my tan.

Next day got the bus to the capital city Phnom Penh. Got on a tuktuk who asked where Im from. When I said English he went "ah, sound as a pound!". That cracked me up. Staying at No Problem guesthouse which is awesome. As soon as I walked in the tiny daughter of one of the women who works there just toddled straight up to me, threw her arms around my legs, her head in my knees and was gurgling away for a hug. She's just over 1 years old and so squishibly cute. Im sharing my room with a couple of geckos, but when I was in Laos I used to share my bathroom with them. I would have a shower and wrap myself in a towel, turn around and be faced with a gecko staring at me. I don't care though, as long as their in my room that means no bugs or spiders are. The guys that work at this hostel are so tactile and friendly, always giving hugs and messing about, but not at all in a pervy way, and its great to have a proper chat and interactions with the local guys. I instantly met an English/Iraqi girl called Saro and Federicko from Chile - who both though I was an Aussie - so we ended up drinking beer, playing pool with the Cambodian guys and hitting the bars.

Next day me, Saro and Federicko got a tuktuk to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. We hired a guide to take us around. The fields are where most of the 17,000 detainees held at the S-21 Prison were executed. Theres an enormous stupa of 9000 skulls and their discarded clothes piled in a messy heap. The guide showed us the mass grave pits, and there were tiny fragments of bones still on the ground along with fragments of clothing. We were shocked into a gutwrenching silence. There was a pit for women and children where the women were raped before being executed. Hundreds of prisoners would arrive by truck, blindfolded and hands tied behind their backs, ankles shackled. They were told they were being moved to a 'better' prison, before being led to the pits and executed. Tons of prisoners had been forced to dig these graves first. There was a big tree that had been used to put a stereo on playing loud communist music to drown out the moans of the dying people. The Khmer Rouge turned on their own soldiers for being suspected traitors, so there was a pit where the headless soldiers were excavated. Kids from the ages of 10-15 were brainwashed and recruited by them and made to execute their own families. There was also 'the killing tree' - this is where babies and young children were grabbed by the ankles and smashed to death against the tree infront of their screaming mothers. Babies were also thrown in the air and shot at as target practice. These people were battered and clubbed to death using bamboo poles, hoes and clubs, drowned in wells, had their throats cut and suffocated with bags over their heads. There is a large tree resembling a pineapple and the branches are really sharp. These were also used to slowly hack away at throats, making the death last up to 20 minutes. It was very rare to be shot as bullets were deemed 'too expensive'. These peoples crimes? Being educated. Living in the city. Being normal human beings. The Khmer Rouge wanted everyone to be poor farmers with no education, they were scared to wear glasses as anyone deemed slightly educated was immediately killed. The babies and children were killed incase they would want 'revenge' in later life, and to purify the country. These people lost entire families, their homes, everything they had strived for. They were allowed NOTHING - all in the name of the fanatic communists. Afterwards we went to Tuol Sleng museum. It used to be a high school but was taken over by Pol Pot's security and turned into a prison. It was renamed S-21, and the classrooms were turned into torture chambers and equipped with torture instruments which were still there, along with extremely graphic photographs of the victims as they lay dying. There were corridors of tiny cells, and the outside was protected by electric barbed fencing so the prisoners couldn't commit suicide, and the corridors were hallways of photographs of the victims, like in Police mug shots. There were small children as well, and one young boy looked just like my nephew which tore my heart out and nearly made me have a breakdown! It has to be the most depressing but powerful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. It was the largest incineration centre in the country and 100 victims were killed a day. Walking in the rooms seeing the bed and torture instruments, knowing that countless numbers of people died in the rooms where we stood in the most excruciating agony was horrifying beyond words, especially doubled up with the photos of them dying after being muitlated, but I think it was the sorrowful faces of the mugshots staring back at you which was the worst. Knowing everyone single one of the faces I looked at had died so miserably, and it made me want to cry. How human beings can commit such horrendous atrocities against humanity is beyond comprehension, and to think this was only 30 years ago, from 1975-1979. Its like something from the dark ages!!! Us 3 walked out in depressed silence each with our own thoughts, then we began discussing just how much Cambodian people have gone through, and they are true survivors. All this is on show to the public to stop this kind of atrocity from ever happening again. Cambodians are the friendliest nation in SE Asia, they are truly incredible amazing people. Got back and we needed to chill and cheer up, and the Cambodian guys provided us with light entertainment immediately by pouring the beer and playing pool with us, screeching with hyper ecstatic laughter at everything and having us all in hysterics with the exuberant personalitys. I love those guys, they were awesome. We all chilled out watching football with them as they all adore English football and follow it religously. Their laughter is so infectious, and I had the baby girl sat on my lap for cuddles. It was just like one big happy family, we all felt so at home and relaxed beyond words. Its got to be the friendliest place Ive ever stayed at and I loved every minute. Going to miss those guys.

Internet Explorer 8 - accelerate your Hotmail. Download Internet Explorer 8