After two restful weeks in Kerala we were ready to move on and flew to our next destination Bangkok via Mumbai. We didn't have Thailand on our original plan but our travel agent told us it would be cheaper to go to Cambodia via Thailand rather than by a direct flight. I have no idea why this is. We were going to just spend one night in Bangkok however our next flight got cancelled and we were moved to a flight the following day.

We arrived at Bangkok airport in the evening and after a little confusion with buses, got a shuttle to our airport hotel. For the cost the best I was hoping for was a generic basic room but instead the hotel was excellent. We had a nice big room, access to a swimming pool and the staff were very helpful and friendly. We were greeted by the ladyboy at reception, shown to our room and went out for dinner. The restaurant we found had a band on. They were unintentionally hilarious - so so bad, but they seemed popular. On the menu we saw things like snake head and intestine. We had chicken.

The following day we visited the Grand Palace and Temple of the Golden Buddha. The Grand Palace was huge and beautiful. It felt like the things we were seeing on our round the world trip were getting more and more impressive. I'm pleased we didn't got the other way around the world! Within the Palace walls were lots of smaller temples and monuments that had intricate and often colourful designs. There was a painting that went around the internal wall which showed myths and legends that were in fantastic condition. In one part of the palace we saw what looked like a model of a temple that was made of stone and about 9m squared. It looked very impressive and wondered what it was. We were very pleased when we saw the sign saying it was actually a model of Angkor Wat (where we would be going in a week). Probably the best bit of the palace tour was seeing the Emerald Buddha. The temple was amazing and had a very spiritual feel about it. As it turns out the Buddha was actually made from jade, but I guess emerald sounds more impressive. The monks change the outfit of the Buddha depending on the season and you can see the other outfits in a museum. We really liked the Palace. When we left there we went to see the Golden Buddha. It was a smaller complex but it was still very impressive and worth the visit. That evening we returned to the same restaurant from the previous night and tried some of the snake head and intestines. Only joking, we had chicken again. We really enjoyed our day in Thailand. It's funny how things all work out for the best.

Our next country to visit was Cambodia. After a very short flight to Phnom Penh and the usual entry visa nonsense we were picked up by a tuktuk and taken to Rory's pub, our home for the next 5 nights. The accommodation was basic but fine, and it was ideally situated in the best part of town for sightseeing. Phnom Penh is a crazy busy city with hundreds of tuktuks zooming around and hundreds of market stalls lining the streets. Walking anywhere in town was an adventure and crossing the road took skill and bravery. Even though it is chaos, Phnom Penh is a great city and in parts really beautiful.

In the centre of town is the Central Market. This is apparently the biggest market in Asia and you can buy almost anything there. From Rolax watches to Kelvin Clein t-shirts, they had it all! We got hassled quite a bit when we were walking around, however it wasn’t bad at all. The Cambodian people are incredibly friendly and are very polite. Bartering was done in a friendly way and the people were so appreciative of business. We got a few t-shirts, a dodgy watch for my dad (that he’d been asking for ever since we started travelling) and got Charlene’s bag fixed. It was all very cheap even before we started bartering.

My most lasting memory of Phnom Penh will be our visit to S-21 and the Killing Fields. In the 1970’s Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Rouge, and the country suffered terribly. Land was confiscated, religion was outlawed, new laws were enforced, and thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured and murdered. S-21 was just an average school many years ago, but when Pol Pot needed somewhere to put his prisoners, the school was turned into one of the most hideous jails you could imagine. Innocent people were rounded up, accused of conspiracy or spying, and sent to S-21. The first place we saw there was a large, 3 storey building that was used as large group cells and for torture. When the prison was liberated mutilated bodies were found and there were graphic pictures showing this. The bodies were buried outside. After that we went to 2 more buildings of similar size, but these were crudely converted to contain smaller cells. They were roughly shoulder width and not long enough to lie down in. Outside these buildings you could see the yard which was used for torturing and hanging prisoners. Some of the old school apparatus had been modified for these purposes. The last building was full of photos and exhibits. When prisoners arrived at S-21, their photo was taken. Now these photos roughly A4 in size covered the walls and displays in the last building. It was incredibly eerie and upsetting. Men, women and children. From there we read about the various means of torture and saw the equipment used. There were also accounts of the prison from a few people who had survived. The last room had lots of skulls with notes explaining how they showed the people were tortured to death. When we left S-21 we were driven 15km out of Phnom Penh to the Killing Fields. This was where the prisoners were taken, under cover of night, to be executed en masse. We saw the mass graves – some that held hundreds of bodies. We saw the “Magic Tree” which had a loud speaker that pumped out noise to drown out the screams so locals wouldn’t get suspicious. We also saw the “Killing Tree” which they smashed babies against. In the centre of the field is a massive monument which contains 17 levels of bones that had been exhumed. The Khmer Rouge was in power during the mid 1970’s. Only now are the leaders (those who are still alive) being tried for their crimes. During our time in Phnom Penh a preliminary hearing started against 4 of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge. This was not ancient history. Most of the people who live in Cambodia today lived through this.

We left Phnom Penh by bus and went north to the town of Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. The journey was very good and the hotel in Siem Reap was unbelievably nice. Although Angkor Wat is the famous temple that everyone wants to see, there are actually lots of other temples to visit in the area as well. To visit all the temples you need to hire a tuktuk for the day since they are not within walking distance of each other. On our first day at Siem Reap we visited all the temples on the small circuit, starting with Angkor Wat itself. Angkor Wat is surrounded by a moat and you have to cross a long stone bridge to get inside. We decided to get a guide to show us around, and he told us the significance of all the features and architectural design. The whole temple was built in 37 years because 37 was an important number for them. Some bits of design on the temple are unfinished because they couldn’t get it all done in time. Shows how importantly they take all this number stuff. There was also a set number of workers and elephants (both lucky numbers) and a set number of gates and steps between each level. There are 3 levels to the main temple representing Hell, Earth and Heaven. It’s surprising how the number 3 is important to so many different cultures around the world. Angkor Wat was originally built as a Hindu temple but was converted to Buddhist later on. Buddhist monks still live around Angkor Wat and pray there each day. During the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge, there was a battle at Angkor Wat and you can see bullet holes on the outside walls. Inside the temple (and indeed at all the other temples in the surrounding area), all the statues have had their heads chopped off. That is because religion was banned by Pol Pot. Our guide took us up the first 2 levels and showed us the steep steps going up to the top. We queued to go up but Shil was told that she couldn’t go up in her shorts. They didn’t have any sarongs or trousers to hire, so we had go all the way back down and out of the temple to the market stalls outside and buy some trousers. The ones Shil got are black and have a dragon on. She looks very Kung Fu when she wears them. We went back in and were allowed into the top temple this time. There were lots of courtyards and passageways at the top along with a few headless Buddha statues. The views over the jungle were brilliant. We left Angkor Wat and were taken to 5 other temples that day. I was a little bit worried that since we had visited the biggest and most famous one first, all the others would not be as good. I’m glad I was wrong. Each temple had something different to offer. They all had amazing designs carved into the stone and some looked quite creepy. My favourite one that we went to was in the deep jungle. There were trees growing around and on top of the ruins. I hadn’t seen anything like it before. The temple was apparently used in one of the Tomb Raider films.

The following day we took things quite easy. We visited Siem Reap town centre and had a massage. Shil had one of those “Dr Fish” massages which is where you put your feet into a fish tank and the fish eat the dead skin on your feet. It was apparently very ticklish. We went to a restaurant where there was a traditional dance show called Apsara dancing. It was quite interesting. The lead dancer had double jointed arms and hands. I’m glad I had finished eating by the time she came on. We spent another day at looking around the temples on the big circuit. One of the temples was about 30 minutes drive away so we got to see some normal village life and some beautiful scenery. Again each temple was very unique, especially the water temple that is surrounded by water. You had to walk through jungle paths to get to some temples and we saw some huge spiders. It was horrific. Its sending shivers down my spine just writing about it.

We went back to Phnom Penh for 3 nights and stayed in a different part of town. We visited the Royal Palace which had nice gardens and pagodas in the grounds. We then left Phnom Penh and Cambodia and got the bus to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. We both loved Cambodia.

D