After the relative madness of Phnom Penh, the beautiful and relaxing coastal town of Sihanoukville was bliss. We had a cracking hostel 100m from the beach. Along the upper edge of the beach was a string of cafes and bars, many of which spilt their comfy wicker chairs and tables onto the beach for sunset barbecues. A near perfect spot. Many children patrolled the bars trying to braid hair and sell bracelets to tourists. Very cute and very clever kids. Also, many l...

Phnom Penh was not our favourite city. It was a busy, bustling and noisy spot. We befriended some nice girls at the bus station who showed us to the hostel they'd booked and it looked fine and pretty tidy. The waterfront was the nicest part of town we encountered (although I'm sure some of the temples would have been more interesting, had we dug a little deeper!). After sunset, there were lots of different groups of Cambodians (and a real range of ages) performi...

A day trip to the floating villages not far from Siam Reap by tuk tuk then boat. Incredible to see how so many poor people live here in such squalid conditions. We took in sights including small children wrapped in snakes (for photos and money of course), an alligator enclosure, a floating shop and orphanage. The shop keeper was charging extremely high prices for noodles and rice, playing the 'poor orphans' card, but we didn't fall for it. He was clearly charging...

After an early minibus trip from Khao San Road, we arrived at the border of Cambodia. The gentlemen processing the visas were very friendly and organized, although I expect we could have paid 20% less on the border! Grrrr! On the Cambodian side, we had a bit of a walk in the heat (which mum didn't enjoy particularly), followed by an ATM visit for local currency. The company then put us on a bus to Siam Reap. However, despite being told that we were going to be dr...