Although it's so close to Bangkok and being the countrys 2nd largest island, kho Chang isn't on the traditional island-hopping itinary. After just an hour or so of arriving though I could not work out why. This was going to be my last proper stop before home and was relieved to see it was a fitting place to end this leg of my travels. Compared with Kho Chang, the very relaxed Sihanoukville was a bustling metropolis. One afternoon I went into a travel agents to fi...

After walking endlessly around temples and being completely drained at the killing fields, Sihanoukville was exactly what I needed. Sihanoukville is a small town on the coast lined with beaches and is, arguably , thee mots relaxing place on Earth. Since deciding to go home I'd always planned to finish off with with some proper serious relaxation and Sihanoukville certainly fitted that bill. The main beach where we were staying is lined with restaurants and bars w...

Before I got to Cambodia I'd known roughly what had happened in the civil war and I had learned a great deal more since arriving. It wasn't until Phnom Penh however that it really struck me. On the surface the city seems perfectly normal and despite the poverty, most of the people seemed friendly and happy. The longer I stayed and the more I saw however, the clearer the reminders of the Khmer Rouge's presence became. From the killing fields and prisons to the amp...

The boat to Battambang was meant to take 7 hours but ended up closer to 9 after we got stuck more than once in the reeds and the driver had to dive in to free us - now thats what i call service! The dely was welcomed (perhaps not so much by the diver) since cruising through the backwaters and floating towns was so much fun. It was a door to door service as we constantly stopped off on the front porches of floating huts to let families on and off. The Cambodians o...

So, I left New Zealand and the cold behind me and pitched back up into the madness of Bangkok. It didn't take long for me to remember why I loved Thailand so much the first time, oh how I'd missed that food!!! During my 3rd meal in my third different restaurant in the space of 3 hours I worked out my rough plan of attack for the next 3 weeks. I decided I would't hang around in Bangkok so that I could spend as much time a possible in Cambodia so after a pit-stop i...