Hello all,

 I'm in Cambodia and have had a thrilling few days checking out the Ankor Temples and going on Tuk Tuk rides.  Its a good job too as it took 14 hours to get here from Bangkok through the most awful roads, which rumour has it the airlines are paying the Cambodian government to keep bad!!  At one point we even had to be let through rivers by smell children holding torches so that we weren't stuck!!  very funny but a bit random!

On my first day there I and three others who I had met on the bus decided to go to the nearby killing fields to see the memorial there.  Whilst we were there and looking at the building piled high with skulls, some orphan children came and one girl got onto the steps infront of the bones.  I snapped away asit just seemed so ironic that she was there.  At the same time we also went into an old hospital that had been used as a prison during the genocide, which is now a school for the orphans and the monks.  We were taken round inside and introduced to some monks that were busy studying.  I was allowed to look at their work, which was at the time a lesson in English, and was amazed at how beautiful the writing was and how precise the words were.  I was able to take pictures so check them out.

 After our adventure here we went to one of the Ankor Temples, Chamkrong, where we climbed a mountain and watched the sun set.  Unfortunately it was quite cloudy but still a very good experience.

 Our second day in Siem Reap involved us getting up at 4.30am to get a tuk tuk to the famous Ankor Wat in time for sunrise.  In contary to the previous evening, there were no clouds and the sun rise was spectacular!  I've also been snap happy with this so have a look.  We swiftly moved on to Ta Prohm (where Tomb Raider was filmed) and then to Ankor Thom to see the famous faces in the temple tops.  That evening we watched the film, 'Killing Fields' to gain some perspective on the recent political history of Cambodia, which I have to say was barbaric!

 My plan now is to journey back to Bangkok where I will then go to Kanchanaburi, the site of the famous River Kwai.  There are also caves, waterfalls and other historical sites, not to forget the tigers and elephants!!  I'll be going there with a new friend that I've met in Cambodia called Diane.  She's also travelling alone and has literally done my world trip except she's been travelling for 11 months now.  She also went to Sheffield Uni and is an archieologist so we have lots in common.  After a few days there it'll probably be back to Bangkok and onto Chang Mai and Pai where I'll be doing my organised jungle trek.  Probably won't have too much time left after here, which is wierd considering I will have had nearly two months in total here.  Time has definitely flown!!

 Ok all, hope you're all ok, I'll catch you later.

 Much love

 Gem xxxx