Well, I think it's fair to say that not a lot could have prepared me for S.E Asia and after New Zealand and Australia, it's been quite a shock to the system. I flew from Sydney on the 19th as planned and at the airport met a Belgian girl named Maite Henry, who happened to be on the same flight and have roughly the same plan, so we have been travelling together since. Our flight to Bangkok was delayed by about 3 hours so we didnt arrive until roughly 4am. We were immediately greeted by loads of taxi touts, which was some indication of what was to come. I bought a guide book in the terminal and as it suggested we avoided the touts and got a taxi from the public station outside. We were blasted with the temperature and humidity outside, again something which we have slowly aclimatized. The taxi took us to our choice of hotel, namely the Atlanta which has been used many times as a film set due to it's 1950s style. On arrival we had to wait until 6am to stop us paying for that night, although this time I am quite sure was made up on the spot as the next day we were told differently with regards to check out times, but that is the way of things here, nothing is certain and everything is more difficult and expensive because you are foreign. Apart from meals, organising Vietnamese visas and a bit of exploring we basically slept that day away but the next we took the sky rail to the river and a very cheap (15p) water bus to the three main temples in the city, Wat Arrun, Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew in the imperial palace. We were confronted every few steps by a local with 'convenient' advice, saying that the temples were closed to non Thais until 1pm but really they were getting commision from Tuktuk drivers who would then take you to another open temple via shops where they force you to buy goods so they can get commision. We avoided this pitfall and found all the temples very much open, the highlights being the giant 46m reclining Buddha in Pho, the tiny emerald Buddha in Phra Kaew and the view of the city and the steep stone steps of Arrun. We then took another water bus and sky train back to the hotel area, collected our passposts with shiny new visas and at some point in the evening dived into an Irish bar for drinks and dinner to avoid the rain.

In the morning we were picked up by a bus which was to take us to Cambodia. We believed we had got the ticket we had asked for which was all the way to Siem Reap but it turns out that the already overpriced ticket was just to the border where we needed to buy another ticket. We also got the bus company to arrange our Cambodian visas, another mistake as it was far more expensive than on the border, although we have heard of people being held up at the border and the bus did give us some level of security, even if they were trying to scam us the rest of the way. We just consulted our guidebooks to avoid the rest of the scams once through, the final one being a commision scam with the hostel they dropped us at so instead we found our way to a guesthouse called Garden Village, both agreeable in name and price and got our first Tuktuk. Here they aren't really trying to scam you but are persistant and will overcharge if you don't haggle. Our room was basically a wicker hut with air con and a shower and there was mouse poo on the beds. This isn't too much of a surprise here though, we were told by many people to expect to lower our standards so we just had to brush it off and use our own sheets and pretend we'd seen nothing, a surpisingly effective coping mechanism here! Next morning after a Cambodian rice breakfast we started a 3 day tour via Tuktuk of the Angkor temples. There are too many to name but each had a very different feel and it was quite eerie to walk around them, apart from the Japanese tourists who of course are most places, in huge numbers, brightly dressed, almost all the time! We managed to get ahead of one bus and stay there until the evening though. I think our favourite temple of the lot across the three days was Bayon, which is composed largely of towers with large stone faces on all four sides, of the sort most people would expect from a temple in the jungle. On the second day we intended to get up to see the sunrise at the famous Angkor Wat but we both slept through alarms and missed it by about 30 mins so instead we visited the smaller, older Rulous group of temples, far less impressive but still good to have seen. In the evening we bartered in the Angkor night market for one or two souvenirs and photocopied guidebooks fro other places. On the final day we did manage to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise, and seing the silhouette against the beautiful deep red sky was stunning, although this was one of those moments when my camera decided to play up, and of course it has been fine since. I did however manage to struggle with settings and get one or two great pictures, which I will put up soon. Having finished with temples, we headed out for dinner for a nice BBQ, consisting of beef...and snake. It doesn't taste not unpleasant but neither was it my favourite meat. An experience nonetheless.

The following morning we caught a bus to Sihanoukville, on the coast. The journey took most of the day with numerous stops at tiny little food stands and restaurants in the middle of nowhere. On arrival, rather than opting for the expensive Tuktuks here, we were driven on Motos to our guesthouse, a low cc motorbike. We spent one full day here in which we lounged on the beach and ate. You would think this would be a break from the hectic towns and cities but just as many people are trying to sell you things as you attempt to sunbathe or while you are eating. It just never stops, anywhere. It was nice to see the coast though and we had a good time. We got a bus back to Phnom Penh, the main city in the country. This place really highlights the Cambodian traffic system. For instance, the horn is used as a defensive driving technique, most frequently for overtaking. I also saw one van pull out into oncoming traffic, drive for 10m down the wrong side of the road leaving cars and motorbikes to swerve around it before it signalled (I would say rather pointlessly by this stage) and moved onto the correct side. And the best bit is that none of the road users though anything of it, no wild gesticulations or shouts, just a normal amount of honking, which here is pretty much just saying hello. And its like that all over the country! Amazing! I must say I'm not really a fan of Phnom Penh, although it is shows a huge contrast between poor and rich, which gives you a feel for the country but there is just no peace here. Today we caught up on Cambodian history (although still relatively recent) by visting the Killing fields and Tuol Sleng Museum. The former was an execution and mass grave site from the Pol Pot regime in the 1970 to 80s and has as its centrepiece a huge pagoda style building full of the skulls of the victims. The latter was originally a school but was converted into a prison/interogation and torture centre, now a museum full of pictures, some very gruesome, of just some of the victims, alive and dead. There were also some cells containing one bare metal bed, an empty box of ammunition and foot shakles and a single picture of a tortured prisoner chained to the same bed. Needless to say this was all very chilling, especially as it really was not that long ago and many of the survivors and guards are still around today, many former members of the regime free and yet to be tried.

This brings me to the end of my Cambodian experience and tomorrow I leave for Ho Chi minh City in Vietnam by bus. Maite has already flown to Hanoi so Im back by myself. I am so glad to have seen all that I have in Cambodia but it is a very tiring experience in every sense and I am very much ready to leave. There is so much more I could say about the country as there have been so many new things I have encountered here. I will try to explain a little more through my photos when I get a chance. Take care everyone!