The mud! oh how Cambodia has some mud! A dissapointing start to what turned out to be one of our favorite countries. The slime of the Cambodia/ Thai border town of Popiet not only consisted of ankle deep sloshy slimy mud but also found ourselves up to our eyes in cheating scheming men eager to rip us off, no wonder when what turned out to be an actually decent guy greeted us we were dubious and Jo-Jo burst into tears. I won't deny it at that point i just wanted people to be friends with us becausea of who were were and not becausea they saw us as a walking wallet. Thankfully as we found out on our travels through this beautiful country this wasn't always the case. Good old L and P (Lonely Planet) does say don't judge Cambodia by Popiet and this is certainly true. Despite going round and round in circles (lietrally in a taxi) we eventually left on a high hoi (dusty) road.

Six hours on a moto on a very bumpy road you get to learn a lot of Cambodian and acquire one bruised bum (they're just fading now). If someone asked us to describe Cambodia in two words we'ld initially say moto's and pick ups and these soon became our favourite mode of transport as amost days we'ld travel amongst various items loaded onto the back of old, jam packed pickups. We discovered that a motorbike could be rode in numerous ways including strapped onto the back of a pick-up. With no room for us to squeeze amongst the bikes we straddled them on top of the pick up for another six hour journey.

One of the main highlights of Cambodia (apart from the obvious- us meeting our daddy) was exploring the ancient Khmer temples of Siem Reap. The magnificantly carved Angkor Wat stood king of all of the temples- we can't believe that we've been priviliged to vist one of the seven wonders of the world. We ventured around the out standing area on bikes having to stop for shellter in on of the temples to avoid the rain.

After saying goodbye to the ancient temples of Siem Reap we embraced the vastness of the Mekong Delta as we visited the home of the Irrawady river dolphins (a few of the only remaining dolphins of this sort in the world). Watching the dolphins gracefully diving in and out of the water in a playful fashion was fantastic, they were on top form and put on a fantastaic show. That evening Bridget had another fantastic treat, excited by the prospect of a hardboiled egg and a tokelok (a sweet smoothie mixed with condensed milk). What Bridgey thought was going to be a delicious egg turned out to consist of a rock hard white, blood stained yolk and a floating fluffy chicken, beak and all- needless to say she didn't try the chicken but bravely tried the yolk and white- her love for eggs nearly came to an end.

From one event to anothera we boarded anoth pick-up and headed off to the middle sof no-where. When Lonely Planet suggests not trying something we'ld suggest that you take note- the words 'the b****** road of the Devil' when describing a road would usually put most people off but not us! From the start we were doomed- a broken pick-up truck laden with pigs, people and bags was only the start. With a broken water pump, several flat tyres, getting stuck numerous times, push starting the pick-up, towing the pick up and jumping off as the pickup tipped up(well Jos was hanging half on, half off) a 7hr journey turned into a 48hr trek as we ended up spending the night on top of a mountain with only a tarp to shield us from the elements. Cacked in mud, soaked through and tired but still upbeat we finally arrived in Sen Monorom. People would pay thousands for the adventures that we endured that week!

Cambodia is a country with beautiful scenery, plenty of history and a whole load of mud (pigs would love it-well if they weren't in the back of cages for hours on end). But unfortunately once again yet another wonderful country that has endured great hardship. Thankfully the locals are slowly regainig independance after the brutal rein of Pol Pot who murdered the educated with his malicious destructive ways leaving behind a country littered in land mine and bombs. Whist in Siam Reap we visted a land mine museum. which had been set by one man on a misson trying to undo his wrong doings (he, himselof under the the rein of the Khmer Rouge had laid mines) own work by dedeternating mines. Whilst in the capital Phonem Phen we had a heart wrenching visit to the prison in which Pol Pot terrorised hundreds, interrigated them by hanging young and old a like by their feet until they passed out from the rush of blood to the head and the stench of dirty waterand then dipping them in the vats only to repeat the process time and time again. We also visited the deadly quiet Killing Fields of El Choek where thousands were brutally killed and where the innocent met a gruesome death- babies heads smashed against trees- it makes you feel sick. It's discusting to think what man creates in order to destroy others. We found it hard to comprehend that such awfful situations took place less than 30 years ago, it is even harder to think that it still goes on in parts of the world to day. A fantastic, yet disturbing book to read is "First they killed my Father".