Siem Reap

We arrived at Siem Reap and got very excited. It seemed to have a great atmosphere from the start and was going to be very easy to spend a few days here before our 30 day visa ran out. We checked into a 1.75 per night guesthouse that had been recommended to us; the free bananas, baguettes, tea and coffee were slightly more appealing than the free bicycles and decided it was time for a good night out on 'Bar Street'. It has been a very quiet month for us since being in Cambodia so we were more than ready for a few drinks. Unfortunately we kind of had a 'few drinks' in our room with our homemade disco then had a 'few drinks' in Angkor What Bar?...which then resulted in us spending the next day in bed, only surfacing to get food, no surprises there! We also got a delivery pizza but that is so ridiculous we won't mention further!
A few days later we went to a Landmines Museum which was really interesting. We knew that landmines were a big problem in Cambodia, you only have to walk down the street to see the damaging effects the undiscovered mines are having on people, but to hear that there may be over 6 million still active is pretty horrific. This museum was set up by a guy who was forced into setting the traps during the Khmer Rouge period. He is determined to make Cambodia a safe country and has deactivated thousands himself. He now teaches others how to do it and has featured in several documentaries about landmines. There is a film due out in 2009 called 'Year Zero' about the Khmer Rouge Regime and landmines.
A few days later we got a tuk tuk to Angkor Wat. This temple was huge, and very attractive, especially with the sun glistening on the moat. Luckily Jen got some good photos, Sal's camera battery died about 5 minutes after arriving, not clever! It soon started raining, as it always seems to when we're at some big attraction (Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China!) and we were slightly disappointed because we weren't that 'blown away' by the temple. We carried on to another two, one called Angkor Thom and another called Bayon and much preferred these! One of them was being completely taken over by trees, really strange to see! These had been 'forgotten' about and were rediscovered after the Khmer Rouge Regime.
It's very unlike us to go out more than once a month, let alone a week, Vic can vouch for that, so we thought we'd have one last night on Bar Street before heading to Thailand. We were MUCH more sensible this time...we bought Absolut Vodka instead of the cheap stuff!
The next day we got talking to a French Vietnamese gentleman (our 3rd friend aged over 50) who later invited us for dinner, which we accepted. His English was very basic and our French even more so, but with lots of pointing and acting we had a very enjoyable evening, thanks John...admittedly, that's not a very French or Vietnamese name!

Well we've both really enjoyed Cambodia, not so much the places we've been to but the experiences we've had. The orphanage was a definite highlight for us. The people of Cambodia have experienced so much and the poverty here is very obvious but despite all of this they are such a friendly, happy nation. We have felt very comfortable here and would definitely recommend you visit. Now it's time for us to spend a long day on a bus to Thailand which we're excited about as it means doing our first proper border crossing. See you on the other side...