Blog time... but first to wish myself a happy birthday!

So last time I arrived I'd just arrived at my hostel in Siem Reap on Friday. Not much happen in the afternoon, I popped out for lunch and had a delicious Khmer dish. In the evening I headed out for food and drinks with these two lads staying in my dorm (Gareth and Daniel). We headed to a restaurant on the street where we able to pick a main course for just $1, bargain! Got served by the most outrageously blatant ladyboy I ever seen though!! It was weird... Afterwards we headed to a bar called 'Angkor What?' on the famous Pub Street for a few bevvies. Draught beer worked out at about 45 pence for a large glass... needless to say we consumed a decent amount! Nothing major to report though, a decent night out that ended around 1.30am...

On Saturday the plan was for me and Gareth to hire a tuk tuk for the day from about 8.30 and go to see the Temples of Angkor. Well the 45p beers from the night before put paid to this idea!! We need go but ended up leaving about 12:30... I need to get used to Asian beer as it gave me a banging headache!! The temples were really cool. Kind of difficult to describe (especially when you don't have a clue what your talking about) but it was all very impressive... I have to say though that within a few hours I'd had my fill of temples as I could really see much difference between them! I blame my untrained eye rather than they were all the same...

To Saturday evening... a pub crawl was meant to start at the hostel, however after a few free whiskey shots and a few games on Beer Pong this idea was abandoned by the hostel due to low numbers... oh well, to 'Angkor What?' we shall go instead... First drink in their was a bucket (yes, a bucket) of Vodka and Redbull... well this had it's desired effect to say the least and a night of dancing and drunken debauchery ensued quite soon afterwards! Details remain sketchy... I know I got a Tuk Tuk bakc to the hostel... I know a group of ladyboys tried to stop the Tuk Tuk in search of business (note - they did not succeed!)... and I know I got home around 4.30am. A good night!

Sunday I woke up at 2pm... Gareth and Daniel now departed, combined with the frankly unbearable heat I had the laziest of lazy days. Other than booking my bus ticket to Phnom Penth for the following day I barely got out of bed, let alone left the hostel! In hindsight this was an error... my bus the following day was at 6am and having woken at 2pm the day previous I couldn't sleep until about 3.30am! Nightmare. Even reading The Economist magazine, brought for such an emergency wouldn't send me off!

Anyway I made bus but was somewhat tired and spent the six hour journey trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. Failed.

Arrived in Phnom Penth at 1pm where my hostel is supposed to pick me up at the bus station. No show, great. Mobbed by Tuk Tuk and Moto drivers who would very much like to take me anywhere other than my hostel, much rather to a crappy hotel where they get commission. Well I'm used to these boys and there crap now and ignored their friendly suggestions. Instead I bit the bullet and called my hostel from my UK phone (tried asking at least 3-4 people where I could make a local call without getting coherent English, let alone sound advice... at one point I was sent to a FujiFilm camera store... when this failed I gave up) and told them to get down there pronto to which they did!

Now somewhat delayed, I had to get down to the S-21 Museum and Killing Fields (of Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge notority) as I only planned spending the night in Phnom Penth. So I hopped on the back of a moto (a motorbike) and my driver took me on my way. It was an interesting experience, watching the anarchy of Asian roads pass before my eyes... there were a few scary moments to say the least! Anyway the sites that I went to were pretty overwhelming. It's incredible what they did and I'm amazing the world stood back while so many innocent people were killed. Truely shocking... and probably not suitable for this blog.

To the evening... a couple of random girls in my dorm invited me to join them for dinner with some other people they'd met. In the absence of any better ideas, and it being the eve of my birthday, I accepted! It was a nice cultured night, dinner and a few drinks. The liver appreciated it after Friday and Saturday! Got in about 11.45am... the clock ticked over to midnight and sobbed myself to sleep... just kidding!

This morning I got up and caught the bus to Sihanoukville to enjoy the beaches on the south coast. I've not been here long but it's kind of dawning on me that I may not speak to a soul in person on my birthday!! Oh well, it was my choice to be here and I've had loads of nice messages which has helped raise my spirits...

All in all it's been a reasonable few days. That said, it's not a patch on Africa here, not a patch...

Adios amigos.