Phew, where to start?

Our day of Temple visits in Siem Reap was extrordinary. We visited about 4 or 5 different temples over the course of the day and they were fantastic! We visited the Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm (aka Tombraider temple), Bayon, Ta Keo and the Terrace of the Elephants.

Each temple is surprisingly different given they were completed at around the same time. Well most of them at least. Ta Prohm is where Tombraider was set and is really quite cool with all the trees growing over the walls and carvings, it's like being on a nother planet. Bayon was definitely my favourite. It has massive faces carved into each side of its many towers. I think there are 216 faces all together and each one is slightly different. It is a very cool temple.

Enough about temples... there are apparently 1080 temples in Cambodia so I'm not going to go on. We headed off to Pub Street that night for a few Beers and Dinner. Dinner, as always, was superb! The beers (Angkor beer, the local brew) were very well deserved after a long day in the hot, hot sun and went down a treat!

Up early the next morning for a trip to the floating viallges. The floating villages (179 all up) are communities of people living in the middle of a HUGE lake in floating houses. Many of them are Vietnamese illegal immigrgants, however there are many Cambodians also. It must be a difficult way of life but definitely interesting, especially the crocodile farm!

Next came the 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Pehn, capital of Cambodia. Since I don't sleep on buses, I am getting bit of a reputation as a reader. I have managed to finish 3 books this week and during that 6 hr bus trip, finished the new one I had just purchased the night before. Thankfully, everyone on the tour has brought a selection of books with them and they are all being passed around. Plus, the 6 hrs sped by while I was reading and everyone else was sleeping! numb bum excluded the bus trip wasn't too bad.

Phnom Pehn is a busy capital city and has a bit of a reputation for being slightly dodgy. we were warned of pick-pockets and con-artists. So, with our wits about us we had a wee explore of our new surroundings. We then headed out for dinner at a well renowned bar and discussed the options for the next day.

Decision made, we headed off to S-21 and the killing fields in the morning. S-21 was originally a high school, however, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came into power, it was turned into a prison. The killing fields were originally a chinese cemetry in a remote village 17km outside of Phnom Pehn. Much of what the Khmer Rouge did is well enough known that I won't go into it but I will say that I certainly could never have imagined the tortures or horrors that were dealt out during the time of the regime. Unfortunately, the wounds are still healing and I suspect it will take a long-time for the Cambodian people to get past that piece of their history.

A rather emotionally exhausting day was finished up with dinner at the famous FCC (Foreign Correspondent Club). We were to have dinner here and then head into town for some fun. An unexpected power cut meant we had had quite a number of Ales before getting dinner and it certainly helped the party mood. Off we went to the Gay Pride show. It was brilliant! A lot of Drag Queen acts getting on stage and performing some well known gay anthems. Had a blast! It was a prime location for the street kids to go about their pick-pocketing though and I thwarted one boy in his attempt at my bag. Didn't take the shine off the evening though.

Remarkably, no hangover in the morning! Lucky, since we had another bus ride ahead of us. Phnom Pehn to Suhanoukville, a beach town on the southern coast of Cambodia. 4 hours it took to get to a new destination (or half a book). We headed to the beach almost straight away and were then swamped by people begging and trying to hawk their wares. A few poeple got massages and pedicures on the beach but it was really nice to just chill out and enjoy the spot. The beach is beautiful white sand and it's surrounded by lush, green hills. It really is quite lovely and picturesque.

Today, is much of the same realxing and chilling out. I am heading off now for a massage and pedicure (argh!), I might even stretch to having a quite beer on the beach... ahhh it's a hard life.

Vietnam tomorrow!