This starts our month long GAP adventure tour. We met our 10ft giant of a tour leader and knew that this guy would be impossible to lose in a crowd. This proved true as he took us to Koh Sang Road, Bangkok's busiest tourist backpacker street, for dinner. He was able to lead us through the multitudes of Thai and foreign backpackers. There was an abundance of cheap clothes stalls, bars, beggers and the world famous ping pong shows (which we decided not to visit). Travelers to this part of the world should be forewarned of the begger techniques which generally involve them sending out kids, maybe with a puppy or kitten for good measure, in an attempt to get you to part with your money. The worst thing we witnessed was a man attempting to suffocate a kitten to try and get you to `donate` to him so he could afford to keep it and not kill it.

The next day saw us boarding a long boat, powered by a car engine, for a tour of the Bangkok canals. If you have ever dreamed of having a water front house for cheap then this is the place for you... rickety shacks on stilts. Some were half flooded but if you don't mind damp then the location is fantastic. These houses also had the added bonus that you are able to catch catfish in abundance, the canals swarmed with masses of these fish. Disembarking the boat saw the need for us to roll up trousers and take off shoes as the dock area and the streets behind it were under water, very dirty water!

Then began our tours of Buddha temples. We started with the famous Wat Poh with the largest reclining buddha in Thailand. Low and behold this thing was BIG! Nearly fifty meters long. Now that I'm married, I thought it appropriate that I go and complete the fertility statute ritual. This involved me rubbing a large penis shaped statute and then touching my head?!

The following morning we boarded our "bling bus" (we nicknamed it this due to its gold interior covered in mirrors and speakers) and set off for the Cambodian border. My 'she wee' came in handy as the toilet stops along the way were just holes in the ground!

The Cambodia / Thai border crossing was an experience in itself. Gambling being illegal in both countries, they have managed to cram in loads of casinos in the 'no mans land' in between the two checkpoints. The rest of the trip to Siem Reap passed us through little Cambodian villages where buffaloes and cows wandered aimlessly. The rice paddies stretched into the horizon in all directions yet there still isn't enough food to feed the people in this country. The locals also go fishing in the rice paddies, and once the fields are drained they are able to gather up loads of little fish to give them a good source of protein.

After a long hot day of traveling (Cambodia was even hotter than Thailand) floating in the over chlorinated hotel pool, with a beer in hand, was bliss. We have now scientifically proven that the human body can sweat continuously for 8 hours! In the evening we headed to the local children s hospital for a cello performance by 'Dr. Beat'. Dr. Beat (Beatacello) Richner is the founder and director of the Konha Bopha children s hospitals in Cambodia. They are funded through private donations and he begins his performance by assuring that we are all safe to be there by the Chinese & Cambodian governments. He was a Swiss entertainer and doctor who now plays the cello merely to raise money for his hospitals. Check out his web site http://www.beatocello.com. It was an emotional performance and actually influenced me to donate blood for the first time in my life, however it was a little to risky as we were unsure of the sterile conditions in the hospital and we are due to be going up to high altitudes in the next few days so I'm going to need all the blood I have.

We just missed seeing Angelina Jolie. We were at the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed, so had we been there only a few years earlier we may have run into her. The 100 or so temples we managed to see were built between the 9th and 13th centuries to glorify a succession of Khmer kings. Most of Angkor was abandoned in 15th century and the old temples were gradually over grown by the jungle until they were rediscovered by French archaeologists hundreds of years later. The tomb Raider temple (Ta Prohm) is known as jungle temple and is only partially cleared of jungle overgrowth to keep it looking the way it was when rediscovered. For sunset we took an elephant ride to the top of Bayon Temple however it was to cloudy to see the sunset nicely and it was rather crowded.

An interesting way some people make money here is to photocopy books and sell them for very cheap. I'm sure some sort of copyright law was being breached but the kids selling them were so cute, especially when you know the sad history of the Khmer Rouge and this country.

We got a nice sleep in, alarm went off at 4am, and went to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. On the way we passed the children s hospital were there was already a queue out front waiting to get in. The Angkor Wat temple was amazing. It is the most famous temple of all Cambodia. The 1500 square meter complex is approached via an impressive causeway that spans a 200m wide moat! 30 min down the road and we were at even older temples. The carvings and statues were incredible. On the way back we stopped by a land mine museum and were horrified at how many landmines have injured or even killed people. The owner of the museum still removes mines today, particularly around Thai/Cambodian border. We bought the owners (Aki Ra) life story and were horrified at how the Khmer Rouge made life so difficult. By the age of 12 his parents were killed and he had killed. The Khmer Rouge had recruited him into their army and turned him into a child soldier. Over the next 8 years he saw millions of his country men being slaughtered in a genocide to rival that of World War 2. The Khmer Rouge were in power for 3 years 10 months and 20 days and managed to kill over 1.5 million of their fellow Cambodians. That is over 1000 people being murdered a day!!! Men, woman and children all suffered.

A cold beer (called Angkor funnily enough) and some time in the pool reminded us how lucky we are. The night time consisted of more beer and cocktails as our tuktuk driver took us into the center of town to a street they referred to as 'pub street' - self explanatory title really. We tried a 'Dr Fish' massage. This involved us putting our feet into a pool of small fish that then eat all the dead skin off your feet. Once you get over the ticklish sensation and have let your feet be 'eaten' for 20 min you find your feet are now as smooth as a babies bum, well not quite, but they were certainly softer than when I put them in. We had another near miss with Angelina Jolie, missed her again by a few short years as we ate dinner in a pub that she used to visit after her busy days filming.

Cambodia has been the most enlightening country for me so far. To hear about what these people went through and yet they still have massive smiles. These are incredably resiliant people and it been such an emotional time here for me. We always say how lucky we are with our lives, but you know the true extent of how lucky we are when you talk to the local people. Everyone here has lost someone from their family, our local tour guide had his parents and two older brothers killed during the genocide. He described the first 26 years of his life as like being in hell, with a constant fear for yours and your loved ones life.

We are now in Laos and will write another blog about here soon. Been having major troubles with uploading photos here. Managed to put some more in the Bangkok folder and a few in the Cambodian one. Maybe we will find a better internet cafe soon!

Lee-Ann and AJ