October 31st happy Halloween.  today we leave Phnom Phen for Chau Doc in Vietnam.  a short bus drive to dock and wait out our 9:00am charter at the Titanic dock side restaurant.  Our passports are handed to our guide then over to a local for what reason I do not know.  while waiting for the bus we leave the dimly lit bar area of the joint and sit outside on the deck which is lavishly decorated in Cambodian  Titanic period style.  the deck is furnished with...

October 30th. We started the day at Tuol Sleng Museum.  In 1975 the Tuol Savy Prey high school was taken by Pol Pot's security forces and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). This soon became the largest detention and torture in the country.  brick walls subdivided school rooms into small cells, a cloth door covering the entrance. the Khmer Rouge, comprised of young teenagers brainwashed for the cause, photographed each prisoner, before and...

October 29th today we say goodbye to Seim Reap and hello Phnom Pehn. we drove by fancy mini bus stopping at Spean Proap Tus or the telling bridge which is open to anything except motorised 4 wheel vehicles; it's an old bridge flanked by Nagas which helps one find the way to heaven. we also stopped at Skoun only to be harassed by the banana girls, one young girl was relentless following me around the entire time reminding me that I said I would buy from her, alth...

October 28th We were out of bed around 4:00 am, not much of a sleep, our room backs onto a rooster roost; it's a myth that they c*** in the early morning, they actually perform at all hours of the night.  we met in the Hotel lobby at 4:45am to arrive at Angkor Wat for sunrise around 6:00. the temple is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world and may have been built as a funerary temple for Suryavarman ii in 1121-1152 to honour Vishnu , the H...

October 27th the next two days we tour the City of Angkor, day one in the smaller wats and day two at the  larger Angkor Wat (Scared  or Capital city) ancient temple.  the temples were built between the 8th and 13th centuries and range from single towers made from brick to vast stone temple complexes. A great deal of restoration is taking place supported by countries such as Germany, China and India.  the restoration is similar to building a 3dimensional puz...