With the need to shake off the darkness of Phnom Penh, I headed north east to the Ratanakiri province to a town called Ban Lung with an Irish man called Paddy. It was a 10 hour bus ride along paths questionably marked as roads. The bus we got on was a bit clapped out to say the least but after seeing the roads I could understand why. The road even when paved had pot holes the size of craters. We were thrown and bounced around much of the way. At one point I looke...

Leaving the beach behind I headed to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. In a complete contrast to the awe and splendor of Siem Reap and the relaxed drunkeness of Sihanoukville, PP was a time for history. The two main sites to visit are the Killing Fields and S21, both a remembrance of Pol Pots and the horror of the Khmer Rouge. S21 was originally Tuol Svay Prey High School until in 1975 Pol Pot's security forces turned it into Security Prison 21. This was t...

Extremely templed out, I headed from Siem Reap south to the beach to meet up with some friends from Vietnam. The main beach area in Cambodia is Sihanoukville, where all there is to do is laze and party- and boy did I do both. The hostel that my friends booked into was holding a Mardi Gras party on the first night I arrived. Instant party. Wandering round the beach before night fell, we saw boys in salons getting their hair and make-up done as women. It was qui...

I left the comfort of close friendship and nice hotels to head into Cambodia. This was one country that after reading about I was very excited to visit. I was intrigued to see the famous stone temples of Angkor Wat and in contrast the sobering experience of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot's terror reign. I was also excited to visit a country that was mainly jungle, where the people eat anything and everything they class as nutritious and where history has had such ...