Greetings from Cambodia!

So the last time we left you we were in Saigon (or HCMC) for our last day in Vietnam. We took a 'normal' (not sleeper) bus for a change to the capital, Phnom Penh, which was much easier than I expected it to be with little waiting around at the border. Initial impressions of Cambodia was that it seemed to be a lot more rural than Vietnam- you could actually see the countryside rather than streets lined with houses, shops and shacks- and also less crazy traffic here! Also many of the Cambodian shacks were built on stilts and had huge bundles of hay outside them, im still yet to find out what that was all about. Once in Phnom Penh we got our first tuk tuk to a chosen guesthouse. The accomodation in Cambodia seems to be more geared towards travellers with bars that do food as well, unlike the smaller hotels in Vietnam that were usually run by a couple singlehandedly. The place had cable TV again so we settled up for a night of Cartoon Network... we've become quite attached to a program about a boy who goes to an animal school, and Courage the Cowardly Dog!

The next day we explored Phnom Penh, including a small hill with a temple on top where monkeys roamed free. Some people thought it a good idea to feed them and were rewarded with a bite, though the local was an excellent shot with his flip flop! (He hit the monkey, not the couple). We used the post office to send some postcards and ring home for the first time, and then retired to one of the many lovely cafes on the corners of every road for lunch. In the afternoon we hurried round the Royal Palace (where the king still lives and which was actually very close to our hotel!) which was very impressive for the Khmer architecture that incorporated lots of gold. At night we walked past the Palace, which looked fantastic all lit up, to go eat at one of the many happy pizza places. Despite tasting a little strange it disappointingly had little effect on us.

The day after we hooked up with a tuk tuk driver who took us to the Killing Fields (or the most famous of the near 20,000 sites anyway), also known as Choeung Ek. Expecting this to obviously be a depressing place, it was strange when we got chatting to an interesting Parisian couple (he from America, her from Israel) and were asked to take their picture infront of several of the mass graves as their camera battery had run out. Once left by ourselves we returned to the huge monument housing 9000 skulls from the 17,000 people who were killed at this particular site (including women and children). In some places clothing was disturbingly still sticking out of the ground.

After the Killing Fields, our driver took us to Tuol Sleng Prison (S21) which was used for the detainment, torture and murder of anyone considered to be an enemy of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime between 1975-1979 (such enemies were usually intellectuals and anyone affiliated with the West- as a result people would often pretend to be illiterate). This figure also numbered in the thousands and many were carted off to Choueng Ek after a stay here. S21 had been left untampered in most places, giving a disturbing insight into what 'life' would have been like here. One building was comprised of rooms in which were metal beds and shackles, another was comprised of rooms of tiny cells, and there were hundreds of mugshots of the victims. What was most disturbing (at least for me) about both S21 and Choueng Ek, was how horribly normal they were as places. Infact S21 was previously a school, and at the Killing Fields they had to play loud music to stop close neighbours hearing the cries of prisoners. Could you imagine something like that happening just down the road from you and not being aware of it? Prisoners at Tuol Sleng were often detained for a number of months, and only 7 people survived it. I still cannot grasp this at all-why keep and torture thousands of people in a prison for months on end if their fate has already been decided? Though obviously I can't grasp why anyone would want to indoctrinate children, change a country into a backwards agrarian society and kill almost a quarter of it's inhabitants anyway! After such a harrowing morning we thought we had more than earned a huge jug of refreshing Sangria and lounged in another of the corner cafes (we're not very good at this budget stuff!).

The next day, after seeing almost everything Phnom Penh had to offer, we headed for the coast to a place called Sihanoukville ( I still don't know how to pronounce it). Unfortunately the monsoon season had well and truly kicked in by now and it rained for much of our short stay here. We stayed at a really hip place called Monkey Republic which was little more than a cool bar and some cheap shacks behind it. It also gave free beer on arrival!! My kind of place. Though we weren't so happy about the included cockroach which we were both pathetically scared of! Eventually, after a battle that included the use of water, insect repellent, and shoes, it took one last run at me before being dealt a fatal blow.

It was Caroline's birthday the next day which unfortunately she was very ill for so we spent a bit of time at the beach before getting her checked out at the doctors, who we believe has misdiagnosed her. We had hoped to go snorkelling but Caroline's illness and the poor visibility due to the rain meant we chose to head to our next destination instead; Siem Reap-the base for the Temples of Angkor.

After very little sleep we caught the 10hr bus which was not enjoyable in the least. The whole way there the bus churned out karaoke music through the DVD player which is some cheesy band and singer playing to a roomful of terrible dancers doing their best to look impressed. It was so loud there was no hope of hearing our own music above it! Then we seemed to become really interesting all of a sudden on the next bus because the locals were intent on giving us hostile stares. The lady behind me was much more friendly though, claiming she was from Washington, tho we think she had a screw loose. Caroline's seat was broken so we moved infront of a really scary guy who had the longest and dirtiest fingernails Ive ever seen-I got a good view of them because he kept sitting forward and grabbing Caroline's chair in a bid to be ''best personal space abuser of the year''. I think he won it. We at last arrived at a guesthouse in Siem Reap where the food is absolutely delicious (banana pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, chicken tostadas for dinner etc).

The last two days have been spent being shuttled between the Angkor Temples and wandering around them. They each have their own character but we felt only two days out of the 3day pass was necessary so today is the first day where we have done nothing! The first day we did the small circuit which started off with Bayon, perhaps the most impressive of the temples we saw with it's large eerie faces peering out from every direction on lots of pillars and it's labyrinthine structure. Ta Keo was very steep especially in the rain with tiny steps and if someone broke a leg (or even lost a life) I really wouldn't be surprised! Ta Prohm was a flatter temple that was slowly being overrun by great big trees that had wrapped their roots around the stonework, this one was featured in Tomb Raider apparently.

The second day began with Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. Surprisingly I found this the least impressive of all the temples despite it being the one that most people come here for. From the air it's size and symmetry make it look very impressive but from the ground I thought this worked against it as you can't get an all-encompassing view of it. The intense heat and indigestion I was experiencing didn't do it any favours in my eye either. The day included many more temples on the big circuit but the last one was probably my favourite as it had the best view from the top which was only made more dramatic by the monsoon rain!

So that takes us up to today. Tomorrow we plan on travelling to Thailand, probably to Bangkok first, but we're having difficulty choosing where to go!

Thanks for reading. Bye bye!

Tom

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