SE ASIA: Cambodia

We left Ho Chi Minh in the morning on a six hour bus across the border into Phenom Phen, Cambodia. The journey was surprisingly easy, visa for twenty US at the border and a bus that didn't take as long as we were told, plus I read and slept the whole way which made it infinitely better.

Once we got the Phenom Phen, things got a little more difficult. There were tuk-tuks everywhere but I had my stupid HK suitcase to give to the parents and in theory our hostel wasn't too far away. In reality, it was, it took us at least a half an hour in the heat to find it, then longer again to check in for our one night in the capital. We didn't plan on doing a whole lot in our day but we did head to S-21, which is a prison Pul Pot used to torture and imprison Cambodians who seemed to oppose the government. It was another really depressing museum and so I'm glad we didn't stay there too long. The stories of people and the seemingly endless barrage of faces makes you want to cry, you'd truly have to be a heartless person to not have that prison reach you. From here our private tuk-tuk driver took us to the killing Field for more depressing history lessons. Walking around the huge open area there are a huge amount of open burial pits that have been excavated in the past ten years. In the centre of the complex stands a huge structure full of sculls. Very sobering. Our first night in Cambodia was hilarious, we got the usual dinner for five and then headed to find a bar with happy hour. We did find one, with an older Kiwi, Middle-Aged American and younger American guy sitting around talking. Stanley (the kiwi), hails us over and buys us a drink, the conversations and quotes that followed were hilarious and will never be forgotten, it was such a great night!

Our second day in Cambodia we caught the bus to Siem Riep, it was another six-ish hours and not at all bad. Our lunch at the rest-stop was about the worst part of it, mainly because it was so expensive. Once we got to Siem Riep we went about trying to find our hostel and from there headed to Ankor Wat to watch the sunset over the ruins from the top of 'the hill'. It was gorgeous, truly spectacular and something I will never forget, even if we did experience it with at least five hundred others.

Our second day in Siem Riep we spent exploring the ruins at Ankor Wat. You could literally walk around for weeks and still not see everything, it's such a huge area, but we did the 'small tour' which takes you to the major sites and that took us a whole day. My favourite temple is one where there are hundreds of heads built into the structure, it's a little ominous and somewhat creepy but looks really cool. The complex was so big that we got lost inside it and had no way of knowing which entrance we had come in. Our last stop was the namesake, Ankor Wat, the place is huge in itself but not as big as some of the other places, such as Ankor Thom, which literally has trees growing through it, around it and between it, it is intense! We met some kid at Ankor Wat that showed us around, he clearly only wanted money, but Kristal gave him our crackers instead, I totally would have eaten them!!!!! The temple is still being restored itself but it is really impressive! In short the whole of Ankor Wat is amazing and definitely not in danger of losing it's world heritage site label. Somewhere everyone should try and get to, it's beautiful!

The last night in Cambodia and Siem Riep backed onto Kristal's 22nd birthday. We had planned, as usual to have a quiet-ish night, didn't end up being like that. First stop was Mexican food and frozen Margaritas, next was pitchers of Ankor Sunrise, then shots with our Japanese/American friend Kensho. The result was a horrible hangover, a 5am start and a 12 hour drive to Bangkok, HORRIBLE!

pictures: The Killing Fields centrepeice. Ankor Wat Sunset.