Ahhh, Cambodia, what a place. We knew precious little about this country before we arrived aside from other travellers telling us about the wonders of Angkor and our own vague knowledge of a nasty man called Pol Pot ruining the demographics of the country by killing about 3 million people in the seventies....hmmm, what would the immigration stamp look like we wondered? A skull and crossbones? a temple with blood puring from the door? A do not enter sign? In actual fact it is a truly amazing place, and rates high up on our list of favourite things we've done on our travels.
Our first stop, Phnom Penh, is a shambolic place, it has to be said. Shacks line the roads alongside formerly grand French colonial mansions, now looking a bit neglected - there are big piles of rubbish everywhere, lots of unpaved streets and thousands of mopeds all of which seem to carry a minimum of three people at all times, and yet, it is all totally excellent. Best bit is the people who without fail are friendly, welcoming, have a wicked sense of humour and don't mind how many silly questions you ask (we tested them on this of course). Now, the cynics among you would argue that this is because they have to be nice to the silly tourists, but the warmth of everyone we met seemed really genuine and it wasn't about getting money off us (with a couple of wee exceptions of course).
We were terribly unbackpackery and hired a driver for the day to show us round the sights - got to support the economy was our argument. We started with the killing fields, a large area outside town where the Khmer Rouge regime used to take the folk they didn't like, kill them and then chuck them in big open graves...not the most upbeat of places to go but then this country has been through really an awful lot in the last forty years. There is now a monument to the dead, a large tower with a glass case inside filled with some of the skulls that have so far been disinterned (there are another 80 or so mass graves to be uncovered)...it's tough going seeing all this, particuarly when you walk round and notice pieces of clothing sticking up from the ground.
We go on, past vast paddy fields where they are growing a local crop which translates as 'green water', or so says Kevin our driver. All along the road there is a mash of wood huts, stalls selling everything from the kitchen sink to flowers to plastic buddha statues, and the perpetual mopeds weaving round the cars, just missing being hit by a whisker. Next stop is Tseol Slong, or S-21, a former school which the Khmer Rouge used as a prison and interrogation centre. It's also hard going - there's still blood stains on the tiles, they've kept the tiny wooden cells up and large rooms filled with the black and white photos of all the prisoners when they were brought to the prison. The worst part is the graphic photos of bodies that were found by the vietnamese when they 'liberated' the capital and prison in 78...nothing is left to the imagination and you get a tiny feel for just how mental the whole situation was. Anyway, before I start to sound like a bad sunday newspaper journalist onto brighter things! We had lunch beside the famous Mekhong River and then walked round the Grand Palace which was stunning....and to all my single girls...the new King here is a bachelor and the Cambodians are terrrirbly keen to marry him off - you could be Queen if you played your cards right. Admittedly the man is 51 which suggests to me he is perfectly happy unmarried, but it's worth a go surely?
We left Pnhom Pehn after two days, and maintained our unbackpackery record by flying to Siem Reap, hoping for our first view of Angkor to be from the air - didn't see it though, but our day was made by there being a guy from the hotel waiting for us at arrivals with our names on a sign - woo hoo! It's sad how the simple things in life make us happy. Anyway, we literally dumped our bags at the hotel and raced out to the temples to get our tickets for the next few days and get up a nearby hill to see the sunset on Angkor Wat. It was really impressive - the sunset itself was a bit hazy to be honest but the ruins on the top of the hill, the big crowd taking photos and a stunning vision of Angkor Wat in the distance all wet our appetite for some serious temple touring. Siem Reap itself is full of big and rather charmless hotels, and seems a lot more 'prosperous' than Pnhom Pehn, but has a lovely area with cool bars, cafes and a big old market where you can recover from your day of sightseeing in the sunshine.
We spent two days at Angkor in total and saw about eight of the ruined sites - it gets quite crazily hot out there though, so we had lots of little rests as you'd expect...at every temple is a row of stalls with women who scream "mistah, buy cold drink" if you go within fifty yards of them so we felt obliged to help them out where we could. The temples themselves are fantastic although the restoration work is slow and a lot more is going to be needed very soon as they let all sorts of tourists clamber all over the buildings (we muttered a lot about how they wouldn't have this carry on at Macchu Pichu).
I shan't blather on about how they looked as you'll see the photos (or just take my word for it that they are absolutley one of the wonders of the world) but Paul and I both agreed our favourite site was one called Bayon which has vast towers with huge carved faces in them - a very peaceful place, although the first time we went there some young monks asked us to talk with them so they could practise their English. One of them asked if I would like to meditate with him, but I politely declined and a second later he was off, making some excuse about needing to catch a bus...pah. Typical man - as soon as they now they're not getting to 'meditate' with you that's it, they're off! Paul also ran into a policeman who was quite persistent that Paul should buy his ID badge from him, as he had no money (Paul also politely declined - you can buy that kind of thing down the Khao San Road much cheaper than he was offering). That said, I was bit worried about our karma rating after giving a monk and a copper a knockback, so Paul and I visited the Children's hospital in town to donate blood. A large percentage of the population has hepatitis and can't give blood, so they ask visitors to donate at the blood bank - perfect thing to do on valentines day!
And that's about it really. Cambodia rocks - it's official. We're now on Ko Pha-Ngan, at Haat Rin, site of the infamous full moon party (which we'll miss). It's very pretty and we're having some much needed beach time after all our sightseeing. That said, the nosebleed techno at night is making me feel a bit old, so we'll probably move to another beach tomorrow or onto Ko Tao before heading back to Bangkok on the 25th. Hope you're all well, and counting out our last 12 days! bye for now.
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