CAMBODIA

Hello!

Yet again I've left this too long, and I lack the discipline to make anything concise, so I'm sure this will be long...

Last time I wrote we were in Phuket, making our way to Bangkok, to catch a flight into Cambodia. We'd hoped to have a day in Bangkok - it happened to be Thai new year, and normally the whole city turns into a huge water fight. Should have been incredible. Unfortunately that was also the day the Red Shirts started kicking off, the whole thing was canceled, and we camped out in an airport hotel instead.

We were very happy to finally get to Phonm Pehn. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in South East Asia, and Phonm Pehn felt like our first proper experience of a S E Asian capital. MENTAL traffic: seeing car is extremely rare and scooters ("motos") fly around in hoards carrying entire families. Alot of travellers hire motos themselves, but that was never going to be us lol, so we have got highly accustomed to travelling by tuk-tuk (a carriage pulled by a motorbike).

On our first day in the city we visited S21; originally a school, it was used by the Khmer Rouge for torture and imprisonment of victims, and is now a genocide museum. Still looked very very much like a school, which was very disconcerting - one information board detailed the use of PE equipment for torture. In Europe the school would probably have been turned into a swanky museum, but it was for the most part left just as it was in 1979 - all the more creepy. We bought a book there - First They Killed My Father - a survivors memoir. I read the entire book before we visited the Killing Fields the next day - which made it slightly easier to relate to the incomprehensible suffering that had happened there. From the Killing Fields we went straight to the Royal Palace - the splendor of which providing a massive contrast to what we'd just seen. The 95kg solid gold diamond encrusted buddha cheered me right up lol. The palace was incredible - Dad, you would have loved it!

Besides seeing the sights we had a pretty quiet time in Phonm Pehn. We arrived at the start of Khmer New Year - so besides a few tourists going about their business, some kids playing with water pistols, and the occasional group of dancing folks, the whole city had pretty much shut down for the 3-day period we were there. New Year is massive here because Cambodians DON'T HAVE BIRTHDAYS (I know!) - instead they all get a year older at new year - and if you ask a Cambodian his birthday he won't have a clue.

Next Stop: Siem Reap - home to Angkor Wat and the rest of the temples of Angkor. Before going I was embarrassingly ignorant about Angkor Wat - dubbed "8th wonder of the world" - the creation of which was a feat as grand in scale as the Egyptians and their pyramids. We had a great day seeing the temples (had to pack it to one day as its just about the most expensive thing you can do in Cambodia): got up to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat (slightly cloudy, but we were very glad of the cool temperatures), saw incredible Bayon heads, and scrambled over ruins (feeling alot like tomb raider). We had a break at lunch before heading back out in the afternoon for some more fun-packed-temple-action, and an elephant ride up to the highest temple to see the sunset. The entire day we were whizzed about by a patient tuk-tuk driver; we lost him at one point, conducted a very awkward search (didn't actually know his name lol), and eventually found him asleep lol. Polished off our perfect day with a traditional Khmer meal - which was very nice, served on banana leaves and all that jazz, although Rach almost through up at one point lol.

Putting all our faith in the Lonely Planet as usual we decided to catch a boat to Battambang that promised to be "the most enchanting boat trip in Cambodia". At 6.30 am we were picked up and packed into a minivan - 4 of us on the 3 seater back seat (one of which was a giant French man), and dropped at a jetty just outside the town. I wasn't too surprised when the boat bore absolutely no resemblance to the picture on our ticket. But initially we were comfortable enough, about 15-20 tourists on board we had plenty of room, even though we couldn't stand up. When we got going, though, I forgot all about the minor discomfort because the view from the boat was incredible. We wound through waterways, gliding through floating villages - seeing how people literally live on the river was amazing: people fishing, cooking, washing clothes, brushing their teeth, washing their hair, playing, and larking about. We passed floating houses, shops, schools and churches. It was early morning so we saw people stumbling straight out of their hammocks and into the water. The photos I took say it a lot better than I can, but I've never seen anything like it. The problem was, though, that the river was really too low to carry a boat full of tourists, and we got stuck every 20 minutes or so. The silent and elusive captain-man could normally get us going with his big stick, but often the engine failed, or they couldn't get it into gear, occasionally we were directed to pile ourselves to the front of the boat to try and redistribute the weight. At one point they made all the men get off and walk - casually reminding them to watch out for landmines. We were promised arrival by 12.30, but when we stopped at 12 for a toilet break (think Slumdog Millionaire) my hopes were not high. By this time too we'd gained another 20 or so passangers, and we were packed in tight, the Cambodians were happy as larry though - our legs are about twice as long as theirs. 6 hours later we arrived in Battambang. All in all I'm glad we did it - though I know Abi and Rachel would not say the same.

I'll carry this on tomoz. Its sweatsville in here, and the others are good to go.

Much Love
xxxx