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Published: April 20th 2007
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After passing a tough imigration from Vietnam we arrived in Cambodia, to be honest not too sure what to expect. we met our new guide Sam and picked up 4 more people, 3 girls and a guy so the group was back to its larger size again. We jumped on the coach for what should have been a 6 hour journey on shitty roads from the boarder to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Sadly we had to cross the Mekong River again, sadly no bridge here, just slow ass ferries and a million people returning home after the new years celebrations. We arrived at the crossing to find an enormous queue, so decided to bail out of the coach and get some food. It was kinda a middle of nowhere sort of town so food was limited, the menu read Spiders, Beetles, deep fried tortoise and other things I hadn't even thought of eating. I settled of course for fried rice with veggies, safest option I could think of. 4 hours aiting and we were on the ferry and after a 10 hour jouney we arrived in the capital. A welcome dinner and off to bed.
The
next morning was a early start and again another highlight of the trip. First stop was the Tuol Sleng Prison Meseum or S21. This was a jail used by the Khmer Rouge party in the 70's to hold prisoners before they were executed in the nearby Killing Fields. A little history for you, the Khmer Rouge party led by Pol Pot gained power in the 1970's and Pol Pot decided he wanted to create a new world and start again from scratch and at year zero. He proceeded to execute 2 million of the 7 million Cambodian public (educated ones) in the worst example of human evilness the world has ever seen. The prison was wher the people were torured and some were killed here aswell. It's a very erie place, with the torture instruments still in the cells etc. The next stop was the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek about an hour away from Phnom Penh. This site houses mass graves of a fraction of the people killed all over Cambodia. Some 10,000 bodies have already been dug up with many acres still to be dug. The sculls of the bodies form the centre piece monument to mark the
Group at Ta Prohm
Great bunch of people site. The worst part was the bones still sticking out of the ground, the clothes still on the floor and the Killing tree, where babies and children were held by their legs and swung into the tree to kill them. Many people were killed by being hit to save bullets, some skulls had axe wounds and cracks all over them. A really horrible place and a horrible thought that this happened only 30 odd years ago.
The next day we left Phnom Penh and headed north on the 6 hour coach ride to Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat, one of the 7 wonders of the world. The first night we just chilled out, had a lovely group dinner and hit the hay, for the next day was an all day sightseeing day in 40 degree heat from sunrise to sunset, looking at temples (as if I hadn't seen enough already). The first stop of the morning within the Angkor complex was the old palace Angkor Thom, you have to imagine the way these would have looked in 1180 when they started building them. They are still amazing to see, so intricate but a little worse for ware
after many wars, bombings from the Yanks etc. The centre of Angkor Thom is Bayon, again a giant temple with 216 massive faces of Avalokiteshvara watching down, yes the guide book is open on my desk at the moment. The 2 main reasons I guess why people come to Siem Reap is to see Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. Ta Prohm is the temple where scenes from Tomb Raider were filmed, with huge trees eating away at the rocks. Makes for a great sight, sadly none of the girls in the group wanted to wear the PVC Lara Croft outfit I always carry with me, size extra small, real shame! The main focla point is the mighty Angkor Wat, built in 1112-1152 (guidebook again) to honour Vishnu (the elepahant hindu god from the simpsons episode i think). Iy is huge, they carried every rock 65km from the nearby mountains, carved seperately and put back together like a jigsaw. Hard to comprehend just how they managed it, but you can really see why it is one of the wonders of the world, simply amazing! After the temples, we headed up the nearby mountain by elephant to watch the sunset over Angkor
Wat and the day was finished, litres of sweat were lost but a great day.
Finally we had a day to ourselves the next day, no activities planned. Some people went back to the temples (not a chance), some people rented bikes to explore Siem reap town (in this heat, yeah right) and me, well I checked myself into the day-spar at the 5* Sofitel Golf Resort and Spa. 2 hours of massages, an amazing Angkor High Tea by the pool, sauna, steam room and a few cheeky Angkor beers and I was happy as a pig in shite. The eveing was a group members birthday so we were out on the lash, dont remember too much sadly.
Back on the move again the next morning and a 5 hour coach ride over rubbish roads from Siem Riep to Battambang, simply stayed here to break the journey up to Bangklok. Had a look round the town, markets etc but finding no Gucci knockoffs or bootleg DVD's resigned myself to Sky TV in the room and a nice dinner. Next day, a big day of travelling from Battambang 3 hours to the Thai border where we said goodbye to
Never seen a busier place
Maybe 40 people in small vans Sam the guide and jumping on a local bus (joy oh joy) all the way 5.5 hours to Bangkok. the tour was affectively over, Bangkok to Bangkok and what a great trip it was. A few drinks on the Kho San Road to top it all off!, nice!!!
Favourite Country: Cambodia
Favourite Town/City: Vang Vieng, Laos
Best Sight: Angkor Wat at sunset
Nicest people: Everyone
Worst place: Lak Sao, Laos (dead) and Hue, Vietnam (boring)
Cheapest Beer: Beer Lao almost everywhere in Laos, 40p per pint
Best meal: 3 quid, live lobster on the beach in Nha Trang, Vietnam, simply amazing!
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Homer J
non-member comment
WRONG
The elephant job is called Ganesh surely, or in Hindu Vighneshvara or Vighnaharta,