February 11th - 18th: Sihanoukville - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap

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We stayed a stone's throw away from the beach in Sihanoukville. It was the last few days of Chinese New Year and so the beach and the town were full of travellers. The beach was overflowing with bodies and umbrellas; seaside eateries and bars provided the latter. The first night's sunset was quite a spectacle and the three of us caught it with one dollar milkshakes in our hands and sand smattered on our feet. Simple fireworks cracked along the beachfront for most of the night, creating green and red sparks. The sound of the waves lapping on the shore mixed with the delighted screams of children and the murmur of conversation. A relaxing night, to be sure.

The town was laidback near the beach, having a certain, ramshackle charm. Having finished our pressing business the next morning, we sat down to have a pizza at a small cafe. It was so good that it left us glowing for the rest of the day. When we later arrived at our guesthouse we came upon Chinese dancers and musicians performing at its entrance. There was a dancer up on a fifteen foot pole, under the guise of a dragon costume, spinning and shaking his jangles. Commandeering a tuk-tuk driver the next afternoon, the three of us headed out of town and down some rust-coloured, dusty roads to the nearby waterfalls. The bordering plant life was coated in the dust from the road the entire way. Upon arrival we passed some souvenir stalls, crossed a bridge over the river and walked down alongside the long, flat slabs of rock that composed the waterfall. People were in with all their clothes on, letting the water rush over and past them. Krista and I explored the rocks and followed suit, sitting against one lip of the falls. Cleansing ourselves in a colder, smaller waterfall off to the side, we then dried off and enjoyed a cool drink in the shade. A couple of children dressed up in little outfits drifted past in the stream being photographed. Time to go.

Another bus and we arrived in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. The outskirts were plagued by terrible poverty and dirty, garbage-filled streets. This improved as we neared the city's center, where at the bus station, we were onset by a enthusiastic face we would come to know as Nat. A handsome, young Cambodian with a basic knowledge of English and a tuk-tuk, he took us to our hotel: Queenwood Hotel. I managed to get his number and told him I would call the following morning so he could take us about the city. The sights we saw were the genocidal prison Tuol Sleng, the National Museum, Wat Phnom and the Royal Palace. Tuol Sleng was a complex of four buildings, originally a school, it was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Here countless thousands died from torture and starvation. The cells and rooms were left as they were upon discovery. There were dried, bloody footprints in some cells. Some contained a picture of the way they found the tortured prisoner on the single, steel cot that lay in the room's center. One building showed the prisoners faces and tools of torture that had been frequently used. The others gave information on the Khmer Rouge's regime and personal accounts of the lives of the victims. Amongst countless Cambodians, we noticed an Autralian journalist had also perished here after being capture by the Khmer Rouge.

The National Museum was filled with a vast and diverse collection of Angkorian era statues, carvings, adornments and their respective ages. Interesting and informing, it was a modern place with a square layout surrounding an open courtyard. After a loop, much reading and inspecting, and a flower offering to a statue of Buddha, we had our fill and our day's adventure came to a close. The night was filled with excellent Indian food, with a French dessert to close. The latter restaurant having a jolly, overweight chef shaking maracas to the live performers. This was Darcy's last night, and his flight back to Bangkok was early the next morning. Taken to the airport by our friend Nat, he left before I even woke up. We moved next door to 11 Happy Backpackers, which was a four story building with a rooftop hangout area. With the nice breeze, the shade and a restaurant, the rooftop was a relaxing place to hang out. We watched movies on the couches of the rooftop area at night with a handful of strangers. In the mornings we explored the Russian and Central Markets, we slept through the afternoons' heat and went out for supper in the evenings. Krista's camera ceased to function properly and we acquired an upgraded replacement; just in time for our trip to the Temples of Angkor in the coming day. Phnom Penh was an interesting place to stay, and we ended up staying longer than originally planned. The locals there have a good humour, there is plenty of good food to be had and a pretty, riverside walkway that takes you past palaces and temples. There is charm in this place that really gets under your skin.

After waiting until midnight for our nighttime sleeper-bus, we crowded our backpacks, bags and sandals up onto our cramped upper "pads". This is where we would be sleeping for the next six and a half hours until we arrived in Siem Reap at sunrise. Hardly. Neither of us managed to sleep for more than a couple hours straight, and neither of us could stretch our legs in any comfortable position. I would have rather sat up all night, but the silver lining is the price of a night's accommodation that the ride saved us. Now we are comfortably checked in to a place called I Win Hostel. I can see the rooftops of the old market just under the balcony. Tomorrow morning we go to the Angkor Temples.

Jord::

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