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Cambodia is hot, very very hot. We've been here for just under two weeks and we've seen some interesting things. We ended up spending a lot more time in Phnom Penh then we had originally planned, mainly because we keep getting sick. Andy has been rather sick for the last two weeks or so and I had a lovely little bit of food poisoning followed by a cold (how one gets a cold when it is 37C, I don't know). We have met up with Stephanie, a French woman we met in Laos, and I think Andy and I are making lousy traveling companions, being that we need a midday nap and are in bed by 8:30 because of our illnesses. Regardless we are still having a good time.

When we first arrived in Cambodia, we headed to Kampot, a small town near the coast. From there we were able to hike 3.5 hours through the jungle to the Bokor Hill Station. The Bokor Hill Station was built by the French as a place for the wealthy to escape the heat. The temperature was lovely up there! They built a fancy casino, some restaurants, a post office, a church, etc, but when the Khmer Rouge came they took it over and turned it into a prison. The Vietnamese tried to take it back and they managed to take over the Casino and the Khmer Rouge soldiers held up in the Church. All that's left now are really creepy ruins. All day long mist flows over them. It's really eerie. Sadly, they are in the process of building a new giant resort up there.

After that we took a day to explore the country side around Kampot. We went to one cave where small children swarmed us offering to be guides. We selected one child to be a guide, but about five ended up following us into the cave. We would never have found our way without them and they were great fun.

Afterward, we headed back to Phnom Pehn to meet up with Stephanie. We went to the Killing Fields, which was depressing. I think they have excavated about 9,000 bodies from that one area alone. Stephanie also went to the S-21 genocide museum, but Andy and I were too sick. We plan on going when we head back to Phnom Pehn to get our Vietnam visas.

Stephanie, myself, and a women we met named Helen also went to visit an orphanage outside of Phnom Penh called the Sunflower Orphanage. Andy was feeling too sick so he went off to practice on the grand piano he found at the music school. The orphanage had 17 children with HIV. It was a really rewarding experience. The children were really fun and the director was great. There are problems with orphanages being corrupt in Cambodia, but this one seemed really good. It was very basic but the children seemed happy and well cared for and at no point did anyone beg or ask for money (which is uncommon here!). The director thanked us for the bag of rice we had brought and for our time. When we go back to Phnom Penh, Andy and I are planning on going back and bringing some more food and school supplies.

We then headed up to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. We decided to just go for the one day pass (it's so hot!) and we were glad. We bought the ticket the day before, which allows you to enter the area for sunset. Instead of watching the sunset with the 1000 + tourist, we explored inside Angkor Wat. Everyone else was watching the sunset, so at times we had parts of the place all to ourselves.

We started out the next day with an itinerary Stephanie had planned and it was awesome. The first temple when went to was totally empty and throughout the morning we managed to miss the the majority of the tourist buses. We even went off to explore on temple that was about a 1 km walk through the jungle. There was no one! My favorite temple was Bayon. It was beautiful and huge. Stephanie was clever about this one as well- we went at lunch time, so it was also very quiet.

Today we are just relaxing in Siem Reap and tomorrow I think we are headed to Battambang

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