Cambodia and lots of photos! :-)

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So we arrived in Phnom Penh later than expected - by about 6 hours! Obviously a nap was required before wandering around in search of the market where we found amazing doughnuts and books for 2 dollars! Then onto the independence monument but were chased away by the guards, so we moved onto the park where we suppressed our giggles at everybody doing their dance classes and gym routines - so tempted to join in! Spent a while chilling out by the river where we tried to guess all the flags, definitely needed James back for his boy knowledge! To end our first day in Cambodia we went for dinner and cocktails with some Scottish girls that we met at the hostel.
Our second day was chocker block with sightseeing; we started at the royal palace and the silver pagoda which were surrounded by beautiful gardens (and trees in the shape of tea pots!) Then we had a quick lunch by the river, followed by a tuk tuk out to The Killing Fields where we learnt a lot about the atrocities that had occurred during the Khmer Rouge regime, a theme which continued at our next stop, S-21 prison. This was originally a high school but was turned into a place of torture the KR regime. Very moving. Our last stop was a temple on a hill which served well to lift the mood! We had an early night accompanied by curry, books and chocolate.
7am bus to the beach - our last beach stop - which would have been lovely if not overcast which we suffered nonetheless for a couple of hours. Eventually we gave up and went to the cinema! Not the best quality of film but the cutest little cinema which made up for it. This was followed by the most amazing bangers and mash!
A lovely boat trip to three islands - in the monsoon! Snorkeling visibility = 1cm! Spent as much time in the sea as possible as it was actually warmer than on dry land, well, we say dry… Had a good day none the less. Came back shivering and cuddled up with hot chocolate and Saturday Night Fever to kill time before our next -and final -night bus.
We were both woken up in Siem Reap, the last off the bus; we were getting quite proficient at sleeping on night buses! Still managed to fit in a nap before hitting the market and visiting an arts and crafts school which gave rural and disabled students skills such as silk weaving and carving statues etc. to help them make a living. After lunch we hired bikes (a grand total of 2 dollars for 2 days!) and headed to a children’s hospital where there was an emotional and brilliant photography exhibition. The percentage of the population that is still without clean water is unbelievable, but thanks to this ground breaking hospital the number of children that die before the age of 5 has reduced from 1 in 5 to 1 in 15! The hospital was asking for donations of either money or blood so we bought a badge and gave them some blood. Although Louise was disappointed as the Cambodian nurse failed to find any blood in her! A little wobbly, we then got back on the bikes and cycled the 6km to Angkor Wat to watch the sunset, unfortunately we might have sat in the wrong place and missed it! It was still really nice to sit and enjoy the atmosphere!

4am start and we’re back on our bikes! Quite glad that we’d already been to Angkor Wat the day before in the light so we knew where we were going! Got ourselves a nice spot for the sunrise and then explored the temples for the next 16 hours! Some of them were absolutely amazing - although looked like they were going to fall down at any minute! At the end of the day we headed to the right spot for sunset - a temple on a hill - but clouds denied us the beautiful sunset we were promised! In the evening we saw our friends from earlier in the trip and went for pizza and a beer, extremely tired after our 30km bike ride and headed to bed after one glass of wine. That was our last night in Cambodia!
A full day of travelling started in a lovely car for 2 hours to the border and ended with stiff bodies and numb bums after 6 hours in third class on a train to Bangkok for a pound! Bargain! And we’re back in Bangkok where we splashed out on a hotel with a roof top pool!
Today has been a day of chores and relaxing before our long journeys; had a swim, resisted buying all of Bangkok and then went for a thai massage which was amazing and then went for our final green curry and one last mojito!

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Comments

[baz n pegs]

some amazing experiences ! love the tea-pot hedge. bet the nellie trek was ace. Cor blimey babe looks like you have had / are having the time of your life. I am really pleased it has gone so well. I am really quite jealous. Still we have had a great 10 days in France ( we could have done with you when buying the wine at the vineyard) and we our going to Anglesey in a week or so. We can swap travel stories and photos when you get back! Looking forward to seeing you soonish. lots of love Dad xxxx