Cambodia & Vietnam

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So onto our 4th country and an exciting journey was ahead and definitely some of our best experiences so far. Our first taste of Cambodia was crossing the border to travel the "dancing road" which was pretty much a bumpy dirt track for about 4 hours- sore heads and bums all round! Very different surroundings than Thailand and it became clear we were in a very poor country. We arrived in Siem Reap and the following day got up at 5am to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat followed by a whole day of exploring the ancient temples and enjoying our crazy tour guide who had a strange mix of a cockney/australian/south african accent! We started to get used to lots of cute kids trying to sell you stuff and amputees begging, but we had decided we would be tough, not give to anyone and make a donation when we got home. The kids sell stuff and beg rather than go to school so we were advised not to encourage it. Craig's constant smile seemed to attract the kids and they chased him everywhere- he did not cave in though!

We visited an Orphange where they did a performance for us which was really good but a bit of a realisation of what has happened in this country. Visiting a land mine museum was also pretty grim. We went to see a floating village which was strange, but I spent most the time in the toilet...again! For both of us the mixture of extreme heat and dodgy hygiene has not been great for our health, but I guess that's a part of travelling!

Other highlights include a bike trip to a village which started out fine until the most rain we've ever seen downpoured on our heads, stinging our faces and big thunder and lightning- crossing a bamboo bridge, slipping about was a wee bit scary! We also had a homestay where we were invited to a local housewarming party and got into the spirit of the dancing and drinking with the locals, who were really friendly. We were lucky to see the Khmer new year and spent the evening with our tourguide's family.

For a bit of relaxation we got a massage from a blind lady, which was painful but we felt pretty good afterwards. It was good to spend some time relaxing before travelling to Phnom Pen to see the harrowing history of the Khmer Rouge Regime. Visiting the Genocide museum was gruesome. I missed quite a bit as the mixture of heat and horrific pictures made me sick, but I think I'd seen enough. The final straw was the Killing fields with graves, skulls and bones from the millions killed during this time and this tipped me over the edge and I couldn't help but cry.

This was it for Cambodia and we travelled on to Ho Chi Minh City, we're here now and it's an interesting place. At first it was scary, but actually attempting to dodge mopeds as you cross the road is quite an achievement when you make it across!

This has been a pretty big blog but we've done a lot in the last couple of weeks. Cambodia has really touched us both and has been a wonderful place to visit. Tomorrow we travel back down to Singapore to travel back up to Hong Kong for a couple of days before we head to Japan for a week. Looking forward to some good hygiene!!

Cambodia fact: the Tonale Sap is the only river in the world that sometimes flows backwards.

Hope everyone is well and keep in touch

Helen & Craig

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