Good Morning Vietnam

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We have arrived in bustling Saigon following almost 2 weeks of activity packed Cambodia. We were met with a culture shock again after becoming used to the luxuries and technological superiority of Thailand. As soon as we arrived on the Cambodian side of the border the militaryesque organisation of public transport deteriorated rapidly, with our bus leaving with only four passengers meaning most of us were left a little stumped. After finally getting on a bus we proceeded for a number of hours on what could barely be called a road and more just a muddy path. Luckily though our destination, Siem Reap, proved to be suprisingly nice.

Just outside Siem Reap lies the source of Cambodia's pride with the architectural splendour that is Angkor Wat. Seen everywhere from the country's flag, guesthouse names, money, beer and cigarettes, this is really what Cambodia is all about and for a good reason. Easily the best temples we have seen on our journey, they spread out for a number of square kilometres amidst a jungle landscape. Thoroughly different from other temples as well, with one having faces incorporated into the brickwork and another that seems to have been taken over by trees that have wrapped their roots around various parts of the temple's structure and was used in the first Tomb Raider movie.

We also went to a floating village where a whole community lived on the water on the edges of a lake so large you couldn't see the other side. Here they had a school, church, library and even floating basketball court. The children floated around in small circular bowls, paddling along with a snake around their neck to impress tourists. All in all a very different yet amazing experience yet i can't help wondering why they chose to live in the water as it seems a little impractical.

From Siem Reap we went to Battambang where we visited what has been termed the 'killing caves' where 10,000 people were brutally murdered and thrown down into a cave under the order of the genocidal Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. We also saw fruit bats around half a metre wide and took a bamboo train that was constructed in front of us by tiny children.

We then moved to the capital where we learnt a bit of history by visiting S21 an ex school turned prison where thousands of Cambodians were kept in the 70's under such harsh conditions that many died, those that didn't tended to get sent to the killing fields just outside the city (which we also visited) were they were murdered and thrown in mass graves of up to 500 people. All this was due to the then leader Pol Pot who had the crazy idea of turning Cambodia into a peasant run, agrarian cooperative where he killed intellectuals or people with glasses as they were thought to be of no use to society as they had no idea how to tend to the fields. Really horrific stuff which i had no idea about until visiting Cambodia and yet millions died from a mixture of disease, famine and execution.

In an attempt to make ourselves feel better we went go karting at an amazing track where there was no regard for safety rules so we had alot of fun bumping into each other, taking shortcuts and cutting each other up. We also went to a gun range where we were given a menu full of exotic guns which for a price could be fired. For ridiculously high prices you could blow up a cow with a rocket launcher or sniper a chicken but we opted the for the cheaper option of firing the terrorists weapon of choice, the AK47. Highly fun and adrenaline fuelled until we found out that one of our bullets had ricoched and killed a sheep but since we were never shown a corpse we cannot confirm this.

Anyway from there we have come to Saigon and so our Vietnam adventure begins. Slightly more advanced then Cambodia yet i wonder whether they can match up to them in friendliness.

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