The shocking past of Phnom Penh, the mind blowin past of Ankor

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Hi every1 now for my Cambodia installment, as its mine and Dans last day here before we head over the border to Bangkok.
So I left off at the amazingly formal border crossing into Cambodia and down we went to Phnom Penh, a little crazy is this place, i fink i have seen 6 people on a moped so far. Dad, mother, baby in her arms, one kid sittin on the handle bars and the last 2 hangin on the back. Of course all with out crash helmets on. I could spend hours just sitting at the traffic light cross roads (although they dont use the traffic lights.) Got to our hotel #10 Lakeside, was cheap at $3 for 2 single beds in a room a night although i fink we had mice and more of Dans biscuits have been eaten.
So the first day in the city we just had a walk around, goin down the back streets and seeing wat the real city has to offer, was great seein the kids playin in the streets although there is alot of beggers, both adults and children in the city. Walkd to the royal palace and Dan took the tour to go see the solid silver floor of the Royal pagoda and also solid gold statues of Buddha, said it was good. After went to watch a documentary on the tragedies durin the Khmer Rouge era and the story of Pol pot and the atrocities that were committed on the mass murder scale only 30years ago. And amazing that at one point it went unhindered by the west, truley shocking.
So the next day we hired a tuk tuk and it first took us to a shooting range, sadly there was no hand guns available to shoot so we went halfs on an AK47, and the power and sound was immense and the rounds didnt last very long on rapid fire. But was great fun even though we didn hit the target once, no wonder the british/ American fatalities in the middle east wars is so low, as you need to be highly skilled to fire this gun efficiently.
After the shooting range we then went to the Choeung ek memorial centre also known as the Killing fields as this was one of the places that Pol Pots regime killed thousands of people, and dumped them into mass graves. A truley humbling experience especially as you walk in there a huge stupa (Tower type thing) which inside it has 4000 skulls that have been excavated from the site, and you can see the crushed marks from were the people were bludgeond to death with the end of guns, mallets and pickaxes so that they could save on bullets and put the person through a more horrendous death.
As you walk around the site you see all the ditches and pits, at one point i looked down to discover bone on the surface of the ground and when lookin closer i realised that there was also the reamins of a jaw bone with teeth actually protruding from the ground, was a very emmotional place. A must go to on anypersons visit here.
After the killing fields we then headed to another memorial site to the mass murders this time the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. This places also know as S-21 was once a high school but then coverted into a place where the Khmer Rouge interrogated people, this was achieved though torture by electic, whipping, hanging the body from the wrists, dumping people to near drownin and total starvation and the breaking/ removal of body parts all so they could get a forced confession where if they did not die during the process they were taken to the Killing fields and killed there. A horrendous place which in the lower levels still has the beds, chains and cells which the people were kept in. Also there were areas dedicated to the photos that were taken of every person who was killed/ tortured there when they arrived, with expression on the faces of fear, anger and in some cases a look of complete innocence where maybe they were not aware of the crimes that will be commited against them. Once again a truley humbling experience and 2 places that will always be in mine and Dans memories forever.

Later that nite me and Dan went and met up with our friend Clarisse whos flat we will be stayin at for the next couple of days, ended up in a bar with its own swimmin pool drinkin cocktails and swimmin at 1.30 am.
The next day we wet to watch some Khmer boxing, a form of kick boxing which was played live on tv, was great to watch as we were the only foreigners in there and the fights were really good, with knockouts, elbows and flying knees to the head. Was great fun, then we headed out for Thai food and then watched sum football on a huge projector screen in Gym bar which also had every premiership game playin on a different tv screen, if only we could get that back home.
The next day we headed to a wildlife centre which was a fun dayout, as i got my hair grabbed by a jealous male gibbon, also got the chance to hold the hands of an old gibbon who enjoyed being groomed, was abgry though to see kids/ families tryin to feed the gibbons sweets. Had alot of differet animals there including bears and also Asiatic lions which were impressive, also saw 2 tigers having a fight and i got spat at by an elephant. All in all a good day and we went and celebrated with a good indian, to finish our time here in Phmom Penh.

Next day we got the bus upto Siem Reap, a cool little town which is the hub for trips into the ancient Khmer civilization on Ankor, a huge area of jungle which has loads of beautiful ancient temple and ruins. We are stayin in a dorm in the Garden village costin me and Dan only $1 a nite each. Although for that the dorm doesnt have walls and its on the main walkway to the outside area. But its very breezy because of it which is a bonus. So we sorted out our own driver for the next few days a guy called Walter and he is a genuinely great guy who made our experience at Ankor just as good as the temples themselves, which was a total bonus for us. So the first nite we got our tickets $40 for the 3day pass, and we headed to a temple at the top of a hill for the sunset, was a nice sunset but you could also see Ankor Wat the most famous of the temples from wer we was sitting. We had arrived.
The next mornin we get picked up, also have a companion for the next few days called Margje from Holland. We get drove to our first temple Ban Srei (i fink) was about 40ks out of town and classed as the place with the most details still left intact. (This is also Dans favourite temple.) So the day progressed as we went to the temples on the outskirts were amazing, we finished the day at another temple to watch the sunset with an amazing view of the jungle, and we enjoyed a nice cold beer as the sun is settin. Life is hard. That nite we also tried a fish foot massage in the night market, u put your feet into a fish tank and the fish eat all the dead skin, there was alot to eat on our feet after a good day of walking.
The next day we was up at 5am so that we could go and see the sun rise over Ankor Wat, Ankor Wat is a huge structure a great moat around the compound then a giant wall and then once inside the place beats all aspect of size and proportion when looked at through a picture. After the sunrise we left for a trip around aload of temples today about 5/6 and to one of my favourites Ta Prohm which was also used in the Tomb Raider film. As some of the area has been taken over by jungle and giant trees emerged from buildings grippin the walls in their grasp. A magical place of how nature will fight back over hundreads of years once man has left. Got back to our place and had a well deserved nap. Then sat in the bar playin drinkin games with a few Danish girls and Dutch guys was a good nite.
Woke up after 4hrs sleep and out for the big day i have been lookin forward to as a highlight since i new i was comin here, a few hours walking around Ankor wat. Was an incredible place and my experience was highlighted even more when i found in a quiet corner of the place a group of macaques playin around in the ruins, was a great treat for me, not only one of the ancient wonders of the world but monkeys playin around in there aswell. Amazing.
Next we went to Ankor Thom, this was the ancient city and had many different structures and temples there with sum amazing carvings on walls and of course Bayen Temple, but i will get to that place. So was walking around an area with no other tourist but me and Dan saw one temple being restored funny to see the modern method of cranes and heavy machinery compared to the ancient method of elephants and slaves. Also found an ancient man made pool area which had local kids in there playin, so still being used in the same way as hundreads of years ago. This awareness was then even heightened more by the fact that a herd of domestic buffalos walked between the ruined rubble foraging in the leaves.
Then we got to the Bayen temple an amazing structure of towers each tower had a face carved into each side, the temple was like a maze inside with me and Dan walking for ages admiring all the carvings on the outside walls depicting battles and life back in the day. We then went to a few more temples one which was badly reconstructed again with breeze blocks. And as a final treat Walter our driver took us to a local area where we played a darts games and also ate snails, which tasted pretty dam good. Once you got the buggers out of their shell anyway. After a emotional goodbye to our driver who was such a great guy and so very polite, we then went of with the Dutch and Danish girls to a bar for drinks, ended up playin drunk uno as the sun was rising at 6am, a very good nite once again.

Anyway after all that story im up to here now, usin the free internet (the best kind) so hope every1 is well back home, i fink we are goin out for more drinks 2nite as a farewell to Cambodia and mite eat sum crocodile (i no we really do suffer out here), tomorrow we will be back in Thailand in Bangkok wer once again we will be meetin up with sum friends so should be a fun few days. So hope every1 s enjoyin the weather its 5.30pm and the sun is still shining and its bloody hot.
Good times.

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Photos

The stupa
The tiers of skulls on every level

Room of S 21
The bed and a photo on the wall of how the last body was found in there

Ankor War