Advertisement
Published: July 26th 2010
Edit Blog Post
We left Ho Cho Minh early on Tuesday morning at 7.30am and 3 hours down the line we arrived at the Cambodian border. We were supposed to pay $35 each for our visa but somehow we got it for $50 for both of us?!? We were expecting it to take ages, but it wasn't too bad. Within half an hour we were back on the bus and on our way to Phom Penh. It took about another 3 hours to get there and we were expecting a 1 hour wait til our bus to Siem Reap, but we had to wait 4 hours! Just a we arrived in Phom Penh a massive storm errupted! The rain was SOOO heavy it create a river down the street. We ran over to a restaurant across the road. SOAKED! Luckily time flew and we were back on the bus, but because of our delay we didn't get in til 12am! Our hotel room was so nice and the staff were brilliant. Slept VERY well that night! The next morning we got on a tuc tuc and headed for Angkor Wat! Known as the 8th wonder of the world and bulit in the early 12th
century Angkor Wat is unbelievable!!!! It was its own city way back when and is made up of loads of temples, the main one being Angkor Watt. It is huge and every square inch of it is sculpted to perfection with pictures showing its histoy. We had a tuc tuc driver who brought us round all the temples we wanted to see and waited while we walked round. All that for $6!! As much as it was breathtaking, it was SO hot and and no matter how much water we drank we were so drained by the 3rd temple!! We both felt really rough! I didn't actually think I could see the rest, but then we had a can of coke and that sorted us right out. So glad we felt better because each temple got more and more beautiful!! The last one we went to was where they filmed Tomb Raider! It was my favourite! It has huge old trees growing in and out of all the bricks. Some trees are even look like they are growing from the top of the temples.
After our very long tiring day we obviously needed a massage so we went to the
night market and got a 1 hour foot massage for $3! Great way to end the day!
The next day we had planned to find a hotel pool to relax at all day but it rained all day!! So we went to an amazing bakery we had heard about called 'Blue Pumpkin'. Then as there was nothing else to do because of the rain we had to get another massage! This time we got a full body massage! It wasn't excatly as relaxing as I would have liked but it was still good. She cracked everytihng crackable in my body! For little women the Cambodians are very strong! That night we went out to a bar aptly named 'Angkor What?'. We had such a good night and met some cool people that we planned to meet up with back in Phom Penh. The next moning, slightly hungover we had to get our bus at 7am to Phom Penh. Our hotel had arranged us a room in their sister hotel in Phom Penh, but it turned out not to be so nice. We only were staying for 2 nights though, so we put up with it. We didnt really get as
good a vibe from Phom Penh, but we had a good time anyway, just walking around the markets and eating in lots of lovely places! On the second day we went to the Killing Fields, which was so interesting, but awful! Basically in 1975 a guy called Pol Pots who was the leaderof the Khmer Rouge tricked everyone from the city into the countryside by telling them that the city would be bombed. When they got there he brutally killed them all. He made most of them work in the fields aswell. He wanted a brand new society with no religion or heirarchy, so he asked for all the intellects to come forward, promising them new jobs back in the city. Of course when they came forward, he killed them. The headless bodies were dumped in huge open graves and Pol Pots went on to rule for three years. In 1979 Vietnam invaded and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. Years later they discovered these killing sites. There were over 200 more around Cambodia and over the three years the Khmer Rouge ruled over 200,000 people were killed.
As we arrived a huge storm broke, which made it all the more depressing. There is a small museum and a tower filled with skulls and bones from the dug up graves. It was a very chilling place, but so interesting to learn about Cambodias history.
On our last night we met up with our friend Daniel and his sister and her partner and a few of their friends. They all live in Phom Penh, so we got taken to some cool local places and had really good food and cocktails!
The next morning our bus back to Ho Chi Minh was another early one! Wasn't too bad though because it meant we got in to the city at a reasonable time. Found a nasty guest house to stay at for the night and moved the next day.
Katie started her placement in Cho Ray hospital on Monday and its a bit of a nightmare. There a just people lying everywhere and on her first day she saw alot of death. The upside to her placement is that she only has to work 3 days a week and has her weekends off, so she still has lots of exploring time.
On Thursday we are going to Mui Ne to meet up with Sam and Jamie!!
Cant wait to see her.
Then its back to the city on Sunday and the job/apartment hunt begins on Monday. I went to look at a place last week which was the most beautiful house ever and so so cheap, but it was a little out of the way, so the guy is showing me another one on Monday. Fingers crossed it works out, but if not, we have plenty of other options...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0467s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb