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Published: November 15th 2009
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I'm roughly halfway through the 5 months which I'm planning on travelling for and I've had a great time the last 2 and a half months - I just hope the next few months are equally as good! We've just got back from a week in Cambodia and somehow it has set the bar even higher as it was one of the best weeks I've had so far. We entered Cambodia at a place called Siem Reap which is in the north of the country. The main reason for visiting Siem Reap is because it's where the 800/900 year old huge temple complex at Angkor Wat is located and this is probably the place which Cambodia is best known for - a picture of the main temple even features on their flag. The Angkor Wat complex is absolutely huge, it covers an area of about 50 square kms (possibly more but I'm not sure) so theres loads to see and most people spend 2 or 3 days looking around. After checking into our excellent guest house which cost a pricey 2 US$ per night (although below my bedroom window there was a crocodile farm so maybe this explains why it was
so cheap?), we got speaking to a few other people who were staying there and decided that the next day we would each hire a bicycle for the day and explore the area. One guy who tagged along with us for the few days that we were there was an American guy called Sean who for some reason was really into hammock-ing (if that's a word) and, instead of staying in hotels, he pitched his hammock in a suitable spot and slept for free. The people at the guest house were extremely nice and let him pitch his hammock for free by the entrance gate and even let him use the shower and bathroom despite him not paying anything (although he did make sure he bought food from the guest house cafe occasionally). So, the next day, our little group set off on our bikes to the start of the Angkor Wat complex which was a few kms away. We spent the day looking around a few of the bigger temples and it was absolutely incredible, it's like a lost city in the middle of the jungle and you can explore the whole area with no restrictions on where you
can go. The best bit about it is that you're allowed to climb all over the walls and buildings and explore whichever bits you want, if Angkor Wat was in England then they'd put a big barrier all the way around the outside and make you look at it from about half a mile away. But, I guess allowing everyone to do this has a cost since a lot of restoration work has to be carried out every year, I still think it's good that they let you do that though. We spent the afternoon visiting some of the quieter, less visited parts of the site which were quite far out of the way. It was amazing to cycle around as it felt like we were literally in the middle of no where at times and occasionally we'd overtake a couple of elephants that were being ridden around the area. By the end of the day we'd cycled about 40kms in total.
The next day, we headed back to Angkor Wat on our bikes again and spent a few hours going to some of the places which we hadn't managed to see the day before. One of my favourite
bits that we saw was a temple where the trees had grown through all the walls and buildings. We took it a little easier on that day and only cycled about 20kms but we were all quite exhausted by the end of it. We decided that whilst we were in Siem Reap, we wanted to go and visit a nearby fishing village to get a taste of what Cambodia is really like for the local people. We got a lift from a tuk-tuk guy to the village which was about 15kms away and when we arrived we saw that some of the houses were floating on the water and others were on stilts. Most of the people in the village were extremely poor but they were all so friendly to us. All the kids kept wanting their photos to be taken and then they got all excited when we showed them the pictures of themselves on the camera screen. We also walked past the local school which was a floating building as well - a very strange sight. It was a really interesting place to see and it showed a little of bit of what Cambodia is like outside of
the towns and cities.
After a few days in Siem Reap, we travelled by bus to Phnom Penh - the capital. The city had a similar feel to it as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam - except maybe slightly more calm and less crazy. On one day that we were there, we went to visit the S21 building (security prison 21) which is where thousands of people were tortured by the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s. It was all very depressing but I guess it's important that people see it and I found it quite interesting. Straight after this we headed for the killing fields on the outskirts of the city - this was the place where they killed all the prisons after they'd tortured them. This place was absolutely horrible - there was a one bit where it was basically a tree which they used to use to kill babies with by throwing them against it - disgusting. If you don't know much about the Khmer Rouge then basically they took over power in Cambodia in 1975 and moved everyone out of the towns and cities to work in the rice fields. They
then tortured and killed anyone who opposed them and their families and also anyone who they considered intelligent (which they decided was anyone who wore glasses). They reckon that by the time they were finally stopped in 1979, about 4 million Cambodians had been killed by them. So, that was a depressing day, but interesting to see it and its crazy how recent it was - one of the main guys who was head of the S21 place is still alive and still awaiting his sentence! Interestingly, whilst we were in Phnom Penh, Mr Thaksin from Thailand was flown into the city and was made Cambodia's economic advisor despite the fact that Thailand want to put him in prison. It looks like it could turn nasty as there's a lot of tension between the two countries at the moment and there's been a little bit of fighting at the border in the north.
Our plane back to Kuala Lumpur flew from Siem Reap (because it was much cheaper to fly from there) so, after a couple of days looking around Phnom Penh, we had to catch the bus back to Siem Reap the night before our flight left. Halfway
through the journey, the bus stopped for a toilet break and there was also some food sellers hanging around at the place we stopped. One of them was selling what looked like fried grasshoppers and another tray of some other insects - I'd heard that it was common to eat insects in Cambodia but this was the first time I'd seen anyone selling any. I decided against trying any due to me not wanting to risk feeling ill on the bus journey (and because it looked horrible). So, after a week there, it was time to leave Cambodia. I wished I could of stayed a bit longer as there was a few other places which I wanted to visit but I didn't really have time. I'm now in Hong Kong and I guess I need to get used to normal prices again as I'm off to Australia and the New Zealand after I've spent a few days here. Stu has decided that due to not having as much money as he thought and because he wants to do more diving, he's going to Thailand for five weeks to do his dive-master course. He's not sure if he'll make it to Australia and New Zealand yet unless he can work somewhere. So, from now on, I'll be travelling solo!
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