Cambodia! Angkor Wat and the beaches on Sihakanouville

---

Cambodia! As I write this I am actually in Viet Nam now so bare with me on my memory on the chain of events!

Where to begin?? After finally making it to Siem Reap, Cambodia via train, overnight in a small town on the Thai/Cambodian boarder, shady cambodian boarder crossing (with temporary passport! Eek! ) and finally a 3 hour taxi ride! Oh and I forgot to mention getting ripped off at the TOURIST money exchange place! That was fun. These countries are so lucky they are gorgeous and have so much to offer in the way of culture and sites!

Siem Reap..... We all settled into a nice guesthouse in the heart of the backpackers area and decided to explore. We ate and chatted with the locals. Ben is awesome at learning new languages and is determined to be fluent upon his departure. Thanks to Ben we now know all of the basics; hello and thank you...oh and NO thank you! We were lucky enough to run into a fellow on the street that was handing out flyers for A visitation day at the English school he is running in Siem Reap. You can never be careful enough with being scammed but he sounded genuin eNough and we agreed to visit that afternoon. And what an experience it was! The kids were so great and Ispent a good hour reading with them and listening to them try and pronounce our silly English words. They were way better than I had expected and were so grateful to have us there. I wish I had spent some more time volunteering there but with all of my passport issues I wasnt able to. To read more about this school read my friend Nicole's Blog.

blog:http://dontcallmenikki.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/c-e-s-h-e-school-in-siem-reap-cambodia/

That same day (or the next, can't remember) we set off for Ankor Wat to watch the sunset. Lisa was nice enough to pick up some vino and cheese for our adventure. This topped off the spectacular sunset at Ankor Wat! I have pictures which do not do it justice I can assure you!

The next day we explored Ankor Wat in all it's glory. What an amazing place. It is made up of several different sites all with spectacular architecture. I really wasn't feeling that well though and wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I spent the next 3 days in bed with a vicious fever that would not quit!

Next stop, Phnom Pehn. Lisa, Ben and I hired a tuk tuk driver and visited the killing fields and the S-21 prison. Very sad but informative day. How can human beings be so cruel to their fellow man? I guess it is human nature as the more war museums I visit the more apparent that it is world wide and no one is exempt.

So after a few days of visiting many many touristy sites we headed for the beach! Sihakouville was just what we needed! I was still a little under the weather so we headed to one of the neighboring islands, Koh Rong, for some R&R. And boy were we pleased! So electricity or flush toilets but no one notices because the beach and water are so beautiful! We spent the next 3 days playing beach volleyball, drinking (lots of drinking) and playing with puppies!

After3 days on the island back to the mainland where Ben came and met back up with us. Another few days of beaches and drinking and it was time to move on. I booked my bus to Saigon, Vietnam..or I should write Viet Nam as the locals do! Lisa and I decided to part ways and off I went! SOLO once again. Couldn't be happier as I think I prefer to travel this way I seem to meet more people and am not stuck on anyone else's schedule.

Have I mentioned that I have read about 13 books since I have been in SE Asia? If relax and a stress free life was what I was after, I have found it! I'm feel really good these days and wish I could live like this forever!

To be continued......... Viet Nam here I come!

---