Angkor is the largest set of ruins in the world. Larger than Machu-Pichu, Pyramids at Giza, Borobodur, Petra, Tikal, Anuradhapura, Ayuthaya, Great Zimbabwe, etc. It's a great way to finish this part of the trip. I'm spending 4 days in this area to take as much in as practicable. Got up early and was ready to leave before sunrise to catch the sunrise at Angkor ... but, nobody in the guest house was up, so I couldn't take out a bike. I had to wait until 06:00 to have breakfast and then wait a bit more to get a bike. Made sure the brakes worked and the tires were full. No such thing as gears or bike helmets in this part of the world. No helmets is probably a good thing too, considering it would have ... read more

The infamous Khemer Rouge prison S-21 or it's proper name the Tuol Sleng Prison was a high school. Only 7 prisoners came out alive! The few dead bodies found in the prison by the "liberating army" (i.e. the Vietnamese) were buried on the grounds of the prison. Most of the inmates were killed in the "killing fields" slightly north of the city. I couldn't bring myself to visit there. The prison was a shocking experience by itself. The building reminded me of my school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Several buildings, each with 3 Floors, with standard classroom and blackboards. Some rooms had been crudely partitioned into tiny individual prison cells using brick and wood, with holes knocked between classroom to join them up internally. That way, the prisoners never got to see the outside. Much of ... read more

The bus had a minor mechanical problem after night fall. It had no head lights! After a little fiddling around, the driver, his assistant and the assistant's assistant managed to get a weak light from the driver side headlight, and stuck a flash light out the passenger side window to make a workable pair of lights. But, we crawled to Phnom Penh, because the flash light only lit up a tiny bit of the road, and the driver could hardly see where he was driving most of the time. I had been near the front of the bus, but moved to the middle of the bus and onto the passenger side, just in case of a collision with a large truck. Most vehicles don't go that fast, but since we were a large mostly blacked out ... read more

Curious?... read more

Good thing I stayed only a night in Vientiane. I had seen "all the sights" by walking, and just for good measure, did it all again while waiting for the night bus to Pakse. This was also a sleeper bus and quite comfortable if you don't mind having to keep you knees bent because the bed length is fixed at standard Lao/Vietnamese heights and not for 6'3". ... read more