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Published: August 29th 2008
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We were in Cambodia for about a week and have really enjoyed it. It is not as scenic as Laos but there is def lots going on. And everything is really cheap. We did not spent more than $22 a night on accomodation and most places were $15 a night! And they all have been really nice (with exception of hot water in Siem Reap not being very hot). There are loads of drink specials "buy 1 get 1 free" which we have taken advantage of.
We flew from Vientiane to Siem Reap about a week ago. It was a very early flight so we had to be awake before 4am. So, when we arrived in Cambodia just before 10am we were pretty exhausted. We got a nice place and took it easy for most of the afternoon. The town is much more interesting than I anticipated; we had assumed the only attraction here would be the Angkor ruins. Cambodia is very accustomed to the tourists and there are loads of people trying to sell you things. Tuk-tuks are everywhere and you can't walk down the street without several people asking you if you need one. There are also people
selling books, fruit and anything else you dont really need. The food is fantastic. We went out for a few really nice meals and def prefer the cambodian food to food in laos.
We were only in Siem Reap for 1.5 days. The second day was spent at the temples. The previous day we had negotiated with a Tuk-Tuk driver to drive us around for the full day for $10. A pretty good deal we thought! We got up at 5am to try and see the sunrise. It was a little cloudy so not the perfect sunrise but still worth getting up early as we beat a lot of the tourists to the sites. We started at Phnom Bakheng as we read that it was a good place for sunrise. Then we went to Ta Prohm (the one you always see overgrown with roots). Then went to Angkor Thom and saw all of the sites there and saw a few more along drive there. Next was Preah Khan which was much more amazing that we thought it would be. By this point it was about 1:00 and we were absolutely exhausted. We finished up with Angkor Wat before going
back to our place. Everything was really fantastic and would recommend going to all of the sites mentioned. Originally we were going to try and stay out all day and catch the sunset but didn't have the energy. We were lucky that we did as when we were sitting down for dinner (about sunset time) it started pouring down with rain. Crazy rain which made us happy to be indoors drinking a nice cocktail.
We took a 5 hour bus down to Phnom Penh the next day and got there around 1pm. The first place we looked at for accomodation was great so we decided to go there so we could have a little time for sightseeing. We walked around town for ages and went to the genocide museum which was very sad. A lot of the things taking place in 1976 so not too long ago. Overall the town was pretty interesting. It is much larger than anywhere we had been since Bangkok so pretty busy with people getting around mostly by motorbikes and again many Tuk-tuks on offer. We went out for a a BBQ dinner and tried out a cocktail before heading home.
Next stop
was Sihanoukville where we had 2.5 days of just taking it easy. It is a really nice beach with plenty of guesthouses and restaurants. We stayed at Serendipity Beach and it was very nice. Our guesthouse had a pool so we spent a lot of time reading and taking it easy there. The beach is really set up for tourists. There are loads of people walking around selling things such as lobster, fruit, manicures, massages and on and on. There were also loads of cambodian people on there holiday there so it was nice to know the locals went there. The only sad thing was there were a few crippled people begging. Usually they went right up to rob (ignoring me) to ask him for money so not alway pleasant. We had better get used to it though as I heard it is really bad in Ho Chi Minh City. Speaking of unpleasant things, we did see quite a few old men (western) with very young cambodia girls so not too nice. We were really naughty and took a picture of one "couple" as it was so obviously not right (dont worry, they didn't see us take the pic).
There were great beach chairs outside restaurants where you only had to buy a fruit drink from them (for about a $1) and could sit there as long as you liked. We had a really nice sunset the first night while trying out one of the comfy chairs and drinking a huge white russian in a bucket!
After Sihanoukville we went back to Phnom Pen as that is the best way to get to Vietnam. We spent a half day doing more sight-seeing. We went to the killing fields which is def worth a visit but is, as you can imagine, very very sad. We also went to the Royal Palace which is worth a visit (just make sure you wear long enough shorts as we saw loads of girls being turned away.
As with the other places in Asia we really enjoyed cambodia. Overall Asia has been really easy and convientant. Its a shame we dont have more time as you could spend ages here. Everyone has spoken really good english and all of the transporation has been really easy. There have been a few very hot moments for rob who sweats quite a bit... but that the case it most hot places for him. Also, a few annoying dogs have bothered rob quite a bit--he has decided he is going to try dog in China as payback to the dogs that have barked at him!!!!!
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Lib
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hello
Hi. You are a bit behind updating your blog - get on with it! Hope you are having fun. Lib x