Cambodia

Sorry Thailand, but Cambodia may now be our favourite country so far in South East Asia. Thanks to a very convincing salesman in Sihanoukville, we decided to do our PADI open water diving course a little earlier than expected, on the island of Koh Rong. What a refreshing change to find somewhere that still only has electricity for 6 hours a day and not a concrete tower in sight! Koh Rong is earmarked for development so we are very pleased we could visit while it is still so unspoilt and beautiful. We really loved our night spent in a treehouse (below), though going to the loo down the steep ladder once the electricity went off was a scary prospect! The diving course turned out to be a pretty intense three days but we really enjoyed it and now can't wait to do some more diving in Thailand. Though we worried about sharks, jellyfish and, of course, drowning, the worst injury sustained was a cut to the leg climbing back on the boat! An instructor to ourselves was an added bonus so we really felt in safe hands. Probably our favourite place so far, and as always we wanted to stay longer.



Next stop was Phnom Penh, and we managed to find ourselves in a rather unsavoury (not according to Steve) part of the city with places such as 'horny bar' and lots of older men with Asian women. Still, it was cheap and a good base for visiting the killing fields and genocide museum. A very upsetting day and shocking to think how recently the Khmer Rouge genocide took place  - in the 1970's. We kept looking at people after that, like the Tuk Tuk driver, thinking they probably lived through it and lost members of their family.

 During our visit to Cambodia we heard that the King's father had died and were quite surprised what an impact this had on the country as a whole. There were three days of mourning where everything pretty much shut down. Apparently, the king was a very popular and important figure who helped bring about Cambodia's independence from the French in the 50's. This picture is of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh which was still closed to visitors a week later, with local people gathered outside bringing flowers and lighting incense as a mark of respect.

A very bumpy bus journey later, we arrived in Siem Reap. A recommendation from Paul and Lisa took us to a lovely guesthouse with hammocks, free bikes and 30 minute free massage. No free T shirt anymore though!

This was our first view of one of the temples of Angkor, during our sunset Tuk Tuk ride. The following day we didn't quite make sunrise, but set off early on bikes to explore the other temples in one day. It really is a beautiful and impressive place, like a national park dotted for miles around with amazingly preserved temples from as early as the 8th century.

The classic view of Angkor Wat, saved for last and we just about made it before the rain! A very tiring day with 30 miles on bikes and lots of walking, but a truly great place, despite the huge amounts of tourists. A ten hour bus ride to Bangkok the following day proved quite a welcome rest, though we did fear for our lives at some points! Our driver seemed to think he was Michael Schumacher, even in the heavy traffic of Bangkok! Off to Koh Tao tonight and very happy to leave the Khao San road of Bangkok behind.