Hi all!! So we changed our minds and decided to head straight to CAmbodia's Capital Phnom Penh. The goal to go to Battambang was to take the boat there as it is supposed to be one of Cambodia's nicest scenery but it is not the rainy season yet so the boat ride was not too certain and the water level in teh river is pretty low. We asked a couple ...

We made the HUGE mistake of taking a "Mekong Delta Tour" from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, thinking it would be a more interesting, scenic route to our next destination. We won't bore you with the details, but we will say that it further confirmed our hatred of packaged tour programs, where guides herd you from one ethnotourism exploit to the...

I'll be based in Phnom Penh for the next three weeks, exploring as much as I can of this city, Angkor Wat at Siem Reap, Battambang, and a few other corners of Cambodia that I can fit in. It's a pure delight to catch up with Dominique, whom I haven't seen since 1995 (hence "old/new" friend!) and meet his sweet wife, Clo. My first week in Cambodia...

We got up early February 8th finished packing and then headed down to De Tham to catch an 8 am bus to Phnom Penh. When we arrived two girls were arguing with the travel agent about the bus to Phnom Penh and demanding their money back. We didn't really catch the main point of the argument but later it all made sense. The travel agent was pretty p...

Because our room shuts out all outside light we were surprised when we woke up at 1pm. We got some lunch and then because I wanted to watch the bootleg of "Transformers" that was playing we hung out for a couple of hours. Then with no real plans in mind we hung out some more. Before we could realize as much we had spent the whole day at the gues...

We arrive in Phnom Penh at about 8am and got a taxi to the city centre. We got to the hotel and immedietely booked a bus ticket for the following morning - 6.30am - to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam - we really wanted to stay longer but our priority is to get to Nha Trang and to our job, so we only had 1 day. We were chatting to the hotel guys and ...

As today has been one of the heaviest days of this entire trip, ranking right up there as one of the heaviest days of my life, don't expect that this blog entry be all that uplifting. Actually, it's depressing. Actually, some of it is downright disgusting. That being said, if you are ever in this part of the world, this city, along with the Geno...

Departing Koh Phangnan was sad as we had had such a good time there. Phuong, Cat and I took the overnight ferry from Koh Phangnan to Suratthani..it was what I imagine being a refugee would be like..we were stuffed into the ferry and had our own little mattresses to sleep on (ewww) and windows which we opened for ventilation..it was about a 6 hou...

Today we were brought back to earth about the recent tragic history of the country. The killing field (one of several hundred) was still giving up human skeletons. The skulls of the exhumed victims (17,000) were displayed in a tower of 14 levels. The torture and detention centre S21 has been transformed into a museum to illustrate the atrocities...

Phnom Penh The city of Phnom Penh (PP) is quite different in contrast to Vietnam and Thailand. Plagued by a culture of corruption, Cambodia is clearly a country in need of development. Along with a plethora of potholes that line the streets, beggars and homeless families (usually a mother and her child) are quite a common sight here. The Killing...