Quay Phnom Penh

... to be a member of the press to enter, it's just a rather swanky bar reminiscent of fifties chic that serves drinks at slightly more expensive prices than other establishments. We were there for the two hours of happy hour 6-8pm - bonus! We got some pitchers of beer, and enjoyed the view of the river as the sun slowly set. Afterwards we headed off north in search of a restaurant, and after finding one proceeded to order more drinks as we waited for a table, then ordered an ...

... settled at a sidewalk cafe and ordered an early dinner. As we watched the people go by, we noticed how many white men are walking around with young female professionals on their arms. One old guy came into the cafe with a gorgeous Asian girl in a sexy black dress, he could hardly walk, even with the help of a cane! Another guy came in a bit later, this one seemed middle-aged and in good health (at least he could walk), with a young, nubile beauty in skin tight ...

... in an ok mid-range hotel. After all the horrible stories we had heard and read about scams in Hanoi, we decided to check in the internet for a recommendable place.<br><br>From here we went on an organized tour to Halong Bay. Three days and two nights, one in a boat and in a hotel in Cat Ba island. The trip was wonderful. Once again, we had read and heard the worse stories about these organized tour, so instead of the cheap option we booked a decent one ...

... up to the back of my skullcase. Me and Becky played pool &#8211; she won &#8211; she must have cheated. We were snapped by a photojournalist for the Phnom Penh Post (I hit her up for job details) and the drinks continued to flow. I, to my detriment, got really quite, quite drunk. Sitting around a table the 4 of us chatted as from the periphery, in the left hemisphere a young Khmer lad appeared. Walking into the bar with a stack of newspapers &#8211; this isn&#8217;t an ...

... whole thing was televised. Whilst not the kind of thing we would normally think of doing, the atmosphere was great, the fights where very exciting (&amp; very professional) and it was all for free! On the flip side of that, a day spent at the old Khmer Rouge S-1 prison, now a museum, was harrowing, disturbing, sad &amp; eye-opening. We left looking at the country in a whole new light, as well as a whole new understanding of how terribly the West dealt with the whole ...

... and Rob fared much better and were unlucky not to finish in the money places. <br>If you come to Phonm Penh, it's hard not to visit the infamous killing fields and S21 prison, two places forever ingrained in the bloody history of Cambodia. S21 was a school until it was taken over and converted into a place of evil, where so called enemies of the Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, were tortured for information before being sent off to the killing fields for ...

... in actually getting them to dance with us for a while. Watching is more their style normally. The crazy foreigners attracted more than their fair share of attention but I figure, what the heh?<br><br>Lots of laughs and can't wait to go back for more.<br><br>Disappointing photos -sorry about that.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><b r><br><br><br>

... there was such obvious poverty in Cambodia. I don&#8217;t know if it is more hidden in Laos, but you don&#8217;t feel it as much. Lucky drove me back into the city and wanted me to see Wat Phnom because apparently it was really pretty. It was very beautiful sitting sort of high in the city, but here again I was hit with the very real reminder of disabled people due to landmines. They were sitting along the steps all the way to the top asking for money. Do I give them ...

... on both sides. We did not manage to totally avoid the bribing since we had to give the Cambodian official that was issuing our tourist visa 1 dollar each on top the normal visa fee. Welcome to Cambodia!<br><br>We got a relatively cheap taxi to drive us from the Cambodia boarder to Siem Reap, the town that was the starting point for the temples of Angkor we were headed for. The driver was a very talkative person, who quickly introduced us to some words in Khmer, so that after ...

... given the volume of traffic entering and leaving, perhaps it's the best way to go about it. Soon we were through it and we re-entered the flow of scooters, bicycles, minibuses and pickup trucks - all heading in the direction of the temples. The road was tree lined and the woods seemed to be fairly deep. I noticed a metal sign with Khmer lettering that depicted an axe-wielding man being chastised by an annoyed arboreal-spirit whose ethereal body was emerging from the trunk of a ...