Cambodia
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2006
1
8
65
Trip End
Ongoing
Siem Reap, Phom Penh and Shinoukville,
Cambodia
Sunday, December 3, 2006
We chickened out of crossing over to Cambodia overland as this journey (so we heard) is fraught with potholes and all round discomfort inc. a lengthly journey time. So after a unanimous "sod that" we decided to fly; Siem Reap being our first destination. Arriving in Siem Reap was a little like being jumped on whilst having a we nap on a very comfortable sofa (annoying crash) Coming from such a laid back place like Laos to the mercenary jaws of Cambodian tourism. Sim Reap was ok, the place it's self was 100% geared toward the thousands of people that visit the Angkor temples each year from the humble backpacker to the absolute minted, although it has to be said the temples are amazing. We decided there was no point staying any longer than necessary, see what we wanted to see then rodge. The Angkor temple site simply can not be done in day, it's huge, many, many Wats ( What is a Wat? a Wat is the term given to a buddhist temple)
Day one we caught sunset at the main Angkor Wat site,
Day two, early start
Gun
. Hired bikes (shopping bikes with baskets, mine was called Fairy! turbo of course) and set about a round 37k bike ride visiting all the temples, knackered after that one. Day three up at 4.30am to see sun rise over the main Angkor Wat site......Boarded bus to Phenom Pen
The bus to Phenom Pen was in fairness great, 4 hours and in relative comfort + it had the added bonus of on board Karaoke! Phenom Pen is absolutely nuts and
corrupt as hell. Everything was a hassle, nothing straight forward but in some way quite charming with it. Again we felt it wasn't quite the place to kick back and kill a week so our main aim was to see the killing fields and visit the detention centre S-21. Well what can you say, how do you sum up mass genocide by a mass murdering f*ck head. Visiting such places really makes you stop and think, puts a whole lot in perspective and in a way gave us a better understanding into why this country is so mercenary as the country is only 1st generation out of such oppression were you had to scrap for every grain of rice. On a lighter note we though we would cheer ourselves up with a cocktail or two at a posh hotel and a few games of pool. Only for muggins here to send the white ball flying off from the break straight into my white Russian...cocktail and glass everywhere!!
Monkey
! (don't want to hear a told you so Dad!) Also I couldn't leave with out having a go on a AK47 machine gun, I wanted a go on the rocket launcher but at a cost of $200 that would mean 2 days in a spa for Carla! After Phenom Pen we decided it was about time for beach so off to Sihanouk ville. It's quite a large place with about 4 beaches to chose from. We got ourselves a nice little set up here and found a really quiet beach, got ourselves a motor bike and have a healthy stocked mini bar in our room! the sea foods good and Carla has been catching up on her massages, happy days.
Next stop Hong Kong...............
Elliot and Carla
