Cambodia...the last Asian country to explore on the tour

Our bus journey from HCMC to Phnom Penh (the Cambodian capital) was long &, thnakfully, uneventful. It is very hard to describe the border crossing throughout Asia, apart from to say that they are nothing like those in the Western world. Under-staffed, a distinct lack of security, & nobody tells you what is going on. It is not pleasant to cross these borders, but a huge relief when it is done!

Above is a picture of the Phnom Penh Palace. Cambodia has a vast array of temples & palaces, all very intricate in their design & stunning in their scale. This form of arcitechture is something that is ingrained in their history, as we were to learn fully during our time in the country.

Upon arrival in Phenom Penh, Smalls & I immediately checked into a hotel/hostel on the North East side of the city, near to the river. It turns out that we were in the moderately priced area of the expensive tourism area. We had arrived late, so we went for food & a couple of beers nearby. Whilst out we met up with our Australian friend, Dewse, who we had met on the slow boat in Laos. We had a fair few catch up drinks in celebration!

The next day was spent recharging our batteries, & catching up with Mr Andrew Dicks! Dewse had met him near his hostel & brought him over to ours to meet up. It was good to see the norm again after about a month apart. As Andy decided not to do the Laos jungle experience, & he didn't do the Thousand Islands tour in Vietnam, he was a week ahead of us in travel. That evening we celebrated our reunion with a $2 all-you-can-eat curry, & plenty of beer & pool. We met some nice lads from Cameroon & played until the bar shut at 3am.

Dewse & I couldn't resist the temptation to create an Angkor tower with our empties. Quite fitting, as you will see from the Angkor relics later in the blog (this is the modern day beer version...of sorts).

The next day Smalls & I set out on a full days' adventure & exploration. We hired a tuk-tuk for the day, & then set off to visit the local orphanage.

We decided to visit the orphanage instead of shooting big guns at the local shooting range. Mostly because we had done that before (in Latvia) & because we had heard what a good job the orphanage was doing. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the orphanage was spacious, despite being home to 100 kids! The facilities were also very good, with plenty of sports activities (basketball, volleyball etc) & large classrooms. They even had access to the computers to learn how to word process etc.

Whilst we both made small donations to the orphanage, both Smalls & I wanted to give the kids a present...hence the mutlicoloured football. The young lad pictured above seemed to be very happy with our gift, & we had a brief kick about with him before we left.

Next stop was the notorious "Killing Fields" at Choeung Ek. It was at this location, about 15km outside of Phnom Penh, that over 17,000 Cambodians were executed - in accordance with Pol Pot's new regime. These barbaric executions were carried out throughout Pol Pot's rule, from 1976-1979. The picture above is of the tower constructed to house the skulls of many of the deceased.

The above picture is of the glass column inside the tower. It is impossible to imagine how many people died here.

Pol Pot's primary aim was to impose communism in its purest form - as he interpreted it. This meant that everyone worked to the benefit of the state, in the form of rural labour in the rice fields throughout the vast Cambodian landscape. Rice was Cambodia primary export, & the primary focus of international trade for Pol Pot. Anyone who was considered to be educated was detained & questioned in prisons in all the major towns & cities. Almost all of the inmates at these prisons were executed, after being tortured horrendously. The picture on the left displays just how brutal Pol Pot's men were when carrying out their duties.

The killing fields, as they are today, give very little indication of the horrific nature of their history. The many holes in the ground appear to be just that, although each of these were mass graves. There were literally hundreds of these graves throughout the site. It certainly sends a shiver down your spine when you try to visualize how it must have felt to visit a place like this in its operational days - either as a condemed prisoner, a guard, or even an observer.

Next on our tour was the S-21 prison. This was Phenom Penh's number one interrogation centre. Formally a school, the building is located on the outskirts of the city. The grounds look as they did when the place was operational, and they give no indication to the horrors that occured here. As you can see by the rules, there was little room any form of error here...

All of the rooms in the three buildings (each three stories high) now have various exhibits relating to the running of the prison, & Pol Pot's rule in the wider context. It is quite shocking to see how the Cambodian people were treated, & not more than 30 years ago. Below is a picture taken of the skulls that were unearthed from mass graves at the killing fields. Excavations began in the early 1980's, after Pol Pot's rule had been ended.

Here is a typical torture room. Inmates were strapped to these beds & exposed to some brutal treatment - all in aid of gaining information of "the rebellion," which was in the most part fictional & ultimately futile.

I would recommend the killing fields & S21 prison to all visiting Cambodia, although expect to be both moved & horrified by all that you read & see. I read pretty much every exhibit & left feeling pretty numb.

Next stop was a six hour (bumpy) bus ride across the country to Siem Reap. Siem Reap is Cambodia's next largest city, & is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year...due to the nearby temple ruins. These I had heard about many years ago, & had been very high on my list of "must-sees" whilst travelling. So, needless to say, I was very excited at the prospect of a day walking around these ruins.

Our first view of the famous "Anchor Wat" was truly stunning. It is hard to believe that the construction of these gigantic structures began back in the 7th century! The land that the temples cover is vast, & there are many different groupings. Anchor Wat is the biggest, and arguably, the most impressive.

Inside the outer walls of the temple you can walk around the central towers. The attention to detail in their design, & the actual construction that was undertaken to create them, is nothing short of breathtaking.

It is clearly visible how vast these projects were when you observe the engravings in the brickwork. This is the norm, not the exception. You can only appreciate this is you visit the place & everywhere you look the bricks are patterned, or tell a story.

Personally, my favourite view of Anchor Wat is above. I love the reflection of the temples on the lake. If you want to see some even more spectacular images of this "eigth wonder of the world" then google images is your friend ;-)

As the temples are built out in the forrests there is plenty of wildlife nearby. These were just a few of the monkeys that we saw throughout the day. They are very used to people, as one would expect with the number of tourists that must visit each year.

Anchor may be the biggest & most renowned of the temples, but there are many more. There are six main clusters of temples, all varying slightly in their styles and sizes - reflecting the time in which they were built. The faces in the tower above are at the Phnom Bakheng temple, which isn't nearly as big as Wat - although nonetheless impressive; as are all the other temples.

Ta Keo ruins...

Near to the Anchor Thom ruins there is a giant buddha stature. There are four of these throughout the grounds of the temples, and they are used daily as places of worship for local Cambodians.

Whilst it is currently possible to fully explore the ruins, as I am above (my own personal "Indy Indiana" moment!), this may not be the case for too much longer. As tourists are free to roam the grounds as they please they are causing more & more destruction to the site. The high number of visitors increase corrosion of the temples, so there are currently discussion regarding plans to exclude visitors from walking in/around certain temples. Therefore, I would advise on exploring these fascinating structures as soon as possible - whilst the chance to do so freely remains!

The Ta Prohm temples are possibly my favourite of all. These temple ruins are littered with trees literally growing out of & over the temples themselves. Seeing is believing. The picture below is of one of the most photographed, & therefore recognisable, ruins. You may recognise this as inspiration for the "Tomb Raider" computer games, which have also been made into films (partly shot at the ruins in Cambodia).

It is very hard to take a bad photo when your subjects are as visually stunning as these. I must have taken a hundred photos that day, so picking out a select few took a while!!

One of the temples designs was to include a vast lake - about the size of ten football pitches. There used to be a temple where Smalls & I are standing, but it has since fallen down completely. The main focus of this construction was the lake anyway.

The only annoying thing about visiting such a popular tourist attraction is that is attracts many locals looking to make a quick $$$! Every stop that you make you are surrounded by desperate locals looking to sell you anything they can. We dealt with this annoyance in the best means possible...to decline their offers whilst having some fun with them. At one stall Smalls decided to purchase a t-shirt, although his form of bartering was questionable at best (Paper, scissor, stones anyone?!)...

Smalls lost & had to pay the whole $4 asking price :-O

Having walked around six of the major temple sites all day, we stopped for a quick beer, then made our way to the highest temple - in search of a good sunset. Whilst we had been treated to glorious sunshine throughout the day, sadly, as we ascending the hill the clouds began to thicken.

The view from the top of the temple on the hill was spectacular, although our luck had run out & we didn't get the sunset we desired. We weren't the only ones though, many people had made the twenty five minute walk to the top - so it was actually quite crowded at the top of the temple!

I have to admit that I wasn't in the least bit dissapoined by our excursion to the temples. It is largely as I imagined, but not a large as I had imagined. It is worth coming to Cambodia just to see these phenomenal structures, although I would advise that you start making those plans soon as no one can tell how much longer free exploration will be allowed.

After all of the culture & history of Cambodia, it was time to check out its more modern draw for tourists...that is the sandy white beaches of the south. Sihanouk Ville is the most popular beach destination on the South coast, & is currently under a lot of development to construct very western style resorts.

There are about six different beaches around Sihanouk Ville, we chose to stay at the one most popular with locals & budget travellers - giving the place that authentic local vibe, whilst also competitive & cheap.

All along the beach there are many, many restaurants & bars. All of which sell lots of different styles of food, although the seafood is amongst some of the best I have ever tasted! The majority of it is BBQ...delicious :-)

As with many tourist destinations in Cambodia, there are plenty of locals looking to sell you their "tat." Mostly bracelets. However, can anyone think why on earth Mr Small decided not to part with his $3 for this hat?!? The sun had clearly got to his head...a decision I am sure he will rue for the rest of his days :-(

Out on our first night we met up with Andy again, who had been at the beach whilst we were exploring temples in Siem Reap. We hadn't planned to meet up, so a nice surprise. We also met some more of our friends from Laos, Mike & Caz, and the lot of us drank whilst playing giant Jenga & pool into the early hours.

I have to say that the Cambodian girls are VERY good at pool (either that or the girls in the UK are really letting our nation down in this department). I'm not sure that I won a single game! Worth mentioning, as most of you who know me will know that I like the occasional game of pool - but not losing!

Our time in Sihanouk Ville was spent on the beach or in the bars. We didn't go crazy at all, it was just nice to recharge in the sunshine & relax. Afterall, the buses in Asia are tough going!

Whilst on the beach on our second day we ran into a couple of furry little friends. I think that our recent exposure to puppies has had a profound effect on "cat-lover" Smalls, although he would be the last to admit that! Who could refuse faces like these?

I will sign off this Cambodian blog entry with one of my signature sunset shots (it's been a while?!). Cambodia is a very unique country - largely due to its history & man made structures. I thoroughly enjoyed our time here, although there isn't much more that could keep an avid tourist here for more that ten days (at a push). Therefore, we are off back to Thailand & the islands...one more full moon party before the reality of the UK ;-)

Cambodia...the last Asian country to explore on the tour

Phnom Penh, Cambodia