CAMBODIA

Our first stop after that awful border crossing from Laos was a seriously small little town in Northern Cambodia called Kratie. Thankfully there wasn’t much to do, so while I spent my time on the toilet, Shaun caught up on some news with Sky or watch movies (something we’ve both forgotten how to do!) The town had one central market where you buy everything from, but about 5 different pharmacies! Only Problem was that none of them actually have any idea what medication is for what ailment so when we explained to them with over the top signs and actions they eventually pointed to some random cupboard and left us to make our choice between Vitamin B injections, some seriously strong general anti-biotics that usually require a prescription and a whole array of stomach medicines that had all their labels in French!!! So we picked the ones that sounded least deadly (IN FRENCH!!) and went on our way.

That afternoon, we hired a motorbike and drove to the viewing point of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. From there we chartered a boat and were taken right to the action. These stubby nose, speckled creatures really were amazing to watch and we got some really close encounters!

From there, we made our way to Phnom Pheng, the capital. We stayed here for 2 days and experienced the true Cambodian culture by hiring cycles. I seriously contemplated my lack of a last will and testament with their 7 different directional traffic lanes, no traffic lights or stop streets and the only way of getting across an intersection was based on who hooted the loudest! Nonetheless, we somehow made it around safely and visited Toul Sleng prison where 14 000 Cambodians were tortured and killed during the Khmer Rouge era. It truly was a haunting experience with all the cells left exactly as they were when found. The only difference being that instead of the dead and mutilated bodies still being chained to the iron beds, there are now A1 photo’s of those bodies hanging above the beds! To plunge ourselves further into a state of depression about what men are capable of (YES, I mean ‘men’!), we drove out to the Killing Fields the next morning where all the prisoners who survived at the prison or who there wasn’t space for, were executed by being clubbed over the head! On arrival we were greeted by a 3 storey glass memorial to the dead, displaying all the skulls and bones that have been unearthed from most of the graves. Walking around the mass graves, despite having been excavated, you still walk over and see remnants of the victims’ clothes in the ground, as well as some teeth and other bones! Unfortunately, after traveling and not using my brain for so long, I lack the words to describe the scene or the atmosphere and can’t do it any justice!

Our next stop was the one I had been looking forward to my whole life (or since I watched Tomb Raider at least)! Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor!! We spent 4 amazing days there, waking up at 4am every morning, getting picked up by our very tired but hired Tuk-Tuk driver and getting taken to one of the temples for sunrise and then as many as we could fit in until 11am. By then we were practically walking with our eyes closed, so he would take us back to our crappy little room where we would attempt to sleep in a puddle of sweat. Our perkier driver would then collect us at 3pm again when we went back until sunset. Once again, I lack the ability to give these magnificent architectural wonders the praise they deserve! (You’ll have to see the photos!) All I can say is that something good has come out of men and their perpetual obsession with size and outdoing each other!! It didn’t disappoint!!
The Cambodian people were wonderfully friendly and their country magnificently beautiful, so we were sad when our time in Cambodia as well as Asia finally came to an end.