I would like to say that I am currently in Cambodia while I'm writing about it but I'm not. I am still playing catch up with this blog. It was another AMAZING country - it may even be my favourite so far. Although I keep saying this about everywhere I go!
We came from Vietnam to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Crossing borders is not my favourite part of the trip. There is a lot of getting off buses with bags, showing a lot of people your passport and filling out more paper work, to then get back on the same bus going to the actual border, taking your bag off again, passport and paperwork and then back on the same bus AGAIN.
We only had one night in Phnom Penh and then we had a homestay with a couple of Camobodian families. It was one of the best nights, although the journey in the mini bus with no air conditioning nearly killed us all before we got there. I have never been so hot in all my life, and to get off the bus to the same heat and huts also without air con seemed a little like torture! Near where we were staying was a fresh water stream, where we went swimming and finally cooled off! The families we stayed with gave up there homes for us and stayed outside with the thousands of animals they keep. This sounds really bad but they get money for having us stay to put into developing there community so they are more than happy to sleep outside (apparently).
From the homestay we went down to Sihanoukville, which is juct beaches....and very cheap drinks! We had a lot of nights out at the bars on the beaches! We also did a boat trip to an Island. It was an interesting boat, more just a floating piece of wood. The island was paradise and we were the only ones on it. On the way to the island we stopped for a bit of snorkelling and even did a bit of fishing. Not something that interests me but we did it using empty water bottles, a bit of fishing wire and some bait. I was surprisingly successful. I caught one fish in the morning (don't ask me what type of fish it was), which our guides for the day barbequed on the beach with the rest of our lunch. I became a bit of a pro by the journey back and caught 3...although to be fair so did everyone so maybe it's just not that difficult.
We went back to Phnom Penh after Sihanoukville and visited Tuol Sleng (the high school turned prison) and the killing fields. Both were horrific and not somewhere I will be going again. I'm pleased I went but there is still far too much evidence of what went on - it's disturbing.
We had a night by the Mekong Delta in Kampong Cham. On the bus journey there we stopped off at a 'services' and along side the fresh fruit and corn etc they sell was barbequed tarantulas. They didn't really taste of much to be honest. I think the bbq sauce on them helped them go down a bit better though.
We did a cycle ride to an Island on the Mekong Delta. To get to it we had to cross a very questionalbe wooden bridge. it breaks up as you go across and they pretty much rebuild the top of it every day. Having no sides didn't help much either, and there definately wasn't much room for error, especially with the motorbikes weaving in and out of us.
Siem Reap was the last stop in Cambodia and as soon as I look back now all I can think of as the amazing icecream cafe that we found. One night we just had a banana split for dinner :-). We got up the first morning at 5am to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. 12 hours later we were still there being guided round the hundreds of temples. Once you've seen one temple you've seen them all! They are amazing in the way they are built and the detail etc, and it wasn't something I wanted to miss out on but most people do it over a few days! We did see the temple tomb raider was filmed in. Apart from that and Angkor Wat, the other 3000 temples are a bit of a blur....bad I know! The last thing we did in Cambodia was visit a floating village. What a life. As soon as we hit the water we came across a family moving house...literally moving house. They had it attached to the back of their boat and were off out into the horizon. The water level changes all the time so they are having to move on reguarly. They never need to go to land, they have everything they need. They have more in the floating village than they do in Ovington! They have schools, shops, restaurants AND a full size basketball court.
From Siem Reap it was onto our last stop of the trip....Bangkok!We didn't get a chance to do much, except the final night out with the group and the markets on Kao San Road. Within hours of being there we had to get out of the road, not for a car but for an elephant!Loved it!
The start of the journey just the 3 of us did not go well. We had a very traumatic experience trying to get to our hostel in a taxi. The man spoke no english but claimed he knew where he was going when we showed him the map. It was all a huge lie and we were in the taxi for an hour an half for a journey that should have taken 10 minutes! He was outraged when we wouldn't pay him the ridiculous amount that had clocked up on his meter. What a muppet!
I had the time of my life in Asia and really didn't want to leave. Although I could think of worse places to leave for than Sydney :-)!