Leaving for Phnom Penh today after 1 week in Laos and 3 days in Siem Reap. Laos was a beautiful country and Luang Prabang and Vientiene were each interesting and exciting although surprisingly very different cities.

I began my week in the small and charming city of Luang Prabang where the french influence could be seen almost everywhere-Fresh french baguettes, french provencial style houses and french restaurants lining the streets. The town is located on a peninsula where the Nam khan River and Mekong River meet and has three main parallel streets, the main center street turns into a great walking market for the late afternoons and evenings. This small peninsula is littered with temples and the most prominent (and my favorite) were the phousi temples, a steep climb up a mountain in the center of town but worth the workout in the sweltering heat for the best panoramic views of the city.

When I arrived in town on tuesday evening I had no place to stay but with the help of my lonely planet book I managed to find a cute little guesthouse along the Nam Khan river. The ammenities were minimal but enough to get by and there were a few characters staying there as well that made for an interesting stay. I roomed next door to a crazy cigar smoking German whose hacking cough I could hear easily through the thin walls and who left a smoke filled bathroom after every use. Below me was a drunk old european man who I often heard vomiting in the early morning-not the most pleasant alarm clock. There was an unbelievably strong smell of Lao whiskey everytime I came downstairs. Considering the alternative, however, I will take a bathroom of cigar smoke over the stench of vomit and alcohol anyday. Overall, the place was fine for a few nights and was a great location -I was able to rent a bicycle, had a private little balcony and the owners were extremely friendly and accomodating.

My first full day in luang prabang I started early and explored the city, the peninsula, and the temples scattered in between by bike. After a mid day nap and a quick lunch I hopped on my bike again and rode outside the city to a nearby waterfall. For some reason I though 15 km on a bike didn't seem to bad, however I forgot to factor in the heat and the hills in the Lao country side. After about 9km outside the city my legs literally could not go anymore. I made it up one last steep hill and when I looked ahead and saw another steeper one I instantly turned my bike around and headed home. Although I didnt make it to the waterfall, getting out of the tourist filled city to see the country and the local villages was worth the trip in itself. The next day I explored the Pak Ou caves about a 2 hour boat ride down the Mekong. These caves are only accessible by boat and have been made into temples filled with Lao style buddhist figures. The trip also included a stop at a local whiskey village and a look at the village's silk production.

This past monday I flew from Laos to Siem Reap, Cambodia where I spent an amazing 2 ½ days exploring Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Angor Wat was enormous and breathtaking to see and all the other temples were unique and had a special characteristic-including the jungle temple, (famous from Tomb Raider film), the elephant temple, Bayon-the temple with many faces built into the stone and Banteay Srei - a temple made of a pink stone. I took some great photos and managed to get a few cliche ones of myself but found it very difficult to get pictures without other tourist in the backgorund. The temples are packed with tourists and as a result, local cambodians force their goods on ever potential customer in signt. Everytime I leave a temple or get off my taxi, there is a young kid asking me to buy something. It is frustrating at times but this is how the locals earn money and survive.

Siem Reap itself was a surprisingly modernized town complete with a pub street for the visiting tourist. My last night in town I met a german grad student working on his masters on the affects of tourism on the cambodian people. The big restaurants, bars and stores located in the center of town are actually owned by foreigners from china, korea or vietnam. It ends up being an unfortunate situation for the cambodian people as the tourists spend their money there but all that money does not go into the country but rather back to foreign owners - leaving cambodians with little income from these establshments. In fact, as I learned from this student, 3km out of town is one of the poorest areas in all of cambodia, hard to imagine when you are surrounded by big five star hotels and places like The Meriden and Sofitel

I continue on to Pnom Penh next- a little scared to be traveling by myslef there but looking forward to learning more about the history of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot then finish my trip with a week at the beach before heading back to Chiang Mai.