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While in Phnom Penh there is one site (an attraction is probably not the best word to describe the place) you must visit before moving on to your next destination: the Killing fields of Choeung Ek. Between 1975-1978 over 17.000 people were killed at this extermination camp by the Pol Pot regime (in total 1,7 million Cambodians, 25% of the population at that time). It is impossible to describe in words the sadness this place displays. While walking around you'll see human bones and pieces of cloths still in the ground and a memorial stupa housing over 8.000 human skulls.
After Phnom Penh we decided to go different directions for a while. While Nils went to Kampong Cham and Kratie to spot the elusive Irrawaddy freshwater dolphin I made my way to Western Cambodia to see Battambang. Possibly the best attraction in Battambang is the local bamboo train. Train is maybe not a too accurate word to describe the small wooden platforms following a single train track. Best part is when two train facing opposite directions meet: one train is quickly dissembled to let the other vehicle pass (see video section). Also visited the local bat cave with, according to TukTuk driver Ohla, some 4 million bats flying out at sunset.
After we both finished our sightseeing in Battambang and Kratie we met up for Saturday night at Siem Reap's world famous "Angkor What?". Obviously not Cambodia's most famous temple but the equally famous bar on Pub Street selling buckets of Vodka Redbull for a couple of dollars.
Of course we did not skip the temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm (also known as the Tomb Raider temple), these being the actual highlights of the country.
Since our next destination is Laos and we needed to be in North-East Cambodia anyway to cross the border we decided to fit in Banlung into our itinerary. And what a great decision; we just got back from a 3 day trekking through the remote jungle in the Ratanakiri province. 3 days of sleeping in US Army hammocks, going down rivers on self made rafts, dodging spider webs and trying not to be eaten alive by the local leech and red ant population. We were led into the jungle by a local ranger (a Cambodian version of Bear Grylls who could literally make anything out of bamboo) and slept one night at a local family in the middle of the jungle. Now those locals really know their ways of dealing with their environment; while we were enjoying the local rice wine and smoking tobacco out of green leaves a rat runs trough the living room. One of the locals decides to grab the rat within a matter of seconds and minutes later the rat is cooked and eaten as a midnight snack: welcome to the jungle!
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