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Hay everyone, writing from Cambodia. Actually I am lying, I am writing from Bangkok but the internet wa so poor in Cambodia I didnt even bother. We have just finished our week long stay in Cambodia, absolutely awesome. The first days travel was ridiculus, leaving at 5 in the morning to travel from Saigon over the border to Phnom Penh, not sure how you spell that at all. We had quite a chilled out afternoon/evening and then the next day we got a local guide round the city. What I didnt know, I am not sure if it is my naivity, is that there was a huge genocide in the country only 30 years ago. We travelled to a place labelled s21, an ex school which was taken over by Khmer Rouge, a party who assumed control of Cambodia in the mid 70s. They then killed everyoe who they deemed intellectual, had high ranking jobs, doctors or lawyers, or it could be simply be that you wore glasses. The school was absolutely horriffic and they had the beds people were chained too for torture, pictures of the last victims found, people disembowled. The worst thing baout it was that when the Vietnamese got involved, the Khmer Rouge soldiers were ordered to save bullets so they simply tortured their victims to death. The soldiers were usually young boys, 12 or 13. I couldnt believe that I hadn't heard about it or knew about it, it happened only 30 years ago. After this we went to the killing fields, where the mass burials took place. In the middle there was a building with skulls in it from the graves, about 40,000 arranged in sex and age. They reckon about 3 million cambodians were killed, out of a population of only 7 million. Our local guide had fled her home at the time, only returning in 92, when the king returned.
We then travelled the next day to Siem Reap, the stop off where everyone goes to get to the supposed highlight of Cambodia, Angkor Watt. The journey was long but everyone was anticipating great things. We went out that evening and siem Reap is awesome. Actually Cambodia is really nice. When we were driving up from the border you could see the villages and it is so lush, really beautiful scenery. The next day we travelled to Angkor Watt for sunrise. We got there in the dark and Orla fell in the lake cos she didnt see it, lol. She is irish!! Angkor Watt is absolutely amazing. the sheer size of it alone is aweomse but the carvings inside is formiddable for the time it was done. When you think there was no machines to lift anything, all done by hand, you wonder how they could make something so big. We visited the part of the attraction which was used for Tomb Raider, the trees all growing through the rock. You can understand why it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. That was pretty much our Cambodia trip, it was quite short in viewings but what we saw were amazing. There is more poverty than Vietnam but to be honest, considering what their country went thorugh only 30 years ago it is amazing and well worth a visit back. I think they will be well ahead of their neghbours within 20 years.
I have just had a cd made so ill put pics on as soon as i can but off to boat ride now. It is boiling by the way. xxxxxxxxxxx
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