Hello from Cambodia. So after a mammouth journey we finally arrived in Phom Penh the capital of Cambodia. We stayed in a lovely place called 'Me Mates Place' which was probably a little above our price range!! We spent two days in the city. On the first day we did the typical touristy things and had a look round Wat Phom (a temple) and the palace. We experienced our first unhelpful tuktuk driver... as we asked him to go to the silver pogoda, but whilst looking round it and reading the lonely planet description we soon realised it wasnt the silver pogoda at all!! In the evening we went on a boat ride down the river at sunset... just the two of us on top of the boat drinking beer. We then went for dinner in what we thought was a nice restaurant (we were treating ourselves just this once) but it appeared what Steve ate was more likely to be a dog than a cow! Sam then couldnt concentrate on eating her dinner after seeing a rat peer over Steve's shoulder and run past us a few times. We then planned to have an early night, but were invited out by Jordan (an Aussie) with his Cambodian girlfirend and her friend. We had a fun night out including a little salsa dancing. The next day we went to S-21 (a prison where they held and toutured people during the Khmer Rouge regime). Then went to the killing fields. Both were very very interesting and we learnt a lot about this sad time. But needless to say it was also very sad to see it all. In the evening we tried some street food for about 60p. She didnt speak much english but we knew we were getting noodles and beef...... it was bloody amazing, so we agreed to eat the cheap stuff more often (which has kind of happened).

We then headed to Sihanoukville, a beach village in the south. It was a little crowded, dirty and annoying here. Annoying because of the constant begging and selling from the locals. Imagine "one dollar, one dollar" being constantly said to you in a whinning voice, grrrr - but Steve soon overcame this by winding them up twice as bad and got some shirty comments from little kids when they finally realsied he wouldn't be buying from them..... he has been called stingy and tight man a few times already! However, we still liked it here and had a lot of fun. Steve had talked nearly the whole bus journey to Sihanoukville with an Aussie guy called Tristan (mainly about footy). We headed out with Tristan and his friend Alex that night to 'Monkey Repulic' and JJ's bar where everyone painted their faces with neon paint! Sam then spent an hour looking after Steve at 3am whilst he had a chat with the big white telephone! We had a couple of lazy days here on the beach. But our highlight of probably the whole of Cambodia was our little overnight stay on Koh Ta Kiev Island...

We were so lucky because they dont actually advertise Koh Ta Kiev island anywhere, its all through word of mouth. Jordan in Phom Penh had strongly advised us to go and boy were we glad we did. Basically it was just us, the two owners and their Cambodian workers on this island. It was like something you dream of, a secluded paradise island. Very romatic (puke). We slept in a treehouse which had no door. It was on our own tiny little beach with the jungle behind. Lying in bed we had the most amazing view of the sea and pretty spectacular to wake up to a sunrise. The owners who ran it were rather weird american, hippies, but very nice. The food was great too. We spent time exploring the island, swimming, kayaking and generally not doing a great deal. The cocktails and beers went down nicely and helped Sam to sleep initally, until she was convinced she could hear a rattle snake close by! We were a little gutted we couldnt stay longer, but slightly above our price range again!

The following evening we had another mammouth journey ahead of us to Siem Reap. We took a night bus which left a 8pm and arraived at 6am. We didnt get much sleep though.... When we arrived at the bus stop we got talking to a friendly couple (An English guy and his Cambodian wife). They were really helpful with some advice etc. We jumped on the bus before them and soon found out we all had the same seat numbers (I say seat, but they are actually bunk beds throughout the bus). Anyway, this couple argued for ages with the bus people and it was clear that they were going to get stranded here, so we kindly (stupidly) agreed to share one spare bed between us so that they could get on. Little did we know that we were exchanging spacious, cool beds on the top... to one that was at the back, at the bottom and above the engine, which = extremly hot. We managed to spoon for about 30mins before taking it in turns to sit in the tight isle on the luggage. We managed this for 2hrs and then during a toilet stop told the guy he'd have to swap, so we just got cosy with his wife, haha. Luckily after 5hrs journey people had to change buses so we had our own beds for the next 6hrs. Not that we slept because the pot holes in the roads since the floods are pretty terrible! We had to keep reminding ourselves that at least we were doing a good dead! We also got some money back from the bus company and the guy gave us 10dollars for a few beers... so it was worth it ?!?!?

We then arrived in Siem Reap. Before we got there Steve found out (via facebook) that he knew a girl Jade, living there with her partner Steve. We explored the town and markets on the first day and met Jade and Steve for a beer in the afternoon and evening. We stayed in a lovely guest house for quite cheap so had a restful day after our lack of sleep the night before. The following day we went to the Angkor Wat temples. They are unbeliveable and very interesting, but it was a very tiring day and you get temple overload by the end of it. Our tuktuk driver Kouch, was amazing though and took us to the floating villages the next day. On our last night in Siem Reap we took him out for a beers and introduced him and his friend to a jager bomb.... his face was priceless. As Jade's partner Steve plays Saxafone out there as his job, we went to see him play at this amazing 5* plus hotel and blagged a look around at the huge suites. We sure wanted to stay but majorly out of our price range at 550 per night. We nearly managed to blag a free night though as the manager told Jade he fancied us both and wasnt sure who he'd give the best price to.... yuk! We enjoyed Siem Reap though. It was a little more chilled than the other places so we spent an extra day here. We couldnt believe how quick our first country was over in. But then headed north to Laos where the story continues.....