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Hey everyone!
So I have reached the end of the "Roam Cambodia" part of the tour in South East Asia. Cambodia is definitely my favourite country so far. All the people are very nice and its just so interesting to watch people go past on the hundreds of scooters/motorbikes. Also due to the genocide in the late 70's over 50% of the population is under 17 years old so there is children absolutely everywhere. They are soooo cute and very patient compared to any children I know. It is very common to see an entire family of 4/5 on a 2 seater motorbike/scooter holding babies/toddlers so they are standing up in their seats. About 10% of children in the towns and 30% of children in the country don't go to school as although they get school for free the teacher has very poor wages so each child is expected to a pay a dollar (Cambodia use US dollar as their currency is so poor) to the teacher each day. If they don't the teacher will fail them. It is thought over half of the population live on less than a dollar a day also.
We left Johannesburg late Thursday night and headed to Bangkok via Doha. We arrived in Bangkok on Friday night (now 7 hours ahead of UK time). Had 14 hours sleep in an actual bed (amazing after camping)! On Saturday we lazed around until we met the guide and rest of the group. The tour I am on leaves everyday and it was full! There is 15 of us. Five British, 3 Northern Irish, 5 Australian and 2 Norwegian along with the French-Canadian guide. After sorting out paperwork we headed out for dinner to a very interesting place called "Cabbage and Condoms" which is a charity to raise money for HIV/Aids awareness.
Sunday morning we left early on a bus to cross the Thailand/Cambodia border-craziness in the heat/humidity. Until I came to Cambodia we thought we had been in high humidity-it was nothing compared to Cambodia! I can laugh now but not at the time! Now I know why everywhere here is air-conditioned. I couldn't believe it when I guide siad it would be -also all the accommodation is amazing with most rooms having 2 super kings! We arrived in Siem Reap late afternoon and that night were entertained at dinner with some local Cambodian dancing. There was plenty of night markets where everything is "just one dollar lady". There also had this fish tanks everywhere which you put your feet into for a massage and the fish would eat away all the dead skin! You know I didn't get into one of those!
Monday morning we watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat Temple-as you can see in the photos it was so pretty. It is unbelievable the amount of tourist at the temples- no wonder the stonework is getting destroyed. It is very easy to see how it is one of the seven Wonders of the World as the detailed stonework from centuries ago is still very clear. We had a guide that took us around Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat and also around the remains of the temple used in the film Tomb Raider. We took our first Tuk tuk journey back to hotel. A tuk tuk here is a taxi that is a motorbike pulling a carriage that can take 4 people. They are everywhere! ("Tuk tuk lady, tuk tuk lady") haha! You end up walking around all day repeating the words tuk tuk in your head! But the cool part is literally no matter where or how far you go it is "one dollar" and they will wait for you while you are eating/at market etc! wish you could get that service in the UK! Everyone was exhausted from such a long day wth Ryan breaking the record with 15 hours sleep!
Tuesday morning we walked around the town of Siem Reap which has become very westernised due to the volume of European/American/Chinese/Australian tourists visiting the temples. We then took a local bus to Phnom Penh and had dinner is a local Cambodian restaurant. On Wednesday morning we took a tuk tuk to the Russian Market (where ladies again no matter what you buy it is only a dollar-Lorraine would have had field day with all the clothes). That afternoon we went to the S-21 museum. This was originally a high school but in 1975 when Pol Pot regime invaded Cambodia it was turned into a prison and torture chambers. I will let you see from the photos some of the stuff we got to see but all I can say is this was only over 30 years ago and yet the Western world did nothing to save the over 2 million people who were tortured and killed during 3 years but yet we have invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe Cambodia had nothing like oil to offer but these people just went around killing random Cambodians who they thought were educated, maybe just because they wore glasses to try and form a communist country. The people that saved them were the Vietnamese who had no money themselves and were in middle of turmoil with America. Not going to say anymore on the horrendous sites and stories we heard at the killing fields just outside Phnom Penh either. So on a lighter note then we went that night to a bar which had beautiful swimming pools around it and big relaxing beds.
Thursday morning we got the bus to Sihanoukville which is a popular beach area of Cambodia. I had a facial, head and neck massage and a pedicure for $10! Spent most of the day lazing on the beach and also most of Friday too. On Saturday we travelled to the Cambodia/Vietnam border and then onto Chau Doc. This was the Chinese New Years Eve so the towns were covered in flags, banners and lanterns. Some of us chose to get a motorbike ride up Sam's Mountain to watch the sunset over the fields. The motorbike were a alot less scary than I thought although driving in town with pedestrians walking out everywhere and hundreds of bikes around you was interesting. That night there was a concert in the square and fireworks for the New Year. The celebrations continued into the next day with the children dressed up in Chinese costumes and the Dragon doing a dance in front of every shop/restaurant to kind of bless it - they have to leave a cabbage for it too or it is bad luck-weird! On Sunday we had a long drive to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Our guide took us on a walk around town but as it is New Years Day most places were closed.
On Monday Ryan went to see the underground tunnels outside of Saigon which were used during the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese lived underground and had a hospital, weapons factories etc there with at one point the entire system stretching 250km to the Cambodian border. He also got to shoot an American military gun-it's a boy thing apparently. Tonight we are heading to Nha-Trang on the overnight train. It is my first experience on an overnight train and I have a few to come so hope it goes well! Anyways hopefully get the photos up soon.
Love Kimberly xo
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