A stricken Cambodia

We were dropped at the border of Cambodia on the back of motor bikes.Feelingstranded we had no choice but to pay for a private taxi to the next town. There aren't many roads so we went straight to the capital, Phnom Penn. I can only explain this city as an anarchic celebration of insanity and indulgence.Mainly the city is famous for the brutal rule of Pol Pot and the horrific Khmer Rouge regime. In short, between 1976 and 1979 the regime was responsible for killing one fifth of the contrary's population. We visited the killing fields where the infamous tower of skulls is located, here we learned how the executioners saved bullets by using various farming tools to bash the people to death, this is evident on the broken skulls that can be seen inside the tower. We paid for a guide who told us about the family he had lost and his experience during the period demonstrating how recent this atrocity was. When I looked into the graves I could see human bones still embedded into the soil.The most horrific part was the baby killing tree but I won't go into details.

We also went to S21, a school converted into a prison used for torturing the Cambodians before they were sent to the killing fields. The cells are now converted to galleries lined with thousands of photographs of the people who were lost to the regime, a very disturbing place. As a result of the genoside the country now has nearly 50% of its population under 12 years of age.There is a famous American film call the Killing Fields which we watched at our hostel I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more.

We met a Australian man who worked for the immigration office and only had a few drinks with him before we found out that he had organized to meet a prostitute who couldn't have been older than twelve.There are so many brothels here and child prostitution is a real problem.

To demonstrate how lawless the city is I'll tell you about the firing range. We could fire any gun we wanted, the American M16 an oozy or as I chose the famous Kalashnikov (AK47). I shot 15 bullets, they are much louder than I thought and with a tremendous backlash which really threw my aim off. The films are so unrealistic when actors fire them with one hand. We discovered you could fire a rocket launcher at a cow for $200… we were tempted but did not have the funds, I can just imagine my mums face if I showed her a video of me vaporizing a cow. We did hear of a place you could do it for $48. I guy apparently did it and missed so gave the cow to a local village he had paid for the cow after all, 'lucky cow'. If a cow doesn't take your fancy why not throw a grenade at a chicken as its a lot cheaper lol.

Next we headed to Siem Reap to see famous the temples of Ankor.We arranged for a tuk tuk to take us to see the sunrise over the most famous temple Ankor Wot and it was absolutely spectacular.We saw much of the ancient city including a building consumed by a tree (see photos)!

The Cambodians eat huge spiders but we never got around to trying one despite all the dares. The bars were great fun here and the $5 buckets of cocktails were the strongest I have ever experienced and you even get a free t-shirt after purchasing one.

We got our visa's for Vietnam in Sihanoukville the only beach town in Cambodia. The beach is full of touts.I had my hand and toe nails scraped clean, trimmed and filed for about a pound… they've never looked so good. They also offered to pluck all the hairs from my back using cotton but knowing my back isn't hairy I declined. Cambodia was one of my favourite country's it has a very tragic but interesting history and you receive a very authentic experience.

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