Cambodia

Cambodia was a shock to my system! I don't know what i was expecting but i wasn't prepared for it.

When we arrived it bombarded our senses, the foul smells and the dirt evcrywhere and i felt so out of place - like it was so obvious that i didn't belong. I'm sure all they see is $$$ floating above our heads. That was my first impression anyway of phnom penh. We stopped in a hotel but it was so dirty and there were mossies in the room - not good, but no window (where were they coming from?) the towels definately hadn't been washed and we were concerned about the cleanliness of the sheets. There was also something dripping from the ceiling onto our pillows.

Things did take a turn for the better when we went out for dinner. Although i felt upset seeing young girls begging for money with babies, we went to an uplifting restaurant that was run for ophans to raise funds for the kids and they did a traditional dance for us while we ate, so we had hope that someone was doing something for these people. After one night in the hell hotel we checked ourselves into a beautiful hotel with a pool and super clean rooms. (Are we snobs??)

We went to the killing fields which was harrowing! To think something so horrible had happened so recentantly in history, it made us wonder about what might be going on in other countries now, without us fully understanding!???

We moved onto Seim Reap, which is near the Angkor temples and found it much better. The people were so happy and you felt as though you weren't constantly being ripped off (unlike Thailand) and they were wonderfully helpful. Both tuk tuk drivers we had while we were visiting the Temple at Ankor were good and i couldn't complain. The street were much nicer at night and full of energy with the crazy japanese singing along with the live bands. All round a good atmosphere in Seim Reap.

The Temples were amazing such detail and vastness. It is hard to believe they built such amazing structures so long ago that have pretty much survived until today with out the use of cranes and other heavy machinery although a local guy tried to explain how they used elephants and bamboo but i still don't know how they got the amazingly tall temples up with or without elephants.

The bus ride out was another matter though. When we booked it, they said it would take 10 hours to cross the border and reach Bangkok. We double checked and booked some flights to Phuket for 14 hours after we set off. 4 hours for things to go wrong, was fair i think. Anyway, the whole think was just laughable. There was no space on the bus for bags or people (i'll get James to put up a pic) The driver just put bags in the aisle 3 high and 3 people had to sit on plastic garden chairs in the aisle at the front and 1 guy had to stand it was ridiculas and highly dangerous. But hey 'when in rome' (well Cambo anyway). There was no aircon so everyone had their windows open which let tons of dust in. I got quite freaked by this as i had dust on my teeth - a weird feeling and my white top was a red sandy colour (eek) my skin wasn't much better.
When we reached the border we were told we would have to wait a couple of hours for the Thailand bus, meaning we could only just make it to the airport in time and that's without any problems on route, taking us very close to missing our plane. We took no chances and took a taxi - worth it just for lack of stress and aircon. Needless to stay we made the plane, Yay!!!!

Jody