Cambodia - Back to Phnom Penh and then good bye.

31st July - The riverside and the Olympic Stadium.

The bus we caught this morning was actually much cheaper than the one we had caught to get here.  Do you want to know why? Because it didn't have the annoying guide on it, who I couldn't understand anyway and because it was a double decker.  However it was so nice, it was only half full so we got two seats each and was nice and peaceful at the top, so I had chance to finish yet another book.  When we stopped of at the same rest stop that we had stopped at on the way to Siem Reap, this time, the snacks and drinks had dramatically increased in price, with out Sarem to stop people taking the piss, we now had to pay the special 'westerner prices' Never the less I still bought some fresh (but hard) Mango.

When the bus came into Phnom Penh it was nice to see familiar sights and know where we were.  When we arrived and were bombarded by the masses of tuk tuk drivers, trying to grab our bags and put them on their tuk tuks, I was delighted to shout,: 'No our friend is taking us, out of my way...Please' and muscle and barge my way through the crowds to Sarem's familiar smile and reliable tuk tuk.

This time we opted to stay on the riverside, despite being strongly advised not to by others we had met with their stories or rats in their rooms etc, this time we could take our time and find somewhere cheaper.  After looking round some really grim places that certainly had rats, we settled on a nice place right on the river, with its own veranda to look out across the 'morning glory', we had our own tap and a fan so couldn't really complain for about two pounds a night.

We dumped out stuff and went of in search for the newly released 'Harry Potter' book.  We saw a girl reading it the day before so we figured that we must be able to get it from somewhere in the city.  We hunted and hunted to no avail, even the markets and the street sellers with all their dodgy photo copies hadn't got hold of it yet, so instead Sarem took us off to see it Olympic Stadium (funnily enough the Olympics had never been held there).  It was a very entertaining place, as we approached it, we passed stalls with people selling all different unusual things.  We bought some strange fish bread, some dried bananas on a stick and a 'bag' of sugar-cane juice (yest they sell it in a carrier bag).  We then sat on the steps for hours being entertained by the hundreds of people (mainly older women) doing their fitness classes.  All around the top of the stadium there we classes going on, all blaring out their own music and practicing anything form Tie chi to Taequando.  It was very entertaining, but this time (unlike in the Philippines) we opted not to join in.

Sarem then took us out to a lovely restaurant in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by lush plants, excellent service and delicious food.  I had a yummy piece of fish in coconut milk served with spicy rice and vegetables.  I will say again, Sarem is so useful, we would have never found a place like this on our own.  We all went back to the lake side for a night cap, and Kat and I watched "Tomb Raider", and we could actually recognise the tombs she was in, shouting out "Ive been there" Like excited kids.

1st August - Lazy Hammocks

As the sun rose, our room became very hot so it was a good excuse to have an early start to our day.  I begun my day with sitting by the waterfront hoping for any breeze that would come my way and writing up my postcards (I hope that everyone got them OK).  We then went to the post office with Sarem to send home some of our belongings that we no longer wanted to carry home.  It was pretty expensive for such a small box, It was cheaper to send bigger boxes (maybe I should have treated myself to more things at the market)

Sarem then drove us out of the center of Phnom Pen and further into the 'locals parts', now we are used to being stared at a lot, but these people couldn't take their eyes off us, with heir mouths open, rather embarrassing really.  I was relieved when he took us through the bar and to some little sectioned off huts at the back.  They were really cute, simply made of bamboo and banana leaves and each one had four hammocks hanging at each side of the square hut.  They were so comfortable and we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, eating corn on the cobs, drinking and looking out across the rice paddies and fields, with the faint sound of Karaoke coming from the next bar.   What a lovely and relaxing day.  I could happily have a hut like this in my garden, sitting for hours with my book on a rare summer day in England....Lovely.

We headed back to Happy Herb Pizza that evening (don't worry, it may seem like it but we are not addicted).  This time trying a seafood one, and our favourite chicken and spinach, both 'happy' of course.  Now Sarem has good English and we had been taking about our 'pizza' all day, so towards the end of the meal when he came out with 'I feel funny', we felt kind of bad, letting him know that he was stoned, and he was embarrassed to admit that he hadn't known what we had been talking about earlier and that he had never done it before.  Oops.  He took a while to feel well enough to drive us back to our guest house.    While waiting for him to feel better I came across a coincidence, a couple who I had met in Korea were on the table next to us.  I thought that they looked familiar, so when they approached me saying "You were on the Soraksan trip with your Parents" i suddenly remembered them. They were chatting with my dad all the way down the mountain (I doubt he would remember them though).  It is funny how that happens, how you bump into different people through different walks of life.  I wonder is it some kind of fate, or just a big coincidence?

After a busy month, it felt good to get into bed, laying back and thinking about being in Vietnam in the morning, while watching the gecko lizards scuttling up the walls and perch upside down on the ceiling, with out blinking, looking for any light they could find and gobbling up flys.  Thinking how different this place is from home makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to do all of this.  I will always reflect on my amazing time at the Temples of Angkor and the harrowing experiences at the genocide museum and the killing fields.  I think the hugest influence was the book that I read, about one guys gripping memoirs of life under the Khmer Rouge, with his experiences in the rice fields and the labour camps and the horrors of three stints in jail, and the country's decent to hell in a way I find it difficult to even fully imagine.  I think I will remember Cambodia as a beautiful place with friendly people, but will always try to find empathy to this county of war, with slaves, brutality beyond anyone's wildest nightmares with people that have experienced senseless and unimaginable horrors.  The book certainly affected me more than I thought it would.  Perhaps I would have seen Cambodia in a totally different light if I had remained ignorant to its terrible history and I hadn't felt like I knew the character from my book so personally.

I  would certainly love to come back to Cambodia at some point,  if only to go back to the Russian market an to marvel once more  at the temples. 

• Posted by emily1183 on 30/08/2007.
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Cambodia - Siem Reap.

25th July - Arrival at Siem Reap, Dead fish Tower.

I felt so hung over this morning, we packed up and on the way out of our hotel one of the staff offered me a piece of a very unusual fruit that looked a little like a large purple tomato, inside are white segments that tasted like a cross between a lychee and a date. We then headed off to catch our luxury bus (Sarem came with us too).  The air conditioning was not very good but anything is better than the bus we caught to Phnom Penh.  We were actually provided with sandwiches and a cold drink for free too.  After five hours we arrived in the beautiful town of Siem Reap.  The place seems very restful, filled with pavement cafes, shady tree lined boulevards and lots of restaurants.  Serem said that that the place is now becoming very touristy and that prices are rising by the day so I was pleased when we found a very pleasant but perfectly reasonably priced place to stay called the 'mandalay Inn'.  

That evening we headed out to the night market and in search of a nice place to eat.  The streets were buzzing with people and we kept bumping into people that we had met before in Thailand or other parts of Cambodia.  We eventually settled on a place that was recommended in the guidebook called 'Dead fish Tower', it was a wacky place with all different levels, all of which you could see the stage where dancers and singers preformed.  There was also a crocodile pit with about 30 miserable looking crocodiles in it, you could pay to feed them, but they looked so cramped and miserable we just kept away (Steve Erwin would be turning in his grave).  We all enjoyed a nice meal and then headed into the lively town center to 'The Temple Bar' for some drinks.  

I had an interesting talk with Sarem about Cambodian life and he informed me about its 'No Rules' system.  It is all so hard for me to comprehend.  He is a tuk tuk driver, yet he has never even had to take any driving test.  He informed me that anyone can drive at any age and no one needs to wear helmets, have a number plate and to make matters worse there is no such thing as a speed limit!  He also told me that people can drink at any age, and yes you guessed it..... There is no rules on drinking and driving!

I was also interested to hear about the probability of most Cambodians having to get into arranged marriages, but the father of the bride has to receive a huge gift for the giving of his daughter to her new family.  Then once they are married neither one is allowed to spend time with their friends, all time must be spent in the home or working (what a nightmare) Of course women and men are not at all equal either, and they certainly can't drink or get tattoos (although this seems so through out Asia).  It is always interesting making friends with the people who actually live in these countries.  Although it is just one mans opinions and points of view, but I certainly found it rather interesting!

26th July - Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (Bayon) and Ta Som.

The four of us woke early, ate a huge breakfast (to last us the day) and headed off to the Angkor temples.  We bought ourselves a three day pass (which was actually very expensive) and got our pictures taken.  Jenna and I thought it would be funny to swap our IDs and see if anyone noticed.  Needless to say they didn't.  Sarem thinks that all westerners look the same. How funny :)

First we went to the very famous and iconic  Angkor Wat.  It was huge and filled with intricate carvings with five magnificent towers which sored above my head.  I was so excited to actually get inside and I can certainly say that this particular temple will be etched in my memory as long as I live.  After walking round for a hour or two looking at all the carvings and reading the plaques with all the history and explanations as to what things were, we decided to climb one of the towers (the tallest one in the center).  Sarem sensibly chose to wait for us at the bottom, with most other tourists, but we couldn't resist the view.  I know I can be known to exaggerate a little, but this really was the steepest set of stairs I had ever seen in my life.  They were so worn down that each one can't have been much wider that three cm.  There was four stair cases to choose from, and luckily there was one with a Bannister.  Needless to say we chose that one.  We cling on for our dear lives as we went on our tip toes up the sheer climb, nervously letting people coming the other way pass. By the time I got to the top I could not look down and my legs were shaking so much. I was relived when I could get off the stair case. At the top there were a couple of locals burning incense and praying and a wild monkey.  He was actually really friendly and was even tame enough to let me stroke him, much to my delight.  (even though Jenna and Kat keep telling me that I am going to get Rabies!)  One of the Cambodian men at the top decided to tell me about how dangerous the stairs were and about how many people fall.  He even told me about the hundreds of people that have fallen to their death.  I must say I was not very delighted at the thought of heading back down those stairs.  Kindly he gave me a stick of incense and I prayed to Buddha for our safe return to the bottom of the stairs.  Luckily we all made it (I think it helped that we did all take off our flip flops for better grip)

As the hot hot sun rose in the sky, we left the shade of Angkor Wat and moved on to Angkor Thom.  The gates were topped by huge statues of the gods and demons, but inside was the amazing Ba-yon temple.  It was fantastic (you know the one with all the faces calved into the rocks)  They were fantastically well preserved.  I was amaze to learn that it took 6 centuries to complete the temple.  What a long time, but well worth it.

I can summarise to say that my first day going around the temples was brilliant.  It was incredibly hot (40 degrees) and extremely dusty but simply breath taking. That evening we all enjoyed a meal in one of Sarems recommendations called the 'Khambodian Kitchen', it was really nice and very cheap Cambodian food.  We were exhausted so then all headed off for an early night.

27th July - East Baray Section: Bantea Kdei and Ta Prohm.

We actually lay in until 9am this morning, despite planning to be out before it stars to get really hot.  During breakfast Sarem announced that he had to head back to Phnom Penh, because of problems at home, but that he would meet us again when we went back.  We said our good byes then headed off to the East Baray Section called Bantea Kdei.  It was constructed in the mid 10th century and was still actually being used until the 1960's. As a working monastery it accommodated 12 thousand people who lived and worked in the grounds and there were also 80 thousand people who worked locally to service and maintain the complex. It was crazy to believe that just 40 odd years ago people lived there.  The place was relatively unraveled by nature but most of it seemed to have collapsed (probably due to poor stone and the building techniques).  

We entered through a cruciform  gopura topped with Lokesvara faces.  Again the walls were very intricately carved, but this time with elaborate leaf motifs and female divinities.  Sadly most of the Buddhas that were on the columns had worn away.  

We then look the long walk to Ta Prohm where enormous Kapok trees grow from terraces and walls.  There were massive roots clinging to the walls; framing doorways, prizing apart stones.  It was really amazing to see and so hard to understand how trees could possibly do that.  Most of the 39 towers had collapsed, but you could still get inside, but only on one level.  It was like a maze.  It was such fun clambering over all the collapsed masonry and ducking through all the caved in galleries. Apparently 260 holey images were installed here but as I said most of them have worn away.

This is where the actually filmed parts of "tomb Raider" and at some parts I actually felt like Lara Croft, with all that ducking, diving and jumping.  The place was swarming with Koreans (they get everywhere- ha ha). So again we delighted in shouting Korean to each other to shock them!

As the afternoon shadows lengthened, after posing for may photos by all there trees, we headed back to our tuk tuk in hope of seeing the sun set over Angkor Wat, but alas we were too late.  It was 5.10 and they don't let people into any more temples after five :( Oh well we will do it tomorrow!

28th July - Bantea Srei, Kbal Spean and a none existent sunset.

Today we came prepared.  All around the temples there are little kids begging.  Their parents want them to bring back money but the kids themselves seem more than happy with a pen, some fruit or some sweets.  I had given a pen and my last few bits of chewing gum to some little boys yesterday who shared all the pieces of gum with each other, so sweetly.  This morning I decided to go equipped with a large bag of jelly pots with a little bit of fruit in side.  Of course I had to sample one, and I thought they were pretty good.  The children we gave them out to were delighted.  Sometimes it is hard to remember that these little children just want to play.  It is easy to just think of them as pests when they are begging for money or pestering you to buy something.  But when you see their big smiles when they receive a treat you remember that they are cute little things who really seem to have no child hood at all. It is very sad to think and makes me miss my kids in Korea :(

Anyway today we first headed out to Bantea Srei, which is quite a way out of Siem Reap.  It was built of rose-pink sandstone, it had many doors, the walls were elaborately decorated with floral motifs and Ramayana scenes.  There were three sanctuary towers in the center and even an inner mat.  It was incredibly hot again, so after a short while we joined a group of people sat under the shade of a tree to watch some victims of land mine accidents play some traditional Cambodian music.  These people were amazing and some of them were really badly injured and deformed.  A confident little girl decided to dance for us all.  She was great as she performed a little bit of a traditional Apsara dance.

Shortly we headed back to the tuk tuk for a very dusty and bumpy ride to the jungle.  I am not joking, the roads were so dusty  I had to cover my mouth with a tissue just to be  able to breath and when we arrived we were literally orange.  After washing my face, I used a face wipe and it was still covered in red dust.  It can't be good for our lungs!  We then headed off on a short trek through the western section of the Kulen Mountains called  Kbal Spean.  The beautiful and very well hidden place was last used as a hill retreat in the mid 11th century.  It was amazing, there were sacred linga an Hindu gods carved into the river bed.  I was shocked at how clearly you could still see it after all these years.  Apparently doing this would bless the water before it ran down in to Angkor.  I tried to take so photos, but they really didn't do it any justice at all, again this will have to be something that I ingrain into my mind.  It was beautiful.  At the end of the stream there was a waterfall, so after our dusty ride and our trek up the river  Jenna and I couldn't help ourselves stripping off and going in for a waterfall body massage. It was total luxury. On the way back we passed hundreds of nuns and monks coming to worship (it is a good job they didn't come along earlier to find us in the waterfalls)

We then endured our journey back down the bumpy, dusty track (which took an hour) then visited another temple that is used in the tomb raider films.  There was not really much to see of the temple but once we had made the step climb to the top we turned around to see a fantastic birds eye view of Angkor Wat.  We had planned to wait up their to watch the sun set, however no sooner as we had reached the top it began to rain and the sky became black with clouds.  We saw some cool lightning but decided that we were not going to see the sunset in this weather so swiftly made our way back down before the steps got to slippery (although they were pretty slippery already)

I felt a little disappointed but I had had yet another fantastic day so I couldn't really complain.  That evening we decided to just have a lazy night, dinner in the hotel and then I stood at reception for about an our on the phone to Brian, do doubt boring him with all my stories.

29th July - The cultural Village and a night out.

It being a Sunday, lots of the places that we had wanted to see (other than of course the temples) were closed so we decided to go and see 'The Cultural Village'.  Basically it was advertised to be Cambodia in miniature, and had been constructed to provide the local people a glance at the countries influences, historical milestones and cultural heritage.  When we arrived there were eleven houses showing traditional activities.  First we went to a wedding ceremony, although I didn't have a very good view it was very beautiful and pretty interesting.  Next we went to the 'Kola Village' where Burmese people performed a peacock dance.  It was hilarious seeing all the people rush from performance to performance in order to get the best seats, in order to miss the manic rush from then on we decided to see every other performance. We also visited a rater scary ghost house, which was a bit like the 'London dungeons' whereby it showed all the tortures they had used over the years.  It was pretty horrific and actors dressing up kept jumping out allover the place.  I didn't like it at all and was relieved to get out.  Again it was too real for me.

Our day was cut short during a show in the 'Phnorng village' whereby we were happily watching tribes people show how they worship animism and performing their water and fire master choosing show, when it began to rain.  The show continued despite all the Cambodian people running away for shelter.  We were among a few left when the heavens really did open and within seconds we were drenched.  It was pretty hilarious running through the warm rain all the way through the village to go home.  It is so different getting drenched here, it is a warm rain so is almost like having a shower in our clothes.  We plodded round the museum on our way out, soaking the floor with our dripping bodies (much to the disapproving looks of the security guard) and then headed off in a tuk tuk back to our guest house.

We decided to spruce ourselves up and have a proper night out, so we put on some of our very few 'nice' clothes, (the ones that don't smell and aren't stretched or stained) and went out for a steak dinner, followed by a few too many cocktails and an evening of Kat and I dancing away on the table tops of the 'Temple Bar'

30th July - Artisans Angkor: School and silk farm.

Kat and I found it a little bit of a struggle getting up early considering that we hadn't got in until about 4.30 that morning.  We had some breakfast, which made us feel a lot better then headed off in search of 'Artisans Angkor', after lots of looking we eventually realised that it was literally behind our guest house.  It is a school for underprivileged children and teenagers whereby they are taught trades and crafts.  The first place we went to was full of deaf people, where they learn sigh language and work with wood, sandstone, copper leaf etc to make the most beautiful traditional statues, pictures and Buddhas.  It seemed to be a very lengthy process and most of the things being made took weeks to make, waiting for days for varnish or lacquer to dry and all the careful carving.  These people are so patient, I don't think that I would be able to do something that took so long.  After wandering around the school we arrived at the gift shop.  I couldn't stop myself from buying a beautiful picture of a Apsara dancer in lacquer and copper leaf.  It was a little expensive but I know that my money was going towards a good thing and I could appreciate the time and effort it had take to make it.

At around lunch time the school put on a free bus to 'Les Chantiers Ecoles Silk farm'.  I know I went to a silk farm in Chang Mai, but this one was much more informative.  Firstly we saw the fields of mulberry bushes, they use the leaved to feed the worms because apparently worms that eat mulberry leaves produce the best silk! Then we headed into the worm shed.  The whole place was surrounded by a small moat of water and inside all the table legs that the worms were on, were also in bowls of water.  Our guide told us that this was to stop the ants and insects climbing up and causing problems...How clever.  He also informed us that 1 cocoon produces up to 450 meters of silk and that it is the outside of the cocoon that produces the 'thick' silk and the 'smooth' silk comes from the inside.  They are boiled to separate the two.

We were then shown all the natural dies that they use.  There were things like bark, coconut, leaves and flowers.  Some of the colours produced were so vibrant.  We were also shown how they tie-die the thread BEFORE it is woven, so to keep the pattern it had to be woven so perfectly.  I couldn't believe it.  All these things we take for granted, I would have never have guessed how complicated they were.  The girls on the weaving machines were so fast and together.  I could have watched them for hours in ore and amazement.  They told me that each scarf takes 48 hours to make (that is 6 eight hour days), so it was hard for me to believe that the can sell them for as little as 50 pence at the markets.  It made me feel guilty at how little I paid for my scarf when I now know the amount of effort they put in.

That evening we ate our dinner in a lovely little Italian we found, run by an Italian guy who had moved to Vietnam, then popped on the Internet for a catch up then headed back to our guest house for the daunting packing experience once again.

I really wanted to go to Kratie tomorrow, to see some Irrawaddy fresh water dolphins coming along the Mekong river but due to the bad weather a head we may not even be able to see them anyway, so decided to just head back to Phnom Penh and save our money, I am actually quite excited to go back to a place we kind of know and also to see our friend Sarem.

• Posted by emily1183 on 24/08/2007.
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Cambodia - Phnom Penh

18th July - To Phnom Penh

We had the option to catch a bus at 7am, but agreed on a lie in and instead caught the one at 12.30.  It was one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made.  I have never been so hot in my whole entire life, the bus had no windows and had broken air conditioning so it was literally like an oven.  It was really full and the seats were plastic.  With in seconds I was drenched with sweat dripping off the end of my nose and down my neck.  My clothes were saturated.  I actually don't think that I get this hot in a sauna. I was actually wringing out the cloth that I was using to mop my face and with in a couple of hours, my fingers and toes were all wrinkly, like when you have been in the bath or a swimming pool too long.  I couldn't believe it, I was certainly too hot to read or even think, I spent the whole journey sitting forward in my seat panting like a dog and mopping my sweat. Can you imagine putting up with this for a six hour journey from Kampot to Phnom Penh?  I hope that I will never have to experience something like that again.

When we arrived in Phnom Penh seeing the tuk tuk drivers gathered around the door made me so angry.  I got off the bus as quickly as I could and shouted and swore at the tuk tuk drivers to get out of my way.  I just couldn't control my anger, the conditions on the bus really had made me hot headed.  The last thing I needed is hassle and people in my face trying to take me here there and everywhere.  I couldn't control my bad language and even threatened to hit a few.  Luckily they got the message pretty quickly, left me alone and we all boarded a tuk tuk and headed off to a guest house that the English couple I had met recommended.  The cool air of the open tuk tuk was what I needed to calm me down and we arrived at TAT Guest House optimistic and excited.

The place was clean and friendly, but a little more expensive than we would have liked but we had heard such horror stories of the places by the river (with rats etc) we opted to stay there anyway.  I was delighted t have a cold shower and then head out in to busy Phnom Penh.  As I am sure you know Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s capital and is virtually flat, with hardly any high rise buildings (lets hope it stays that way)

We found somewhere to eat along the busy waterfront, throbbing with enterprise and energy. I had a rather dry Khmer chicken curry. After dinner we had a wonder around and looked at some amazing and grand looking palaces that we wanted to go back to the next day and also some rather sad scenes.

There is so much poverty everywhere you look. It is hard not to look at people over 30 and wonder what they experienced during the Khmer Rouge.  Inevitably, people are still effected, and will be for generations.  Some of the scars are even evident as I sat eating my meal: roadsides still pot-holed and strewn with rubble and many beautiful building are ruined beyond repair. There were kids selling books and victims from land mine accidents everywhere asking for money.   Some people in this country really do have a tough time. I found it difficult to imagine the city evacuated just 30 odd years ago. It made me very sad, but also makes me realise just how lucky I am.

19th July - Kat's Birthday.

Had a really good day today, Kat turned 23 and wasn’t too happy about it so Jenna and I did our utmost to cheer her up.  First of all we went to the 'Russian Market', it was fantastic, filled with the most beautiful things.  A rich girl could go quite crazy in there, a poor girl could too to be honest because everything was so cheap and all sellers were keen to bargain down to fantastic prices.  Kat and Jenna brought quite a few bits and bobs but I was determined to keep my purse in my bag and perhaps come back another day if there was something I really wanted (like a silk scarf, a sequined cushion, and embroidered bag or a few pictures or ornaments!)

Next on the agenda was all heading out for a "Blind Massage".  Basically we had been advised numerous times to get one and we had been told that they were a lot less painful than the traditional Thai massage and it was all for a good cause, all the money goes to the masseuses and to training more blind people and giving them employment.  We walked in and were given some blue pajama type things to get changed in to.  I felt like I was in 'theater blues' that doctors wear.  We then all got shown to a bed, side by side and a blind man clambered onto my back.  Now if people say that the Thai massages are more painful I think that I might die from pain if I ever had one of those.  He said that this was a 'soft' massage, I don't believe that for a second.  He clicked every bone in my body, bent me in ways I never thought I could being and shoved his bony fingers and elbows into every joint he could.  Jenna seemed ok with hers but Kat and I were constantly mouthing our pains to each other.  After an hour of being slapped and chopped it was finally over.  I must say I was slightly relieved but my body did feel good and I felt about two inches taller!

Following this it was time for more pampering, Kat had a lovely facial and Jenna had her whole body plucked of hairs, I spent the next two hours wondering up and down the street.  It was then time to go home, for Kat to open her presents and get our glad-rags on!

That evening we went out to a place that we had been told about called 'Happy Herb Pizza' where basically you can get Pizzas with any toppings and a special sprinkling of 'Happy Herbs', much like the happy herbs that you get in your brownies in Amsterdam.  It was delicious and we spent the rest of the evening giggling like school girls and drinking cocktails.

20th July - The Royal Palace.

Today we spent the day in the beautiful Royal Palce that we had seen on our first day.  We arrived in out ankle length skirts with our sarongs around our shoulders to be told that we were not allowed to wear them.  We then had to rent some hideous baggy white t.shirts.  What a money making con!!!  Despite my annoyance we walked around the 435 meter long and 421 meter wide palace, which was first built in 1434, in the very hot mid-day sun. 

Most of it was sectioned off because the king and queen still live there,  The whole building was surrounded by a high wall.  Inside the buildings were magnificent, with many tiered roofs topped with towers (as a symbol of prosperity).  The whole place was painted white (for Brahmanism) and yellow (for Buddhism).  Inside, the throne hall had the most magnificent ceiling, although barriers prevented us from getting a closer look to the royal thrones.  We also had a look around the Sihanouk museum, the pavilion of Napoleon and a room filled with artifacts, royal costumes (these people were tiny), Souvenirs and jewelry.  In one of the main buildings was the famous 'Silver Pagoda' which I had read so much about and was so excited to see, but most of it was covered by carpets and rugs and when we all took a seat to cool down and look at our map to figure out where it was we didn't even notice when we were sitting on it (i couldn't believe it!) The Emerald Buddha was also in the center of this specific room, but it was tiny.  Not the huge thing that it is made out to be, or indeed that I had seen in books and on postcards.  What a con!

Once we had left the palace, the day was drawing to an end so we decided to go on a river boat cruise (which was supposed to be part of Kat's birthday treat from yesterday)  The strange little German mean we had organised the cruse through the previous day led us to our own private boat.  It was still light as we set off up the river.  As we approached a floating village the sun began to set.  The village was so interesting to see.  The houses were totally surrounded by water, with no planks or path ways leading to other houses.  The occupants had to use a boat to get anywhere and the housed certainly didn't look very sturdy.  We sailed back down the river it was dark and we had the chance to enjoy the lights Phnom Penh and the river side.

That evening we went for a meal where we could also have the chance to watch a film about the genocide and the history of Cambodia.  My meal looked and tasted exactly like a pot noodle, and the film was appalling, I could have made a better one from what I already knew  from my guide book and reading 'survival of the killing fields'.  Oh well.

21st July - The National Museum

This morning, in the pissing rain, we decided to go to Phnom Penh's National museum. I arrived at the impressive dark red sandstone building and was glad to get out of the rain.  Inside was a collection of sculptures, relics and artifacts dating back from prehistoric times. A lot of the stuff had no real information about where it was found or even the year due to the face that the whole collection was abandoned in 1975 when the city was emptied by the Khmer Rouge then re opened in 2002.  I was disappointed that the leper king had been moved to Berlin and also by the lack of information that I could read.  After a couple of hours of plodding around trying to guess where things were from we decided to go to another market.  The one we went to this time was the 'central market', it was good but nowhere near as interesting as the Russian market that we had been at  a few days previously. The only thing I bought was a beautiful hand made bag with embroidery, silk and sequins on the side for just over a pound so I came away pretty happy. 

That evening we decided to go to 'Sovanna Phum', which is a shadow puppets theater.  We were very excited to see the traditional shadow puppets.  e arrived very early thinking that we could find somewhere to have dinner near by, before the show started, but no such luck.  We were in the middle of nowhere.  After a while we found a little local place where they had no menus and no one spoke any English.  There we enjoyed a 'hot pot' type dish where we cooked our own vegetables, noodles and meet in a big bowl of soup, it was ok but some of the ingredients looked very suspicious.  We had a whole audience of local people watching us, and seemed amazed at how we tried to eat the food given to us. We then made our way back to the theater.

The show was a Khmer adaptation of the Indian epic 'Ramayana'.  It was beautiful; all the fantastic costumes, masks, women dancers, fantastic musicians and of course the puppets.  The show was only an hour long and by the end of it I was desperate for more.  Luckily we were allowed to go behind the scenes and meet the performers (who had been training since they were about 10 years old) and they showed us how to do some traditional 'Apsara' dancing and how to maneuver the huge leather shadow puppets.

22nd July - Choeung Ek Genocide Center and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

Today was a very emotional day.  It started of fine, whereby I went down early for breakfast and got chatting to a lovely Irish girl called Sarah, she was travelling alone due to her boyfriend having to go back to Ireland to see his sick father.  I thought she was very brave and invited her along with us to go to visit the genocide museum and S21.

Our tuk-tuk driver, Sarem arrived and we all headed off to the 'Genocidal Center', which is basically hundreds of mass graves. There was a huge Memorial Charnel full of sculls and a few other bones and even clothes and shoes.  It seemed so unreal to see it and to believe that just 30 years ago these were breathing living people. Some of the sculls were tiny and that of little children.  We then walked around the site where all the mass graves were.  There we so many of them and there were still bones sticking out for the earth.  When we looked beneath our feet; we could see teeth and shreds of remaining clothing.  It was really too much for me to take.  It felt so wrong walking around there knowing the mass genocide that had occurred only 30 years ago. My eyes filled with tears and I went to get a drink.  I got a disgusting can of something, which I took one sip of and nearly threw up.  I gave it to a little begging child by my side and she was delighted.

The next stop was S21 (otherwise known as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum).  It was actually quite near to the theater that we had been to the night before.  I couldn't decide whether to go in or not.  I had read a lot about the place in my 'Survival of the Killing Fields' book, which used to be a school.  I decided to go in and just leave if it got too much.  Well needless to say I didn't get too far.  I made it through the torture rooms in the first building whereby there were the original begs with a picture above them with how they were found (dead prisoner still attached) but now they just had all the torture implements laid out on them.  There was blood still splattered on the ceiling.  I tried my best to desensitize my self and not look to closely at the picture, but I was already feeling nauseous. I then went outside to see the gallows (which used to be a goal post) and then went into the second building which was over 11,000 mug shots of all the people that were killed in S21.  I looked at about 20 pictures of abused looking women with short hair, and then I came across the children.  They were so young and looked absolutely petrified.  That was enough for me, looking at innocent kids who had had their picture taken just before they knew they were going to die.  I could see the misery and fear in their eyes.  I burst into tears and spent the rest of the afternoon in the gardens under a try trying to think about other things.  It really was too much for me, it is far to recent and far to real.  I don't think that it was a good idea to have read my book before coming here.  For the next three hours I waited for Jenna, Kat, Sarah and Sarem to look around the rest of the museum.  They said that it was pretty horrific and even had real pictures of many of the prisoners after they had been tortured to death.  I was so glad that I came out when I did.  There was also an artists exhibit.  Whereby a man who had survived the prison had painted some scenes of what he experienced and what he saw happening to others.  There were tortures that most people couldn't even imagine.  The Khmer Rouge really were sick people.  Jenna told me that there was also a room with pictures of the prison guards who had been 'forced' to perform their tortures and how they lived now.  There were burns and graffiti all over their pictures (understandably).  When I joined the rest of the group we all watched a video about the man who had done the paintings about his experiences and also an interviewed former Khmer Rouge guard.  It was had to watch as the guard seemed to proudly state how he had killed people and he also laughed about it too (although I think it was probably a nervous laugh)  I was very glad to leave the place and I would advise only hardy people with a strong stomach to ever visit the place.

Opposite was a place called 'The Boddhi Tree' which was a beautiful little oasis and the perfect antidote to go in and sit and try to forget about all the horrors that we had seen earlier.  We all enjoyed some unusual yogurt shakes (called lassi's) and shared a plate of spring rolls.  We then headed off to the riverside, where Sarem took us to one of his favourite bars called 'Elsewhere', with its lavish gardens that overlook the river whereby we enjoyed another drink and watched the sunset.  It was nice to try forget all the horrors i had seen and be grateful that it was all in the past.

That evening the five of us met up again and went to the famous 'friends' restaurant for dinner.  It was a place whereby they take kids off the street and train them up into excellent chefs.  We enjoyed a splendid tapas style feast, but it was a much needed pleasant end to our sad and emotional day.  On they way home Sarem let Kat and I drive his Tuk-tuk.  It was so much fun and he said that we were probably the first tuk-tuk driver in Cambodia.  I was only glad I didn't crash, but actually found it easier to drive and control than a motorbike.

23rd July - The Russian market and the afternoon by the pool.

Again we went back to the highly tempting 'Russian Market'.  I wanted: bed throws, pashminas, cushions, puppets, ornaments, cushion covers, jewelry and clothes, but only came away with a green silk scarf (which cost me about 60 pence) and a lovely traditional painting on canvas, done by street kids, of Ankor Wot with an elephant in front (which she took out of the frame so that I could roll it up and put it in my bag.  I don't even own my own house, but at numerous times through out the morning I found my imagination wondering off and picturing my 'future house' filled with all these beautiful things.  It really was incredibly difficult to restrain myself yet again.  I will certainly have to come back one day when I actually have a house, and kit it out with all this amazing and incredibly cheap décor.

That afternoon Kat went back to bed with a bad back, Sarah had things to organise so Sarem took Jenna and I to the local swimming pool.  The sun wasn't shining but it was a warm dry day so the three of us had fun swimming some lengths and splashing about in the water.  We were back in time to watch the nightly showing of the "killing Fields" (which is nothing to do with the book that I have been reading) but equally as upsetting, then Sarah, Kat and I (along with a strange German boy, who invited himself along) went back to 'Happy Herb Pizza' for another fun night, while Sarem took Jenna for 'motorbike practice' :)

24th July - The Heart of Darkness.

Today was rather uneventful, I actually managed to get a much needed lie in, then we spent the day in town plodding around and using the internet etc.
In the evening Serem took us to a lovely place by the river for dinner.  It was so beautiful and seemed so posh but was unbelievably cheap.  It is so useful having a local guy to show us round.  We then went to a bar owned by two English guys.  One from Birmingham, and the other from Barnsley.  We got lots of free drinks and before we knew it we all were a little tipsy.  We all headed to a club called 'The Heart of Darkness', all I can say is that the music was crap, but it was very 'interesting' Before long Kat, Jen and Sarem sensibly went home leaving Sarah and I with all the locals dancing our little socks off.  I ended up playing a game of pool with a group of Cambodian Prostitutes.  They were so tiny but pretty funny.  Eventually got home by about 4.30.  We travel to ‘Siem Reap’ tomorrow morning, I am so excited , however  I am really not looking forward to waking up.

• Posted by emily1183 on 29/07/2007.
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Cambodia - Koh Kong, Sihanoukville and Kampot.

12th July -Hat Lek/Koh Kong

When we awoke it was still raining, but not too heavy so we decided to move on to Cambodia.  We wondered into town to get some breakfast and Kat and I got some hideous passport photos done, then the "three pregnant turtles"  were on our way.

My leg was still pretty painful.  It was swollen and bruised from my toes until half way up my calf. Pain shot up my leg with each step I took.  Without my bad, I had found a relatively painless way to walk: whereby I use my right leg and press lightly on my left, but now with my huge bags this method was impossible.  I just really concentrated on my walking, trying not to let on the pain to Janna and Kat (otherwise we would end up staying in Thailand another day) I was throbbing and my leg was stiffening from the bruises but I just bit my lip and looked forward to when we arrived!

We waited for over an hour, in the hot sun, for our seelaw in the hot sun, even though we had been told that there would be one every 10 minutes.  Once we had arrived at the ferry port we only had about 30 minutes to wait, then we relatively easily managed to catch buses and seelaws through Trat and within no time we arrived in Hatlec, with Cambodia in our sights.

As I imagined the boarder offices were very minimal and basic, and basically little hut with young boys in them to stamp our passport, fill out forms, take money.  To be honest it was rather a blur getting through, it was 7.30 at night and we only had 30 minutes until the boarder was due to close, so we got shoved here and there, and got charged more than we should have for our actually visa, but there was not much we could do about it and they refused to give us a receipt.  Oh well what can you do? ( I bet they make a fortune)

Once arriving the other side we met up with a Cambodian man named Whiskey, who was actually a friend of the Scottish woman who co-ran Independent Bo's.  He was incredibly easy to understand and insisted on practicing his Cockney rhyming slang on us.  He then took us to change some money (where we actually got really duped) and then we settled in to his small but pleasant guest house called the 'Koh Kong guest house', where we enjoyed a lovely Thai style meal and then passed out!

13th July - Sihanoukville

Today is a Friday, so suspicious people might say that it was a very unlucky day being the 13th, but we managed to have a good day, well as good as a day spent travelling could be :)

We were all up early and had a freezing cold was in our bucket in our 'bathroom' then went out to wait for the bus to Sihanoukville.  We had originally planned to catch the boat, which would have taken half the time, but apparently the seas were too rough for the boats to run.  The bus was really late but, it was a good excuse for Kat and I to play with the gorgeous little puppy that lived at the guest house.  My ankle was still pretty painful so I was relieved when the bus eventually came, we boarded along with a French couple, and Irish couple, an English guy and a Cambodian guy.

Again the journey was interesting, more incredibly bumpy and windy roads full of holes and deep puddles and slippy mud.  It was hard enough to remain on my seat and also prevent my head from hitting the ceiling.  As I looked out of the window I could tell that Cambodia is much poorer than Thailand, the sights I saw and the houses reminded me much more of the Philippines.  The most crazy parts of our journey was the ferry crossings:  We had four or these in total and each time they seemed to get worse.  As we approached the river side, we were asked to vacated to bus "because it was likely to sink" and then went slipping and sliding about in the mud trying to board the 'ferry'.  Now I say ferry, but what I actually mean is four canoes with bits of wood over the top of them all and an old motorbike engine to move the whole thing.  I was pretty petrified as our bus, along with a few other cars drove on to the wobbling planks of wood, followed by us.  I really couldn't believe that this was the only way to get across the river.  With thanks to god all of us, our belongings and the bus survived all four crossing with nothing more than very muddy feet ( I was wearing flip flops, but by the last crossing it looked like I had a lovely pain of reddish brown ankle boots, made from mud)

I am currently reading 'Survival in the Killing Fields' which is written by a Cambodian man who basically managed to live through the Pol Pot/ Khmer Rouge regime (which is a truly horrific book) but in the story he explains about how he and his family along with their vehicles cross the river and, the way he describes it is exactly how we did it today.  I actually can't believ how much my book is influencing everything I have seen so far in Cambodia.

Anyway, late afternoon we arrived and had to fight off hundreds of people in order to catch a mini-bus to 'Serindepity beach'.  Apparently by taking the mini-bus we were taking away business from all the guys on motorbikes waiting to charge us a fortune to take us.  They even tried to park their bikes in front of our bus, I thought that is could turn nasty but luckily it didn't and we all made it to the beach without too much trouble.

We all booked into a nice place called 'GST guest house' where it was two pounds a night for a double room with two double beds and even a bathroom with a SINK, I was so happy to see a sink again for the first time since leaving Korea!  We were all ravenous so all of us (from the bus) gathered for a nice dinner then took a stroll along the beach.  We tried not to get wet, but the fast coming waves soon got our shorts wet.  As the sun went down we decided to stop for a quick drink, but as usual one drink turned into three or four and we ended up being pretty late for bed.  There were lots of young boys walking up and down the beach trying to sell their artwork, bracelets and other things.  As usual we felt sorry for them and ended up buying a woven shark key ring off three of them, and the Irish girl (Rebecca) bought a picture.  We finally all retired to bed by about midnight leaving the busy beach and all the kids behind!

14th July - The Market

Today was a rather uneventful day.  Due to the rain we spent the morning on the incredibly slow Internet catching up with emails and trying to update our blogs and then in the afternoon we tried to find a place we had read about in our guide book, where we could book trips.  Unfortunately when we got there it had closed down for the rainy season and was not due to open again for another couple of weeks, we aimlessly walked around the dead town (where everything was closed due to low season) and eventually found somewhere to eat.  

On the way back to the beach we stopped of at a thriving local market.  It was fantastic, people shouting, throwing things around and local bargaining everywhere.  It was all sectioned out.  The food section was rather smelly but I was amazed by the sheer quantity of rice.  My favourite part was the dress makers section, there were women everywhere basically fixing things and making clothes.  You could chose your own material and get an outfit made especially for you right there and then.  I mist say I was tempted, but I must also remember that I do not have anymore room in my bulging rucksack for any more clothes!

That evening we all went out for a Khmer meal.  Kat and I chose luk lok steak, which was delicious and Jenna enjoyed a Chicken Mok curry, then we all shared battered bananas in rum for desert.  I really like Cambodian food (although I loved Philippine and Thai too)

15th July -Ream National Park.

What a crazy day.  It all started with breakfast on the beach, it was the usual Cambodian favourite of 'crispy baguette' with butter and bananas! We then met our guide and a nice girl named Marijke from Holland and headed off to the national park that we had heard so much about.  It was raining when we arrived, but for once it wasn't too heavy so we were determined that it wouldn't spoil our day.  The four of us boarded a boat along with the driver and our very smiley guide and headed off along the river.  At times, I thought that we might capsize but I was soon distracted by all the mango trees and fishermen.  Our guide informed us that sometime dolphins come down the river from the sea, I kept my eyes peeled but unfortunately didn't see any!  

Our boat ran aground a long way from the shore, so we had to roll up our shorts and wade through the very stick mud to the river side.  As we did we passed many families hunting for cockles, muscles and crabs.  One little girl was delighted when I picked up a large live crab and gave it to her.  Everyone was filthy and a few times I actually though I was stuck in the mud. I was relived when we got to the riverside and also happy that the rain had stopped.

We spend the next few hours trekking through the jungle.  We passed a little school, which was basically a little bamboo hut with desks in it and a few old books and a map on the wall.  We also passed some very rural houses with all their surrounding animals and little kids who would rush up to say hello.

Due to it being rainy season most of the jungle was pretty flooded, we kept having to alternate between bare feet and our trainers, after about 20 minutes of this I gave up and just trekked in my trusty flip-flops.  It was very strange seeing little fish swimming through the jungle.  I bet that this place is so different out of rainy season!

I also held a small iguana and was fascinated by the termite mounds.  Apparently termites (who look like large ants with big heads) have 'workers', 'royalty' 'breeders' and 'guards'.  We watched the streams of small working termites and all around them were the much larger guards.  If we put a twig or leaf anywhere near the workers the guards would attack.  I didn't realise how intelligent these small creatures were! After an hour or so we found a lovely deserted beach, we relaxed there for a bit before heading back through the jungle to the river side for lunch.

Just before we headed back to our boat we saw a water snake in the water, Jenna hates snakes so it look a little persuasion before she agreed to wade back out through the river.  This time Kat and I both cut the bottoms of our feet on sharp shells and I got paranoid that our cuts were going to get infected (like my still swollen leg).  We all enjoyed a nice lunch on the boat, consisting of: fish with pepper and lemon, salad and another baguette.  We then headed back before the next bout of torrential rain.

That afternoon I ventured out alone on a motorbike to get some bits and bobs from the market, post a letter and try and find my jacket that I had stupidly left in a bar the night before.  I was nervous about going out alone, but I soon felt confident and enjoyed the fact that I did feel safe.  My jacket was thankfully exactly where I left it in the bar.  That made me realise how honest these people can be.  Everyone I encountered while being alone was incredibly helpful and went out of their way to help me.  I wouldn't like to travel totally alone but I must say I enjoyed my afternoon alone.  I feel like I noticed more things and got talking to more people.

That evening we headed out to the beach to a bar run by deaf people, called the 'Dolphin bar' for dinner, as we tucked into our noodles suddenly a huge ball of fire landed on or table, we jumped back in shock.  Soon after we realised that the owners of the bar had been practicing 'fire acts' and while spinning a wire with two huge petrol soaked balls of fire on each end the chain had snapped and this had resulted in one of them landing on our table!

The deaf girls at the bar were full of apologies, but everything was fine, they were so sweet and no one was injured and we got a free meal and a couple of free 'buckets' of cocktails to make up for it. We got talking to a few interesting people including travelers from Israel and Germany.  We had come from where they were going and viceversa, so we could exchange our stories and advise each other where to go and what to see.

16th July - Kampot.

Due to the rain, we all decided that there was not much point staying at the beach, so decided to move on up the island to Kampot in order to find more to do.  Then 6 of us piled in a small car and off we went.  Our driver was a retired police officer and he told us that he usually tries to get 4 in the back and two on the passengers seat in his car, and that it was totally legal.   A long the way we made up a game called 'spot the most passengers in a car'  I think the most we saw was 12...yes, 12.  There was the driver, with a kid on his lap, two in the passengers seat, four adults in the back with two kids on their laps and 3 people and all the luggage hanging out of the open hatch back boot!  I couldn't believe my eyes, but our driver insisted that if the car had a roof rack, they could get at least another four on there.   I tried to imagine this happening in England, hilarious.

After about two or three very squashed hours we arrived in Kampot.  Which is a small provincial town, with colonial style houses, situated on the Teuk Chhou river only 5 k from the sea.  I could see that the town had very clear French influence., but again it was all very quiet and very run down.  We moved into our rather dirty room and then went off for a walk along the river to look for pagoda.  Everywhere we walked people were stopping us, desperate for us to ride in their tuk tuks or on the back of their motor bikes, and many people who were just trying to practice their English.  Sometimes it can all get a bit to much, but I think most of these people are relatively harmless and they are incredibly friendly and their faces are always beaming with smiles.  After being stopped about 100 times, we eventually got to the spot where the pagoda should have been, but yet again our out of date guide book was wrong and it was no longer there!  On the way back to our hostel we saw many disturbing sights, such as whole baby chicks on sticks, ready to be cooked and live pigs stretched out and squealing in 'pig shaped baskets' It really was enough to turn a person vegetarian.  

That evening I decided to refrain from eating meat and instead was delighted when I saw 'jacket potato with beans and cheese' on the menu.  This is something I have been craving for over ten months.  It was okay, but rather hard, the Cambodians really don't know how to make a jacket spud :(

We got back to our room and with in about 5 minutes, while getting ready for bed, we saw a hole, where spiders, insects and mosquitoes were getting through and two mice even scampered across the floor.  We changed rooms, to a much smaller room, where we had to share a bed, but at least we weren't sharing with vermin and insects!

17th July - Bokor National Park and the deserted hill station

Today we booked ourselves on a trip to visit 'Bokor National Park' and the deserted hill station and casino there.  We were up early and while we ate breakfast it began to rain...heavily. Shortly after our OPEN-TOP jeep arrived to take us.  We were not looking forward to getting into the back of the jeep, which already looked like a swimming pool.  A few people backed out of the trip, but we decided to just get soacked and make the most of it.  Just as we zipped up our rain coats and got ready to hop on board, our guide notified us that there was too many people and some of us would have to get in the car, we quickly volenteered and cheekily pushed our way into the shelter of the car.  Jenna and Kat got into the passangers seat of the jeep and I along with an English couple and a german guy got into the car.

The journey, as usual, was very bumpy, and our driver was a maniac, wrecking his car and susspention hurtleing down the crazy roads.  He spoke no English, but I tried to relax my nerves by nattering away to him about how to drive safer and asking him how on earth his car survives abuse like it was getting.  I also had a good chat with the English coulpe, who must have beenin their 40's, and told me about their travels over the last 20 years.  I listend intently to their stories about the best  places they had been and took all the advise they could offer.  I got incresingly excited about my future plans to visit South America, Africa and India, listing to their amazing stories.

Feeling well and truely sick and having many bumps on my head we arrived at Bokor National Park. which is packed with tropical forrests and hiddern waterfalls.  The first stop was Bokor mountain and the 'Black Palace' which was the former kinds residence.  It was pretty ruined, but you could make out which rooms were thae bathrooms, kitchens etc.  We looked out at the highest point of 1800 meters, from Cambodias second biggest mountain, from here we had an impressive view of Veitnam to our left and the over the gulf of Thailand to our right and a panaramic view of Kampot its self.  Luckily the rain had stopped so the views were actually pretty clear.  I could see rice fields for miles and miles around.  Our guide informed us that women carry 40k baskets on bamboo rods accross their backs from these fields to Kampot.  I couldnt believe it.  I struggle with my 15k bag!

We all gathered in a large building for lunch, which consisted of a large bown of a vegetable stew type thing, served with a baguette and rice.  It was relitively nice, but we found numerous dead ants floating in it.  Needless to say, most people stuck to the baguettes, I just thought of the added protene!

The second stop was an old French hill station, 'There was a church their and the main building called the Hotel Bokor Palace.  our guide informed us of how they had been abandoned twice in history.  First in the 1940's when the Vietnamese took over whilse fighting the French and again in 1972 when it was over run by the Khymer Rouge, who turned them both into prisons and tourcher chambers.  We had a chance to look around the gutted remains.  It was actually really eary.  A real ghost town, mist was all around us and my heart was pounding as our guide told us the stories of what happened to the place.  The doors were filled with bullet holes and the main ball room hall was almost totally flooded.  I imagined the scem out of "Titanic" where the boad transforms back to its former self before our eyes, I bet that this place was truely wonderful.  I wouldn't have liked to see it when the Khmer Rouge took over though.

It pained me to think what the Khmer Roughe did to people in there and we could even walk to the edge of the cliff where thousands of Cambodians had been forced to jump off.  Many Cambodians stay away from the area as they fear the spirts of these ghosts who were treated so badly and died with out a cerimony.

On the way back, I opted to go in the back of the Jeep.  A guy had been speared in the neck by a rotton spikey plant and wanted to take my place in the car.  Kat also offered to take another girls place.  I must say it was one of the most crazy couple of hours I have had in a while.  I had planned ccatching a bit of sun and looking out for elephants, lepords, bears, and gibbons, but this was not to be.  Instead I spent the whole journey ducking and trying to avoid branches and plants.  The Cambodian at the back, spent the whole time shouting "duck, spiky plant" or "spider" Everytime I raised my body I got whipped in the back by a brance or if I was caught in conversation I would get whipped in the face.  At one point the hugest spider I had ever seen was litterally two inches from my head and as I whiped the wed from my face, a few baby spidesrs dropped ito my lap, it is a good job I am not afaid of spiders, but later I learnt I should have been as they were said to be poisionus!!!  Numerious times I almost got bounced out of the back of the Jeep all together, my nuckles were while from clinging on and both cat and I had red whip marks alover our backs and spent a while fetting all of the leaves out of our hair when we got off.

I was releived when we all got out of our vehicles and clambered abourd a nice canal boat.  We were greated with a nice cold beer then and enjoyed a leasurely cruise back along the Touk Chou river to Kampot, while Kat and I told Jenn about our experience in the back of the Jeep.

Once we were abck in Kampot the English couple (who had been in the car with me on the way) and a pleasant French man all found our way to a bar run by an English guy who cooked me the most delicious sausage and Mash follwed by cheese cake.  That certainly satisfied my craving for home cooked foods.  Absoulutely delicious.

Tomorrow we are heading up to Phnom Phen.  I would like to appologise for my rushed blogs, but really these computers are useless and I really never find myself with much time to dedicate to my blogging.  I am such a busy girl, as I am sure you can tell, so I hope that you can get the basic gist until I get chance to sort it all out! :)

• Posted by emily1183 on 23/07/2007.
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Ko Chang - Thailand

• Posted by emily1183 on 20/07/2007.
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Chiang Mai - Hilltribe Trekking, Temples and reunited with Kat

 4th July  Hill tribe Trekking

Today we escaped to Duet National park, to the beautiful tropical forests and tranquil rivers to find pure nature.  We were up and met our guide at 9 am, he was a very strange little man and i wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him, shortly after we met three French people.  All 24 years old, two girls names Estelle and Dorothee and a boy named Guillaume.  We then all head off to Maemalai market for provisions for the trek.  The market was busy and full for tables of fruit that I had never seen before and other tables of meats, intestines and even slices of Iguana meat!  . 

We all got back in the Seelaw and headed off into the mountains.  After about an hour we arrived at Mork Fa waterfalls.  On the way we passed some trees that had collapsed and rocks had formed over the top of then, they were very strange.  When we arrived at the waterfall I was amazed by the spray coming off it, we were about 20 or 30 meters away and still got soaked from the spray.  We hadn't packed our swimming things and didn't fancy being wet all day so decided not to go swimming this time (especially as we had been twice last weekend)

The next stop was the 'hot springs' I had never seen anything like it, water was spurting about  2 meters in the air and bubbling and hissing all around us.  The air was filled with steam and all the rocks were burned around it and all the plans dead.  We had the opportunity to boil an egg in the 90 degree water but we really didn't have time as we wanted to get to the hill tribe village before night fall.  We enjoyed a fried rice and pineapple lunch and then were on our way. 

It was incredibly steep and really dense forest, lush and green and still wet from the lunch time rain.  After about 10 minutes we were drenched in sweat, covered in more bites from all the insects and had red 'jungle mud' all up our legs.  It was very hard work.  By the time we reached the summit, after about 2 hours of intense trekking I must say I was very relieved.  We had a clear view of Thailand’s tallest mountain from here and our weird guide made us do some stretches and made every advance to crack a joke or touch us in some way.  There were also two local tribes people that accompanied us.The trek changed scenery as we moved on, some parts were very narrow tracks through lush forest, others were open area of slippy wet mud (like the red mud at the mud festival in Philippines) and in some parts I felt like I was in England, walking through the Cornish woods near my Nanas house.  Dirt tracks, covered in pine cones...it seemed very strange, such a contrast, when just walking up and down one mountain.  We also saw some interesting wild life.  A termite mound, a group of ants carrying a live wiggling worm, snakes, lizards/iguanas spiders, huge millipedes and could hear the loudest beetles that I have ever heard.  Apparently the beetle is called a 'Secada' and is a flying beetle that sounded like a combination of a kettle boiling and a pneumatic drill.By the time we got to the 'Karen tribe' village, we were all quite relieved.  The village was interesting and very basic.  We saw women in their red traditional costumes cooking and washing.  We saw baskets of hens, the vegetable gardens and the rice fields.  No sooner had we dropped or heavy sweaty backpacks we asked if we wouldn't mind moving on to the next camp.  No one particularly wanted to, but it did make sense that we would be closer to the elephant farm and the fiver for tomorrow.  Being assured that it was close and an easy walk we all reluctantly agreed. 

The next HOUR of out trek was the worst past, very steep climbs and very slippy mud, water was running low and we were all exhausted.  The sun set and by the time we got to the next village, called Bankbacah, it was almost dark.  We all felt a little hostile to our guide, but relived to arrive at the village and grateful to the accommodating tribes people.  We washed using a bucket by candle light and it felt so good to be clean, we then got dressed and sat along a candle lit bench and enjoyed a delicious meal of Thai curry with chicken, vegetables and rice, with fresh pineapple for desert. 

As the candles burned down and we finished our 'moonshine' (whiskey), we all retired to our small hut, clambered under the very musty smelling mosquito nets and were out like lights.

5th July – Elephant riding and bamboo rafting. 

We were all awoken at 4am by two very annoying roosters, which actually lived under our hut.  It was still dark but I shone my torch through the cracks in the wood and could see one of the noisy little things.  I was tempted to hit him with a rock, but thankfully after about 30 minutes he went away and quietened himself, pecki8ng around the hut.  We all fell back to sleep until about 8 o'clock. 

We all enjoyed a western style breakfast of egg on toast, got packed up and headed to our afternoon’s transportation.  An elephant!  Ours was a beautiful 38 year old female called 'Bosoot'.  They were lovely elephants and I was glad that the guide didn't use sticks or spike to guide the elephants.  Instead he just used commands.  The elephants were like dogs, they were very well behaved and did what they were told, apart from when they were hungry and stopped to eat plants, or drink from the river. 

The trek was about two hours in total and we mainly walked alongside or through the river.  We passed hundreds of wild water buffalo basking in the sun, rolling in the mud, or swimming along side us.  It really was lovely and our elephants actually seemed happy and content as they plodded along.  When our ride came to an end, the elephants were allowed 'bath time' in order to cool off.  They all played in the water and squirted each other, as we were feeding them bananas a family (Mum, Dad and Baby) came down the river and joined in.  They had no people with them but were incredibly tame and interested in everything we were doing, sniffing at our sun cream etc.  I loved it.

From the 'Lahu tribe' village we all boarded our bamboo raft and set off down the river.  Basically our raft was made from about ten bamboo poles threaded together with banana leaves, but it floated well and was really steady.  The river was such fun, beautiful and every so often we went down sections of white water rapids, I loved it and it brought back memories of my Canoeing down the Ardech in France or the trips I went on when I worked as a canoe instructor for Camp America.  As the day went on our guide and his friend got more and more drunk on the whiskey that they had brought with them, and the more drunk they got, the worse their rafting skills were.  At one point we hit a huge rock and went half over it.  One of the guides and Jenna got flung off into the water and the rest of us hung on for dear life while the raft cracked and split under our feet.  Eventually we freed our raft and headed back off down the river.  By this time, thankfully, the French guy was with us, volunteered to steer the raft.  From then on we had a much safer journey. We all enjoyed noodles for lunch and then headed on our incredibly bumpy journey back to Chiang Mai. 

That evening Jenna and I went for Thai curries for dinner and then enjoyed a couple of drinks in a very interesting bar.  It was full of Gay men, including older western men hitting on young Thai boys, and lots of stunning looking transvestites.

6th of July - Doiu Suthep Temple and Palace in Phuping.

Today it rained and rained all day long.  Never the less Jenna dressed in out suitable attire (long skirts and covering tops) and headed off to see some of the temples in Chiang Mai. 

Due to the fact that it is low season and due to the rain, we actually had to wait for two hours for our bus to fill up enough for the driver to take us there.  The journey was incredibly whindy and I felt quite sick by the time we arrived.

The temple was up in the mountains, and apparently on a clear day you would get fantastic views of Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas, but for us all we could see was mist, fog and rain!  However inside the temple was beautiful.  It was difficult to work out when the building were made as everything was in Buddhist years.  Apparently they are 543 years ahead of us.  So for them, this year is 2550 (...I think) The building were so intricately made, everything carved so carefully and covered in gold leaf. 

It was different to the temples in Korea, whereby the was more gold, more fancy decorations but no paintings and patterns on the ceiling, like I got used to seeing in Korea. There were hundreds of golden Buddhas and each one was covered in precious stones and surrounded by gifs, candles and flowers.  We also got to watch some Buddhist monks taking part in a ceremony.  Despite the different language, it sounded very similar to the chants we heard in Korea.  We were no allowed to wear our shoes and we were slipping allover the place, and with out soaked skirts we tried to remain as respectful to these gentle people as possible. 

After a couple of house of looking around, listening to services and walking around the museum: which only contained foreign money and broken Buddha(as it is bad luck to own a broken Buddha, but even worse luck to throw one away!) then, we left.

That evening we went to a bar named 'Tuskers' owned by an English couple; we enjoyed yet another Thai curry and chatted to them about the charity that they run, saving Elephants.  Jenna said that I should take up a career as a journalist, as a journalist herself she said that she has never seen someone so inquisitive who asks so many questions!  I guess that is what traveling is all about though - asking questions, and learning new things!

7th July - Reunited with Kat again

Jenna and I were up early to make the most of our morning before we headed to Bangkok.  We headed off to "Wat Phrasingh' temple, which our guide book had advised to be the best in Chiang Mai.  Luckily the rain had stopped and we spent the morning looking around this fantastic temple, took part in a service and took in the peacefulness of the beautiful surroundings.  It wasn't long before we had to get on the move again.

Back to Bangkok airport.  When we got off our plane Kat was there waiting for us, with a big smile on her face.  It was lovely to see her, we thought that we would be waiting for a couple of hours before her plane had come in, but it was a lot earlier than expected.  The three off us can now properly plan our travels.  Something that we have been planning for, and excited about for so long now. 

We all got ourselves settled in to a hostel in 'Thong Lo' in Bangkok.  Our room was already a pig sty because of the  English boy, a South African girl and a guy from New Zealand who were already in there.  We were eager to find somewhere to sit and eat so that we could exchange our stories and tell each other what we had been up to over the past month. 

We headed out to the biggest market area in Bangkok called 'Mo Chit' however as soon as we got off our train the most torrential rain I have ever seen began to pummel into the ground, we were getting drenched under the shelter and after about 20 minutes we decided that we couldn't possibly go out in so decided to head back to wards 'Siam' where we could shelter in the mall they had there.  As soon as we got of the train we darted in to the mall like scruffy wet dogs and immediately felt out of place.  The place was amazing.  So huge and posh and everyone looked perfect.  We wondered around the rather expensive food court and eventually agreed on a restaurant where I ordered a very spicy noodle dish and we sat for hours exchanging our stories and catching up on our time apart.  

As we boarded the train to go home, Jenna and Kat got on ok and I (along with a few others) got trapped in the doors, like the time when I first arrived in Korea.  I was left alone on the platform, but this time felt strangely less worried about being alone.  I think my confidence and independence has sores in the past 10 months.  We all met up at the next station and headed back to out hostel. 

It felt good to slip into the clean sheets and know that by this time tomorrow I would be in Koh Chang!

• Posted by emily1183 on 07/07/2007.
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Chiang Mai - Northern Thailand

It was sad saying goodbye to the family, who we had stayed with over the past few weeks, we made them a nice photo album to remember us and the fun times we had had though.  Again I was shocked by the airport, we literally waited outside in the street until the plain flew in before we walked through the tiny building straight onto our tiny plane.   When we arrived at Manila airport we had a few hours to kill, We soon got bored with the two shops and 3 food places.  It was pretty dreadful considering it is supposed to be a popular airport!  I ate an awful noodle soup and Jena forced down a slimy but sweet ham sandwich.  

Instead of any long flights we just had four short flights, so all of which we had to pay extortionate prices for even for a drink of water, It is so frustrating not being able to take a drink onto the plane.  Jenna and I spent time plodding up and down the airport looking for different places to sit, also because of the time we were flying most of the restaurants and all of the shops were shut too :(

As predicted the rest of our journey was pretty dreadful. After killing another 8 hours in Bangkok we went to check onto you Chiang Mai flight, I had known all along that the flight had a 15k limit so knowing that I had 17 k when I flew out of Korea I had made sure that I had got rid of some things from my bag.  So despite re packing my bag in Bacolod and ditching yet more stuff I still managed to have nearer 17k of stuff at the weigh in.  As predicted I had to get rid of more stuff, I took out 4 large books and a few clothes and rammed them into my carry on luggage and my bag suddenly went down to just 14k, I was relieved that I didn't have to throw anything away and happily departed to Chiang mai!

2nd July – Arrive in Chiang Mai, a Hill tribe museum and the Night Market.

We arrived at about 8 am, just as the day was beginning I the beautiful city of  Chiang Mai, I immediately notice a huge difference since coming from the Philippines.  The place is so clean, there are many foreigners and the best thing is no one seems to stare at us! I love being able to blend in and not be noticed and stop feeling so self conscious.

The city is surrounded by a mat and castle walls and we are staying in a nice little hostel called the Eagle House, just out of the city centre.  It is perfect, nice and quiet but walking distance from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. We checked in and then enjoyed a plate of bacon and eggs before heading to our room with the idea of a couple of hours kip before we went out to make the most of our day.  Those illusions were soon shattered when a group of builders came to repair a roof right outside our door, scraping, banging and shouting as loudly as they could, despite wearing ear plugs Jenna and I decided that the idea was useless and that we should go and explore the city. 

 Firstly we decided to go and find the “Hill tribes museum”  in order to find out some information on the famous hill tribes that are so prevalent in the North of Thailand, as we were planning a hill tribe trek in two days time. We stumbled out into the mid day sun and waved down a Tuk Tuk (a small, thin, open sided 3 wheeled vehicle used as taxis throughout Thailand)  When we arrived at the Museum, I was surprise to find not a sole there.  All we could hear was people singing in the little restaurants on the other side of the lake.  The museum, built in 1965, was very informative.  It exhibited the lifestyles of the 9 hill tribes in Thailand.  They are called the ‘Akah, Lahu, Lisu, Yao, Hmong, Karen, Lua and the H’tin’.  They all remain in the hills under strong traditional societies, seen by many of the Thai people as like peasants.  I found out that there are about 750,777 people in the 9 tribes’ and they live in 3,503 villages dispersed over 20 provinces.  They are not Buddhist and they are not Christian, they are ‘Animists’ which basically means they believe in spirits which inhabit the earth, water, fire, forests, mountains, their villages and houses.  They believe that good spirits help and protect and that bad spirits bring bad luck and sickness.  They give offerings to all sprits, to thank good ones and to try and keep the bad ones happy.  I also enjoyed looking at all the colourful pictures and clothes from the tribes, reading about each one individually and how whey lived, using looms to make their own clothes and how they are self sufficient, living off the land  growing all the vegetables, fruit and ice that they need and farming their own animals.  At four o’clock a little man came in and started bolting up the windows and closing the doors, we then decided that we should probably leave, despite him saying a word.  Much to our surprise, the Tuk Tuk driver was waiting for us outside.  We had planed to catch a local bus home but felt a little obligated to take our ride back with him (I guess this was how he wanted us to feel) but he was nice enough and cost us less than a quid each!

We decided that he could drop us off at the ‘Night Bazaar’ However it only being 4.30 it was not yet fully open so we spent a few hours looking around a small Buddhist temple an