Cambodia

Taylor plays with the Angkor wat monkeys!!

After an extremely easy border crossing from Vietnam, we arrived in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.  It looks a relatively small city but as with most Asian cities very busy.  As everyone knows Cambodia has suffered tremendously over recent years and a visit to one of the killing fields along with the infamous S 21 prison was in order.  Listening to the guides all of whom suffered at the hands of the Kymer Rouge and still seeing the pain in their eyes is very moving.  It's so hard to imagine what these poor people have been through and I wish I could turn back the clock for them.  I will never forget visiting these places and it makes me feel very humble.. Hopefully their future will be better than their past.  I feel honoured to have listened to their stories.
Phnom Penh seems to be a city of contrasts. You get men just casually strolling the streets carrying semi automatic rifles, bit scary that one, elephants wandering around, though I'd maybe been running too long in the heat at that point, magnificent temples and palaces alongside neighbourhoods of extreme poverty.  Like most of the countries we've visited, the locals are friendly and welcoming although they have nothing.  I always knew it would be a tough country but it's very hard when you see the victims of landmines etc. We have such easy lives in comparison.  It also has a very colonnial feel to it and as such a night out in the Foreign Correspondants Club was organised by Simon in celebration of his impending 50th birthday.  Happy hour did it's job and made us all very, very happy.  Sipping half price cocktails with a great view of the river is never a bad thing.  At one point Simon seemed to forget it was his birthday celebration and disappeared for a few hours with a female companion, but he eventually returned and seemed very happy. He's gonna get me for saying that!!!Another great result for happy hour. 

Myself, Maggs and Kay visited a local school and orphanage and spent a worthwhile couple of hours amongst the children and staff.  Set in a village around 7k from the city and ran by a local man who himself grew up in poverty it seemed a well run project and the children were all happy and being well educated.  All very good to see. Hopefully along with their forefathers they will also have a better future.  Fingers crossed.

The next town on our travels was Battembang where myself, Maggs, Simon and Roberta have spent a very pleasant day with the best Tuk Tuk driver in the world.  We rode on the bamboo train, which consisted of riding a small piece of bamboo at breakneck speed along disused rail lines.  At least I think they were disused I need to check my insurance on this one!  Two visits to local Wats, one of which is apparently older the Ankor Wat followed along with a ride on the back of a motorbike up the steep hills.  All good fun and unusally for me I enjoyed the culture.  Back to bike riding tomorrow though.  Tomorrow an early rise will see us catch a river boat to Siem Reap, close to Angkor Wat, should be good!

A long river boat journey bought us across scenic lakes and river villages galore.  All very beautiful and peaceful.  Our peace was shattered however on reaching the harbour at Siem Reap.  Just before our boat docked we could see dozens of young men waiting to jump aboard.  As we docked these men stormed onto the boat as if it was opening day sale at Primark, offering Tuk Tuks and grabbing bags etc.  The only way for us to get off was to shove and shout and basically just barge our way off.  Bit frightening for some but it worked.  Siem Reap is much more modern than other Cambodian cities.  It has obvious tourist money pouring in, with grand hotels galore and the contrast between rich and poor is massive.  The amount of top range vehicles is amazing and corruption seems pretty rife.  Whilst the poor remain so and seemingly always will.  But it is the home of Angkor Wat and the reason for our visit.

floating village

So after a 5.30 am start which left most of us a bit bleary eyed we visited Angkor Wat, the biggest religious monument in the world.  The whole complex is massive, with wats galore in acres and acres of land.  It was very busy, with lots of tourists fighting for space.  My favourite was the jungle temple, where the trees have grown into the building and become part of it, very atmospheric.  Unfortunately as much as I love culture and could have stayed all day a nasty flip flop incident led to my early retirement from the  wats and I was forced to return to the hotel.  It didn't prevent me hiring a mountain bike however and revisiting the complex at speed in the afternoon.  Cambodia has been in some ways a strange place.  I feel it could still erupt at anytime.  Most of the people are fantastic but there is just an underlying feeling of unrest in my opinion.  The gap between the rich and poor is too big and feels totally wrong.  Anyway again another country I'm glad to have had the privilage to visit.