World Tour - Cambodia

Survived the border crossing into Cambodia and only got robbed of $2 by the corrupt police!!!!

I didn’t even try to argue! I saved the argument for the taxi driver who wanted us to pay $25 each ($200 in total) to take us to Kratie! What a total rip off. We ended up paying $13, still expensive but we had no choice.

Kratie is very pretty on the outskirts, but in the centre it’s very dirty and primitive. Yesterday whilst walking along the main street and looking into the shops I saw some kind of hospital. It had an open front just like a shop. There were children lying in beds with drips and allsorts hanging out of their arms. It was quite disturbing. It is a very poor place. Children under 5 never have clothes or shoes. I think that shoes maybe considered a luxury here.

I went to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphins, which live in the Mekong River . They swam right up to our boat.

Phnom Pehn

Phnom Pehn was a total culture shock! With what we saw further north in Cambodia, I expected it to be pretty much the same, maybe even more poverty, however it’s quite cosmopolitan. There are hundreds of bars and restaurants along the river, even nightclubs if you dare to go! With the drugs and gun crime rate we decided to stay away. Drugs are everywhere! Most cocktails out here contain either Speed or Viagra. I did try and stay away, I should have known with it being called a ‘ Roaring Temple ’, but I am blonde!

The killing fields and the memorial inside are quite amazing. The Cambodians have not resumed all of the bodies in the killing fields. You walk over bones and clothes, really strange. The memorial inside is several shelves that go all the way to the top filled with skulls, again unreal.

I visited an orphanage called the lighthouse project. We took toys, fruit and toiletries. The kids loved us; we played football and taught them nursery rhymes. It was great fun but really upsetting at the same time. The kids in the orphanage weren’t actually orphans, but what they call semi-orphans.  Their parents couldn’t afford to feed and care for them so they were sent to the orphanage for a better life. Compared to the lives of the street children here in Phnom Pehn it was quite a luxury. They even had a live in teacher. All children were taught; English, French, Japanese and Khmer. I think when I get back I will do some fundraising for them.

Tomorrow we move on to the beaches. I didn’t even know they existed!

Sihanouk

The beaches were beautiful. I had a great time eating, drinking and sunbathing for 5 days. It was heaven! I had lots of hangovers and rarely came home before 5am.

Nothing else to report really apart from I got bitten so badly by mosquitoes that my big toe nail fell off!!!! Very painful. On the last day I had a pedicure on the beach and got the Cambodian lady to paint over the skin so it looks like I have a nail. Not good I’m sure, but it looks better.

Siem Reap

The temples were out this world!!!  Angkor Wat was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I got up to watch the sunrise over it in the morning and took a helicopter ride at sunset. Both were brilliant experiences! The photographs just don’t do it justice. All the temples were just as good for all different reasons! Absolutely amazing! Definitely my favorite place so far!!!

I went to a five star hotel for dinner and a show one night with the traditional Khmer dancing and shadow puppets. The food was the best I’ve eaten in a while. I have forgotten what it’s like to be able to eat food without checking what it actually is. We went back to use the hotel swimming pool the day after. $5 for a bottle of water!!!