9-21 June 2008 – Cambodia

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Cambodia. The heat was hard to get used to, particularly in Siem Reap – but thankfully it was clouded over a lot of the time. The first thing we did was go to the Angkor Wat complex. We had two days to look around and what an amazing place. The temples are spread over 40 miles and built between the 8th and 13th centuries. We managed to get around to see 6 temples...all very different from each other and could well be built in different centuries. The Angkor Wat temple is the most fascinating but my favourite was the temple where some of Tomb Raider was filmed.

In fact, travelling through Cambodia now it is sometimes hard to imagine the atrocities that went on. But it did get very real when we arrived in Phenom Pehn and visited the Killing Fields and S-21, the infamous torture and interrogation centre the Khmer Rouge set up during the war.

Cambodia is still being developed for tourists and is still more a destination for backpackers rather than 3-5* travellers. It is dirtier, noisier and more chaotic than Vietnam, the food is pretty non-descript...lots of rice and instant noodles, and the roads atrocious in some parts. Got to say though, Angkor beer goes down very well and on the beach it was only 50c for half a pint, $2 for a cocktail (where they certainly don't measure out the alcohol) and around $4 for a seafood feast!

A collection of my favourite photos from Cambodia (top to bottom, left to right):
- The memorial at the Killing Fields contains the skulls from the mass graves
- A friendly face!
- Who can spot the tarantulas?
- Sleeping on the job (it is afternoon siesta time as it's so hot)
- Rain in paradise (usually in the afternoon and torrentially)
- The grisly rules of S-21 (the prison where Pol Pot put everyone he didn't like)
- The group
- Angkor Wat temple
- A young girl selling fans (the best buy I ever made!)
- Up to no good!
- Angkor Wat temple