Cambodia

Back on schedule, we crossed the border into Cambodia. Our first stop was the capital city, Phnom Penh. Here we visited the horrific S-21 Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields, both of which were used during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime for the torture and execution of thousands of people. The prison is largely preserved as it was found by the Vietnamese when they overthrew the Khmer Rouge in early 1979. The most haunting images were the rows and rows of 'mugshot' photos of the inmates taken as they arrived. The photos betrayed the emotions of their subjects, who were in complete confusion as to why they were there. Many if not all were innocent of any crimes, and it is hard to imagine why so many children were considered enemies of the state. Sadly, none of the 14,000 inmates survived. After being made to 'confess' to their 'crimes', they were systematically killed out at the Killing Fields.



S21 Victim

We stayed by Boeng Kak lake, which was the 'Backpackersville' of Phnom Penh. The rooms were cheap and incredibly basic, but at least they had a fantastic location for sunset.



Sunset from the Guesthouse verandah

A trip to the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda completed our tour around the capital.

The amazing Angkor temples were the main focus of our time in Cambodia, and will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of this year. A 6 hour journey to Siem Reap took us to the closest town, which served as a base for our 3 days exploring the area. We felt the best way to see the numerous temples in the area was to hire a Tuk-Tuk, so Chin our driver took on the task of chauffeuring us around from sunrise to sunset each day.



Chin and his tuk-tuk

Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples, so we headed there on the first morning for sunrise. The courtyards, domes and long series of bas-relief carvings demanded several repeat visits. Every time we saw it we were awe-struck.






Sunrise at Angkor Wat

The temple of Ta Prohm was used in the filming of Tomb Raider, and has been completely overgrown by the jungle. It was amazing to see how nature had consumed the buildings, and in several cases trees and walls were structurally dependent on each other.

Ta Prohm

Another favourite temple of ours was the Bayon, its trademark feature being the hundreds of faces carved into every corner.



The faces of Bayon

During the three days we spent exploring the temples, we probably visited about 15 different sites. We took hundreds of photos, and were overwhelmed with the beauty and individuality of each place. The stone carvings were so intricate, it is impossible to imagine how long they took to create and construct.



Elephant at East Mebon temple



South Gate of Angkor Thom

It was a thoroughly exhausting yet wonderful three days, and it was great being able to design our own itinerary and use the freedom our tuk-tuk gave us.

One of the drawbacks of visiting such remote temples, is that you end up being a long way from anywhere. This was brought home to us during our epic journey to Bangkok, which took a total of 12 hours to cover just 500kms. The first three hours were spent bumping our heads in the back of a taxi along the worst road in the world, if you can call it a road. A 2 hour wait in the midday sun to get our passports stamped at the border helped top up our tans and our frustration levels, and a 4 hour bus journey got us to Bangkok in time for our rush hour traffic taxi ride to the hotel. Needless to say we've spent the last few days relaxing.

Frustration at Thai-Cambodian border in 30 degree heat