Highlights of Cambodia

The bus ride from the border to Siem Reap is unforgettable...in fact land travel in general marks a significant part of my memories here! Road conditions, driving dexterity, traffic chaos, and apparent lack of road rules really make travel in Cambodia a worthwhile, if slightly scary, experience :) Cruising on the back of a moto or relaxing in a tuk-tuk is a fun way to see local areas, and allowed us to see a great deal of the countryside and people’s homes. Probably slightly more comfortable than their economical (and extremely common) practice of cramming up to 10 people in a normal car, and over 30 in the pick-up trucks for 9-hr journeys on dirt roads.

Three days at Angkor Wat - an extremely impressive ‘must-see’ place, yet I think being fortunate enough to see a good sunrise or sunset over the temples would create a magical atmosphere. Here's a slideshow showing us exploring at Angkor. On to Phnom Penh, where we visited the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum & The Killing Fields - impressive in a contrasting and poignant manner. The tuk-tuk ride out to Udong Mountain was really pleasant, and being followed and ‘fanned’ as we climbed the steps was certainly amusing. The orphanage was a memorable experience, and I’d recommend the “Lazy Gecko” café to any travellers.




In Kratie we did a boat trip on the Mekong River and saw Irawaddy dolphins, but the lightening storm in the evening was probably the highlight. Kampot didn’t offer too much to see, but it was worth visiting the “Rusty Keyhole” café on the riverbank and getting my first Thai massage! Our 4WD trip to Bokor National Park was great fun, despite our bums enduring a pounding in the back of the truck.

As usual with me, the small things create greater impressions than the “tourist sights” - seeing workers wading through the flooded rice fields; watching kids playing in the muddy water beneath their ‘bamboo-hut homes’; chatting to locals with broken English; and seeing various food delicacies (i.e. fried frogs, crickets and spiders) being sold, and even more so, being eaten! I found the Cambodian people happy, friendly, and totally content with an extremely simple way of life.