Kampot to Sihanoukville and Out

After Phenom Penh we headed to Kampot. The main attraction here for us was Bokor National Park, where apparently in its thick jungle is home to wild elephants and tigers, not that we saw any. But if you want to drive through it, on a road maintained by the devil himself you can climb a mountain to an old abandoned french Hill Station.

Here is one picture we took of the road, and by no means was it the worst. It took us about 3 hours to get up the 31km road. We only rented a - you guessed it - 100cc Honda, but the little bugger got both of us there. It cost us $3 for the day, and the lady had no problem renting it to us, even after we made it very clear where we were taking it. She not only was okay with it, but she promoted it! Now let me tell you, that poor little bike took the beating of its life that day, and I am sure we took a few years off its life. In retro spec we wished we had rented a dirt bike - something we heard you could rent, but never saw - because I think Jillene and I took about as much of a beating on our backs as the poor little bike.
An old church at the top.And something no Hill station can do without of coarse, a casino! It was pretty cool walking around all the old buildings and the virtual abandoned town that was left behind. I can't imagine the number of hours and bodies it took getting all the materials up this mountain, let alone building it!We can see why they would want to live up here though... they had one heck of a view.
Next we headed to Sihanoukville for some more beaching; can't get enough.

Made some more friends with the local Cambodian kids. This was Tour, he liked to check in with us at least 3-4 times a day usually starting at breakfast, and then later on the beach. He was a great kid, with and awesome sense of humour. Whenever he showed up, and funny and interesting conversation followed. You're never safe from these guys! it is a sad truth, but the beach is littered with these kids selling anything and everything. They use the money to pay for school - or so they tell you, but I am sure in most cases it is true. It is sad reality and Cambodia, as a number of kids are put to work at a very young age by their parents so they can add to the families meager earnings. Not much of a childhood...
We had a lovely bungalow on the beach with a great view overlooking the ocean.
And that is it! We had to go back to Phenom Penh first, but we booked ourselves on a boat trip out of the country and into Vietnam through the Mekong Delta. Not a huge amount of time in this country, but we're running out of time and we still have a lot of ground to cover. I would have liked to spend more time in Cambodia, but it will just have to wait for another day I suppose... Here is me kicking back on the way out.
Our boat made it though!

Hope everyone is well back home. We're doing great over here. Heading out for a nice river boat cruise dinner in Saigon tonight for Jillene's birthday, then heading north. GO FLAMES GO!

Phenom Penh

After Seam Reap we headed to the capital Phenom Penh. I guess anybodies stay here as a tourist would be filled with ups and downs. The main attractions for tourists during the day - other than the palaces and temples that every city has - is the S21 museum where thousands of Cambodians were held captive, tortured and eventually killed, and the actually killing fields where hundreds of thousands of people were killed. So you can go and visit both places turning your stomach, and making you very depressed because the atrocities that took place from 1975-1979. And then you can spend the rest of your time shooting rocket launchers, AK 47s, M-16's, or whatever your heat desires. In the evening you recoup enjoying great affordable meals and drinking cheap beer in any one of many party scenes in the city. Well, we didn't too much partying, but Phenom Penh isn't nearly as depressing once you stop seeing the main tourist attractions!

Here is a picture from S21 in and old cell. They used to use the leg irons on the bed to lock the prisoner. It was originally a school, turned into a prison/detention center where they would question and torture somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 people a day by a number of gruesome methods shown throughout the museum.
Mass graves since uncovered at the killing fields.A stupa filled of some seventy thousand skulls uncovered from the mass graves. Another sad reality in Cambodia, a number of homeless people living on the street.And on the lighter side of life... Have to get at least 1 market shot in here! A little BBQ pig anyone?A place I should have visited. The local hair salon/barber.

There is no limit to the size/quantity or dimension of goods that a 100cc Honda can't move in this country. This picture is nothing compared to some of the stuff we have seen but haven't managed to get on camera. I saw a small lightweight trailer stacked as long and as high as the bus in this picture with wicker furniture that was being pulled by a 100cc motorbike. There was a train of 4 of them leaving Phenom Penh. You've got to love it!

Cambodia and Angkor Wat

We were out of Thailand and into Cambodia before the end of March. Our first stop after a long and bumpy bus ride from the border was Seam Reap. People are now flocking here by the thousands to see Angkor Wats. You get everybody from the richest of the rich whom can now stay in their choice of amazing 5 star resorts, or you can do it like us! Still plenty of room and places to stay for the humble backpackers.

The wats/temples of Angkor actually cover a huge area, and you need to hire a motorbike or tuk tuk to get around to all of them. We spent 3 days snooping around taking it all in. Now of coarse after being in Asia for nearly 7 months now, you can get a bit desensitized to all these temples (well we were finding anyway), but it just takes little dose of Angkor to bring you right back. Something you really need to see in person, but the pictures still show just how amazing it can be.

This is us on our second day in front of the main wat... Angkor Wat. These are a few of our favorite pictures and not in the order of when we saw them, but of coarse you don't know that!

At the end of our first day we climbed a hill to the temple at the top and relaxed there until sun set.
Then went back into the park before sunrise so we could see the sun break behind Angkor Wat.

The trees that have grown around and over the old structures make it that much more amazing.

For those whom haven't been here; if this reminds you of Tomb Raider, it is because this is where it was filmed.
Along with Angkor - and a great majority of Cambodia for that matter - comes some very cute kids. Many of which speak very good English and are always following you around. For the most part it is because they're either trying to sell you something, or just out right begging for money. This adorable little girl however did neither, but we felt she was so cute it was worthy of a picture while she waited quite patiently on the back of her moms bicycle while her mom collected plastic bottles out of a garbage bin so she could recycle them for a little money...