Anna and Heidi Explore

It all began in the vast and varied capital Phnom Phen, with Sarah and Ted. A sprawling city with one of the biggest contrasts in wealth we have seen. For this reason it was difficult to fall in love with this town. The river is dotted with swanky bars and cafe's for the city's elite and western clientel but a few blocks in and the squalor is astonishing in comparison. Baring in mind Cambodia's horrific and very recent event's at the hands of Pol Pot and the Khymer Rouge we visited S-21 and the killing fields. S-21 was the school turned prison used for holding and interrogating hundreds of people for crimes as unfathomable as wearing glasses, speaking a foreign language or being able to read. The killing fields were 10km out of the city and need no explanantion other than the victims from S-21 were taken there for their fate. All in all it was an eye opening and gut wrenching day.

Our journey then lead us to the small dirt track town of Ban Lung in Ratanakiri Province. We travelled for 12 hours in a mini bus crammed with far to many people for the number of seats, along a dirt track made up of pot holes the size of kitchen sinks. Amazingly we got there in one piece and so did our vehicle. We settled into the quiet town pretty quickly with a beer and a bbq dinner. The following day we sorted ourself a driver to explore the surrounding waterfalls. We hopped into the back of his old dusty toyota and drove through villages of stilt houses and forests of rubber trees that the villagers farm earning themselves a staggering low wage (because a rich westerner has bought the land and they have to pay to farm it!) The waterfalls were vast and beautiful but we were to scared to jump the 7m drop into the murky rain disturbed lake at the bottom! Our day ended at the stunningly serene crater lake, a perfect circle of clear shrimp infested water surrounded by jungle. We did brave it and worked on our water acrobats to swim in the soothing warm water. Always watching the shrimps who were after our toes! After a tiring day we returned for a deep slumber to prepare for the return bus journey to Phnom Phen. We made sure we'd got our own seats on a big bus for the return journey, but in true Asian style this did not mean it was going to be a smooth ride! The bus left at 6:30am, not long after 7 there was an almighty crunch and the bus came to a halt at the side of the road and we all piled off to see what was up. It turned out it was one of the back wheels...literally lifted up off the road from a broken back axel and protruding from the wheel arch! We spent hours in the growing heat all trying to cram ourselves in the ever decreasing shadow created by the bus, playing cards and dancing in the road, all to the Cambodians amusement! All the men sat huddled around the back wheel looking at it...we attempted a few times to ask what was happening but their reply was a blank stare, so after the first couple of hours had passed we feared we would spend the rest of the day there! After the third hour hasd passed and we'd stopped looking at oncoming vehicles for rescue we heard an engine stop close by, and turned to see...a replacement bus...our luck was in! We all moved quickly to get our bags and a seat on our new bus, which turned out to be much nicer and had air con!!

We must be gluttons for punishment because as soon as we arrived back to PP we booked another all day bus to Siem Reap. A lovely arty crafty town with lots of markets, the old, new and night markets - all selling the same thing obviously but with three girls and Ted we managed to cruise them all! The restaurants we're great, particularly the 'Dead Fish Tower' which housed multiple make shift levels of tables in a maze conrcted by ladders and a crocodile farm! We fed the greedy monsters with tiny fish but we're unnerved by their eager jaws! The night life was also pretty happenning so we got stuck into swanky cocktails and not so classy buckets of voddy!!! Siem Reap is a lovely place in its own right, a small chilled town on the riverside, but obviously the main attraction of the area is Angkor Wat.
When we eventually managed to drag ourselves out of bed early enough we journeyed to Angkor Wat for sunrise. It was truley spectacular, the sky growing in orange and red, lighting the dusky clouds as the sun rose behind the infamous towers of the mighty Angkor Wat Temple. We spent the morning venturing the 'small circuit' of the sprawling empire, taking in the many temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom - the larger of the ancient cities particularly stunning was the Bayon temple, made up of hundreds of faces of 5 different people from the ancient kingdom, it grows into a towering point in the middle - also seen in Lara Crofts Tomb Raider!

Our Cambodian journey ended on a definate high, and quite different from the somber beginning in Phnom Phen. Cambodia certainly is a country of extremes but endering nonetheless.

Don't forget to check out our photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/annaandheidi

Off to Bangkok we go!