Cambodia

Apparently the only way to cross this border is with difficulty and confusion. We got a bus to the nearest Thai town Aranyaprathet. From there we could either walk the 7km to the border or get a Tuk Tuk. After 15 minutes of the wind and bugs in my face we arrived at the border crossing into Cambodia. This was a little stress inducing as i was quite positive a bribe was going to take place at some point. This small strip of border was the biggest eye opener yet as we were looking third world poverty in the face. Kids almost instantaneously surround you and try to get some sympathy money from you with one hand out while their other hand wanders into your wallet. There were several casinos where many Thai's go to gamble large amounts and outside naked children and emancipated people. The officials are all corrupt and you can read it on their faces when they look at you. The trick i found is to pull some sort of face of your own whether it be a tough guy face or a 'i'm a mental' face to show you know whats what.

After we successfully made it through the border check we got a 4 hour bus journey to our first port of call Siem Reap. Siem has one small main road and the rest are barely paved and the people everywhere want money and they want it from you. From our hotel we hired a Tuk Tuk driver for the next day and planned our itinerary, after a few lagers it was time for bed.

As planned we met our driver at 5am to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. Angkor was amazing, it was so peaceful among the glorious ruins of an ancient civilisation. We spent all morning there and at a nearby jungle temple where they apparently filmed Tomb Raider.

After lunch we were taken to get a boat trip to see a floating village in the largest section of Cambodia's main river that runs through the whole country. Do not ever take this boat trip. It was hands down the worst thing in the world, a river where there is nothing to see but very brown water and dirt on either side while during the trip kids come up right beside you on a smaller boat and stick a live snake in your face and say '2 dorra'. When you get to the floating village the boat guide takes you to a little shop and everyone there tries to guilt trip you into buying a few jotters for the floating village school kids, i've never known jotters to cost $25. The floating village looks fairly small and on further research we found that over 2 million people stay there making it a very large slum on water, bring on the tourists. The only cool thing was that i ate a grasshopper.

The next morning we had another early rise to catch a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. This has even more people that all want your money for one thing or another. We spent one day and night here and during our time we went to the Genocide Museum and the killing fields. I don't want to write too much about these but it is now a struggle to think whether i should have gone or not. It is by no means an experience that you must see while in Cambodia and you leave saddened by a country that had a great past that can be visually seen through stunning ruins then destroyed by a maniacal leader and government which has only left the country with extreme poverty and horrible 'anything for a dollar' people.

The next morning we hopped on a bus to Saigon, now named after Uncle Ho, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam which lasted about 6 hours. I'm excited for what the city and communist Vietnam has in store for me.