Wat's Been Going On?

Greetings,

When last we spoke I was on my way to Cambodia, so now that I have been there I thought I'd best you lot know what it was like!

The first port of Cambodian call was Phnom Penh. At first I was slightly perturbed as it just seemed like a big city, however, there are enough sights and other thing to do in the local area to make it worthwhile.

Firstly, I visited the National Museum which was pretty good. Alot of statues and stuff of Buddhas taken from the Angkor ruins. Next I went to the incredible Royal Palace, which was simply stunning. The beautiful architecture, and the colour of the buildings against the stark contrast of the blue sky was amazing.

After the Royal Palace I went to the Silver Pagoda next door which was superb too. So grand and almost gaudy which various Buddahs and other statues cast in gold encrusted with 25 karat diamonds. Pretty strange thought really, when you have all that decadence, when, only a few hundred yards away, you have people whose legs have been blown off by an errant landmine begging for money to feed themselves.

In the afternoon there was a definite subdued mood clouding the group as we made a visit to the S.21 prison and The Killing Fields. Both were incredibly moving, and it would be unnecessary, inappropriate and morbid to describe the brutal goings on that occurred here. Anyone that is familiar with the regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge will understand.

The next day we left Phnom Penh and travelled to Siem Riep for what would prove to be another highlight of the tour - Angkor.

After the incredible experience of watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat we visited some other temples at the Angkor site.

First off was the Ta Prohm temple which was wonderfully atmospheric. This site is featured on the front of the Cambodia Lonely Planet guidebook. Overrun with trees and tree roots protruding from the most unlikely places it looked more like something from the set of an Indiana Jones film of something like that. In fact so much so, it was actually used as part of the Tomb Raider film set a few years back.

Following Ta Prohm we visited Angkor Thom and The Bayon site, which again were wonderful. Bayon is made of many large turrets all engraved with images of the heads of Buddhas overlooking the site which gives it such a presence and looks incredible. After that we returned to Angkor Wat for a proper look round and to climb the oh-so steep steps to its summit.

All in all, absolutely magical, I can't recommend it enough.

The next day we took a ride to the mine museum in the outskirts of Siem Riep which was really interesting. Basically, its all run by this one guy called Aki Ra who has completely devoted his life to the safe removal and disarming of landmines across Cambodia (of which there are still an estimated 3 million remaining, and those that are still there claim the lives of approximately 2 people a day). An absolute legend and modern day hero.

I thought I would share with you some of the photos that I have taken over the past few weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia so here they are:

A giant dragon in the Cantonese Assembly Hall - Hoi An, Vietnam



Me getting ready to unload a few rounds from an AK



Me and Anna (my tour leader) on the Mekong - Mekong Delta, Vietnam



The Royal Palace - Phnom Penh, Cambodia



A random monk enjoys the Angkor views - Angkor, Cambodia



Sunrise over Angkor Wat



Hoped you enjoyed those. As for me, I am now in Bangkok following a 10 hour journey (including 5 hours in a pick-up truck over the most bumpiest roads you would ever have the misfortune to drive over!) so its all good.

Right, thats all from me for the moment, hope you are all well. Take care of yourselves and I will speak to you soon.