I have been trying to update the blog for days but Cambodian technology has been against me and I finally found a pc with a CD drive and UBS port! Well, I can't believe that a little over 2 weeks ago we packed our backpacks and took the sleeper train south from Chaing Mai back to Bangkok. Chaing Mai is an amazing city and after spending 5 days there, cooking (www.theglobalsoupkitchen.blogspot.com), exploring on foot as our nerves needed a break,
more watting, and visiting the most amazing street market we had ever been too, as well as visiting the Royal gardens and a temple which is perched on a hill over looking the city, we were reluctant to leave.
We spent a brief day in Bangkok visiting the Royal Palace and the surrounding Wats before exploring China town were we were staying before heading East to the Cambodian boarder. The Palace was amazing as you have never seen so much gold leaf and paint and the attention to detail is truly impressive. Even the flower pots are ancient and must be worth a fortune (trust me to notice the plants...).more watting, and visiting the most amazing street market we had ever been too, as well as visiting the Royal gardens and a temple which is perched on a hill over looking the city, we were reluctant to leave.
The first half of the trip to Cambodia started off well, we were in a bus with functioning air conditioning etc but things slowly when downhill as we approached the boarder post... After fighting with the boarder police (as we refused to pay him his bribe as he was ripping us off) we eventually got out visa's without the threatened wait of 3 hours for 100 extra Baht and were mobbed at the boarder by 5 special "government tour guides" and confronted by a sea of mud. We got on the free van which was supposed to take us to the bus station and instead dropped us off at the worst bus company in Cambodia. We were harassed into buying tickets after wading though sludge to escape the totes only to wait 4 hours for the bus which was always coming in the next half an hour. Eventually we were loaded into a minibus and driven out of town. Yay, we were on the road. The worst road in the world but we were moving. And moving to a special remote place were our bus lay in pieces and was being reassembled for us.... Another hour later and the bus from a century ago was "ready" despite the fact that the floor was still littered with bus parts. The the fun really began as 6 hours of spine crunching, bump numbing torture started. At the end of the trip the bus driver was lying to us, wouldn't let us out of the bus in the town we were going to until 20 farang were screaming at him to stop an tuk-tuks were chasing us to see where it would all end. Oui va voi! Not a good start to Siam Riep and Cambodia but we were all united in our ordeal and became friends.
After a days break, we set off with our Ried (a.k.a the cowboy), our tuk-tuk driver to explore the temples of Ankor Wat which were truely spectacular. We were in awe most of the time and the cravings and statues were amazing. On the first day we concentrated on the main temples close to the town, with the second day spent driving through the countryside to some carvings in the stone of a river bed so that the waters of Ankor were blessed before they entered the anchient city. On the last day we explored the remaining temples and went to Rolous on a ride that was so scary that we had to close our eyes! Cowboy was on good form....
Our last night in Siam Reip we spent like true tourists with a buffet while watching some Apsara dancers which we very beautiful and controlled. Then it was a last drink at the funky munky, a bar run by an English couple who raise money for the local charities through quiz nights etc. On Monday morning Greg and I parted ways though the puddles of water and rain, with him setting out on the road through hell again, this time in a taxi back to Thailand and SA, while I headed south solo, to Phnom Penh. 
Phnom Penh is a crazy city with beautiful deserted french colonial buildings standing abandoned next too modern complexes and official offices. But these buildings are not totally empty as they are home to the cities monkeys! And when they want to head to the near by parks to steal food they just walk along the telephone wires! 
After one day spent sightseeing and walking along the Mekong river I headed further South out of the hot city to Sounak Ville on the coast. Here I have spent the last few days lying on the beach on a deck chair which has been great as I have been trying to read about Cambodia's history. There are millions of totes on the beach though and one lady took it apon herself to give me a makeover - I must have been looking scruffy, but before I knew it my toenails were bright pink. Today we took a trip down a mangrove lined river in the bordering National Park and after getting stuck in the mud eventually arrived at a deserted beach where we swam and then trekked through the jungle to enjoy a barracuda bbq surrounded by sea hawks and loads of birds. Loving the cheap fresh seafood and it has been good to explore but heading on tomorrow to Kampot and Kep for a few more days beforegoing back to Phnom Penh.
