Phnom Penh, 13 January 2003

Dear All,

We arrived in Cambodia on the 11th - took a 3 day boat tour from Saigon through the Mekong delta to the Capital Phnom Penh. The trip was billed as 'more boat less road'.

After the bright lights of Saigon it was a surprise to see everyone along the river living in such primitive conditions particularly on the Vietnamese side of the border. Really shocking to see people bathing, washing their hair and brushing their teeth in the river, the kind of thing you expect to see in India but not Vietnam.

The contrast between Vietnam and Cambodia is immediate. From the border the riverside along the Mekong is far less developed, polluted or exploited, rural homes are generally primitive but much better built, better looking and the landscape is incredibly beautiful. It seems like the only positive thing Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge time-warp achieved is conservation. Some hotels here in Phnom Penh actually tout the 'The Killing Fields' film as a selling point!

Contrary to all the bad things we'd heard and read about the Phnom Penh we actually quite like it and have decided to stay an extra night before heading to the South coast where we can kill time before taking the trip to Siem Reap and Thailand.

Haven't felt threatened here at all - the locals seem very friendly and not nearly as pushy as the Vietnamese. The Cambodians don't go in for haggling much partly because they don't inflate the prices as much as the Thai or Vietnamese.

Encountered street kids for the first time yesterday: homeless kids with no shoes scouring piles of rubbish for recyclable or luckier ones selling a big issue type newspaper. It's hard to resist giving them money but heart breaking giving money to some but not to others just a desperate :(

We've both been eaten alive by some tiny unidentified parasites we picked up on the trip and were both still itching.

Have hardly seen any mosquitos till now but still taking the medicine just in case!

On a brighter note some of the posters and graphics are brilliantly hand painted, food is excellent and the architecture and temples are awesome.

Off the see the killing fields this afternoon - 15km just outside town by tuk-tuk - I'm sure it will be pretty grim but this ain't no holiday in Cambodia.


Cambodia, Angkor Wat, 21 January 2004

Off to Thailand tomorrow - taking a 12hr bus ride from Siem Reap to Bangkok, not looking forward to the journey because the roads in Cambodia are known to be the worst in Asia :(

We arrived in Phnom Penh fearing the worst as its only 5 years since gangs armed with AK47s cruised the streets in pick up trucks - but it's surprisingly safe as long as you don't wonder around on your own too late at night.

After a couple of days in Phnom Penh we took a bus to visit a seaside resort on the South coast called Sihanoukville and hooked up with one of our travelling companions - it's amazing how often you bump in to the same people over and over.

Between PP and Sihanoukville the countryside is spectacular- looks far too exotic to be Cambodia it's more like somewhere in Africa.

Managed to find a hotel with hot water - which ain't that easy in Cambodia. Most people it seems don't have access to clean bathing or drinking water.

Spent a couple of days on the beach pursued by hawkers that will sell you anything from a massage to an egg with a chick in it! We had to share a taxi for the next leg of our journey to the knackered old colonial town of Kampot - with 5 other people! Apparently some taxis get so crowded that someone has to sit on the drivers knee! I've actually seen someone sat on the taxi bonnet (passenger side of course!).

People drive on the right side of the road mostly! but all cars here seem to be right hand drive. If your lucky enough to drive on a road it can still get incredibly bumpy with huge potholes and craters.

Our taxi drivers bribed a policeman to let us drive down a road that's still under construction. After making it safely to kampot we hired a moped a rode it motocross style down a dirt track for 24km to the abandoned seaside resort of Kep for a crab lunch. Kids waved at us the whole way from their grass hut homes. Took another taxi back to PP and stayed overnight and took the boat to Siem Reap the following morning.

More soon, got to go.