3^rd to 14^th Jan Stayed around Sihanoukville, though moved hotel a couple of times, once to Otres Beach, lovely bungalows on white sandy beach, sea warm as a bath and hammocks to laze in. Check out the website for Sea Garden Bungalows on Otres beach, hard to  find better!Very relaxed time here specially as generator went off at 11pm. We discovered that they have plans to knock down all the hotels and bars here to make way for some large hotels, so we were lucky we have seen it now before it gets spoilt. Returned to town for last few days, Zorbed again, and did another day in the private cinema, not much more, this really is a great place to chill. Darren decided to extend his holiday by 3 weeks, maybe something to do with the snow in the UK? Or maybe Mary?? So we waved goodbye and left him to the sun and sea as we continued our trip to Phnom Penh.

15^th to 18^th Jan. Spent in PP. A very nice city, much quieter than Ho Chi Min City, with French Colonial architecture, though much of these buildings are being knocked down and redeveloped. We visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum. Very harrowing: a school that had been taken over by Pol Pot regime for interrogation / torture of many thousands of prisoners over a 3 year period. Similar to the Nazis, every detail had been catalogued by the regime. Photos of all the prisoners, and exhibits of the items of torture were all on show. After confessing they were taken to the local Killing Fields, which is now a monument and tomb for the 8,000 dead who were usually bludgeoned to death and buried here.

18^th to 26^th Jan. In Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat, it is understandably known as the 8^th wonder of the world. We also visited a few of the surrounding temples, which are like Indiana Jones ruins, some with beautiful carvings, all excellent. We visited a floating village (though it’s more like a stilted village) on the shores of Tonle Sap lake, travelled there by tuk tuk, then motorbike (muddy track) then a boat and finally a canoe around the mangroves. 2,000 families live here, their houses are built on very tall stilts due to a 3 mtr rise in water in the wet season and also as a precaution against snakes, spiders and crocodiles.

Siem Reap is a lovely small town, lots of shops, markets and good restaurants with some great western food which we are enjoying after 4 months in Asia. Went to see some Apsara dancing, quite the most boring dancing  we have ever seen, even more than the Yak dancers of Tibet, the Stick Bangers of Nepal, the Chinese Opera, and definitely worse than the African Maasai Warriors, who were our favourites so far. Els was thrilled to go horseriding though, she did lots of cantering, and used a western saddle for the first time. We also had a trip round the local villages on quad bikes. It was good to see a close up view of village life other than from a bus window. A speciality here is Dr. Fish; this involves putting your feet into a tank of flesh eating fish, and having them nibble the dead skin. We had to have a go, what a scream, literally, well actually uncontrollable giggling, due to the extreme tickling. It worked though, after our 6 months on the road, the fish had plenty to eat that night. Finally we decided to lighten our bags a bit, so took some things to a local orphanage, PLEASE read the separate blog page, see the pictures, follow the link and donate something towards them.

We have really loved our time in Cambodia, not only is it a beautiful country, but the people, who have been so harshly treated for decades by wars and then by Pol Pot’s regime (which saw a quarter of the population systematically killed) are so genuinely friendly, and also have the warmest smiles of anyone we have met. There is so much more to see, so we can definitely say “We’ll be back!”