Cambodia

Left: Yes, its true if it moves its fried and eaten in Cambodia!!!

.. so its now the eds turn (better late than never I know) ..so here goes....

Cambodia is another developing south Asian country full of contradiction. For anyone from Dorset roots -magnify the contrast between Sandbanks and Boscombe and for those Oxfordians amplify the contrast between some parts of Blackbird Leys and St Giles!

We arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodias capital city, in 007 style - by speed boat up the Mekong Delta from Vietnams Chau Doc ( as this was rightly deemed the quickest and least hassle method through the border and respective controls.)

For us both, as two people who were never really interested in much history before, Cambodia (as with Vietnamese history) really does make you sit up, think and take some time to delve back in time (albeit relatively recent time,) to understand why it is the way it is today.

My experiences in health & social care in the UK- having met and talked to many elderly war veterans and young injured marines following their return to base, has nothing on seeing and talking to my peers in Cambodia who have lived through and bear the physical and emotional scars of the Khymer Rouge regime. In addition the country is full of further reminders for all those young children who haven't even lived through this recent atrocity but still suffer today with the effects of the remains of warfare - with ongoing undetected land mine explosions, devastating consequences of limb loss and worse still, parent/carer loss.

So, with our eyes and ears fully open, we took the time in the capital to educate ourselves by taking another tuk tuk ride (much to Pauls pleasure to have another engine and spec to analyse,) to visit the Killing fields. We soon found we were fortunate enough to have found our first non pushy tuk tuk driver. He was a gentle and clearly highly university educated man in his mid 30's, trying to live on through his memories of the Kymer Rouge (who'd killed his father and seriously maimed his mother) and use his excellent English to earn a living for his young family. He gave us a real life insight into the facts!

Left: our tuk tuk driver & guide!








The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Vietnam War. At least 200,000 people were executed by the Khmer Rouge, using unimaginable torturous techniques. (These statistics do not account for the other multitudes of deaths that resulted from the policies laid down by the Khymer rouge regime.)

Above left & right: Killing fields and stark evidence!

Following this visit & a tour around town and the Cambodian art galleries, we settled by the riverside for our lunch break. Being typically interrupted several times by various people, old and young, able bodied and seriously disabled (following mine injuries) our consciences started to kick in as we scoffed our face yet again.

As we are unable to keep giving money to such desperate causes, equally unable to physically carry any more books (photocopied fakes) in our back packs and also both unable to read very quickly, we decided the best thing to do at that moment was to invite one of the men selling books to join us for lunch and a drink. He accepted our offer for a coke and to share our cheese sandwich ( though his face didn't seem to look that impressed with western style toasties!) and we sat all together on the cafes patio. Quite a humbling experience when you can't communicate verbally with a man say only 10 years our senior and just have to sit, smile, gesture and nod to someone who has adapted incredibly to having no legs and no hands...inspiring!

Following all this, we made our way to our next destination, 185k south west, to Cambodias coastal town and primary port of Sihanoukville. This was once, in the 60's and 70's the bees knees seaside town for those few lucky, well to do Cambodians. For us however, the heavens were not shining down on us, as we experienced constant 24/7 monsoon rains throughout our stay - which was our 1st reminder of the need for us read up in advance of the seasons in countries! Nevertheless, we spent our time taking strolls up and down deserted sandy beaches; experiencing the local art of 'threading' and dreaming of the amazing watersports we could have done 5 months earlier !! Feeding times were scheduled to cooincide with the local 'dine for a cause' establishment opening hours - which made us feel we were still atleast trying to travel responsibly despite our size 9+ growing carbon footprint! See http://www.starfishcambodia.org/.

Above left: dreaming of what could have been - or is that a rather large bottom lip??

Above right: Deserted sands

Left: With no Imac available - desperate measures call... threading of the legs

Luckily during our stay here we utilised the accomodations Sky Discovery channel to brief us on Angkor Wat, before taking yet another'VIP' ('Very Idiotic People' to believe it actually means plush!) bus to Siem Reap.

Siem Reap is a capital city, and in its own right has alot to offer the longterm and holiday traveller in terms of accomodation, eateries, markets etc. But it is perhaps best known for its proximity to Angkor Wat and the multitude of magnificent temples that just seem to spring up from nowhere!

For us , we decided to use the Lonely Planets suggestion and map to explore Angkor Wat by bicycle. Yes, in significant heat, with suncream spread like your favorite jam and some water supplies we pedalled hard from our city accomodation into the depths of the temple complex built for the King in the 12th Century. All I can say is you've just got to see it to believe it!! ....makes Stonehenge look rubbish!!

Aside from the one puncture we had a great day and had our first travelling encounter with some local wildlife...fantastic!!!

Other days in Siem Reap were spent visiting the Cambodian Landmine museum, participating in another cooking class, giggling at a fish foot spa & relaxing in another local charity eatery with the butterflies (bought off local kids to provide them an income!) We also had the realisation that yes, it really is a small world on the traveller circuit when we coincidently bumped into some of our friends we had made during the China Intrepid group tour!

Above left & right: Breakfast with nature
Left:Fish foot spa - eating off any dead skin - ...urrggh!!!








As for the Cambodian Landmine museum- it is pretty self explanatory for those untravelled to the area - but a visit to the website is recommended - http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/.

Left: all types of landmines collected to date by one dedicated man !!








With all theses adventure in hand, it was yet again time to move onto to our 5th country, so we boarded our bus to take us over the border into Thailand. (You soon realise that using planes to get into any country is by far the easiest and most relaxing way to cross a countries borders and bureacratic controls!!!.....so for now I will conclude with my favorite saying - " everyday is a school day!"