We arrived into Cambodia and took a pit stop at Khampang Cham before heading to Siem Reap the next day. The only hotel that wasn't booked this late at night was a bordello for $6 a night. I'm not entirely sure it was a bordello but the were many girls hanging around and the hotel offered "massages" for a fee. The rooms were clean and we didn't have much other choice so we set off to find dinner. I would say Cambodia has the best western food in South East Asia. The Khmer food is very good too. On our bus ride to Siem Reap the restaurants were offering "Happy" shakes and "Happy" Pizzas. There were a lot of restaurants like this in Phnom Phen too. We skipped the "Happy" pizza and went for the burritos next door. Cambodia is the first place on our trip where we have found Mexican food.
We arrived in Siem Reap and stayed at the Ivy Guesthouse grabbed some dinner at a restaraunt with butterflies flying around everywhere. We had what was supposedly the best burger in town and it lived up to its name. After so much asian food we were happy to test the towns western food out. The next day we went to Ankhor Wat and other surrounding temples. The temples were amazing. You really need to experience to get the sense of awe.
That night we went to a bar called X bar where they had a high definition projector showing Kill Bill on the roof. We relaxed and had a few beers while watching the movie and I tried out a drink that was a in a Buddha temple shaped bottle. The bartender said it was rice wine and he mixed me a drink with lemonade that I had to shoot down after he shook it up. It was delicious.
The next day we went to a military compound to shoot guns for the experience. They had a wall of guns that we could fire in a shooting range. For $40 I shot an AK47. Then I split the cost of the biggest gun they had which was one of those guns with the tripod. It was fully automatic and very powerful. I knew this would be the only time I would ever be able to experience something like this and it was worth it. They bazookas too but they had run out of missiles so we just posed with them Rambo style.
The following day we caught a boat to Phnom Phen. The boat was so crowded we had to ride on the roof for about 7 hours. I tried rotating which parts of my body I covered from the sun and it worked out pretty well. Everyone that giggled at me for wearing my bandana in funny ways are now extremely burned and look like lobsters. Who's laughing now, muwahahahha!
When we arrived in Phnom Phen we were bombarded by tuk-tuk drivers and were lucky to find a good one. He was very informative with tons of information about the recent history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. While in Phnom Phen we visited the Killing Fields and the Genocidal museum where we watched a documentary on the slaughtering that occurred. Its crazy to think about what happened only about 30 years ago. The killing fields were an eye opener. We stood at the base of a temple that held 2,000 skulls of dead Cambodians that had been tortured and killed. We saw the holes there bodies were thrown into with clothing and bones sticking out of the ground. I cant believe the man responsible has still not been punished and he is about 80 years old now. I saw him on tv at court and he came up with a way to delay his court hearing even more. The genocidal museum had pictures, torturing devices, and the cells where the victims were kept. I dont understand how people can be so cruel. Hopefully nothing like that could happen today with the internet and tv. People wouldnt stand for it if they knew about it. I would hope.
Now we are back in Singapore awaiting our flight to India and Nepal on the 26th.
