Shanghai Times

Amara here. Our trip to Cambodia became longer then we had originally planned. But we both enjoyed the country so much that we decided to stay and see more then just Ankor Wat. Our bus ride into Cambodia was very difficult. We were victims of the bus scam thats common between Bangkok to Siem Reap. Once across the border of Cambodia there was no bus waiting for us to continue onto Siem Reap and we spent around three hours of the afternoon just sitting around. They purposely make the trip long and difficult so that when you finally arrive in Siem Reap after nearly sixteen hours of travel, you'll stay at whatever guesthouse the bus brings you too. Erik and I, of course, left as soon as the bus stopped to the anger of the hotel employees and found a much nicer guesthouse right in town.

The temples of Ankor are just amazing. It's hard to believe they were built more then one thousand years ago. Here's some pictures.

After Siem Reap, we decided to visit the capitol, Phnom Pen. We were able to visit all the tourist sights that focus on the tragedy the Khmer Rouge brought to Cambodia. We visited the prison museum where the Khmer Rouge questioned, tortured, and eventually killed many Cambodian people. We also visited the famed Killing Fields where they disposed of the dead bodies. It was a very sad experience, but good to see.

What surprised me at the prison museum was the exhibit on the water boarding technique used to torture victims. It disgusted me that my country uses the same techniques.

Cambodia is still feeling the after effects of the destructive Khmer Rouge regime. It's impossible to not notice the poverty in the country. We became very aware when we were visiting a temple in Phnom Pen. Monkeys lived around the temple and Erik, of course, bought bananas to feed them. We noticed a little girl watching us as we were feeding the monkeys. She was a street kid, dirty and just wearing a little skirt, no shirt. It was such a sad moment because we realized she was probably hungry and we were just feeding the monkeys. So we gave her the rest of the bananas. It was a heart warming moment because as soon as we walked away, all her little friends came running up to here and she distrubuted the bananas so everyone had one. I would love to return to Cambodia to do some volunteer work at some point.

With a couple more days to kill before our flight left for Malaysia, we decided to go to Sihanoukville, a beach town in Southern Cambodia. It was highly recommended by other backpackers. It was a nice couple days laying on the beach, swimming in such warm water. I got really sunburned though.

Luckily, our trip back into Bangkok was not nearly so troublesome. We took a boat to the border, spent the night and then took a nice safe government bus back to Bangkok. We look forward to being in Kuala Lampur tomorrow!