From Phnom Penh we took a bus up to Siem Reap and managed to score ‘business class’ seats so the six hour journey flew by. Famous for the Angkor Wat complex of temples, Siem Reap is major tourist destination and seems a world apart from Phnom Penh in the South. Along with thousands of extra tourists this meant it was easy street for a few days with a pattern of temples in the morning then lounging by the pool until happy hour started on Bar Street for 50 cent beers. We stayed at the ‘Golden Banana’, perhaps the gayest hotel in S.E Asia and certainly one of the nicer places we’ve stayed on our trip. Perhaps this should be a new criteria when trying to decide upon a guest house?
The temples were amazing and by getting up super early we managed to get them to ourselves for a few hours until the hordes of tour groups arrived. Tomb Raider was filmed on location at Ta Promh, a temple being slowly swallowed by the surrounding jungle, and it feels like the land time forgot. Whistling the theme to tune to Indiana Jones and armed with our trusty torch we scoured the walls for a hidden switch to the secret treasure chamber. Most of the child shop keepers are trying to sell dodgy temple replicas and t-shirts but would do so much better if they offered whips and Fedora hats.
For an interlude to our adventuring and to escape the punishing heat for a day we signed up for a cookery course to learn some of the secrets of the delicious Cambodian food. After a trip to the market for ingredients we got down to business and created a small feast then gorged ourselves till the noise on Bar Street signalled it was time for happy hour.
Leaving Vietnam by boat we arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. After a day of settling in and getting acquainted with the very friendly locals and delicious food we arranged a trip around the less savoury parts of the city to see the relics of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Located in a former high school the S21 interrogation camp is where perceived enemies of the Khmer Rouge were imprisoned and tortured in order to obtain confessions of treason and lists of accomplices. Those named would soon be arrested and suffer the same fate. Once the necessary confessions and denouncing of others had finished the prisoners were taken by the truck load to the killing fields for the final stage of Pol Pots political cleansing. To save money and equipment the executions were very brutal and a giant column of smashed skulls was a gruesome testament.
Back in the city we watched men in long boats race down the river in preparation for the annual water festival from the Foreign Correspondent’s Club bar. Since it was the King’s birthday while we were in town we paid the palace a visit to help give him the bumps. Unfortunately it seemed that all of the cake had been eaten by the time we arrived and there wasn’t a balloon in sight so instead we contended ourselves with a look at his solid gold, diamond encrusted Buddha.
Despite being miles from home we still like to uphold our traditions so we bought a pumpkin from a floating market in Vietnam and smuggled it into Cambodia for carving on Halloween. Armed with only a travel spoon and a penknife it was quite hard going but we did our best whilst watching a Simpsons Halloween marathon on TV. We would have loved to see the cleaner’s face after discovering it hidden away in our hotel room 
