11.10.10 - 10.11.10

Cambodia began easily enough, as soon as we got off the bus in Phnom Penh we were surrounded by tuk-tuks drivers wanting to whisk us away to a hotel. Being the trusting fellas we are we got in the first one to approach us and we were on our way. Having settled in we discovered the locals are all good humoured and the friendliest we have came across since India. Phnom Penh was a funny old city considering it's the capital, really quiet and vast open roads. Whilst here we saw the Killings Fields of Choeung Ek, where the Khmer Rouge took victims for the slaughter. I won't go into detail on here, but the history of Cambodia is horrific. Pol Pot made Hitler look like an alright chap. Before doing this we went to a firing range, we began by sitting down and we were handed menus. We were glad as we were a bit peckish, but the main courses consisted of machine guns, and for dessert were various rocket launchers. We ordered a few rounds on an M16 and AK-47, though chose to shoot coconuts rather than cows or chickens. The last day in Phnom Penh we watched a kick boxing match which was rather entertaining.
Next stop was Sihanoukville, where we managed to spend ten days beach bumming and partying. On our last day here we decided to go to one of the many islands, where we chilled out and had the whole place to ourselves, with the exception of a few stray dogs, Scrap being our favourite, and our least favourite we named Ratdog. On our way back from the Island we were caught in a storm, being scared of deep water i wasn't looking forward to the trip anyway, but the six-hour trip was my worse experience of the trip. Our little boat was tossed around all over the place. We spent another night in Sihanoukville for a Hallowe'en party before moving on to Koh Kong.
Koh Kong was a pretty dead town so we didn't stay for long. Whilst there though we visited the Tatai Waterfalls which were just lovely.
Lastly we stopped at Siem Reap, a base for seeing the Temples of Angkor Wat. It took us until our last day here to visit the Temples, which were incredible. As nice as they were though, we weren't quite sure how people spend a week exploring them without getting bored. Siem Reap turned out to a bit of a boom town, not what we expected of it at all. So we spent a few fun days here before getting the bus out of Cambodia into Laos.
Our time here ended with a bit of a twist. The morning we got up to leave, Tino decided against coming as he wanted to accompany a young lady he met to Bangkok. We had a go trying to get him to change his mind, but he had none of it. We said we'd get in touch once we arrive in Laos. Good luck Tinny!
Cambodia: my favourite place we have been to so far, a sentiment shared by most of us. The people were really nice and the country is beautiful, a place I would certainly go back to to further explore.