Cambodia to India

Dear All,

Much time has passed again and we are now in India, but before I update you on the situation with our broken truck, let's talk Cambodia! We arrived into Phnom Penh (PP) after a 24 hour bus journey from Vientiane, capital of Laos. The night bus was a sleeper - literally. It had no seats, only beds. We were given a double, but as you can imagine most SE Asians are not as tall as Mark so we struggled with the space. We arrived into Pakse in Southern Laos the next morning where we picked up the day bus, which had great armchairs, and proceeded onto the border.

Once we were a good few dollars lighter we had had our health checks (a scan with some wierd electronic implement) and obtained a month visa for Camodia. On the way to PP we met a guy called Macca from Coventry and as we were the only ones left on the bus and he knew some people in PP we followed him to the Walkabout bar and stayed there the night.You may now be picturing some Australian themed pub; not so. The Walkabout is basically a bar where alot of ex-pats go to drink and pick up prostitutes! We left the next day, not due to the prostitutes more to the old men!

We met Kevin, a really nice ex-pat who was a friend of Macca's and who teaches English in PP. He helps out a charity run by ex-pats called CHOICE. They were due to go on one of their bi-weekly visits to some local villages. CHOICE works with some local people as well and between them they visit 4 villages once a  month with a medic, food, clothes for the kids and adults and some entertainment for the local kids. On the day that we went a clown came and entertained the kids with balloon making whilst the medic and the nurse saw the villagers and we handed out the food and clothes. The charity has provided water filters for every villager and they are trying to see if they can get a school built.

It was a really good day and we saw a side of Cambodia that I'm not sure we have seen without them. It's a poor country. There are, I think, more non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Cambodia than any other country. There's even a section of PP that everyone knows as the NGO quarter. Not surprisingly, when you see the cars they drive and how the NGO workers live, there is a lot of cynicism about the NGOs. There are definitely things they do that are very worthwhile, however one wonders if they are not destined to become ineffectual and victims of their own success.

When we talked to the people from CHOICE and they talked about building a school you can see the problem start to arise; you can't just build a school. You have to have land and permission which means lawyers and bankers being involved - this is on a small scale, but imagine if you were UNICEF or OXFAM, you would have huge legal departments and so on. We can't go into all the issues here, suffice to say that the question of aid is full of contradictions and problems.

The most prominent issue of Cambodian history is, of course, the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, or Brother No.1 as he was also known. The Killing Fields that have been documented in the film and books came after the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1978. The backdrop was the American war in Vitenam. A war it should be said that didn't just affect Vietnam. Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the whole world for its size and forty-plus per cent of bombs didn't explode. Cambodia was also bombed heavily and in both countries we saw the victims of unexploded land mines, cluster bombs and other ordinance.

The rise of the Khmer Rouge was devastating for Cambodia who lost 23 per cent of its population. The idea, in short, was based on Chairman Mao's 'cultural revolution' in China, where a heavy emphasis was placed on agriculture and those seen as intellectuals or as city workers were seen as part if the capitalist problem. The Khmer Rouge's first victims were those who lived in the cities and those who were intellectual - or educated. They were moved into the surrounding countryside and subsequently many of them were killed.  We visited the notorious S21 which was a high school in PP that was turned into a torture center and prison and the loal killing fields where many were buried. It was nothing but grim and the impact on the population is still apparent today. We met people who were our age who had lost both parents during the regime.

Today though, PP is a vibrant city. We really enjoyed ourselves there. It has great bars and restaurants and its possible to meet some really cool people. It could really do with a women's movement and some serious development. The sex industry is rife.

The other famous part of Cambodian history is Angkor Wat. If you've seen them film Tomb Raider you'll have seen some parts of this incredible complex. It covers 30,000 square kilometers and includes some of the most incredible buildings you've ever seen. Building began in 802 AD and the temples were origianlly Hindu, although later were developed as Bhuddist as well. The actual temples of Angkor Wat are amazing and are being steadily overhauled and preserved. Then we went to Angkor Thom which was once a city one million strong. Most of the houses were wood so they are long gone but the temples and walls remain and are vast. We finished day one with Phnom Bakeng, the highest point of the whole complex which people urge you to vist at sunset.

The next day we saw the temples where nature has taken its course more so than elsewhere. The temples of Ta Phrom and Preah Khan (the tomb raider set) feel magical. Trees that are five hundred-plus years old have grown up and around the temples and are almost as majestic as the buildings themselves. This combined with piles of stones and pillars strewn accross the ground and around the still-standing temples make you feel like you've just discovered it. Indian Jones eat your heart out. The thing that was great about it was that even on the second day you weren't tired of looking around.

From Siem Reap, the home of Angkor, we headed South to the beach. Sihanoukville is Cambodia's beach resort and the gateway to its islands. We went there mainly to see our friend Quest and help him celebrate his 24th birthday, but we met up with some other friends Jen and Stef who we also met in Chiang Mai. There was as it turned out a proper little group of us, Dan, Ruth, Dice and Miles being some of them. We mainly hung out at a bar called Leopold's which was showing all the world cup games and gave out free shots everytime a goal was scored! With such an international group we had someone to support in most games!

We left Sihanoukville to come back to PP and 2 days later to fly to Kuala Lumpar and then Goa. We shopped, ate and drunk and met up with people we'd met at the beginning of our Cambodian experience. Finally it was time to leave SE Asia. We'll come back to do Vietnam on motorbike another time. We really enjoyed oursleves there but we were looking forward to coming back to India, the truck and a more independent way of travelling.

Next update coming very soon, love from us both xx