The Riel Cambodia

In the past, when someone mentioned the country of Cambodia a variety of things would come to mind - none of them pleasant. I would conjure up images of mosquito-infested jungles and the Khmer Rouge - followed by the inevitable war and terror. These ideas made the prospect of travelling here slightly intimidating - but knowing that it's no longer on any travel advisory list and that 'everyone does it', we took the plunge.

We arrived via the Mekong river to find many bathing naked children along the river banks waving and screaming hello with huge smiles on their faces. This friendliness (but, thankfully, not nakedness) extended to the adults along the way also - and to many, many others throughout our time here.
Considering their terrible recent history, pervasive poverty and statistics such as an almost 1 in 10 infant mortality rate, each warm smile has surprised me.

The landscape, too, was not what I had expected. Cambodia is flat! Eastern Alberta flat. It's the dry season here so the brown rice fields dotted with shrubs and palm trees that disappear in the distance make the place look like pictures I've seen of Africa.

Some other expectations have also been proved incorrect - the US dollar is preferred over the Cambodian riel (even amongst locals), so far the roads have been decent to travel on, and it seems almost regular to see monks whizzing by on the backs of motorbikes or taking a 'smoke break'. In fact, a young monk at a computer beside ours at an internet café asked Alex and I if we'd like to "see his monastery". Hhmmmmm.....

While all of these things have been slightly shocking, the regular tourist stuff has delivered the expected. We were depressed after visiting 'The Killing Field' and S-21 prison (used by the Khmer Rouge) in Phnom Penh. Our motorbike tour to temples, fruit farms and along the bamboo train in Battambang was a great deal of fun. The bamboo train in particular was bizarre - one track carried the small wooden 'cars' both directions, which meant that if two came face to face, the one with the lightest load had to remove their equipment, let the other pass and reload!
Finally, the three days we spent exploring the temples of Angkor near Siem Reap were simply magical! They were not the disappointment that many other famous tourist sights can be. Alex and I are now excited to spend some time in the northeastern part of Cambodia before heading to Laos.

A final bit of good news...we've managed to get some more pictures up! They include the remainder from our time in China and an overview of our trip through Vietnam. Hope you like them!