SIEM REAP - CAMBODIA

It was only an hours flight to Siem Reap but looking out the plane window the landscape quickly changed colour from lush and green to a sunblasted brown. Unlike Thailand it was clear blue sky all the time I was there. Cambodia was a lot more "third world" than Thailand. The roads were very dusty with lots of motorbikes instead of cars. Stayed in the well named Geckoos nest (it was full of them) apart from one Australian I was the only one there. They did have a friendly dog................



Obviously the main aim of going to Siem Reap was to see the Angkor Wat temples which is covered on the next entry.

One disturbing image I won't forget in a hurry was the vast number of beggars in the city. At the time of writing it was the worst place in the world I have been to for it (Kathmandu was a close second). My policy with these people is not to give anything as it only fuels the problem and makes it worse in the long run.

Angkor Wat turned out to be the last "touristy" thing that I did on the trip as the world cup kicked off during my time in Cambodia. I had seen a lot on the trip so now it was going to be bars, late nights and football fixtures.

I walked into a bar to watch the first England match and the first person I spoke to was from Shepshed less than 3 miles away from where I live. With the exception of having to stay awake until the early hours of the morning it was great watching the world cup in a foreign country. In most cases there were fans of whoever was playing in the bars creating a great atmosphere.

Apart from that and visiting Angkok wat I did little else during my time there probably because of the late nights and the endless walking around the temples during the daytime.

To be honest after going there I didn't and still don't see any reason to visit elsewhere in Cambodia. The other person in the hostel had been to the capital and said it was bad. The stories of people being robbed at gunpoint and dodgy policemen were more than enough.

I flew back to Bangkok after 5 days............