Saturday 17 January 2009

Visit Cambodia

We've fallen in love with Cambodia in the short time that we've been here. The country has a lot of charm, as it's not as developed as neighbouring Thailand. The people have lived through some very dark times, and there's still a lot of land mines after 30 years of civil war. Looking to the future, people are always smiling and enjoying life.

Travelling on the main tourist trails here has been really easy with modern buses, tuk-tuks and motorbikes. The main cities, like Phnom Penh and Siem Riep, are landscaped with the busiest streets tarmacked. We've felt safe in all the places we've visited.



Rural areas look similar to those in Laos and Thailand. Most house sit on stilts and are made of anything from bamboo, wood or concrete. They don't have such luxuries as glazed windows. The land is flat, and villages are surrounded by rice paddies. The cows graze in them now, as it's the dry season and only the stubble remains. Kids are brought to work with their parents; babies hanging off a bike's handle bars in a sling, or under mummy's arm on a motorbike. Some kids can't afford to go to school and work instead.



Animals are a big part of life here too. We spotted a cat eyeing-up a tray of dried fish and another one sleeping on a pharmacy counter. In an internet café, a dog was sleeping at Jen's feet and two geckos were fighting on the wall above. Seconds later, one of the geckos lost its grip and crash landed on Jen's keyboard.

Tomorrow we leave Siem Riep for Thailand by bus. We'll walk across the Cambodian-Thai border at Poipet and then catch another bus to Bangkok. All going well, this should take no more than 14 hours...

***STOP PRESS***
As we're posting this update, a guy next to us in the internet cafe is kissing the computer monitor as he's having a video chat with his girlfriend. What a strange guy - and he's not 15 either...

1 comments:

davidjwaugh said...

Keep the blogs coming!