Hello

I think the last time I wrote was while we were in Thailand sitting all day in the rainy, rainy weather. Not much has changed, except that I'm now in Sihnoukville Cambodia. Well actually it has only rained today but it hasen't stopped for one second.

When we left the beach in Thailand we met Meag at the airport. So good to see her after so long! We spent a full day at the weekend market where CP went crazy buying everything from placemats, to bags to dresses. I cant beleive how much she got for under 100$. It's really rediculous and I think I might go a little crazy when I go back there at the end of my trip. We spent an agonizing day travelling from Bangkok to Siem Reap. It was fine for the most part on the Thailand end as the roads were paved and we had an empty bus to ourselves. But once we got over the border that all changed. The roads were dusty and full of potholes and we had 20 people crammed into a 15 person bus, with all of our bags. Our bus broke down 3 times along the way. It took us about 8 hours to get 160km. The reason the roads are so bad is that the Thai airways have been paying the Cambodian government to keep them in poor condition so people will fly instead. We are hoping that was the worst trip we will have to take. Knock on wood.

We spent 5 days in Siem Reap and 3 of those days at the Angkor Temples. They were absolutly incredible. I cant describe them and pictures dont do them justice. They are huge and so detailed. Some walls are like 200m long and each sqaure foot of it is carved with different stories. Our guide was also great and knew so much about all of them. We visited about 10 different temples and didnt even scratch the surface as there are 100's. Apparently they have just taken pictures of the area from space and they think only 1/3 of all of the temples have been rediscovered. So many of the are deep in the jungle that they are hard to get to.

One of the best ones was where Tomb Raider was filmed. It is so interesting because all of these massive trees have grown through, in and around the temples. When you see the size of the trees it makes you appreciate how old these temples are. The oldest one that they know of was finished in the 9th century. Considering how old they are, they are still in remarkable condition.

We took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Pehn which was great. I love boats and water and it was a beautiful day. We spent most of the time sitting out on the top deck watching the scenery- the fishing boats, floating villages and shacks in the jungle.

In Phnom Pehn we visited S21 which was the main prison during the genocide. Records arn't great but they think about 12000 people were detained there and only 7 made it out again. Seeing these tiny little cells and the methods of torture was really sad. Most people were brought there because they were an intellectual, or related to someone that was. We didnt get a chance to see the killing fields but I have heard they are also very hard to see.

We spent awhile at a few different markets and were blown away by the prices. If possible it was cheaper than Bangkok. You can buy tanktops for 1$, apparently from the GAP but thats probably debatable, dresses for 5$ and purses for 3$. I would go crazy if I had any room in my bag to carry this stuff around with me. But at the same time, seeing the beggars in the streets and the kids that live in the smallest houses ever, makes you realize that we take so much for granted. We probably bought more clothes between us in one day than a family gets in a year. Unnesecary.

One of my best memories so far was hangning out with a couple of street girls for the night. They were trying to sell us books and paint our nails. We talked to them for awhile and eventually agreed to it. We ended up buying them dinner at a restaurant and just talking with them. They have never gone to school but have learned English from foreigners. They both had such great spirits and personalities. It was really neat just to get to know them.

As I said before we are now on the coast. Yesturday was great but it hasent stopped raining at all today. And since it is rainy season there is a chance tomorrow will be the same. We have planned a boat, fishing, trekking trip to an island though and we get to try BBQed Baracuda for lunch.

I think Meag and I will be heading down south next week to maybe Malaysia or Indonesia. I will try and update soon. If anyone has Facebook check out my pics there. It is sooo much faster loading them onto that instead. But I'll keep trying!