Riots, Temples, Dolphins and Sunburn

Cambodia is a fantastic country plain and simple. The people are really nice and the food is unbelievable. It has home comforts (electricity) but still maintains its heritage, and if truth be told I wish I had longer here.

But before I get too involved in telling you all about cambodia I should touch on the riots that occured in Bangkok about 2 weeks ago. I was there when the protests started and I commented on the BBC website about how peaceful and calm everything was. I walked amoungst the protestors and got chatting to them, i even had a good chat with the riot police :D Everyone is so keen to keep things calm for tourists that they were really interested in telling me there side of the story.

I decided not to volunteer with the tigers because unfortunately I did not have enough time. Instead I visited Ayatha which is the Angkor Wat with Thailand. I got there by local train which was in itself hilarious. I was the only westerner on it, there was no aircon and the train decided to sit at Bangkok station for over an hour for no reason.

When I returned to Bangkok the protests had escalated and the people had started closing roads, they tried to blockade the train station but my tuk tuk got me back safely. At no point did I ever feel threatened or scared, since both sides wanted things to remain peaceful for tourists. However the locals were saying that Thai new year was 2 days away and I thought things might get ugly then since it was a national holiday and famous for its water fight which bring locals and tourists onto the streets. So after one more day looking at temples and shopping I crossed the border to Cambodia and headed for Siem Reap.

The next day was Thai new year and it turned violent and made international news. Most tourists in Thailand that I spoke to had no idea there were protests going on. The english newspapers available in Khosan Road (main tourist district) did not speak of the riots, and it was only due to the BBC that I knew anything about it at all.

The temples of Angkor around Siem Reap were fantastic, and I spent 3 days there exploring different temples, riding bicycles and chilling out during Khymer new year. They were great but there is not really much to say about them other than the fact that the Lara Croft movie has made them more touristy, they have Lara Croft trees :D

I then went to phomn penn (PP) which was deserted due to Khymer new year, and headed to northern Cambodia to the Mekong river. In the small town of Krati it is possible to see Mekong Irwaddy river dolphins and they were so much fun. I saw 5 adults and 1 baby catching fish and squirting water at each other. In Karati i also got my first taste of the rainy season which offically starts in about 4 days. The storms was loud and there were lighting strikes every 6 seconds. The streets were flooded within minutes and most of the local market floated away.

I then returned to PP and visited the Tuelslang genocide museum which was the main torture place of the Pol Pot regime and the killing fields which is where most of the victims of that place ended up. I dont really want to go into detail about it since it was very upsetting, especially when you realise that most of the current government of Cambodia is Khymer Rouge and that there is not really any effective justice here. Pol Pot is dead and local people say that even those convicted by the current genocide trials (which only started 3 weeks ago!) are not serving there jail sentences. They pay poor people to serve them for them.

I went to the beach for a few days for chill out time and now I am back in PP waiting to fly to Kuala Lumpur to meet mum and dad. I cant believe I am over half way through my trip but I am having a great time.

I just wish that I had more time here, but I am looking forward to Malaysia and a winter in New Zealand !! :D xx