Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

I took a bus from Sihounkville to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. The bus ride was uneventful, four hours of bus riding and I arrived in the bustling capitol. Phnom Penh has an interesting and rich history. Cambodia, like Laos and Vietnam was colonized by the French. Cambodia flourished after World War II, and Phnom Penh was seen as a bustling and cultural center for Southeast Asia. Then in 1975 after the Vietnam War ended and the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh's millions of citizens were forced out of the city and the the city became a war zone. The war ended and now the city is regaining its vitality and beauty. I enjoyed my visit to the city, it was a total of 24 hours, but I met Roy and Carrie Crawford who took me out to dinner and showed me the city at night!

The next day I hopped on another bus that took me to Siem Reap. This bus ride was 6 hours and was still uneventful. The road was little more bumpy, but still the ride went smoothly. I arrived and got picked up by the guest house I was staying at, the manager greeted and told me that the room I had reserved was actually not available since one of the guest's decided to stay an extra night. They booked me one night at a guest house down the street, which was very nice. I took a tuk-tuk to the temples that night and walked up a hill to see the sunset! While the hill top was overrun by tourists, it still had fantastic views.  I took a million photographs!

The next two days I went to around the Angkor temples, which are fascinating and gorgeous. I nearly lost my camera on the second day, it fell off my bag but some French tourists picked it up and as I was returning dropped it off to me!

I met some really nice people in Siem Reap at my guest house. There was a group of two Australians, two Germans and one Russian who were all traveling alone but had met up by chance at this guest house. We went to dinner for two nights and I went to the night market with several of them. I returned to Vientiane after two days and three nights via airplane and with one of the Germans, Bea, accompanying me. She was going to Laos before returning to Thailand and flying to Vientiane was the cheapest way to do it! I took a cab back to Xuyen's house!!