Siem Reap

Ok we are now in Siem Reap at the moment after a great time in the crazy world that is phnom phen...truly exciting city and pretty scary walking home on unlit streets knowing how many guns there are in the town...but only like new york really...anyhoo...The first night we met up with James and Niki went for a few drinks, waking up a little worse for wear we hiked off around time going to visit the Kings palace, the national museum and some mini art galleries..we made it (only just) in the heat of the day and saw some wonderful pieces of khymer art at the museum and the truly impressive palace....got a little confused in the silver pagoda as they had put carpets down covering the thousands of silver tiles so it was a bit like is this it or isnt it? but beautiful nevertheless.

The next day we had a fab time driven around by a guy called Dike to all the genocide sites...the mass graves at the Killing Fields and S21 the site of the prison where they tortured thousands before their execution. A truly harrowing day, made all the worse by speaking to Dike about losing his brother to the Khymer Rhouge. Real heart wrenching stuff - and a real reflection after vietnam thatthe human race still hasn't learnt any lessons - considering whats going on in Iran Iraq and Africa in the current times its crazy. How many times does history have to repeat itself before it stops or is this it? Is this what the human race is destined for until its inevitable destruction?!?...anyhoo I'm ranting but as you can tell truly moving stuff that really makes you think about the nature of the world.

Well anyhow on that happy note we are off to Ankor Wat (the biggest religious site in the world!) on some electric bicycles (a cross between a moped and a push bike) will update in a couple of days post exhaustion I'd imagine...