Phnom Penh & Siem Reap!

Our journey from Koh Phangan to Phnom Penh was the longest journey we have had yet, consisting of tuk tuk, overnight boat, taxi, bus, aeroplane and another taxi. It was hectic! One of the girls we met in Koh Phangan, Erna, met us there, and another, Kaytee, met us a couple of days later. It was fantastic to see another countries with the girls and stay in contact for a little while longer as we all got on very well.
The history of Phnom Penh is fascinating, and we spent a (very sad) day exploring the killing fields and prison. They were both very shocking. The Killing fields were very quiet and serene with lots of butterflies and trees around. It could be such a beautiful place. It's awful to hear how recent the tragic events were and to learn that the majority of people in Cambodia will know somebody who lost their lives under the regime. Every time it rains they discover more bones of those buried in the mass graves. There are even clothes and bones which are visible. It was distressing to see the clothes of very small children. Pol Pot believed that it was better to murder an innocent person by mistake than to risk not killing somebody who could be guilty of opposing his regime, and would kill every member of a persons family so as not to risk anybody taking revenge. This included babies. They used to play music from loud speakers to drown out the screams of those being killed. The audio tour was very good and used accounts from people who actually witnessed what happened and how it affected them and their country.
Our trip wasn't all sad though and on a different evening we went to a boat party with some people we met at the hostel. It started late which was a shame as it was meant to be at sunset and by the time the boat left the riverside it was dark, but we still had a great night.
On another day, me, Kaytee and Erna hired quad bikes and explored the Cambodian country side at sunset. It was amazing to see what the rural areas of the country is like - as there are only three big cities and the majority of the rest of the country is made up of small villages. All the little children living on our route would run out to wave at us and say hello. They were extremely cute, yet I didn't wave back much as I didn't want to lose control over the bike and risk hitting one of them!
That evening we got a taxi to Siem Reap where we visited the amazing Angkor Wat temples. The taxi ride was terrifying. Our driver even drove down the wrong side of the road on a busy highway for a while until Erna asked him to stop. I have no idea what he was thinking. It is often a rarity to have seat belts in taxi's aswell, and so we were all gripping our seats. The temples were gorgeous, and definitely worth the taxi ride from hell. We saw the temple that Tomb Raider was filmed, and all had fun climbing around the rocks putting on our best Lara Croft impressions. My favourite temple had lots of huge faces everywhere. They were like nothing I have ever seen before and it was interesting to imagine what they would have looked like when they were functioning temples hundreds of years ago in the twelfth century.
Me and Jess left for Ho Chi Minh city the next day for another stressful journey of long buses, this time unfortunately with a horrible stomach bug. I spent the entire 13 hour bus ride being sick into a plastic bag - not pleasant for me or anybody else who was unlucky to be sat close to me!