In terms of history, Cambodia has the full range, from glorious ancient temples
to tragic modern graves.
After hearing so many great things about Angkor Wat and the dozens of temples around the touristy but enjoyable town of Siem Reap, I bought a three-day pass and headed off (one day in a shared tuk-tuk, one riding a bicycle and one on the back of a motorbike) hoping not to be disappointed. And I wasn't. The temples really are very impressive.
But the tragic side of Cambodia was ever-present. Groups of children spend their days trying to make sales to temple-visiting tourists and I spent my time in Cambodia reading about its brutal past, specifically the books "First They Killed my Father" and "The Killing Fields" (tourist spots in South-East Asia are full of people selling cheap, photocopied books, which is great for avid readers with limited backpack space like me). In Phnom Penh I visited the Killing Fields and S21 Genocide museums, which I found very moving. Unbelievably, there I saw a group of Asian tourists laughing while posing for group photos; I know lots of people comment on the annoying photo-taking habits of tourists from Asia, but that group really got to me because I had just been staring at a photograph of skulls that still had blindfolds on before seeing those tourists.
I had a lot of fun in Cambodia too, like at the fish massage in Siem Reap
and riding the bamboo train in Battanbang,
so I was glad that I made it there to round off my time in South-East Asia.
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