Cambodia

I went not knowing what to expect. I made it back, barely in one piece. I think everyone should see Angkor Wat at least once in their life.

The poverty among the local people in Siem Reap is appalling. Children roam the streets without shoes and half naked. The sanitation levels are just inhuman and the air so polluted the PSI reading would have registered at least 300. The heat beating down is unbearable. The smell that circulates the air is pungently rancid and nasty. This is not what puzzles me.....I would expect that from years and years of civil war.

Everyday thousands of tourist arrive in bus loads from all over the world. Filling up hotels to full capacities. We paid SGD $140 for our hotel room a night. They charge us USD 20 a day just to enter the Angkor Heritage park. That place is crowded. You can't even take a picture without having a stranger in your frame. We had to hire a car to take us round the park. The fees USD 25 a day. Lunch was the most horrible tasting thing that I have tasted in my life.....fried snake head fish ( taste like a rotten fish ball...mushy, fishy, pasty) cost USD 5. Fried beef USD 5....worst tasting thing I have ever eaten. (it's meat from a buffalo!!!!). All these money pouring in from the thousands of tourist, where is it going? This is what puzzles me....hopefully one day in the near future all the riches and wealth from all the tourist dollar will filter down to the people of Siem Reap.

Although I fell really ill the last 2 days of my trip, I am really glad that I made this journey and have this opportunity to see one of the greatest archaeological finds of our time.