On Boxing Day Kate and I were scheduled to take off for Cambodia, but our plans suddenly were put in jeopardy the night before when without warning Kate developed a nasty flu. I was feeling a little sick myself, but I was still in much better shape than Kate. Cambodia isn't exactly known for its modern medical facilities, so we weren't sure if going ahead with the trip was a wise idea. Well fortunately my brave traveling companion somehow found the strength to get out of bed and onto the plane, and now you can all enjoy these photos:

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Kate spent our first day in Cambodia in bed while I ventured out on my own with the promise that I wouldn't go visit any important temples without her. I kept my word and went for a grueling walk through Siem Reap and then out into the countryside where a couple of lesser temples could be found. Siem Reap's odd combination of fancy hotels and abject poverty kind of reminded me of Atlantic City, but with a stinky dirty river in place of a stinky dirty boardwalk.




The young ruler of Cambodia, King Norodom Sihanouk looks down upon his subjects and tourists.



Snails and insects are what pass for street meat in Cambodia.




Oh wait, I forgot about this street meat. I guess these chickens and ducks on the ground weren't technically meat yet as they were still clinging to life. I decided not to get to close to the sickly looking poultry for obvious reasons. It became pretty clear to me that all those news stories about chickens in South East Asia being culled were somewhat exaggerated. Both in Vietnam and in Cambodia, there were chickens just about everywhere you looked, roaming free in streets.



Just about as dangerous as the diseased chickens were these makeshift gas stations by the side of the road.




Typical Cambodian "Gilligan's Island" style home.



After walking all the way to one of the lesser temples I found myself stuck in the middle of nowhere with no easy way to get back to civilization. Luckily this kindly German fellow named Uver offered to let me ride back into town with him in his tuk tuk.




The next day Kate was feeling a little better so we rented our own tuk tuk and headed out to see the sights. Here you see the entrance to Angkor Thom, an ancient walled city which I later learned that night on the Discovery Channel covers the same area as Manhattan. Yes, Discovery Channel was showing a special on Angkor the same day as I was in Angkor... go figure.



First stop was Angkor Wat, the mother of all temples.




Angkor Wat is a pretty fun place to explore, with almost nothing off limits for tourists. To get up high enough to take a nice photo like this, one must first scale a very steep staircase to the central temple.



Since Kate wasn't really up for much climbing, she elected to stay below. When I returned I found Kate where I left her, but with two new friends who had been creeping her out. Sorry for abandoning you Kate! We headed back to the tuk tuk and set off for the many other temples. I wouldn't have had a clue which ones to see, but fortunately Uver had been kind enough the day before to give me a thorough explanation of what's worth seeing and what's best to skip. Here's some of the really cool stuff we saw...














Our last day in Cambodia we decided to forgo seeing any more temples, and spent the day shopping, drinking and eating in Siem Reap. While Cambodia is certainly the most dirt poor place I've ever been in my life, it already had one of those dumb trendy bed bars. Siem Reap's tourism business is growing so fast these days that I'm sure that in a few years it won't look anything like it did while we were there. Kate and I were witness to a momentous event for Siem Reap as the day we leaving, the town received its first ever ATM capable of withdrawing money from foreign banks. That already puts Siem Reap one step ahead of Noheji.



That's it for part 3. Next stop, the beach!