Paul's Country Review: Cambodia

Cambodia, surprisingly, is a really cool place. The people are nice and the atmosphere is a lot calmer than Vietnam. Despite an extremely troubled past, Cambodia is home to a large ex-pat community resulting in a wide variety of good restaurants and bars. The capital Phnom Penh, is a nice, quiet, small town without a whole lot to see or do, but it was nice walking around despite the heat. It took us all of two hours to see the city and its sights. People seemed content to hang out in the many cafes lining the river, drinking coffee, beer or wine and passing the day away.

The entrance to Cobra-la. If you are a male in your 30's and don't know what that is, re-evaluate your childhood

People driving on the street! No make shift eateries taking up the whole sidewalk! Absurd!

The whole street along the river is lined with bars, restaurants and cafes

The main draw is, of course, Siem Reap - an ancient complex of temples and tombs, it's an impressive sight. It had a much more organized feel than other, similar sites and was the first place that I had the feeling of occupation - that people actually lived and worked here. In Bagan, Myanmar, it just felt like a bunch of temples, occupying the same general area without any connection between them; the legacy of one king or another. The ruins in Siem Reap felt lived in and that gives a wholly different experience than walking around some monuments from a past you can't possibly understand. 

Here's the supermarket

Are you going to tell me they didn't worship alien overlords? Look at the carvings!

The long walk to Buddha

Away from all of ruins, the city itself is a pretty cool place with a load of restaurants, bars and shopping. You basically spend all day exploring the ruins, then return to town and party like its 1127! We had a great time in Cambodia, and is one of the few places we wished we had more time there.

This guy came to party

Wait, they didn't have DJs in 1127!