Cambodia

Back in Cambodia, one of my favorite countries. My last visit here was in 2005, which is not that long ago, but there is a noticeable increase in tourism here (especially tour groups). To my relief, the Cambodian people are just as lovely as I remembered despite the boost in tourist numbers.
In Phnom Penh we started off walking around a bit to see the sights. A very good idea I thought until Dan walked past a German shepard dog that almost took his arm off (No bites, so no worries). I swear the dog had huge teeth and I almost had a heart attack. Luckily the dog was chained, but I was wondering if maybe we should've had those rabies shots after all. Too late now and better just to stay away from any dogs in sight, which is the way I prefer it anyway. We managed to visit the mighty Royal palace, Tuol Sleng and the killing fields. Toul Sleng was a former school that was used as a prison during the Khmer Rouge. Only a handful of the prisoners survived and the rest were tortured and killed at the killing fields. A very sad and disturbing part of the Cambodian history and it feels a bit weird that Toul Sleng and the killing fields are some of the main tourist attractions here. It is a strange feeling to walk around in rooms and in the field where so many people suffered and died and hopefully the willingness to share these horrors will help to educate the next generation and hopefully prevent such atrocities from happening again anywhere.

Our next stop was Siem Reap from where the temples of Angkor is easily accessible. We had a very comfortable bus ride to Siem Reap and then met a tuk-tuk driver named Saly. He had a nice face and smile, so I picked him from the crowd of drivers that tried to get our business. It turned out to be a good choice and he was the nicest guy ever. Saly and many of the locals here think I look like  a Cambodian local which is a bit amusing. They always look at me several times and with a face of disbelief when I say I'm from Sweden. 
Our first outing went to the floating village on a nearby lake  where we enjoyed a stunning sunset and also got to see a school full with over-energetic kids. They even liked Dan which is a bit unusual :) He's not the most kid-friendly person I know!! Then we spent three days visiting temples and more temples. Unfortunately, the hordes of tour groups was a bit annoying and it was sometimes a pain to try and get a good photo without too many people in it. Despite this minor annoyance the temples were stunning. In the morning of the the second Angkor day I experienced the first Delhi belly aka Montezumas revenge aka Travellers belly for the trip. Plenty more to come I'm sure. I wasn't sure I was going to last wandering around in the temples on that day, but fortunately I changed my mind after a quick fix up with Immodium. Luckily we have another 98 tablets left:) (we bought in bulk in the US) which we'll need for our next destination: India.