"I want tomato because it has my name in it"

After I last wrote, I continued on my journey through Cambodia. I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I immediately went down to Sihanoukville, searched for accomodation with a group of people I met on the bus, and ended up at a super cheap hostel. I was absolutely exhausted and beat down, and felt like I needed a break from traveling, if only for a few days. The first night in Sihanoukville was awful. At midnight, the power cut out (apparently a common occurence in Sihanoukville), and that meant no fans in the dorms. The cramped, dirty dorm was a sauna, and there was no possible way to sleep. I went outside to rest on the patio a few times, but was eaten alive by mosquitoes. At one point, I just started covering my face in tiger balm to get a cooling sensation. The next morning, two Norwegian guys from my bus were also moving places, so we decided to split a room in a hotel down the street near the beach. Naturally, this meant that I spent two days hanging out on the beach with Norwegians! On the second day, we checked out Otres Beach, which was supposedly a much more quiet and oasis-like beach a few kilometres down. It was beautiful, and it was amazing to just relax for a few days. No sightseeing, no crowds. On the second night, the Brits arrived and, sticking with tradition, I met up wih them for a night of drinking. We went to a few different bars along the beach and caught up from when I'd last seen them in Saigon. Since I had to move accomodation the next morning anyway (the Norwegians were headed off), I got a room in the Brits' hotel, and that set the tone for the rest of Cambodia...
 We spent two more days in Sihanoukville, one at Otres, and the next I broke off to do a scuba diving trip off of Koh Rong, a serene island lined with beach bungalows off the coast. The diving was phenomenal. The first dive, I couldn't get down, as my sinuses had been a little rough from a cold. I decided to wait for the second dive, and took the opportunity to do a little snorkelling nearby. Almost immediately after I swam over to the rocks, I looked down through a school of fish and spotted my first shark. It was nothing big, either a bull shark or a black tip I think, but it was enough for me to decide that I'd seen enough, and head back to the boat. After lunch, I gave diving another shot and managed to get down. The reef was gorgeous. Instead of bleached coral like you see now in much of the world, the reef was alive and full of life and colour. We saw giant porcupine fish, fuzzy crabs (I think that's what they're called...), blue-spotted stingrays, and too many fish to count.

Some of the hundreds of skulls in the memorial at the killing fields

 The following morning, after a serious lack of sleep, we all headed to Phnom Penh, the capital city. It was the four guys, a German girl - Hannah - and I, and I was more than happy to have some other people to make decisions for me for a few days. Almost immediately after arriving, we ran into Neil, a guy we'd all met in Laos who's biking around the world. We decided to group together for the next day of sightseeing where we would visit the killing fields and the S-21 prison, both important landmarks in the genocide led by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

One of the buildings at S-21 prison

Pictures of the victims at S-21

 We started with the killing fields, a place where prisoners were taken, murdered, and buried in giant pits. Because bullets were expensive, they explain the brutality of the murders which could sometimes be pretty graphic. While hearing all of it is depressing, I actually found it less disturbing than the Vietnam War Museum. I think it was because without the imagery, it's hard to picture all the chaos and brutality when you're only staring at a pile of dirt. Either way, it was an eye-opener and a must-do. Next we headed to the prison which had a much more intense experience attached to it, for me anyway.You walk into each cell, and you can still see the blood stains on the ceilings and walls from people being tortured. Then you walk around the rows and rows of faces; images of the victims, with women, men, and children, young and old. Every so often you'd hit an image that just stared deep into your soul, and you could feel the fear and pain. You then wander down the rows of tiny chambers where prisoners were held with wooden doors peeking open, and it's haunting. By the end of the prison, I got the depressing dose of reality that I'd been expecting that day.
 Meanwhile, all day long our tuktuk driver had been drinking, celebrating Songkran - Thai New Year. By the end of it, he was pissed drunk and there was nothing we could do but go along with it and have a good laugh. He kept asking us if we wanted cheap beer, so he ended up taking us to a cell phone shop with a fridge...They pulled out a table and chairs and a long night of festivities began yet again. Eventually we moved on to a restaurant for dinner, and by the end, our driver was drunk enough to let one of the Brits drive the tuktuk while he rode with us in the back. I can't imagine what people must of thought of some white guy driving a tuktuk around downtown Phnom Penh with a load of drunk people stuffed in the back.

Frog legs for dinner!

 Back at the hotel, I ended up running into the two Canadian girls from Tofino that I'd met in Hoi An, Vietnam, and they joined our group for an evening of dancing. Overall an amazing night in the capital.
 Our last stop in Cambodia was in Siam Reap to visit the famous Angkor Wat. We knew the best way to do it was either sunrise or sunset so we opted for the former and rolled ourselves out of bed at four in the morning to head over to the temples. Nine hours later, we were hot, sweaty, exhausted, and totally templed out. Angkor Wat was amazing though. The ancient ruins intertwined with giant twisting trees gives a mystical feel as you wander through archways and around fallen stone. After a ridiculously long day, Hannah and I decided to take some much needed girl time to have dinner and shop, and ended up meeting up with some of her previous travel buddies for a few drinks and pool. That's just how it works here: you want a peaceful night, yet there are always going to be more new people to meet and down time just doesn't work. After debating if I should stay in Cambodia longer or just head back to Bangkok with the group, I decided to head back to Thailand and get things in order before Indonesia. It was crazy to think that I was back in Bangkok. It seems like so long ago that I was here with Rachel and Jo and felt like I still had my whole trip ahead of me. It makes me unbelievably sad to think that my trip is so close to ending (which is completely ridiculous since I still have six weeks...). The guys decided to stay in Bangkok for one night and go all out, so of course I joined in, as it was probably my last night with them. I've now had two days to relax, catch up on sleep, and prepare myself for my next big stop: Indonesia! I'm beyond excited to see Saskia and do our advanced diving course while living on a boat for four days, not to mention all of our other amazing stops along the way. I head to the airport in four hours, and am counting down every minute!
 Oh, and by the way, my title is a reference to a joke one of the Brits made that I felt summed up my travel week with them: a good laugh (his name is Tom and he ordered tomato...I laughed so hard that I ended up crying hysterically...).
*more photos coming soon!

Most of the group clubbing in Phnom Penh (courtesy of Facebook)