kez & hay travels 06

We stopped off for a couple of nights at the second largest city in Cambodia before reaching the border.  We met up with a moto taxi driver recommended to us by a friend and he drove us around the surrounding area of the city.  We went to the Killing Caves - in similar morbid style to the Killing Fields, these were caves where the Khmer Rouge threw Cambodian civilians into the caves and left them to die, if they had not already died from the fall.  The rock is actually still stained from all the blood shed at the time.

We moved on to visit surrounding villages and saw fruit bats as big as dogs.  They are apparently a delicacy in Cambodia but these particulary ones had found safe-haven in a tree in the back garden of a monk's abode.  We then visited an orphanage run by a monk who welcomed us in and told us about his charity.   Run for the past 12 years a lot of the children were HIV sufferers, he spends a lot of time educating the surrounding community about the illness and to try and get past the stigma.  There is also a big drug problem with children from primary schools falling victim.   

The next day we left for Bangkok on the bumpiest roads ever - breaking down didn't help either!  At Thailand's capital we visited the Royal Palace where every building is decorated with such vibrant colours and with such intricate detail.  The reclining Buddha was built before the building that holds it, because it is so big.  Each foot measures 3 metres each!

After our quick visit to Bangkok we journeyed down to the east coast islands.

(For more photos on Thailand see our existing Thailand album.)