After Sil and Peter had sufficiently returned to the living again (they were knocked out with a flue), it was time to move on to Cambodia. We travelled the whole day by bus to Cambodia. The border crossing was like a ‘milky way', every 10 meter there was another government official requiring a new form to be filled in and, of course, some dollars to cover for the expenses made. So we felt milked like cows once more. Only when we entered Cambodia, we realized how poor Laos really is (one of the ten poorest countries in the world!). In Cambodia the streets were busy again with traffic and all means of motorized transport. Along the roads lots of shops, workshops for cars, gas stations, etc. What a difference with Laos! One could feel the (economic) activity buzzing in the air. We stopped over in Kampong Cham to break the long bus trip. Good decision: the next day we had another 5 hours of bus to Siem Reap in the north of Cambodia.

Siem Riep is famous for the Angkor temples from the Khmer rule from the 11^th to the 14^th century AC. What an amazing wonder, these temples. Unbe-fuckin'-lievable, would be the word to best describe them. There are over 1,000 temples in the area (of which only 40 are de-jungled and can be visited), with Angkor Tom, the old city with numerous temples and Angkor Wat, the absolute most sacred temple in Cambodia, being the most important. We started small, working our way from the more remote and smaller temples to Angkor Wat and finally Angkor Tom. We spent three full days on the bicycle, exploring the many temples. Lasse and Sil brought a compass and headlight, so they could investigate the many dark alleys without getting bored. The stone-cutting, bas-reliefs and uncountable ornaments were really stunning. Too bad that many temples have suffered from the rain, bad foundations and had been left to become overgrown by the jungle. But then again, this also provided for some very picturesque scenery, which is why many adventure films have been filmed there, like Tomb Raider starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.

Seam Riep itself is a nice and not-too-big city. Touristic but relaxed. Apart from visiting the temples of Angkor, Lasse, Sil and Peter went swimming at Aqua, a bar annex swimming pool owned by and frequented by expats. Claudia enjoyed some time on her own, visiting the museum and doing some shopping. We all bought a kroma, the traditional Cambodian scarf, worn on or around the head, or around the neck, or as swimming pants, or over the mouth in case of dust, or between the handlebars of a bicycle for your one year old child, and you can also use it as a towel to dry yourself (after swimming or showering) or the dishes. Now, if that's not a multi-functional piece of clothing, we don't know what in the world would be!

From Seam Riep we travelled by boat to Battambang. We crossed Tonle Sap Lake and went through real swampy rivers, a unique experience. The boat left an hour late and was so heavily overloaded with all luggage and lots of extra passengers on the roof that it tilted dangerously to one side. Two hours before arrival our boat broke down. The steering did not work anymore. After some useful hints from a Dutch engineer who happened to be on board, the skipper managed to repair it and we were on our way again. Later it was ‘definitely' fixed when we passed a floating repair shop (impressive!). This meant, however, that all the passengers had to wait another 30 minutes, but that's the way things go in Asia.

In Battambang we stayed at a luxury resort with swimming pool to enjoy Christmas. We had to do something to get into the mood for Christmas. But with 30 degrees Centigrade, no snow and only a small Christmas tree it was pretty damned hard to do that. We watched the Muppet's Christmas Carol, which did the trick. The high-light was our Christmas banquet dinner at a neighbouring resort, where Santa Claus dropped by and handed out presents to all the kids around. A very nice surprise and the fact that Santa's pants started dropping did nothing to reduce everybody's happiness....

At the resort we met Terry, part-owner and from Tasmania, who was part-time advisor to the Cambodian government. We had some interesting discussions with him about Cambodia today and the Khmer Rouge rule. From him we learned that a large portion of government spending and salaries are funded from outside Cambodia! We could very well imagine that, as we met lots of agencies and organizations in Cambodia offering to help if you wanted to donate or do some voluntary work in Cambodia. We also learned that the eastern province of Cambodia has suffered the longest from the KR rule; from 1968 to 1998, no less than 30 years! And to this very day, much of the KR cadre and its leaders still live free and unpunished in rural Cambodia. Apparently the KR was so ingrained in the Cambodian society that the country cannot run without the people that were once running the KR. Makes you think, doesn't it? Such a controversy; this nice country with its friendly people (you will never see a more friendly smile than on the face of a Cambodian) versus the terrible history of the KR. It's hard to believe it really happened. One day we took a tuk-tuk to the ‘killing cave' just outside town. This is a cave where the KR slaughtered and dumped 10,000 people. There was a gruesome memorial: a glass room filled with skulls, bones and ragged clothes of some of the people that were murdered in the cave. In another corner there was a rusted cage filled with skulls, bones and clothes of children that were murdered there. The way it was all done was quit macabre and neither very respectful nor considerate. It just did not feel right and left us with mixed emotions; it seems like this country has far from fully digested its recent history.

After three nights of luxury, we switched to our normal style guesthouse. This time we were lucky and found a huge family room with double bed and two singles, so everybody happy and nobody had to sleep on the floor. On our last day we took a trip on the bamboo train. This is a small wooden lorry with a small generator on it, carrying up to about 6 - 8 people. The trains run over an old stretch of railway and when a train comes from the opposite direction, the least heavy loaded one is dismantled to let the other one pass. This is quickly done and within 2 minutes the trip continues. An experience very much appreciated by Lasse and Sil, who were riding the bamboo train like captains of the Titanic.

Next stop after Battambang would be Sihanoukville at the southern coast of Cambodia. There we are planning to be with New Year's Eve, thanking the old year and welcoming the new one.

For now, we wish all of you all the best for 2011. Keep on dreaming and keep on fulfilling your dreams! Good luck and good health to all of you! See you in 2011.