Howard and Debbie Windsor

Day 1 (March 22, 2013): We are staying at a wonderful hotel in Siem Reap, the Apsara. The hotel arranged for us to be picked up at the airport by tuk-tuk. That was an interesting, and fortunately not too long, journey. We are staying in the area of the "Night Market". Our room is quite large and has a wrap around balcony overlooking a terrace. The staff are amazing. Today we arrived back after touring in 30 degree weather and they had cold towels and ice water waiting for us.

Day 2 (March 23): The big attractions in Siem Reap, Angkor are the temples, considered to be the most remarkable architectural masterpieces in Southeast Asia. Our goal over the next 3 days, will be to see as many of these as possible. We hired a tuk-tuk for the day and set out for Angkor Wat (which means "a city which is a Temple"). It was built during the 12th century. It was truly breathtaking.

Next we went to Angkor Thom (which means "great city"). Founded in the late 12th century, it was once the largest city in the Khmer empire. The unique features of this temple city are the massive stone faces carved into the various towers,

Our final temple visit of the day was Ta Prohm - described as the most myterious and evocative of all the temple structures in Angkor. In this complex, the buildings are intertwined with the roots of giant banyan trees, making for a very interesting sight.

Day 3(March 24): Today we set out by tuk-tuk to see the temple, Banteay Srei (meaning Citadel of Beauty). After a journey of over an hour by tuk-tuk, we longed for the more conventional mode of transportation. Nonetheless, the goal was worth the journey. The temple complex, built in the second half of the 10th century, is detailed with beautiful pink sandstone carvings. The scenes are from the Hindu epic, Ramayana.

Day 4 (March 25): We visited a number of temples in the morning, but we noted that at this point, everything was looking like the same 11th and 12th century sandstone works of art. We noted that we were taking more pictures of ourselves than the attractions, so we decided to call it a day. On the way back, we decided to stop in quickly at both Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom to recall just how spectacular these World Heritage sites are.

Day 5 (March 26): We arrived in Phnom Penh today from Siem Reap. We expected the journey to to take 4 hours by car. It took seven hours! The whole of the main road joining Siem Reap and Phnom Penh was under construction. This meant driving on a dirt road, for the most part. A bone jarring ride on a highway that seemed to have no rules in a vintage Toyota van that seemed to have no suspension - an experience to remember for many years.

Phnom Penh is a typical south Asia city. Big, teeming with people. Crossing a street is a death defying act. No lights. You cross with the gaps in the traffic flow and cars and motorcycles go around if everyone's timing is good. You would not call it attractive but it is interesting. It would not be everyone's cup of tea. We are here for one night, then to Kampot for a few days. We will return to Phnom Penh for another visit before going to Kuala Lampur.

Day 6 (March 27): Today started early with breakfast poolside at our hotel in Phenom Penh (The Blue Lime). The pool area is the best feature of this hotel. After breakfast we toured the Royal Palace. The grounds were spectacular. We saw the Silver Pagoda, the Throne Room and the Temple. There was a very interesting exhibition of royal chairs that would have been mounted on elephants during processions. After the tour of the palace, we returned to our hotel to have a cold drink. At this point, 11 am, it was already 40 degrees.

At noon we drove 145km to Kampot, It was another death defying car ride. Kampot is a small village of 40,000 people on the Kampot River in Southern Cambodia. We are staying at a lovely hotel, Rikitikitavi, directly across the river, in an area of many great restaurants. The Kampot area is known for fishing as well as pepper and salt production. We are looking forward to touring the local area tomorrow as well as enjoying some of the local activities.

Day 7 (March 28): We drove 30km by tuk-tuk to a lovely seaside community called Kep. We walked along the white sand beaches and stopped for lunch in a restaurant that specializes in fresh crab dishes. The crab was so delicious and tender - best ever. The restaurant overlooked the water and we were able to watch the boats as they left to go fishing. The boats were not like our fishing boats at home, they were large dory boats with a motor on the back.

This is wedding season in Cambodia. Families pitch large colourful tents draped with bunting on the streets and celebrate in full view of the public, the marriage of their children.

This evening we went to a restaurant that is well-known for its pork ribs. We all ordered the ribs and it was a major disappointment - very tough - worst ever. We passed this information on politely to our server. We then went to the restaurant in our hotel for dessert and it was excellent.

Day 8 (March 29): Our goal today was to visit a major pepper farm in Kamput. It was a rough but beautiful drive through the countryside by tuk-tuk. We saw some traditional homes/huts, free roaming cattle that were a thin as the people, and got a real appreciation for the wonders of rural life.

On the way, we stopped to see a sea salt production facility. It was essentially a number of plots of land dug out like a shallow pool and filled with sea water. The sun evaporates the water and what is left is very damp salt. The salt is raked into baskets and then carried off to further dry. This is incredibly hard work.

The pepper farm was a surprise. Not sure what we expected to see, but the pepper corns grow on vine-like plants - much like grapes. The pepper is picked, boiled and the outer shell removed. Black, white and red pepper all come from the same vines. Kampot is known for the highest quality peppers.