Cambodia Scores

Phnom Penh. 4/10. Lonely Planet describes this place as 'captivating', but I think it's just another case of a beer goggled travel reporter trying to sell the country instead of presenting the facts. PP is the third worse capital city in the world, just behind Tegucigalpa and Athens. Of course, that's just my opinion. Unfortunatley, my travel beer goggles came off long ago. Not everything is great just because it's different.

Siem Reap and the Angkor region. 9.5/10. The temples and ruins in this area are incomparable. Angkor Wat is up there with The Taj, The Pyramids and Macchu Pichu as one of the most amazing structures on the planet. But Angkor Wat is just the tip of the temple here. There are another 100 or so square kms of old stuff to check out. Incredible. At the same time however, I'm getting more and more cynical and frustrated at the worlds past leaders and kings preoccupation with building ginormous structures to honour themselves, or their dead wives, or some unlikely God hanging around at the time. Couldn't the money and effort have been better spent on public health, or education, or wine. Why have humans done this, or allowed it to happen, all through history? We have some issues...

Japanese tourists. 6/10. What is it about Cambodia that attracts more Zero pilots than Tokyo? No joke, 9 out of 10 digital camera snappers at Angkor Wat are Japanese.

Food. 8/10. A great combo of Thai, Indian and Vietnamese with their own specialties like giant grasshoppers and massive black spiders that they eat like chips. Yum.

Club sandwich. 8.5/10. Who puts gherkin on a Club? First in Asia to include mayo though, so good job!

Hassle. 4/10. Almost as much hassle as Egypt from the locals preying on the tourist ATM.

Overall. 8/10. Just for the Angkor region. Nothing else really matters.