After all the wars and terrible things that have gone on here people are starting to rebuild the country. They are making a good job of charing the tourists a fortune for everything, we have found it to be as expensive as the UK for a lot of things. There is a lot of corruption here, on the trip from Poipet on the Thai border to Siem Reap the driver had to stop several times to pay an official. We overheard an American talking on the boat to Phenom Penh, he was a refuge from the Khmer rouge and had made it to the US, now he comes back once a year with a big pile of cash and helps his old village, he doesn't trust the goverment to dish out the money to the people who need it. A lot of the aid money given to the government is being spent on building luxury mansions. There are a lot of French ex-pats here as well, they seem to own all the nice hotels and guest houses that we have seen.

They have a slight problem with their roads at the moment, there aren't any. Well that's an exaggeration, the roads around Siem Reap and a few in Phnom Penh are ok'ish, the rest are dirt roads, full of pot holes so big you have to drive through the fields to get round them. The dust that comes up from behind the trucks and cars is so thick that if you get behind one it's worse than driving in thick fog.