My journey had spanned two continents and five countries already, and now we were finally heading into Cambodia, a country I'd been dreaming of visiting for years. However, we were going via the Laos-Cambodia land border, a supposedly unofficial border crossing, and one which the UK foreign office website advises against using.

It turned out to be the easiest border crossing ever. They were lovely officials, and even gave change for the ‘administration fees' we paid! All in all, it took our group about 20-30 minutes to get across, including those people who were sorting out their visas at the border. So all the hype you hear about it is pretty far off the mark. With all of Cambodia to choose from, we picked the rarely visited north-east Ratankiri province, and spent a few days visiting waterfalls and playing in a crystal clear volcanic crater lake.

As it was the wet season the dirt roads were nearly impassable up there, and at one point we had to dig out a holidaying Khmer family and their truck. When I say family I mean literally the extended family - there were at least 20 people piled on this pickup! Anyway, after much pushing from us, we finally freed them; only for me and my friend to realise we were hanging on the back of this wildly accelerating pick-up! There was also a terrified tiny girl with us, so in one move I had to dive from the bumper into the back of the truck, grab and keep hold of this little girl and then grab my friend and help swing him up into the truck with me just as he was falling off! All this car rescuing was good practice for the next day however, as our bus back to civilization got stuck in the mud. So we all had to jump out and push in order to stop the bus and us with it sliding into the jungle ravine a few metres beside me! Phew!

After that pulsating introduction, it was safe to assume I was in love with Cambodia. My love even extends to the country's most touristy place - Siem Reap. The reason it's so touristy is because right next to it is the ancient Khmer capital of Angkor, home to the temples of Angkor, and more specifically Angkor Wat, which is the largest religious building in the world. Seeing it and being there literally left me speechless, which as my friends would no doubt inform you dear reader, is quite a feat!

Angkor had a population of 1 million when London's was a mere 50,000. The architecture and craft of the place is so astounding you can hardly believe it's real. There was one room I went past where I saw all these people beating their chests. I asked why, and this kid dragged me in and told me to thump my chest too. When I did the sound echoed all around me and far away up into the roof! Our temple tour also included a visit to Ta Prohm, which was, again, jaw-dropping. The temple had been abandoned to nature and had massive trees growing out of the stonework. This in all honesty, was pretty ace.

The next day we decided to get up and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Our 4am start was hellish, but the spectacular sunrise more than made up for it. Definitely a memory I'll have forever. The next eight hours were spent cycling round various temples, exploring and taking silly photos. I also took time to sit down with a Khmer guy for coffee and learnt a few phrases, including ‘my name is...' and ‘what's your name?' This led to us embarking on a mission to learn every local's name in Siem Reap! It paid dividends quickly, as the girl in the convenience store began to greet us by name when we came in, much to the astonishment of other backpackers! I also learnt how to spell my name in Khmer, which is a lot more elegant than our own alphabet. I struggled a lot less with Khmer/Cambodian than I did with Thai and Laos as it's not a tonal language thankfully! And a little goes a long way, as the smiles from everybody's faces attested to! Another reason why I love the Cambodians is because even when they're trying to sell you something, they have a real cheeky charm about doing it as witnessed by me and my friend being told we'd be handsome if we shaved our beards, and one kid saying to us, 'don't be angry, but you look like... MONKEY!'

After the splendour of Angkor, it was time to visit the capital, Phnom Penh, and face up to the country's dark past. It was an intense few days. I accepted an invite from two American girls to go to the famous Russian market, a place where you used to be able to buy anything from guns, to girls, to any drugs you wanted. These days, it's slightly more sedate, although almost a labyrinth city unto itself. The vivid colours, sounds and smells all attest to the fact that you're in a living, breathing entity in an exotic part of the world. Fried spiders and animal brains? Coming right up... Nipping out to Tesco was never quite like this!

However, it turned out these girls were here to research for their international studies degree, and part of this research was meeting up with two NGO workers who were involved in combating the sex trade. So I was led to their headquarters down a deserted side street and made to promise not to reveal its location as an armed guard let me in! The reason for this is because they were rehabilitating ex-prostitutes and liberated sex-slaves there. The work they do and their complete dedication to it is amazing. However, they were relatively fundamentalist Christians. Which meant that sometimes their beliefs overruled what was potentially best, as for example when I suggested that one of the best ways to eliminate sex-trafficking, etc. would be to legalise and thereby control prostitution, they got a bit angry. (A quick note here, I don't necessarily believe this to be the case, rather I was playing devil's advocate). They also blamed the Khmer spiritual belief for some of the problems! But I still admired them very much, as the evil they face, and the difficultness of what they're trying to fight (most brothels are protected by or owned by corrupt officials) is outweighed ten-fold by their goodness, and that completely restores my faith in the world!

Then to follow up that the next day, we went to the killing fields and S-21, the most brutal places of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. Bones littered the ground of the killing fields, and we learnt the methods of execution (mainly metal pipes), and then went to S-21, which was the prison and torture camp for 'enemies' of the regime. It's been left exactly as the invading Vietnamese found it, and you can walk round all the rooms. There are still bloodstains in the cells. And many of the Khmer Rouge, the people who were responsible for this, live free in Cambodia to this very day. Most of the tour guides over here are ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers. The worst thing is that they're recounting atrocities to you that they committed when they were about twelve years old. Yep, twelve years old. That was the age of most of the S-21 guards. Seeing the photos of the victims was the worst part. 14,000 people went through and 7 survived. These were all artists which I find very interesting though.

Although seemingly defined by these two cities and their histories, there is much, much more to Cambodia. White sanded beach paradise? Spending a night on a floating bungalow? A chance to see the rare Irrawaddy river dolphins up-close? All check. Pyjamas being an acceptable form of dress in any situation? Smiling so much at everyone your face hurts? Being invited for dinner by a moto driver? Again, all check. And it's the truly personal touch combined with all the grandeur and horror of Cambodia which makes it such an endlessly fascinating country to visit, and a highlight of any trip.

Nick Horton is a 23yr old hailing from the UK. He emabarked on a 9 month stint of travelling between Nov 2006-August 2007, taking in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macau.