Temples and Tuk Tuks

"The dinner menu had the usual interesting items such as 'Soap' and 'A Fried Monk' not to mention 'Chicken Amok'. The waiter couldn't tell me what amok meant, but I tried it and it turned out to be, not a crazy chicken running around with a cleaver, but chicken pieces in a soup coloured a kind of caterpillar-innards green that was very tasty." Lydia Laube discovers that Cambodia, a nation with a violent and horrific recent past, is also an ancient, beautiful country populated by friendly, generous people who like to ride motorbikes very fast around corners. Preferring the more sedate pace of tuk tuks, Lydia chooses this mode of transport wherever she can while visiting Cambodia's magnificent temples, markets, beaches and mountains - and, of course, the killing fields. Deciphering the menu is only part of the intrigue of this mysterious land only just now opening to tourists and travellers. Join Lydia, squashed into a taxi with nine or so others, for an unforgettable ride. Lydia Laube's first book, "Behind the Veil: An Australian Nurse in Saudi Arabia", has sold 30,000 copies in Australia alone. "Temples and Tuk Tuks" is her sixth travel book, following "Behind the Veil", "The Long Way Home", "Bound for Vietnam", "Slow Boat to Mongolia" and "Llama for Lunch".