Soon after arriving in Siem Reap we caught a minibus to the capital, Phnom Penh. The road linking the two cities is perhaps the most important, but is certainly not the best, in the country. As part of an aggressive, largely Chinese funded, modernization project almost the entire stretch of road is a work in progress, making for a bone jarring 5 hour drive.
Apart from breathtaking scenery and friendly people, we find that what puts us in the best mood while traveling is really good food and drink. On our first night in Cambodia we got plenty of both, starting with an ice cold free welcome drink at our hostel (just one of the reasons we rate it as one of the best we've stayed at). We had read a lot about Cambodian 'training restaurants', not for profit venues giving disadvantaged youth a start in the growing hospitality industry, and on our first night we ate at one near our hostel. The food was amazing and incredibly cheap!