This morning we explore Phnom Penh by Tuk Tuk taking in the sights of the Independence Monument, Wat Phom and an hour at the Russian Market where you can bargain for anything you find at the markets.

The Independence Monument occupies a traffic island south of the Royal Palace, built in the shape of a lotus, completed in 1958 and celebrates Cambodia's independence from France, which took place five years earlier.

We are actually on the Tonle Sap River, on the Sisowath Quay, lined with cafes and restaurants, it’s a constant hive of activity. Tonle Sap River meets the Mekong Delta.

Of all the traditional markets, the Russian Market offers the largest and most varied selection of items - of interest - to the visitor.   This market became the foreigners market during the 1980’s when most of the foreigners were Russians, hence the name Russian Market.

Our last stop is situated on a hill 27 metres high (Phnom means hill in Khmer), Wat Phom.   Legend has it that in 1372, a woman named Penh discovered four statues of the Buddha on the nearby riverbank and placed them in a purpose-built pagoda on the hill.   The settlement that grew up around it acquired the name Phnom Penh, the hill of Penh.   There’s a statue of Madame Penh in the pavilion next to the large stupa containing ashes of King Ponhea Yat, who died in 1467 and was the Angkorian King responsible for establishing Phnom Penh as the nation’s main city after the abandonment of Angkor. The temple can be reached via a superb staircase guarded by terracotta lions and two nagas – mythical, multi-headed snakes.

In the afternoon we moor at a small township called Koh Chen – the copper silver village.   Here we visit the local school first, a very heart warming stop because the teacher asks us to spend time with the kids to teach them English, (the ages range between 5 and 12 in the class) it was just a beautiful experience seeing all the kids join in with the group we were with.   To say our goodbyes they wanted to sing us a song – if you are happy when you know it – clap your hands so we listened but ended up joining in.   Then they asked us to sing a song and one of the ladies of the group suggested Old MacDonald had a farm, it was a fun laugh for the kids as some of them knew the song and others that didn’t did the animal noises. We left a big bag of colour pencils that I brought from Australia with the teacher.

We then ventured to the copper/silver factory, where the guide showed us how to work out what is true silver.   The pieces made were so intricate and with such detailed design.   Outside there were many kids selling silver jewellery and small jewellery boxes, they talked to us as we went to the school, most had already been to school in the morning, so meeting the tourists seemed to be a special event for them, asking your name, where you are from, how many brothers and sisters do you have etc, they genuinely were asking the questions as not all were standard questions and they answered questions I gave to them, like where do you live, what does your Daddy and Mummy do, how many sisters and brothers do you have, what do you want to do when you grow up etc.   I came out of the factory last, I was surrounded by kids as I bought a silver small elephant with his trunk up and a pair of earrings. They all knew my name, so it was Miss Sharyn, Miss Sharyn, bye bye - bye Miss Sharyn all the way back to the ship, I’ve never had my name chanted so much at me.

Dinner was short for us, being Dad’s 50th Wedding Anniversary, he was able to call Mum between Phnom Penh and Koh Chen to say hello and then he had a special aromatherapy massage treat.    I had one also, we both felt very relaxed after our treatments.

This evening Dad and I decided we’d get the blog done whilst in an area we could pick up the internet signal quite well, in the library, as it was Karoke night and although it looked like alot of fun, there were some pretty bad voices that were hard to listen too.