We´re about to head off to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, having spent an incredible couple of days in Phnom Penh.

I don´t understand where all the bad things we´ve heard about Cambodia have come from. Practically from the second we got into the country (which, by the way, was VERY straightforward to do), I completely fell in love with it. The people are amazingly friendly and not too hassly, the countryside is beautiful, and Phnom Penh is a modern and varied capital city. It´s also interesting how it´s back to a very definite Southeast Asian culture - gone are all the Chinese influences in food, religion and architecture, and in their place it´s back to Buddhist wats and culture that is more closely aligned with Thailand - but perhaps it still feels definitely Cambodian rather than anything else.

But what makes this country so amazing is the recent history, the horrendous past the place and its people have come through - and still the people smile and the country is every bit as stunning as Laos. We went to S21 prison and the Killing Fields in one day, which was very intense but an unmissable and necessary experience. It is unbelievable what happened in Cambodia. It is unbelievable that it went on for so long. It is unbelievable that the Cambodian people have never really got any justice. The background to the Khmer Rouge regime is so entangled with the Vietnam War - Cambodia was a victim of everybody´s ambitions. Most of all, it is unbelievable how the people treat these events - they happened, but the dark days are over and they´re out the other side and moving into the future.

That was reinforced when we got back from the Killing Fields and went to the mosque down to road from our hostel to help out with a volunteer project that teaches English to the local children (ranging from baby to 18) a few days a week. The kids are fantastic - they´re mostly very outgoing and confident, full of energy, and craving affection. And they´re so talented - whether it´s football or drawing, and all with good English. They´re bright, happy, energetic kids - but their future seems so bleak. One moment you´re singing the Hokey Cokey with them, the next minute they´re by your side in a cafe, begging you to buy a book from their very heavy load (which Caro did - Pise, a little boy we´d met, had her WRAPPED round his little finger!). They´re great, and that day left me with a lot of very mixed, very full and very strong memories.

We stayed in a fab hostel (Happy #11) on the lake in Phnom Penh, which is thoroughly recommended. We and the boys particularly loved the lakefront restaurant, and also the Flying Elephant cafe over the road. The tuktuk drivers were very helpful in taking us around for good prices - we got back from the Royal Palace (good but you need your temple energy!) for a grea rate with the boys´driver from the day before. And spent that afternoon watching the Killing Fields - another good way to get some background.

All in all, Phnom Penh was just about my favourite city, and Cambodia so far is definitely up there with Laos - but for very different reasons.