We were both sad to leave Siem Reap on Sunday but enjoyed a relatively easy 6 hour bus journey to the capital Phnom Pehn where we were meeting Benj and Esther and their two children Imani and Jedd; some friends we know from Loughborough. Having been away for 4 weeks the thought of seeing familiar faces was really exciting! Having managed to find them after being dropped off in the middle of a random street (no bus station), we made our way in their tuk tuk to their lovely home. The afternoon was then spent catching up and hearing all their news since moving to Cambodia whilst playing with Jedd and Imani. This was great fun. For the first few days at least Jedd kept calling me "lady" which was slightly amusing seen as "April" and "lady" dont often fall in the same category! (Laskey, you are the only person in the world who has ever called me lady April)! Esther and Benj are both fantastic cooks so we thoroughly enjoyed our evening meal, an italian dish which is Ashs favourite, and then settled down to watch a film. I did my usual and fell asleep half way through but still managed to get the story which is a bonus for me!

The next day we headed off to Tuol Sleng Genocide museum (see next blog for more info) and then to the russian market for a tasty lunch and good old shop. We were in for a treat that afternoon as we both headed to the beauty salon with Esther and Imani to have a massage and Ash had a hair cut. Costing only 3USD I decided I would go back later on in the week. Mine was only 5 USD and the best hair wash I have ever had in my life, it lasted over 20 minutes!

We has a lovely morning on Tuesday as whilst Imani was at school, Benj, Esther ande Jedd joined us at the Royal Palace which was the start of our walking tour. Both Ash and I commented on its likeness to the Royal Palace in Bangkok and we enjoyed wandering around the grounds and seeing the silver pagoda. In the afternoon we finished off our walking tour seeing the independence monument,US embassy, Cambodias raffles hotel whilst visiting the central market where Ash managed to make a sneaky purchase on some shorts.The sun was shining and really hot so we did make many drink stops and enjoyed visiting more of the cute cafes that Phnom Pehn has to offer.

The night, another enjoyable evening was in store as Benj and Esther had some friends over for dinner and so we enjoyed talking to them about their internships and future plans. Then out came the board game Balderdash! After my initial fear of it involving general knowledge and so me not being very good I was relieved to hear you only needed a good imagination. After lots of laughter and long spells of contemplation from Ash we all finally retired to bed. A great game I must say and a definate purchase once back in the UK.

After having a days break from visiting the sites surrounding the Khmer Rouge revolution we were ready to visit the killing fields which were 15km from Phnom Pehn. Again, Ash will inform all on this visit! Knowing this would be our last afternoon to spend with the "Street" family we went to the park in the afternoon where Jedd and Imani loved playing on all the new equipment that had been fitted. It was great to see so many young children, some of them obviously a lot poorer than us, having fun. Our evening was then topped off with pizza and ice cream (brownie for Benj and Ash) in a local authentic italian.

Our stay in Phnom Pehn was fantastic! We really did feel like we were at home and so felt sad to leave. Thursday afternoon, after much deliberation about where next, we left for Ho Chi Minh. Thank you Benj, Esther, Imani and Jedd for amazing food, hot showers (as some of you are aware these have been rare), an excellent array of speciality teas, great conversation, support and encouragement, toilet trips (only when Jedd insisted I had to take him) and many a laughs. The community of Loughborough lives on even in Cambodia!