Today it was time to say goodbye to Vietnam and hello to Cambodia, we had met our new leader Komphak the previous night and were excited about seeing another country. Unfortunately our day wasn't destined to run smoothly. Our first problem was when we arrived at the border to leave Vietnam, there didn't seem to be any orderly queue or system in place, because we were with a big coach load the organiser had all our passports and was at the desks trying to get them pushed through quickly. The problem was all the Vietnamese and Cambodian people pushing passed with money in their passports, theirs were stamped almost straight away and they were let through. It took about half an hour for the first few people of our group to be let through including Pete. After that they stopped calling names. So we had a long wait standing with our big rucksacks on and either no or very poor air-conditioning. After an hour or so I had to sit down, so through my rucksack on the floor and waited some more. The others on our group were also an Intrepid group and we all decided to block the locals coming through in the hope that they would process our passports first, because everytime someone went to the desk with money ours were put to one side. This obviously created some angry people, but it was worth it, because after 2 hours they finally started to call our names again. We waited until everyone had their passports before moving out of our barricade positions. It was hilarious if a bit over the top, but our guide said he had never had to wait that long before. Great!

Once out of Vietnam into no man's land it was time to enter Cambodia a much easier and smoother process. It involved getting off the bus giving them our passports walking a few metres, them checking the bus and then getting back on. It took less than 5 minutes and then we were on our way for some well deserved lunch. Our problems weren't over though…..

After lunch and driving for a while we came to a standstill, 2 solid lines of traffic. Our guide informed us that there would be a delay, because it had just been their New Year, there were lots of people travelling back and therefore a lot of traffic trying to cross the river. We were told it would be a 2-3 hour delay, so we grabbed some waffles off one of the street vendors and sat back watching the other traffic, pigs crammed into a small truck, people crammed into a van and then people sat on the roof as well. After about an hour I had finished my book, but was happy to sit back and relax with air-conditioning what more could we want.

It took us just under 3 hours to move 1km, we had another 1km to go before reaching the ferry. We could only hope it wouldn't take that long. Some of us decided to find somewhere to grab a snack and luckily we only had to wait another hour and a half before we boarded the ferry and had a smooth ride across. We arrived in Phnom Penh in the dark, so weren't able to see much only the rubbish lying on the streets, slightly worrying (although in the morning it had vanished). We were still hungry so found a place called Huxley's, an English pub, with proper Heinz ketchup, vinegar and HP sauce. We both had burgers and were pleased we were given chunky chips a welcome break from french fries. We went to bed (in our windowless room) hoping tomorrow would be better.

We knew this morning would be sobering as we were visiting the genocide museum and killing fields. Our drive took us through the city and we passed lots of stunning buildings and were excited to be returning in a few days to explore more. We had a guide who told us the history of the prison, Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge, it was hard to listen to, but how could you come to a country and not take an interest in a major part of its history. We arrived at the former prison, which before it was taken over was a school and as you walked in that's what you saw a school, with palm trees in the court yard, shutters at the windows and with the sun shining it looked like any other school. That's what made it so chilling when you walked in the rooms and saw the beds and shackles, the black and white photos of those that there were bought here, tortured here and then sent to the killing fields. They had photos of the soldiers who worked here, most of them just boys. We saw the tiny cells where people were held, the blood still on the floor and the maps showing the amount of prisons and mass graves over Cambodia.

Next we were taken to the killing fields, the first thing you notice on arriving is the white monument in the middle to remember all those killed here. Inside is a glass box with 17 sections, filled with the skulls that were found in the mass graves. We walked around the graves now covered over in grass and read the facts of what happened here. It was hard to believe this had only happened 30 years ago and yet the people of Cambodia are some of the friendliest people we have come across, with huge grins on their faces.

After that it was time to head to our homestay for the night. Unfortunately it was a 3 hour drive and clearly the air-conditioning wasn't working, so it was like being in a sauna fully clothed. That aside the views as we drove were stunning, the countryside here is beautiful and not what you imagine. Let's just say when we arrived at Chambok we were slightly damp. Our homestay was great, we had a hut on stilts with 4 double beds in. There were chickens, pigs and cows roaming around and the cutest children staring at us quite fascinated. We headed to the local river to cool off before dinner.

Dinner was unfortunately served outside in the forest, the food was great, the massvie bugs flying around us were not. Several landed on us and after we scoffed down our food we had had enough and were ready to head back to our homestays and more importantly under the mosquito nets. By 9pm we were all in bed safely under the nets and safe from the massive bugs.