Since talking to you last we have been through a rollercoaster of visual and emotional experiences!

30th March: Another early start (5.30am) with a long walk carrying all luggage to the local bus station -not easy! A fast journey to the Cambodian border, an eternal wait whilst visas, passports and luggage is checked, and then a very bumpy ride on unsurfaced roads to Phnom Penh. Shocked by differences in opulent wealth (4-wheel drive vehicles, etc.) and extreme poverty (plastic draped between branches for cover!). The landscape has changed dramatically -everywhere is so flat, you can see as far as the seering heat will allow you. The features of the Cambodians are so different to the Vietnamese and Thai people -they are shorter, rounder and much darker skinned. Hinduism, Bhuddism and Animism merge into one universal religion.

Our evening meal was taken at the Foreign Correspondants Club of Cambodia (FCCC) made famous during the early Pol Pot years (the Khmer Rouge killed foreign journalists taking refuge here) and villified in the film "The Killing Fields".

31st March: We started the day doing the usual tourist round of the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, National Museum and Russian Market; all very interesting and great for photo shoots but the real business of the day began after lunch.

We were taken to Tuol Sleng (S21) Museum. This used to be a high school in Phnom Penh but was taken over by the Khmer Rouge to be used as their central torture and interrogation complex. This for all but a single person (out of hundreds of thousands) was a one-way journey. When the Vietnamese finally entered Phnom Penh they found 7 recently shot victims; the only person to survive was an artist who went on to tell the world in text and paintings the sufferings of the Cambodian people. After torture and interrogation (by which time the victims had agreed to everything they were accused of) they were taken in trucks to Cheung Ek -the Killing Fields, and our next port of call.

Here all were shot or clubbed (most killed -some not!) and thrown into mass graves; babies were held by the feet and swung violently against a tree until their skulls caved in; nearly all skulls found had a hole at the back where a bullet or nail entered. Only the skulls were retrieved to try to estimate the total numbers involved (thousands!) therefore, the remains of the skeleton (including clothes) remained in the ground and can still be seen today. Indeed it is not possible to walk round the site without hearing the crunch of human bone beneath your feet and tripping over rags protruding from the scorched earth. Every wet season further remains are revealed!

This truly was a heart rending experence in which you cannot remain neutral. The silence of the group as one grisly sight was replaced by another bore testament to the sense of helplessness and hopelessness we were experiencing.

We have problems at the moment with the memory stick which contains the photos of this time and cannot open them. Maybe just as well!

1 - 2nd April: Long, boring journey to Siem Reap but great evening meal at the Dead Fish Tower! This is a restaurant built on various levels with different forms of seating and very querky................to the point that it houses it's own crocodile pit -careful where you sit and how much you have to drink! A very early (4am) start on Monday bought us to sunrise over Angkor Wat -a huge temple/city complex surrounded by jungle -visually, this is one of the highlights of this tour! (Again, we hope the photos -when we can upload- will prove this).

3rd April: After having explored Siem Reap and felt we'd done it justice, five of us decided to take the easy option of flying into Bangkok. For this we had to forgo a 4 hour open pick-up truck journey over unsurfaced roads, a 7 hour bus journey, the usual Cambodian border hassle and a final tuk-tuk lift to the hotel. We think we made the right decision since the flight was 50 minutes long and by 8pm we were tucking into grilled red snapper, stir-fried white prawns in chilli and garlic and sweet and sour cuttlefish -all washed down with French white wine and -an extra day in Bagkok!

Speak to you soon -keep the messages coming!