So....our trip into Cambodia was pretty straight forward.....cruising up the Mekong River in warm sunshine wasnt something to complain about!!! Crossing the border was funny!....we were ripped off $2 with our visa's but thats better than we expected as we've heard stories of people paying up to 30$ for a $20 visa! Its all quite fun getting lots of new stamps in our passport!

We arrived into central Phonm Penh mid afternoon...didnt quite know what to expect but we were told from a few other travellers to be prepared for how third world Cambodia is. But we were pleasnatly suprised! Similar to Saigon, with regards to lots of traffic, food stalls on streets, 3 storry buildings etc.....

We found a $7 room in central town, clean, spacious and cable tv! And went out for a walk and came across a supermarket! (Like Co Op size) and we were so excited! First supermarket we've seen for about 2 weeks! Although we only ended up buying water and cake! haha

We bumped into Louise and Debby from trip in Mekong and had dinner on the river front with them...really lovely part of town, lots of development going on down at riverfront so we can imagine in a few years, the city will have buzzing tourism on the eastside!

We decided to only have one full day in the city and then move onto Siem Reap on the Saturday, so we bought a city day tour without a guide for $6!! Louise and Debby joined us and the four us had a really good day seeing the sights and learning so much about this fascinating country which has come one hell of a long way in only 30 years since the Khmer Rouge Regime.

Our first stop was the famous 'Klling Fields' about 14km south of the city...what can you say? Nothing prepares you for the tragic history that this site endured from 1975-1979...we walked around in silence because you just cant believe what happened here...you cant imagine the scale of the murders/executions of such innocent people during Pol Pot's reign. In the centre of the Killing Fields, a monument tower was erreceted which holds thousands of skulls of these innocent Cambodians who lost their lives as they started excervating the mass graves of many killing fields around the country in 1980. We walked around the fields and you can see the empty mounds where there used to be mass graves...only 90 out of 128 mass graves has been dug up and when you walk around there are human bones sticking out of the soil and fabric from clothing....honestly its somewhere you just cant imagine, but the Cambodian people want the world to know what happened to them 30 years ago and make sure a genocide regime like this never happens again...we still cant believe this is modern history, within many you reading this lifetime...its so tragic.

To make our morning even more subdued (only because the reality of what this nation has been through) we headed to Toung SLong (think thats it), a school that Pol Pot used as a secure detention centre for the victims before they were sent to the Killing Fields to be executed. S-21 was one of many around the country the Khmer Rouge used to keep prisoners and torture people...more than 100 lives were lost every day at S-21 due to execution, malnutrition, disease. Pol Pot's regime chose to kill people who had distinct backgrounds and to create a country of everyone the same, basically destroy everything Cambodia has created since independance from France....the people who were killed included the educated, those who could speak another language, even wearing glasses led you to execution....its estimated more than 2 million Cambodians and a handful of foriegners lost their lives during this time.

There were photos on the walls of prisoners, men, women, young children and sadly children...even one or two fo the kids were smiling, you can only assume they had know idea what their future intailed. We overheard a Cambodian guide saying that he lost his parents during the Khmer Rouge regime and his mum's picture may be on the wall (we're talking thousands of photos) but he can not identify her as he was too young to remember her...so sad, was a very emotional morning.

The only positive is how amazing these people are.....30 years on and they have built a country who is united as everybody went through it. 5 years ago Cambodia did not have a ATM machine, thankfully they do now otherwise we would of been stuck!!! You do realise when you look around, so many people are young and you dont see many older men and women, you somehow think these are the children of lost Cambodians as so many were tragically killed. I read a book called Killing Field's a few days ago....stories from the children of Cambodia during this time.....if you're ever going to come to Cambodia, I definately recommend you reading it before you arrive, gives you such an detailed insight to what the Khmer Rouge Regime was all about.

ON a happier note the afternoon was much more pleasant! We saw the victory monument (independance from France in 1950 i think!) and went to their Royal Palace (similar in architecture to Bangkoks Grand Palace) There was a silver pagoda and many amazing buildings. Our final destination was Phonm Wat, the cities highest point (27 metres!!!) and it was beautiful, set in like a circular park the Wat was at the top on a hill and was really pretty! The best part of this sight was the hundreds of monkeys that live in the trees! We saw so many and as you know monkeys are hilarious! Daz was in his element! We also fed a 49 year old elephant, we really enjoyed the whole day and you can definately get Phonm Penh done in a day!!!!

The four of us walked to the river front again for happy hour drinks! I had a good Sangria for 80pence and beer was cheaper! Had dinner and grabbed a tuktuk back to our hotel!

Debby from Sydney (bus has Welsh parents!) and Louise from NZ (but lives in London!) were on the same route as us up to Angkor Wat and back to Bangkok, so we spent the next few days in thier company and they are a ball!!!! Been travelling since July and got another lets say...another year to go! Lucky them!!! I think when we were in Cambodia they were on country 14 0r 15!!!!!

We really loved the buzz of Phonm Penh, the people are happy and smiley and dont bug you every minute trying to sell you stuff like in Vietnam....I was expecting more of a shanty town but the capital has potential to be a great city!! we loved it but got what we came for with regard to learning more about its history...when the Khmer Rouge marched into the city on 17th April 1975 they deserted the city people and the it became a ghost town....from some other travellers we were expecting to see some of that but its so not like that at all! There's character and a positive buzz....they are all working together to build a better country, its been wonderful to witness.

Leave for Siem Reap tomorrow 6hr-$5 bus ride! Cant complain about that!

Teill next time..........