I'm going to have to update this far more regularly, as I can barely
remember what I did this morning, let alone six days ago. Despite my poor
lack of memory and absolute exhaustion, I am having a great time on this
tour. There are eleven of us on it, all girls and our local tour guide, Sam
and everyone is lovely. There's Megan from California, the only other single traveller here and my roomate, Sarah, Jenny and Hazel from the Isle of Man, Kylie, Jo and sisters Kirby and Erin from Australia, Frieda and Henni from Germany and then Sam Bo who is from Battambang. The tour will end on Wednesday in Bangkok and I'll
be sad to say goodbye to everyone. Hopefully I'll see a few of the group who are sticking around after the tour ends and Jo and Kylie are going to be my saviours in Oz. Jo has very kindly offered to get me from Sydney airport when I get into Oz in December, and put me up for a few days before I travel to Adelaide, and Kylie has invited me down to Canberra, an offer I'm sure I'll take up.

So, after a group dinner on Tuesday night, we set off for Phnom Penh,
Cambodia's capital early on Wednesday morning. A seven hour bus ride later,
we arrived. I arrived to my first local meal of boiled rice so not a great
start. After checking in at our hotel, we had an hour long cyclo tour around
the city centre at dusk, which was gorgeous. I somehow got stuck with the
cyclo leader, so managed to get into a few scrapes while he directed the
rest of the cyclos around, narrowly missing a head on collision with a
motorbike by inches. After this wonderful near death experience, we had dinner at a local restaurant run by the manager of a nearby orphanage. It's a non profit organisation and all their takings go to the orphange, while they train several of its residents as waiters and chefs. Had a beautiful green curry and bought some cinnamon cookies, all for a good cause of course. Hit a local pub for very satisfying $1 beers before bed, where there was some live music from some wrinkly American men.

The next day with Ran, our local guide, we visited Tuol Sleung, a high school which was converted into a prison come detention and torture centre during the Pol Pot genocide. It was a very hoffic and harrowing place, the majority of the complex has been left intact. The tiny cells and interrogation rooms have been left intact and the toilets, beds, restraints and weapons of torture are all still there. There are several large photograph exhibitions with collections of shots of Pol Pot's men, his teenage soldiers, the prisoners of Tuol Sleung and its many victims. I admit I didn't know very much about this period of history before I arrived, and the more I find out, they less I want to know. There are fourteen graves on site, containing the bodies of the few victims left when the Vietnamese invaded to overthrow Pol Pot, and the photographs of these bodies as they were found are on display. The methods of torture used are horrific and quite sickening, and it once again left me unable to understand how we can inflict so much pain on one another, the things I saw were inhumane to say the least.

We then drove out to the Killing Fields, a remote area of land in Phnom Penh which acted as an execution ground and burial sight for over 17,000 victims of the Pol Pot regime. There are over 300 mass graves there, not all of them excavated. The ones that have been have left deep ditches that are cordoned off, with a sign to explain how many bodies were found in each grave. We saw graves that had held 166 bodies without heads, and one with almost 200 women and babies. The complete lack of respect that was given to these people, even in death is appalling. Buddhists believe that a spirit can only pass over when the body is buried as a whole, so to decapitate a corpse will leave a soul trapped, the worst punishment a Buddhist can suffer.

As we walked along, Ran pointed out items of clothing, bones and teeth embedded in the pathway. To walk over someone's remains was horrific and not an experience I am keen to repeat. 8,000 skulls are gathered in a central memorial and we all paid our respects before leaving. Even though this particular portion of the tour is a duly disturbing experience, it is something I am very glad I have done. It is an important part of Cambodia's history and it's culture and I am glad I was able to learn more about the country's past, however horrific. I hadn't appreciated beforehand how recently these events had occured, but the effects are still plain to see, thirty years on. Ran lost brothers during the Pol Pot regime, and I hadn't been able to comprehend before what a large and remaining impact this period of history has had. At home, we have had two World Wars, which are equally as horrific, but some time ago. Here, the people of Cambodia have all lived through this terrible period of history and are still suffering and trying to rebuild their country and you can't help but have the greatest empathy for them, while feeling wholly useless that you can't really offer much help. I know that our tourism helps the country and that we've been careful to give our money to places where it is really needed, but you just wish you were able to do so much more. As Sam said, "We will forgive but not forget, because if we forget for just one day, it may happen again." The people of Cambodia are very eager for their story to be told and I do feel very lucky that I've been able to see it firsthand, however distressing it may have been. I also know how privileged I am to have such an easy life, so If you're reading Mum, I won't whinge about doing the dusting again.

On a brighter note, that afternoon I visted the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda with Megan, Jo and Kylie which were suitably impressive and quite a change from that morning's surroundings. In the evening, we visited a local English class and spent some time with these gorgeous children, helping them with their English, their writing and singing songs. It was a very worthwhile experience which made me certain I want to volunteer as an English teacher abroad for a few months after finishing university, but one girl did make fun of my chubby cheeks, so I don't want to go back to Cambodia and have her in my class, the cheeky madam. Afterwards, we went to Ran's family home for dinner where his wife had cooked a massive feast. Unfortunately, stir fried tarantula was the dessert. Megan, bless her, has been trying to expand my diet, but I wouldn't have a tarantula as a pet, let alone put one in my mouth, so she failed miserably. I wouldn't have even touched one if she hadn't stuck it on my hand, the cow. Those who ate it said it was alright, but you could still see fangs and the hairs on it, so it was going nowhere near me, thank you.

The next day we took another seven hour bus ride down to Siem Reap, home of the famous Angkor Wat temples. Jo, Kylie, Megan and I walked down into the old market, where Megan and I went to Seeing Hands, a massage house run by, and only employing, masseurs who are blind or have sight disabilities. A full body, one hour massge was only $5, you feel almost guilty for paying such a criminally small price. Massage was very strong but glorious, although did include, to my surprise, my bum. Initially thought it was a slip of the hands, but the longer it went on, I realised that they really meant full body. Had a small moment when a male masseur walked in while I was changing, so quickly tried to stuff my tshirt back on, but as Megan reminded me, he could see sod all. Topped the evening off with dinner at a local restaurant where a dozen teenagers performed some traditional Khmer dancing, which was interesting to see.

The next day we had a 4am start so we could watch the sun rise at Angkor Wat. Bit cloudy, so maybe not worth dragging my 4am body round in public. We spent the rest of the day exploring these magnificent temples including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed. There are over 600 temples spread over 40 miles, all built between 1100 and 1300, and they are absolutely incredible. Day was tainted slightly by lunch, where I had what I thought would be a safe onion soup. What they failed to advertise was that is was PICKLED. It was the most offensive thing I've ever eaten, and even the meagre $3 I paid for it was a travesty. To brighten my spirits, Kylie, Jo, Megan and I took a hot air balloon type ride over the temples which was gorgeous, with added entertainment provided by Jo, who refused to stand up and spent the entire time crawling around the floor. Also had an elephant ride around Bayon temple with Megan, although the one we got was a speedy little s*** and had finished the tour in less that 15 minutes, while everyone else had a leisurely stroll. Beautiful creatures, and if you could buy one, I'd be sending one right home as we speak.

That evening we went to the Blue Pumpkin for dinner where I was able to get a burger. First meal I've finished yet. Had a few drinks at the Angkor What? bar before bed, where we all ended up with suitably touristy Angkor What? tshirts that I will treasure. And finally, this morning, we spent a few more hours at Angkor Wat exploring a few more of the smaller temples before being rewarded with a free afternoon which I have spent swimming and am about to enjoy a Khmer free dinner. While Sam's not watching, I don't feel so guilty about not really enjoying the local cuisine. Am off to Battambang tomorrow with only a few days left on the tour. Will update soon.

Big hugs and kisses to everyone back home.

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