21st October 2009 - 22nd October 2009:

Our arrival in Phnom Penh was initially weird as it started with a bit of an obstacle course.

The boat docked in front of this small house about 10 metres from the shore and we were then told to walk along a thin plank of wood, no wider than a foot, to get onto dry land - a challenge made all the more difficult given we had our large backpacks and rucksacks to carry!!

Initially we thought that this would not bode well for Cambodia but once we were on the bus and got closer to the main city we were pleasantly surprised by how developed and beautiful the city was.

We stayed in the hostel that belonged to the tour operator so was a bit away from the main drag. However there was a hoard of tuk tuk drivers ready and willing to take us anywhere we wanted located right outside our door. We got a tuk tuk to Friends International tapas restaurant, which has under privileged street kids working as chefs & waiters, similar to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Restaurant in London. They are taught the importance of hygiene, how to cook and basic English so that they can interact with the guests. Ruan - our tuk tuk driver - who had driven us to the restaurant kindly waited whilst we had our meal so that we would not be left without a ride home.

As we were rushing through Cambodia to get to Thailand in time to see Liza's sister, Catherine, we only had a day and a half to spend in Phnom Penh and had to leave the next afternoon. We therefore asked Ruan if he would collect us the following morning at 7am (a time of day we haven't seen since being away) and be our designated driver until we left and are glad to say that he was more than happy to oblige.

After a few tears and moans of "but I'm on holiday" from Sean we eventually got out of bed and met Ruan - who was depressingly cheerful for that early in the morning - and he drove us to our first stop, which was the Killing Fields, located about 40 minutes out of town. We had heard of the movie but had no idea what to expect and were actually only made aware of the terrible events when speaking with a girl we met on our trip from Vietnam. For those of you who are not overly familiar the Killing Fields is basically a huge land area which was used in the 70's, during the Pol Pot regime, to kill and bury the hundreds & thousands of people who they thought were opposed to the new government.

Right in the centre of the field is a tower of human skulls which are just some of the body parts that they have uncovered in the fields. We also passed by a tree which is known as the Killing Tree and was used to kill babies - the soldiers would basically hold the child by the legs and swing them towards the tree, smashing their heads against it and killing them instantly before tossing them into a mass grave. The whole area was eerily scary and was one of the most disturbing sights we have ever seen.

After our trip to the Killing Fields Ruan took us to the National Genocide Museum, which was originally a school but during the Pol Pot regime was converted into a prison. During our visit we were able to walk into the cells where the prisoners were held and saw old pictures on the walls showing prisoners chained to the bed and laying in a pool of their own blood. There were also large boards on display that showed hundreds of mug shots of prisoners that were held in the prison prior to being transported to the killing fields and killed, the pictures of young children with smiles on their faces not knowing what their fate was were especially upsetting.

Our final stop was the Grand Palace, which given our previous two stops was to be a bit more of a light-hearted visit, however the President of South Korea was in town so the Palace was closed for their meet & greet. We therefore opted for a bit of lunch and then Ruan dropped us back to our hostel and we waited for the bus to Siem Reap.

Ruan was a wonderful man and told us about his wife & son and how from the generosity of an American tourist many years ago he was able to buy his tuk tuk and look after his family. He even called his friend, Lucky, in Siem Reap who was also a tuk tuk driver and arranged for him to collect us from the bus station.

We did look into getting to Laos from Cambodia however there is no way to get a visa on arrival and, given we are short on time and have been advised it takes three days to get our Laos visa sorted and requires us to come back to Phnom Penh, our only alternative now is to travel to Bangkok in Thailand and go from there instead.