Day 255 - We were up early, checked out and jumped on our bus to Phnom Penh. After about an hour the conductor came round and asked for our passports and $25 for the Cambodia visa. We knew the drill so handed it over but 2 Westerners behind us refused saying they wound do it on their own — we knew that wasn't a good idea after being left behind on the Laos border. We eventually made it to the crossing and all the paperwork had been done for us we just had to walk through — so easy. We were back on the bus after 10 minutes but the other 2 Westerners were no-where to be seen. The bus then drove about 3Km down the road for a meal stop, luckily they took US Dollars so we were able to eat. We got back on the bus but the Westerners weren't there, the bus waited and finally one arrived screaming and shouting at the driver saying she was going to 'sue' the company for leaving her - We think she was French. And then the American guy turned back on a motor taxi, cool as a cucumber, he must have known what was going on. Of course everyone who had handed over their money wasn't going to sit at the boarder for an hour while they did it themselves. We eventually made it to Phnom Penh and a friendly tuk-tuk driver came over. He was lovely, my first impressions of Cambodia were already good. We told him how much we wanted to spend on accommodation and haggled a good price for the tuk-tuk. He took us to a decent place and we checked in. We agreed to hire him for the next day to go to the Killing Fields. After dropping our bags we crossed the road to a street stall and got some lovely pork rice with fried egg. We carried on down to the central market for a walk around. We walked into the meat section and was struck with the most awful smell ever. We have been to hundreds of markets but I had never smelt this before, I have a strong stomach but I could feel myself retching. I didn't want to look rude and ignorant in front of the local people so I just held my breath and walked fast. We came across the food stalls and were devastated we had eaten as there was some delicious dishes on offer. We walked back to the hotel and chilled out in the room. We popped out again and found a street vendor selling baguettes, It was quite strange processed pork, tuna in a tomato sauce and what we believe was raw egg but it was really good.

Day 256 - We had arranged to meet our driver at 9 am but when we left our hotel at 8:30 for some breakfast he was already waiting for us. He explained his 'Brother' would be taking us as he was busy. We didn't mind and asked him about a price. He tried to charge $20 and we had noticed Cambodia was more expensive than Thailand, Laos and Vietnam but we thought this was a bit steep. We wanted to go to the Killing Fields, the S-21 musseum and the Russian market. He explained the market was only a 20min walk away so we could walk which was fine with us and we very reluctantly got him down to $15. We jumped in and he stopped at a bakery so we could get some breakfast. It was already really hot once we got to the Killing Fields. We paid in and were given an audio guide, something that wasn't available 4 years earlier when Lloyd was here. He could remember most of it but the audio guide gave him so much more info than last time. The place was devastating, the horrifying part was the clothes and bones still sticking out the ground where people had been mass buried. The stories we heard here heartbreaking, an evil part was also 'The Smashing Tree' where soldiers had used to kill babies and children by swinging them by the feet and smashing their heads against the trunk of the tree killing them, before throwing them in the pits. To save money and bullets everyone was bludgeoned to death using knives and sticks to kill them, and worst of all it was all done by their own people, killed because they were intelligent, wore glasses or because they were part of the family of someone suspected of being a spy. They killed anyone they thought would seek revenge or would plot against them. The whole experience was horrific and we left feeling sad. Next was the S-21 museum. This for me was almost even worse, here was where the people were held before being taken to the killing fields. They tortured innocent people here until they pleaded guilty of being spies or connected to someone who was spy, and then they could kill them without it being a war crime. 99% of the people were totally innocent, the Khmer Rouge were just paranoid. Every person who passed through the prison was photographed and documented and seeing the hundreds of faces was truly haunting. Next stop was the Russian market, we handed over our money and said good-bye to our grumpy driver. The market was great, we picked ourselves up a Cambodian souvenir and had some amazing lunch from a stall, grilled baguette with a sweet honey sauce with some meat skewers. Once satisfied we began the '20 min' walk back. We decided to stop for an ice-coffee and check our e-mails as we were waiting for a reply from the Elephant Valley Project which we were heading to the next day. We sat for about 45 mins before trekking on. About an hour later we were still walking and it was now dark. We walked past some amazing street food so stopped, no one spoke a word of English but we managed to point at the clams and grilled chicken wings. The clams were served with lime and salad and we were given empty dipping dishes, we must have looked a bit confused as the man next to us who spoke perfect English explained we had to put the lime in the dipping dish along with the garlic and chilli oil and the salt/pepper mix from the side of the table and mix it together, we then dipped the clams in the sauce and the salad before eating them. It was amazing and were glad he told us what to do as we would have just ate the clams alone. We managed to make it back to the hotel after about an hour and a half walk, not the 20 minute walk we were told about. We did some work and booked our bus before heading to bed.