Pnom Penh: The days in Pnom Penh showed the true history & sad ongoing life following the recent Khmer Rouge invasion in Cambodia in 1975. Many of the streets are filled with homeless families, amputees & children begging for money. However, like anywhere there are many that have become rich & it's like a typical big city.

The driving in the city was another story. It's very chaotic in an organized way. They're supposed to drive on the right side but never seem to use any lanes. There are no crosswalks or intersections so pedestrians/cars just go anytime & somehow manage to avoid each other. There are apparently rarely any accidents & by the end I realized that I could probably cross the street with my eyes closed & all the motorbikes would somehow avoid me.

We went to see the Tuol Sleng Museum which showed very graphic descriptions, photos & remains from the genocide that had happened in Cambodia. The museum was located at the old torture site. The old torture site was previously a school, where they had converted classrooms into many small cells. As a museum, some rooms were left as the cells, with the torture equipment, wire bed & splattered blood remains could be seen on the walls. Other rooms were full of gruesome photos of the victims undergoing the actual abuse, and then some had storyboards from the surviving victims or torturers. As sad as it was to see, it definately helped give perspective as to what the Cambodians endured.

Afterwards, we went to 'The Killing Fields' where you could see the burial pits, clothing & some bony remains from the killings. Once again, this added to the disturbing thoughts about the recent Cambodian history.

As I was waiting for my Visa for Vietnam, I stayed another day in Phnom Penh. I just wandered the streets & at night, I went to visit an orphanage to spend time with the children, bring them rice and a few gifts. The children here were amazing! They were so excited to have visitors & clung onto me as soon as I got off the motorbike. They apparently don't get visitors very often at this orphanage & I was glad there were 3 others there as well so they could 'share us' amongst the 30 children that lived there. We all played games, they read to me, sang and just enjoyed each others' company. They loved the camera and running around taking pictures of each other! They invited us to eat with them, and despite our many refusals (because we didn't want to eat their food since it's very valuable to them), we eventually stayed to not seem rude. They were great hosts & very, very generous! We tried to discretely eat a very small amount but they noticed. The meal was plain rice with a bit of fish paste & cucumbers. This is pretty much the meal they eat every day. I was amazed at how smart the kids were & how good their english skills were. They are also extremely polite, generous & very thankful children. They were so appreciative of our visit & it was very sad when we had to leave. I would've loved to go back if I would've been in Cambodia longer and will definately visit them again if I do return.