12th October
We visited the bookworm in Ho Chi Minh for my last taste of marmite,and Carly's last sip of a proper Yorkshire brew for a while, then spent an hour just soaking up Vietnam until our bus arrived to take us to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. According to our hostel, this bus will have wifi although if I'm honest, I'd just be happy with a toilet...
The Cambodia/Vietnam was the easiest border we have crossed by land so far, so quick! We arrived in Phnom Penh at 7pm to a very nice tuk tuk driver holding up a board with our names on... This is why I pre book! First impressions are that Cambodia is a much poorer country, there is a lot of begging from children tugging at your legs asking for food. Very hard to see.
13th October
Today we visited the Toul Sleng Genocide museum, an old high school that Pol Pot had turned into a prison used to torture thousands of his own people. The school itself was eerie, with photographs in old school rooms of the prisoners found there. There is no holding back here. The images themselves were awful. The prisoners here we're forced to admit involvement with the CIA through means of electrocution, being whipped by planks of wood with nails in them, drowning and so much more. The photos were placed in the rooms where the actual prisoners were found with their blood still staining the floor. I think the part of the tour that affected us most was the images of all the people who lost their lives to the genocide, just staring into the camera. Horrific. I think we'll leave the killing fields until tomorrow, we can't cope!
We spent the afternoon wandering round and investigating Phnom Penh. We discovered the central market (guess who was in charge of the map again) we are desperately in search of a market that beats Luang Prabang but still no luck!
14th October
We are starting to come round to liking Phnom Penh more and more. The people are incredibly friendly and genuinely smiley and although it is clear that the country is extremely poor, it's so interesting to walk around. The children and victims of landlines begging is still taking time to get used to though. Today we visited the killing fields and after negotiating the tuk tuk driver down from $25 to $12 for a return journey (he waited for us and read his book while we were visiting) the ride was the most dusty and bumpy ride we have ever taken in a tuk tuk, Carly had to pull me back in once or twice in fear of me falling out! The killing fields truly was the most sombering place, and definitely somewhere we are glad we visited. There isn't much to look at apart from some huge dug over mass graves, some with bones and teeth still resurfacing in rainy season. We received a headset which talked us round the memorial from people who survived the genocide. It really was inconceivable that such an horrific thing happened so little time ago. The worst part was a large tree, named the killing tree as it was a place that Khmer Rouge Soldiers used to swing children to smash their heads against to kill them. Like I said, inconceivable. In the centre of the fields is a large purpose built memorial which houses many of the skulls and bones recovered from the fields, if you look closely enough, you can see how each of them were killed by either hoes or axe scars in their skulls. Needless to say, today was pretty harrowing, we headed back to Phnom Penh for a stiff drink. (A pint of Cambodia beer is 75cents) and a massage. After my amazing 'seeing hands' massage in Nha Trang, I researched the same experience here and persuaded Carly to give it another go. Not quite as good as before but by now we are both getting used to women or in some cases men sitting on our backs and pummelling us until we bruise!
15th October
Today we are leaving Phnom Penh to head to a Place called Takeo to visit an Orphanage that we will be volunteering in for the next few days. With the information sent to me by the owner, I knew that we needed to catch the 1.30pm bus from the central market bus station. In true controlling fashion, we arrived 45 minutes before the bus was due to leave to buy our tickets. The man at the desk replied to my enquiry with 'no go there' . Right. Being the arrogant English women we are, we searched for a second opinion and was told the exact same thing. We sat down, with our massive backpacks on in the at least 60degree heat and pondered what we could do next. We decided that our only option was to head towards our next destination, Kampot. This trip is definitely ironing out my control issues... Sort of! Just the 4, real time 6 hour journey to Kampot then....!