So after a chilling visit to the killing fields of Phnom Penh. From the time anthony was born, until the time he was 5 years old, pol pots regime went on under the cover of fear, bravado & terror. He murdered hundreds of thousands of Cambodians in this one of many places until 3 of the 8 million population had disappeared....after we tuk tuked back home to reflect on human nature & it's pitfalls.

That night we treated ourselves to a restaurant for a change but wished we'd eaten on the street as cost was higher but quality lower.

Had swapped rooms in the hotel to help them out to one with a great balcony overlooking the pool so chilled on that with a glass of wine before turning in as another early start for our cookery course in a locals house the next day,
Woke late & ran only to find we were early. we were then whisked off to the local market full of squirming fish awaiting the inevitable and found some new fruits and veg which our cookery teacher purchased for us to cook with later. The market was tame to what I expected - no snakes were being skinned alive! The only new weird things I saw were a range of insects, dried baby seahorses, and then amongst the egg selection - where there were black fermented ones, and those with baby chicks inside (with their little feathers just formed!) Once back at the cookery school we were taught the Khmer way of preparing spring rolls and 'amok' - Cambodia's national dish - baked fish in banana leaf. Our amok dish was a red curry fish, which meant we had to fight with a pestle and mortar for half an hour before the ultimate curry paste was created!

Our cookery class over ran, so we had to literally run to collect our bags from the hotel and make the bus to siem reap! That bit wasn't fun but we did make it....more unfun was the indescribably bumpy and rickety 7 hr bus ride. We had gone with the Mekong express bus because it was mid range cost and boasted a toilet! However this became the most dangerous toilet experience I have ever come across..the pot holes our bus was tackling was making me want to go to the loo, but leaving my seat was worse than any aeroplane turbulence.....trying to hold onward a task

Arrived in siem late & collected by our tuk driver who delivered us to haks house a cheap bed fora few nights ready to begin discovering Angkor wat