Oct 7-9th

3 flights (not a very happy Paul), 24 hours later and we're in Phnom Penh with a very chatty tuk tuk driver picking us up from the airport - yippee. Survived the ridiculous transfer through Delhi airport - 4 hours in "limbo" - one room, nothing to do - no shopping while we wait for someone to pick up our bloody boarding cards for Hong Kong. Indian bureaucracy and red tape alive and kicking... HK airport an air conditioned dream in comparison - can't wait to view the shops for longer next time we pass through!

So inordinately bad planning on our part - there's a massive festival (festival of the dead) taking place in Cambodia which has emptied Phnom Penh and closed lots of stuff for the 3 days we're here - ARSE!!

Hostel is great - apart from being owned by an Aussie and called "Me Mates Place" and room has no natural light - weird. it does have clean bathroom, hot water, AC and a fan - happy bunnies all round. Possibly spoiling us for the future, but after some of those tea houses it's heaven.

Head off on a romantic sunset cruise on the first night - failing to notice massive storm clouds amassing over PP as we leave... gets choppier and choppier and super windy, with no sunset viewable. instead we watching more and more jagged lightening above PP and pray the heavens don't open before we get back. Fortunately, it doesn't dump down until we're eating a bit later - and then the amazing food takes our minds off the downpour. Amok is yum.

The next day we realise full impact of festival closures after a long sweltering walk down to the Royal Palace we realise the tuk tuk driver shouting at us that it's closed may be correct. Change of plan, as we head out to the killing fields at Choeuk Ek and then S-21 detention centre instead. All pretty horrific stuff - and causes some time of reflection, but definitely worth heading to visit - although not sure how a foreign private company now running a national site is right. Cambodians are very keen to have it all out in the open, rather than hiding from it, which i think is a pretty healthy attitude. Anything that can avoid this type of atrocity happening in future is a good thing.

We did take some photos at both sites and felt a bit weird doing it, but thought it was important to retain memories of both places and to show a few others as well.

We manage a quick zoom around the national museum while we're down that end of town - Paul summed it up as "just lots of god statues" - we want shiny silver pagodas dammit, but too busy stuffing face with seriously good grub to worry too much.

A side trip to the Russian market (ie - where the Russians shopped in the '80's randomly) is equally useless; everything bar a few scabby outside stalls is shut - although we are now getting a good hang of tuk tuk bartering. Saturday night was a bit busier as people came back into the city; promenading along the river is big business in PP, as is playing keepie uppies with odd-looking shuttlecocks.... Annoyingly the restaurant we'd picked was also shut - another tuk tuk to the rescue, and we end up in a decent french restaurant called La Marmite!

Bring on some (open) temples with Angkor Wat next stop....