I think the heat & action-packed days have finally got to me! Sak left at 8am to return to Battambang and I moved to my new hotel - The Anise Phnom Penh - located just around the corner from the National Monument (above photo), in the heart of the NGO district, around noon. Fortunately my room was ready so I thought I'd dump my bags and freshen up before heading out into the city. I sat on the edge of the bed to change my t-shirt and woke up 4 hours later! So...

We headed out early this morning and were going to visit the zoo in Takeo Province but decided to spend more time in Phnom Penh City, visiting Sak's Uncle for lunch and then paying a visit to Tuol Sleng S-21 Genocide Museum. Sak has not visited S-21 since the mid-1980's (shortly after it was turned into a museum) and I knew the visit was going to be very difficult for him. He became very upset shortly after we arrived and I felt helpless to comfort him. I gave h...

Left Battambang by car at 8am after a very difficult set of goodbyes. All of Sak's family - his wife (Theara), 3 daughters (Chakrya, Borromey & Holly) and his son (Chamnap) turned up at the hotel to wave me off. Yes, as predicted, I cried! (See photos in 'Battambang' album). Sak was travelling down to Phnom Penh with me and decided to take me for coffee first at his local streetside cafe - probably because he didn't want a weeping woman sitting next to him in...

Had a great time today teaching at Chakrya's and Borromey's school (see pictures in 'Battambang' album). So many of the children came up to me afterwards asking if I could come back again tomorrow. When I explained that I would be going to Phnom Penh tomorrow and then home to the UK at the end of next week their faces fell! They have made me promise to go and teach them when I am next in Battambang. Mid-afternoon I left the school, jumped on my motorbike, and s...

Had a busy couple of days - meeting Sak for coffee at his local cafe at 7am each morning, then spending the morning with Theara & Holly, taking Theara to the market on the back of the motorbike (she sits side-saddle, as do all the ladies here), and then helping to teach English at Battambang's Secondary School in the afternoons. Sak's sister (who is a trainee teacher there) took me along to meet her students the other afternoon and introduced me to the School...