Phnom Penh we have arrived!!

Hot, sweaty and still recovering we got a tuk tuk driver from the swarms that met us to take us to the riverside area where we then walked to find somewhere to stay. Down a back alley full of dirt, grime and mental drivers we found a hostel that was in the lonely planet as it was cheaper ($10) than the ones we saw right on the river ($18-23) The Royal Palace it is not, but they try with the over the top long white curtains with gold trim and tacky ties. We were shattered and happy that it had a tv for after dinner. Clearly we are not very good at coming back to the cities after the tranquility of the beach and villages and refreshing breezes.

An early night for a harrowing next day as we headed to the Killing Fields and S-21 Tuol Sleng school turned prison and torture house/museum. It's extememly difficult to put into words the effect these two places have on the heart strings and emotions. The Killing Fields were smaller than expected and a lot of the 'houses' that were there in the 70's no longer exist but the bone and teeth fragments and pits where hundreds of bodies were thrown were very present. Clothes from the vicitms are still in the earth and peeping out through the soil and at one point i was actually standing on a victims jaw (two teeth still visible) that hadn't been taken out of the soil by the caretakers - we left silently only to arrive at the Prison. Matt was OK walking around here but I had to bail on the last building as it was getting too much with the pictures of the vicitms that were tortured there and held captive for years and all brutally executed. The barbed wire around one of the buildings (to prevent suicide jumpers) and tiny wooded cells were awful and really brought home the hardship the Khmer Rouge inflicted on their own people.

Our Tuk Tuk driver then dropped us off at the Royal Palace but we werent dressed appropriately and really didnt feel like seeing a temple after our morning so took a few snaps of the independence monument and had a drink. We checked out of our room this morning and await the night bus to go to Vietnam so we are currently stitting at a roof top bar overlooking the city before we go to a restaurant that offers street children a head start in the hospitality industry.

See you in Vietnam

S&M