Hello,

So for those of you who didn't know, I went home for christmas. I didn't feel right about spending it away, so headed back for two weeks up until the day after my mum's birthday on the 9th.

However, I am now back out in Cambodia. It was one hell of a journey lasting around 28 hrs as I had to wait 8 hrs in Bangkok for my flight to Phnom Pehn which is where I am now. I am pretty jet lagged still but just trying to get on with seeing things and napping if I really need it.

My first impressions of the city was that I was going to like Cambodia. It is less touristy and doesn't feel as western as parts of Thailand did. The streets are filled with little shops that are a little shabby looking and some of the buildings look old and battered. However, in saying this it doesn't look as run down as I thought it would. I am only a few minutes walk from the riverside and it is lovely down there. When I got here I checked in and found my matresse. Yes oddly enough they don't have beds here but its still a comfy nights sleep. I pretty tired but decided to venture out to get my bearings. I really like the chilled out vibe of everyone here, a lot of people just go about their business and aren't too bothered by seeing a backpacker wander down the street. I got to the river when it was dark and it's so pretty. The next day I realised it looks better in the dark then the day but it is so peaceful and relaxing to take a stroll down the riverside or sit on one of the benches and soak up the night-time atmosphere. So many people are playing games along the riverside, playing games of football etc. It lovely to watch them outside and having fun. There is also a park opposite my hostel where lots of happy children run around aftereach other enjoying themselves. I don't see that much at home now and it was a refreshing change. Along the river is where a lot of restaurants and bars are, so at night time its the place to head to.

My room has no windowns so its always dark which is great for when you need to sleep and sleep I did by accident though. I have realised I have made my hostel sound awful, its really not. The room is nice and clean with comfy beds and the owner is very helpful. The atmosphere is great lots of people to talk to and the tables outside the front of the hostels always have people round them so you are never alone. I woke up much later then I meant to and decided I was going to have another wander in a different direction to my walk the day before and then head to the Royal Palace. I do love a good wander, just aimlessly walking up the streets in no rush to get anywhere. There was some harassment from tuk tuk drivers but you get used to it and I don't take much notice of them any more. I must say I wasn't too impressed with the palace. I have seen the same architecture in other parts of Asia but it was still lovely to wander round and I always find the sheer amount of work it must have taken to build them impressive. It just didn't have as fancy decor as other I had seen. That day was finished with dinner by the riverside.

The next day I had started to notice I had seen a lot of Lexus cars driving round. For a country that is supposed to be poor I find there preferred brand of car a little surprising. If your not on a moped then your in huge SUV style cars and a lot of them are Lexus- bizarre. Crossing the street is a bit like a game. Mopeds come at you from all angles and its a case of see a gap walk and stop, even if that takes you to the middle of the road, you just keep on going. The roads are crazy.

Today my friend MarieLisa and I were heading to the killing fields. This is where they have found over 8,000 bodies from Pol Pots horrific genecide. Over 2 millon people were killed over four years as Pol Pot wanted to rebuild Cambodia from scratch and killed anyone intelligent, against him, against the revolution etc, anyone that was a threat. Its such a sad place. When you walk in there is a huge beautiful building, but when you get closer you see its filled with skulls in glass cases right to the top. It is such a peaceful place where you could never imagine that such brutal murders took place. Often they were killed by being beaten with an assortment of items from hachets to spokes until they died. 300 people were killed a day and even children of the people they deemed dangerous as they were seen as a threat in case when they grew up they looked for revenge against their families murders. It is awful, there is a tree that the used to grab the babies by the legs and beat the heads against the tree. It is awful and they were blind folded so you could hear the screams but you wouldn't know what was happening. The sick b**tards even had something they called the 'magic tree' that hung a huge loud speaker to play music that meant people in the near by fields couldn't hear what was going on and get suspiscious. People were just taken away and never seen again. Its such a tragedy and the court case only finished last year. Dutch the leader of the prison only got 35 yrs in prison yet all these people have been left so long before they were brought to justice. The bodies were thrown in mass graves and out on the fields you can see the tops of bones that haven't been found yet. It is such a harrowing place but if you didn't know the horrors that had gone on there you would think it was such a pretty place. The museum was worse as they have pictures of all the victims lining the walls and it demonstartes what happened to them. You could also read stories about families that never saw their loved ones again. The s21 prison was orignally a school before it became a prison for people before they went to the killing fields. They would have to answer questions and if they didnt answer them right they were beaten. They have pictures of this and you can see the tiny cells in which people were kept in. High ranking people had a cell to themselves where they were chained to their beds, others had tiny wooden or brick cells but often it was a huge mass cell they were all cramped in. Ok, i won't go into any more detail about it as I have only told you in about half the detail what I saw. I just can't get over how this sort of thing happens and how cruel humans can be to each other. I learnt a lot there and we left both feeling very solem at what we had read and the horrible images we had seen not only in the fields, or the photos but the things left in the cells too. It's just awful.

I headed home after that and immediately had to call Darren to cheer me up.That night ML and I went out for dinner. We are both going to head to Kampot tomorrow to spend a couple of days there. I like the feel of Cambodia, I feel like it is just going to get better and better.

Lots of Love SL xx