Days 31, 32 and 33

We got up early to catch the Mekong Express bus to Phnom Penh. We were delighted to find that the Cambodians were far more reliable when it came to pick up and journey duration times, and our journey went both quickly and smoothly (we even got to watch the Lion King ). Our hotel (Silver River) was really nice so it was a shame we only got to spend two nights there. After our journey we only had a couple of hours of the afternoon left so we had some lunch and went to the National museum....it was pretty boring but looked pretty from the outside!

The following day we got a tuktuk to the S21 genocide prison where the Khmer Rouge detained the Cambodian people before executing them. They had filled all of the cells with pictures and stories of what had happened, and it was quite emotional. We then jumped back into the tuktuk to head to the killing fields where the Khmer Rouge executed around 20,000 people. The momument was quite shocking as it consisted of 17 storeys filled with the skulls and bones of the dead. There were gruesome stories of children being smashed against trees to kill them, and of people being buried alive. After our downbeat day we went to one of the highest rated restaurants in Phnom Penh. It was run by a charity called 'Friends', whose aim it is to provide work for street kids. The food was amazing and even though we had tapas it was still very cheap. They also had a shop and nail bar so I decided to get a manicure and have my nails painted (the woman asked Jamie if he wanted one too but he politely declined!).

The following day we had yet another early start to catch the Mekong Express bus (which was on time again !!) to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. We were quite to sad to be leaving Cambodia as it had certainly exceeded our expectations, and the people were lovely. The border crossing to Vietnam was much smoother than our entrance from Thailand although still not up to British standards. The bus ride was long (6 hours) but we arrived in HCMC on time. The first difference we noted were that the tuktuks were no more, and the roads were jam packed with motorbikes. We felt that we deserved a medal just for crossing the road in one piece. Our hotel wasn't far away from the bus station although our taxi driver didn't want us to know that (Vietnam land of the scam!). Our hotel (Green Suites) was at the end of an alleyway but felt nice, clean and safe. We were right in the centre of the backpacker area and so didn't have to walk far to grab something to eat.