We caught the bus from Can Tho in the Mekong Delta to Phnom Penh at 5.30am. Shortly before we boarded the bus we had withdrawn some money from an ATM. Just as the bus was ready to depart we realised that the ATM had withheld my bank card! Panicky and tired from the early start, I ran back to the ATM whilst Steph prepared to throw herself under the wheels of the bus if they tried to leave without me. I had tried to mime 'please wait, the ATM kept my bank card' to the bus driver and conductor, but I wasn't sure the message had gotten through. Having sprinted back to the ATM and after more desperate miming to locals nearby, I had to run back to the bus without my card. I was relieved to see the bus was still there as I had absolutely nothing with me. Sweating profusely, I re-boarded the bus and it departed. Fortunately, were able to cancel the card during the bus trip (after an expensive series of calls).

After 4 hours, we reached the Phnom Den border crossing into Cambodian. As a special welcome to the country, the Cambodian officials tried to overcharge us for our entry visa - in order to pocket the extra. We had expected this based on what we had read about the crossing and politely refused. After much paper shuffling and talking amongst themselves the officials eventually gave up trying to intimidate us and charged us the correct fee. Our first border-related victory in our travels!

We arrived in Phnom Penh in the early afternoon. Phnom Penh is a dusty town filled with street hawkers, tuk tuks, motorbikes and beautiful khmer pagodas.

After checking in at our hotel we went to the colourful Russian market and made some good purchases. This included some clown-like one-size-fits-all Khmer trousers for me.

The next day was a more sombre affair. We started early and went to visit the nearby Cheung Ek, one of the former Khmer Rouge 'Killing Field' sites There we saw the former execution site of thousands of Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge regime. There was a large and beautiful pagoda in the centre of the site as a memorial to those who died. On closer inspection, we saw that the pagoda was filled with the skulls and bones of thousands of the victims found at the site. The site itself was peaceful, and we listened to a very moving audio-guide containing stories of those who lived through those times (1975-1979). We heard how even now, more than 30 years later, bones and pieces of clothing still continue to resurface at Cheung Ek. They are collected by the staff every three months and added to the memorial exhibits. I was nevertheless still shocked to see a molar lying on the ground in one of the sites of the mass graves.

After Cheung Ek, we visited Tuol Sleng, a secret Khmer Rouge prison in the centre of Phnom Penh; a place they used for torture and detention of intellectuals and anyone else the paranoid regime labelled a 'traitor'. There were pictures of the prisoners and guards; excerpts from absurd false confessions forced out of inmates and stories from some of the very few prisoners that survived imprisonment. One amazing story was that of an inmate that was a painter before being captured and imprisoned at Tuol Sleng by the Khmer Rouge. He survived the prison, unlike 99% of the other inmates, because he was chosen to paint portraits of senior members of the Khmer Rouge, including Pol Pot.

In the afternoon we visited the beautiful Silver Pagoda, so called because the floor is inlaid with 5,000 silver tiles. The pagoda is on the site of the Royal Palace. The palace has been closed for three months because the Cambodian monarch, King Norodom Sihanouk, passed away in mid October. We saw a moving memorial to the King on the main processional way outside the Royal Palace. We also saw a number of Monks walking to and from buddhist temples. Dressed in beautiful orange robes with gold umbrellas, they are a beautiful sight.

We headed west by bus the next day to Battambang, Cambodia's second largest city.

~Chris