Wednesday 3rd June 2009 Phnom Penh

We arrived at our drop off point at just after 6pm. The drop off point was at the King's Guest House. After a lot of "Why don't you just take a look?" we eventually decided that we would have a look at the rooms and then decided as it was late we would stay there. It was ok and in a reasonable location. So after checking in we went in search of a cash point. This was not so easy to find. When you draw money out in Cambodia you get dollars. But they also use Riem, so it can get a bit confusing! For most things you pay in Dollars and then in your change you then get a mixture of Dollars and Riem. Which then means you have to calculate the exchange rate twice to make sure you get the correct change!! As you can see very confusing!!!

Straight away on entering Canbodia you can see the poverty. But also it was really obvious to see the difference in those with money and those without. There were kids begging at the road junctions driving into Phnom Penh, which was really sad to see. Especially when you see the bigger kids carrying the little ones round in slings at the same time as begging. Although poverty was around the area it wasnt until the next day that it really became obvious. Phnom Penh we noticed very quickly is awash with tuk tuk drivers and we also noticed there are alot more cars here than we ever saw in Vietnam. But ever way their all crazy drivers with crazier ideas of road safety!!

After eventually finding the cash point we then decided to just stay in the local area for food. We ate at a very busy local Khmer restaurant. It was a bit like a gold fish bowl when we first walked in due to being the only westerners in there but the food was good and cheap!! Although we did order a little bit more than needed!!

Thursday 4th June 2009 Phnom Penh

Today we started the day at about 9amish. We started it off with a strong cup of coffee and pineapple milkshake for Caroline. We wanted to go to the Killing Fields so along with a Swiss couple we all shared a tuk tuk from the hostel and sat back and enjoyed the half hour ride to the Killing fields. Interesting ride, we saw 6 on a bike (I think this may be the most so far) and we also saw a family of 5 on a bike with the mother breast feeding the baby whilst being driven along the main road!! She was obviously trying to save time!

The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek is the place where Pol Pot's regime killed thousands of innocent victims. Mainly Cambodians but also some westerners that were in the country. Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and between mid 1975 and December 1978 his people executed approximately 17,000 men, women and children. For not really any reason at all!! If you were educated, wore glasses, spoke a foriegn lanuage or any other barbaric reason then you were at risk of dying from execution!! Majority of the victims had been locked up first in Tuol Sleng Prison (now a museum), they were then ordered into a van and taken to the field where upon they were normally bludgeoned over the head before being burried in a shallow grave. They used to batter them over the head to save on bullets and not all the victims were dead when buried so then suffocating as well. The exact number of victims is not known due to lack of any records. Generally because the Khmer Rouge destroyed them for fear of them being used as evidence. Still now there are stop start trials going on of the Khmer Rouge leaders to try and bring justice for the Cambodian people. But for what ever reason there have been a lot of hold ups and people such as Pol Pot have died before justice could be done!!

The Killing fields is now a sight seeing stop off but it is very heart wrenching. When you first enter the field there is a monument of a white stupa (religious monument) which serves as a memorial to the 17,000 victims and encasaed inside it are about 7000 skulls which were excavated in 1980 from the 129 mass grave sites. The skulls all bear the scars of being hit of the head or from being shot. They have also been classed into approximate ages. In the graves they also found clothes that the victims were wearing when executed, these have also been preserved. It was quite a harrowing experience and very hard to imagine the fear these people must have felt on arrival at the secret field. It was a most deffinately humbling!

After here we were all dropped off at the Tuol Sleg Museum. First we decide to get some lunch at the cafe across the road called Boddhi Tree. Really lush setting with very nice food. They also seemed to have some pretty nice accomadation as well. After lunch we headed to the museum first having to dodge our way around tuk tuk drivers and also a guy begging. He looked like he may have had acid thrown in his face but not sure. The museum is the prison that many of the killing fields victims were held in for between 3 and 6 months before being executed. The prison site used to be a school, Tuol Svay Prey High School, but in 1975 Pol Pot's security forces turned the school into Security Prison 21 (S-21). Alot of the schools outside equipment still remains as some of it was then used as a way of torture. The museum was four different buildings all with differents aspects showcased. Some of the rooms just held the prison cells with the metal bed in the room along with the shackels and then a black and white picture on the wall of a prisoner under torture. There were also several photo displays of the victims and of the means of torture. It again was fairly harrowing and very sad. It made you think very hard about how lucky we are not to have had to go through anything like this. We were in the museum about 2 hours and this time we both finished at the same time. Afterwards tempted by the chocolate brownie we'd seen on the Boddhi Tree menu we returned for tea and cake. Well coffee actually but it sounds better.

After the chocolate brownie we then made the half hour walk to the water front. On the way we passed through a park where tonights entertainment was all the locals doing a mixture of sport, dancing and aerobics. Great fun to watch but I'm sure they must wonder why these strange westerners take photos of them!! We also passesd by the royal palace which was noted for tomorrow. Once at the water front and after a small walk along we chose a bar and stayed there until closing. This was not the original idea. But happy hours last forever here. Also neither of us needed dinner as we had had the cake quite late on. Although after several beers I did decide that I fancied some Calamari. The poverty situation is really obvious at the waterfront due to it being quite a tourist spot. There were kids and adults begging and trying to sell books and postcards. Its very difficult to say no but otherwise we'd ever be left penniless or with a libary full of books!!! We did talk to some of the kids and also our peanuts went down well. Good day which ended with a tuk tuk back to our hotel at about midnight.

Friday 5th June 2009 Phoum Penh

Bit of a later start today before catching a tuk tuk down to the water front. After grabbing some lunch and watching a good old thunder storm we then headed to an internet cafe. We spenta bit of time there and then I decided at about 3:30pm that I was going to the palace. Caroline wasn't bothered so she stayed at the internet cafe to put on photos while I went to the Royal Palce and Silver Pagoda. I nearly didn't get in as I thought my shorts were too short but thankfully I could roll them down slightly and also had to cover my arms. It was so hot and by the time I left I felt like my clothes were sticking to me! Not pleasant. King Sihamoni still lives here so some area are not open to public but in the bits you could, the grounds were very big and beautiful and the artitechture of the buildings was amazing. All the buildings had what looked like fairys on the poles which were positioned in a way to make it look like they were holding up the roof. Very pretty buidings. It was nice to have a look around.

After re-joining Caroline we used the net for a bit longer and then went to find the Khmer Borane Restaurant. Its a restaurant that boasts a traditional taste of Cambodia. It was relly tasty food. So a good dinner had by both. I had Cambodian sausages and caroline had fish cooked in a traditional way. We had an early night tonight due to a early start tomorrow.

Saturday 6th June 2009, Phnom Penh

Up at 6:30am and we left at 7:30 from the hotel to the bus station to catch the bus to Sihanoukville. See next entry for the rest of the day. Bye for now xx