A bus trip took us down to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.

At a comfort stop along the way, we saw snacks of spiders, crickets and other indistinguishable creatures deep fried for sale and local bus passengers were buying them. Avan saw an item he thought might be a crumbed sausage and bought it. Turned out to be a huge and very hot chilli under the crumbs!

An arrival we elbowed our way through the annoying touts and with some help from passerby Westerners, found ourselves a cheap but OK guesthouse, for our 2 day stay.

Most people go to Phnom Penh to sort out visas for onward journeys to Vietnam and Laos primarily then to learn more about Cambodia's history by visiting the Killing Fields and the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison which is now a museum. As we had decided not to try and squeeze Vietnam into this trip we didn't have to worry about visas and so got on with the business of learning more of Cambodia's recent history.

Some 2 million Cambodians died in the Disastrous Pol Pot Regime, many tortured before death. 

It is sobering experience to see again examples of man's inhumanity to man and wonder how the world didn't realize what was happening.

The exhibitions at the museum were quite well done and there was also a short movie which included interviews. A memorial has been erected at one of the major killing fields but mass graves have been found all over the country.

We also did some walks around the city and found the Royal Palace. The paths and streets were not very easy to navigate as no infrastructure was kept up during the Pol Pot Regime. When it rained which was often, everything was mud. One time we caught in a heavy downpour and shopkeepers beckoned us inside and put out baby plastic chairs for us to sit on and wait out the downpour.