In Phnom Penh we stayed in the pack- packer area, around the Boeung Kak Lake. It is a very nice area, but apparently it was better before. Some time ago a South-Korean company bought the lake for themselves, so that many guest houses had to close because they were too close of the lake.

We rented a motorbike for 3 days and visited the city. First of all we saw the S-21, the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum and the killing fields.

Here's some history:

From 1975 until 1979 the ultra- communist Khmer Rouge controlled the whole Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was headed by Pol Pot. During their short reign, between 1-2.5 million Cambodians perished, some killed, others dying from disease, malnutrition, neglect and mistreatment. Some of the horrific remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime can be seen at the Choeung Ek Memorial ( The Killing Fields) and the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. Prior to 1975, Toul Sleng was a high school, build by the French. When the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 they converted into the S-21 prison and interrogation facility, administered by The Duch, who is currently on trial for his actions at S-21. Inmates at the prison were held in tiny brick cubicles and systematically tortured to extract the desired "confessions", after which the victim was inevitably executed at the killing field of Choeung Ek. The Tuol Sleng compound now serves as a museum, a memorial and a testament to the madness of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Many of the Cambodians who perished under the Khmer Rouge regime ended up dumped in one of the dozens of "killing fields" that can be found across the country. After the Khmer Rouge regime, memorials were set up at many of the sites, some containing the bones and remnants of victims gather from the area. Choeung Ek Memorial is the site of the executions of more than 17 000 men, women and children. It is now a group of mass graves, killing areas and a memorial stupa containing thousands of human skulls and bones.

It is just crazy to think that people can be so horrible and cruel. In the museum there were some testimonies of the Khmer guards or the staff who were working for the Khmer Rouge. They said that they didn't have choice when killing, either it was me or them. But I think, no matter what, you don't have to torture or kill babies against trees, etc. But of course, when somebody's threading your life you don't really care about anything else than to try to stay alive.

We never go to the museums, but in this museum we spent almost 3 hours! I think it's a record for us! But it was really interesting and horrifying. It's good that they have transformed the place to a museum so that people never forget.

It's much cheaper to rent a motorbike in Phnom Penh than to take a tuk tuk, but the only problem is the traffic. It is almost like in India, no one knows how to drive, they just honk the horn and drive. We visited also markets, and I bought Thai/ Cambodian trousers. There were 2 types of trousers and when I asked what the difference was, the sales woman said: "Same, same, but different". It is actually a funny story what this expression really means. For example, when you buy a watch and you ask if it's a real Rolex, they say: Yes, same same but different! It's often used in Thailand, so they have made a" Same Same, but different" t-shirt. Many tourists in Asia wear that same t-shirt.

From Phnom Penh we took a 4 hour bus ride to Kep, in the South of Cambodia. When we arrived we were shocked about the price level of the place. You couldn't have a room for less than 5 dollars (without bathroom), and the meals in the restaurants were also 5 dollars or more. Even in Phnom Penh, the capital, we paid less. The place was very beautiful but there wasn't anything to do. We just went for a 1 day excursion in the Rabbit Island, 30 minutes by boat. It was nice to swim and relax in the sun, but after that day we were all sunburned! It hurt so much! After 3 days in Kep we came back to Phnom Penh. I was sick in Kep, and David was sick also in Phnom Penh so we decided to stay there until he was ok. We will go to Siem Reap to see the temples of Angor and then we go to Thailand.

We tried to find a cheap flight to Bangkok, because when you fly to Thailand the visa is for 30 days, if you come by land, the visa is only for 15 days. But the flights were too expensive so we'll take a bus. And for the visa we applied them from the Embassy of Thailand in Phnom Penh so we can have 60 days, and it's for free! SO now we just have to wait until Monday (3days), and then we can leave.

We went to the Embassy by motorbike, and on the way a police officer stopped us. He wanted to see a driving license so we gave David's driving license for car, but he didn't notice it. He just explained that he will fine us 5000 riel (1,20 dollars) because we had our headlights on. I started to get upset, because we didn't even have the headlights on. David just told me to calm down and he started to act; he said that ok I have all my important papers with me and I just get the French Embassy's phone number and call them to make sure that we really have to pay. Suddenly, the cop changed his mind and said that we could go! HAhahaa! They just tried to get our money but we were smarter than them!

After having our visas to Thailand, we went by bus to Seam Reap. We booked a room with a guest house where we ate every day in Phnom Penh, because the tuk tuk ride to the guest house was free of charge. The guest house was very big and they had all types of rooms. You could even stay in a dorm for 1 dollar but it was outside and you had just a mosquito net for cover. We had a pretty good room for 6 dollars. We decided that we would visit the Angor temples just one day. Many people say that you need at least 3 days to visit the temples because it's a huge area. The tickets for 3 days are very expensive, 40 dollars. One day ticket is 20 dollars plus the tuk tuk for 13 dollars. We felt that it's too much money just to visit some temples even though they are pretty amazing! We visited 5 of them, the Angor Wat, which is the biggest and the most popular of the temples. We also saw the temple in the jungle, where the tree roots have taken over the area. That was my favorite one!