Cambodia

After an hour of driving around picking people up we were finally on our way to Cambodia on our luxury coach, yeah right. The coach was quite tatty but we did have lots of leg room and the seats did recline. After 2 hours we were at the bolder and it took an hour to do the paper work just to leave Vietnam and then an hour for paperwork to enter into Cambodia. Another 3 hours and we were at the bus station being hassled by tuktuk drivers but our hotel wasn't far so we decided to walk. So far we have noticed that the roads have a lot more cars than bikes and much more dirty than Vietnam was and they stop for you to cross.
We got in touch with Steve who was at another hotel and we met up for some dinner, was great to see him again. We had a lazy start to the day starting with a swim and then off to a bakery for some breakfast. So now for a walk around the city starting with Wat Phnom, a huge Buddhist temple dating back to 1373. As we were near the bus station we went to enquire about the bus to Siem Reap which is our next destination. The Mekong River runs through Phnom Penh so we walked back to the hotel this way as we discovered that the Royal Palace was closed and reopened at 2pm. After a short break and change of clothes we headed for the palace which was about a mile away. Within the palace walls are lots of small buildings and temples, very colourful and brightly coloured. It had been very hot today and I'm feeling a bit drained now but as like clock work the wind picks up and the storm clouds roll in. We made it back to the hotel just in time as a massive storm erupted.
Up nice and early for the walk to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or commonly known as S-21. The place was a school before Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took it over in 1975. It consists of 4 main buildings which were used as cells and torture chambers. In the centre is a monument to the 12,000 - 20,000 people that were imprisoned here. Only 12 are known to survive this prison.
From here we took a tuktuk to the killing fields at Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre as they are 15km outside Phnom Penh.
This is a very moving place to walk around, it's pretty much been untouched. All the mass graves have been preserved and the remains have been removed and are now on show in a central memorial stupa. Even today when there is heavy rain bones and clothing surface from the area as it's just too big an area to completely clear. One sad place was the killing tree where babies and young children are held by their feet and smashed until dead.
We got back to the hotel that afternoon and spent the rest of the day around the pool and then out for some dinner. It was so funny we were looking for a place to eat and walked into a bar that was full of "ladies" dressed in red dresses hovering over men, we politely said thank you but no thank you. We realised we were walking in the red light area as all the bars had "ladies" outside saying hello to us. We found a laundry and brought our bus tickets to get to Siem Reap on Monday, admin and chores all done. We have now in the past three days seen everything so our last day we just went for a walk and had a late breakfast. Back at the hotel we had a swim and then the heavens opened so time for a beer.
We are booked on the bus that will take us to Siem Reap which is where Angkor Wat temples are. Once again it's a 6 hour journey on a standard coach. We had booked a hotel that was very close to where the bus drops you off and with 10 minutes we were checking in. The hotel was ok nothing special but it did have a pool. So 3 days to explore this busy city and compared to Phnom Penh it's much busier and a lot more tourists around. We booked our tuktuk for the whole day for $15 and he takes you around the whole complex of temples and waits while you walk around them. It was a hot sticky overcast day but the rain held off and I really enjoyed the day. The temples are a mix of all sizes and in different states of renovation, my favourite was the tree temple as they have allowed the trees to grow around the temple giving it a magical feel. You end the day at the river and sunset but as we were quite tired so we didn't wait around and asked to be taken back. We went back into town for dinner that night and a few beers as very cheap here 50c. That night we booked our flights to Phuket via Singapore and our accommodation for the 3 weeks we are volunteering at Soi Dogs.
Today we headed into town to soak up some atmosphere and wander around the markets. We walked along the river that runs through the town and stopped for a coffee. The markets are amazing with the things they sell and how they sell and prepare the meat and fruit, also lots of bugs you could try. The afternoon we spent back at the hotel beside the pool which was nice as we were the only ones there. So all packed and ready to leave but then there was a mad storm in the morning and the roads were all flooded within minutes but luckily our flight was in the afternoon so we just hung around the hotel. Finally it stopped raining and we headed out for a coffee before our tuktuk takes us to the airport.