So we're in Phnom Penh at the moment and are off to 'Nam tomorrow so heres a hopefully quick recap of what we've been doing whilst we were here.

The airport was quick and painless, visas cost 20$ each, we got outside into the afternoon heat, turns out it hovers around the 35 degree mark most of the time in Cambodia. As soon as we're out the doors there are people trying to get us to jump into their taxis to get to the city. First however we must get some money out and for that we need a cash machine, ask for a 100$ and it gives me a hundred dollar bill, which is not helpful at all. Try to change it in numerous places before finally giving up and going to get some more money out this time dispensed in 20s. Jump in a cab to a guest house called Tat mention in the rough guide book however when we get there we see a much nicer place across the street so we go there. And thats how we ended up in the Green Guest House paying 15$ a night for a massive twin room with tv, air con, fridge and ensuite. Hello Asia. After getting set up in our room we go out for a little walk round the nearby area. Phnom Penh is such a massive change from KL, there are many many more scooters, with many many less traffic regulations. The bigger the vehicle the less it has to obey the rules. Honking is used to tell people youre going somewhere or are going to cross the junction. It leads to an odd form of organized mayhem but it works, somehow. We haven't seen one crash yet and it doesnt take much time at all to get around the city. After walking past the olympic stadium and down the main street. I think i've said more no thankyous in my time here than in my whole life. We decided to jump into a tuk tuk and find someplace to eat, the riverside is supposed to be where all the good cafes and bars are so off we go. This first tuk tuk ride was one of the weirdest scariest experience of my life, its ok to be watching the traffic from the pavement but when you're actually part of the traffic it is crazy beyond belief. You just have to sit back and trust the driver otherwise you spend the whole time watching the scooters flying at you, cringeing and closing your eyes only to open them and find the scooters avoided you easily. Its a weird experience but we've developed a taste for tuk tuk riding. We get to the riverside promptly and pay the driver 2 dollars for the 10 minute rollercoaster. After a small walk along the riverfront we are presented with our first obstacle, crossing the road. This is a test of courage and willpower. Willpower to make3 you take that first step. Courage to walk into the middle of the road feeling scooters flying past, behind and in front and then cross to the other side. We make it across intact and no bruises. Check the menu of the first restauraunt we see and in we go. Have a lovely meal all for 8 dollars and then we set out again on a little walk along the road taking in the sites and the smells. Mostly the smells though, this is one smelly city. We get a tuk tuk back and fall asleep in bed safe and sound.

Wake up the next day ready to see what Cambodia has to offer, our first port of call, lunch on the riverside, this is the only place with a selection of places to eat so we end up there quite a lot. from lunch we go to Choeung Ek, the Killing fields, its a 10$ tuk tuk ride there but its one of the only ways to get there so we have to go. the driver offered to take us to a rifle range to fire an AK 47, we later find out it costs 40$ to fire an AK and 200$ to fire a rocket launcher, you can also pay a bit extra and shoot it at a cow. wow. We pay a dollar to go in to the killing fields and our eyes are immediately drawn to the large memorial in the centre, called a memorial stupa, buddhists erect them to honour the dead (I think) this stupa has the bones of 400 of the victims of the killing fields all housed in a layered glass case, there are three layers of skulls at body height and as it ascends the type of bone changes. All of these bones were dug up from the mass graves in the killing fields. We walk around looking at the memorials and the mass graves, the signs on display say stuff like here we found 400 skeletons, here we found 100 headless womens skeletons. I had never really appreciated it until we were wqatching the video which told us that Pol Pot killed or caused the death of a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time. We left 2 hours later and went back to the riverside for a walk. Along the walk we visited tha National Museum of Cambodia which was interesting and we also saw loads of temples but after a while they all look the same, we walked through one of the temples grounds, thats probably the first place where we haven't actually been harassed by people trying to sell us scooters or tuk tuk rides. It was really peaceful and quiet even though we were only 20 metres away from the street. we got a tuk tuk back to the guest house and spent the night around the guest house, going out for tea just down the road.

The next day was Embassy day, we got up bright and early, 9.40, and got a tuk tuk to the embassy to try and get our vietnam visas. The process was easy and it took us 20 minutes to get everything sorted, we wrote that we wanted to enter vietnam on the 5th though which would cause problems later. it cost us 40$ each to get a tourist visa. After we got a tuk tuk to Tuoul sleng, otherwise known as S-21. It was here that Pol Pot sent a lot of the people he wanted to torture before they were sent to the killing fields. It used to be a school and so it was four blocks of classrooms which were converted into cells for torture and holding. In some of them they kept it exactly the same way the lierating vietnam troops found it apart from the bodies. You could still see the blood stains on the floor and the metal beds they were tied to. It was a horrible place, and the pictures of the people that were killed were chilling. There was also a section of the school that was repainted and it was here that there was pictures and documents on the wall of peoples experiences under Pol Pots regime. After S-21 we visited the royal palace. A massive compound full of massive golden buildings and stupas. Lots of buddhas everywhere. Everywhere. Massive golden ones, little jad ones, middle marble ones, average cement ones. Lots and lots of gold leaf everywhere as well. Cool place overall, especially the sprinklers. Silver Pagoda wasn't too shabby either, it has a silver floor. Spent an hour or two walking round here but eventually when the sweat started dripping we started back to the guest house. We got back, booked our coach to Ho Chi Minh for the next day and ate at the little place across the street. that was yesterday.

Now for today, we woke up bright and early expecting to be going to get our visas and then jumping on the coach to Ho Chi Minh. It was not to be, we had entered the visa for the next day and therefore wouldn't be able to get in to Vietnam when we hit the border so we'd have to wait another day. they refused to change the date on the visa. We went back rebooked the coach and went upstairs for a while. We returned to the riverside again, its becoming our favourite haunt and had a very very long lunch ina little German restauraunt serving cambodian food. We took a tuk tuk to Wat Phnom, the only hill, and temple on a hill in Phnom Penh and took a look around. It was a lovely little place witha breeze blowing and monkeys running round on the ground. Take a look again, and yes there were little wild monkeys making their merry way around the temple and an elephant. A big elephant taking people on tours round the temple as well. This place was crazy, o0verall it was a lovely little temple where you could relax. But after a while we got restless and went to the only place we hadnt been to yet. The russian market. Why its called russian i dont know, i didnt see a single russian person in the whole place, but it was definitely a pretty good market. It was like tk maxx all the stuff there came from the stores but they all had minor little defects which mean they couldnt be sold. It was so cramped and hot in there though, there was about a foot gap between the stalls and nowhere to go but forwards. I quickly becam bored but Henry had to find this 'jazzy' pair of trousers we'd seen a while back so we spent about an hour in there just milling around. Didn't find them in the end anyway. Got a tuk tuk back and now I'm here typing away, glad to have finally caught up ojn the backlog of time that had arisen, mow I must go back and do the same with my diary. Au revoir.x