Aqua Boutique Guesthouse Phnom Penh

... buildings contained similar rooms for holding people, but single cells rather than larger, more crowded rooms, some of the cells don't even have windows! Despite these empty rooms containing a graphic and horrific history I cannot envisage it as they are just empty rooms now, however I progressed into the rooms filled with mug-shots of the victims presumably shortly before their demise. The pictures scream out to me, tugging at my heart, the look of fear and ...

... br>My first evening was when I fell in love with this town. All it took was a quiz at the 'Lazy Gecko' bar. I teamed up with a group of English teachers living and working here, we came 2nd, got a little bit drunk, and by the end of the evening I was very nearly convinced that they were right - that I could also live here and teach.....<br><br>Have spent the last couple of days slowly seeing the sights. The first day was very sad as I went to the Tuol Sleng ...

... big chunk of hair. She stopped them working on it as they were making it worse &amp; managed to tear most of it apart &amp; they cut the rest apart with a razor. So much for the relaxing head massage for Cathy &amp; she had to go off to church with wet hair!!!!<br><br>After church we headed for lunch at the Boddhi Tree restaurant which is opposite Tuol Sleng ...

... of the Cambodians killed during the 70's, a similarly distressing place, where you can see the mass graves, the monument containing many skulls and walking over fields where there are still human bones in the soil. <br>These places were worth a visit to me - as they help gave a little perspective into the atrocities tat were carried out here not that long ago, and have left an impression on me, but they are upsetting places to go.

... pinned to their shirts blankly looking at the camera. Children and babies were killed because the Khmer Rouge didn't want them to seek revenge for the deaths of their families later in life. So what do you do? Torture them or whack them against a tree to kill them of course. Pure evil.<br><br>The Killing Fields were about half an hour away and this is where they brought the victims after they had tortured them. As I walked around the mass graves I still couldn't believe what I was ...

... the palace is open as the royal family still reside there.<br>After some food we went to a bar which has a separate room where you can chose a movie to watch, so Mei, me and a few girls from Surrey watched the Hangover which was nice and relaxing, free and funny! (it was a pirate DVD of course!) After swapping a few traveling tips with the girls who had come from Vietnam and were going to Siem Reap ...

Well here we are, Phnom Penh, Cambodia! Another country, another currency to get used too. We get approx 7000 riel to one pound, but what makes it even more confusing is the fact they use us dollars at the same time. You can pay in Dollars and get Riel back in change...hmmm!!! <br><br>Our time here so far has been quite busy. Yesterday we checked out the city on foot, its small enough to walk around (it takes a while though) and saw some of the sights, including the ...

... I used these to pull myself back up the muddy path. <br><br>We then rode back to the hotel to pack up and make the long ride back to Phnom Penh. Before leaving, I walked thru the village to hand out crayons and pencils I had brought with me. The children were very gracious and excited to receive them. They had huge smiles and thanked me by pressing their hands together in front of them as if praying and bowing, the cusotmary way of greeting and thanking someone in Cambodia. I ...

... for agriculture without machinery). The traffic is different from in Vietnam, we didn't see any tuk-tuks there, Cambodians also ride on open wooden trailers pulled by motorbikes, and crammed into mini-buses, even on the roofs of lorries &#8211; a worrying novelty for us. As in Vietnam we saw rubbish heaped beside the road.<br><br>We arrived at Udong and were immediately surrounded by 4 boys, all around 14 years ...

... to the CPP are still routinely intimidated and murdered and a daily diet of propaganda is dished out on television on behalf of the CPP. Some people claim that Hun Sen can't survive without the support of powerful businessman and military leaders; without their support he would lose his power. Therefore their agenda is his agenda - for the time being. As for now, there are few politicians left to challenge his hegemony and it remains to be seen what course Cambodian history will take next. <br>