Boddhi Tree Guesthouse Phnom Penh

Well the border crossing went swimmingly, after a largely excellent bus journey. After waiting 45 mins for the bus from Trat to fill up (standard procedure) we set off as the only non natives heading for the border, with the horrifying sight of a local with a few bags of durian, possibly the smelliest food in all the world. Its an enormous spiky fruit which has a smell I can't describe to you but trust me its horrific. We got lucky initially and the fruit was on top of the bus as we set off i...

Phnom Penh is wonderful, yet so tragic. The people are incredibly warm and friendly, yet they have such a dark history. Up to 2 million people were killed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979. That's up to a quarter of the country's population. Pol Pot believe in a radical Marxist view of abolishing the entire bourgeous class, so he executed anyone considered wealthy and educated--even wearing glasses or being from the city was enough to get you killed. When the Khmer Rouge executed ...

Phnom Penh 8th February 2007 We land in Phnom Penh at around 2.30 in the afternoon. Getting a plane is a bit of a treat but we are tired of getting buses and couldn't face another twelve hour journey of bumpy roads and bibbing horns. The plane ride is a short hop and only takes 35 minutes, just enough time for the air stewards to wheel around the drinks trolley. We encounter our first real problem of the trip (which isn't bad going!) when we get to our hotel as they have messed up and don't h...

Well where do I start. I'm not sure. It all got a bit overwhelming if I'm honest, the atrocities that these people have seen are awful. The city itself is not my favourite place however I don't know if that is due to the greyness of the place from the war and the memories that it holds. James and I read a book called 'first they killed my father' a good read (if you can say that) which explains their recent history very clearly through the eyes of a child at the time of the khmer rouge. It de...

This is a really sad city. We took catered a taxi coach from HCM to Phnom Penh. The scenary along the way is really beautiful, all the nice padi fields, the trees, the children on buffaloes. Such a simple countryside life. We sang and joked along the way to Phnom Penh, with stops in between for Diin to take pictures once he spotted some children on buffaloes or playing by the river :P A huge ship carried us across a huge lake, i guess that should be Tonle Sap Lake, which means "freshwater lak...

Landing at a one runway airport is definitely different when you reach the end of the runway you have to turn around to get to the terminal.This little country is indeed very different from Thailand.Its like being back in the stone age with the added benefit of 3 million motorbikes-it is not a quite place.Althogh I have found aan oasis of a guesthouse amongst the din.Its just up the road from the notorious Tuol Sleng (S-21) genocide museum.It is a very sombre place -a school which was turned ...

After yesterdays visit to the genocide museum I needed something uplifting and took a tour of the Royal Palace a spiritually uplifting place.Utterly beautiful in such a poor country.The Khmer naturally smile and are some of the friendliest people I have met.Even at the Boddhi Tree which is staffed by girls who have been rescued from prostitution their smiles are infectious.Drawings on the wall outine their sadness.From my bed high in the sky its a pleasant oasis.Pics are from the Royal Palace...

Been slacking on the blog front due to the intense pace of life I am now living. The unsatisfactory nature of Serendipity beach meant it took only three days to move the five kilometres to Otres beach where my busy busy life and lack of civilisation left me a heavy reading schedule including such happy tales of joy as 1984, first they killed my father and voices from S21, interrupted on a regular basis by swimming, mango shakes and some good food. Eventually forced out of town by a combined a...

We have one more day here, after the strain of clambering up and down temples, before we fly to Pakse in Laos so we can head north to Vientienne. We are with rickys sister michelle and having a ball, a wee smoke, some lovely food and a few bira piqquante. Siem Reap is a crazy town and also contains a mini Ko Sanh road but with a french twist, we had a barbeque at our table one night, ate in a tree house with crocodiles the next and sat in a french colonial style balcony listening to the sound...

A goddess working at the redoubtable Madam Cuc's, Hotel 127, where I stayed after leaving the tour you're all sick of hearing about had arranged for a minibus to take me to the posh bus depot for the trip to Phnom Penh and by 8:50 on D day it was looking a bit tight.

The transfer finally materialsed with a few minutes in hand in the form of a motorbike (moto) and off we weaved with the beast in tow into the Saigon traffic which is something quite unimaginable. I had been on the back o...