Bright Lotus Guest House 1 Phnom Penh

... museum, and then the Killing Fields - there's not much I can say about that really. Sick beyond belief, and so sad. The thing I kept reminding myself was how recently all of this happened, within my lifetime. Can't quite get my head round it.

It makes me realise more than ever how special the people here are - so happy, and always smiling. It also makes me much more tolerant of the amount of tuk tuk and moto drivers, who pester me constantly. They ...

... expecting to have anything close to a nightlife here let alone people to talk to in English and compare stories with about adapting to Cambodian culture. So Scott arranged a dinner for me to meet them at a restaurant by Sara's house, a place that had a large cauldron in the middle of the table to cook your own bits of steak and veggies with a large pint of cold beer to go with it, fantastic. The Aussies are a pretty laid back bunch though that should not to be mistaken for ...

... was cheap but the food was quite expensive and we were too lazy to wander outside the resort to grab some local food.
A lovely relaxing weekend, spoilt only by the geriatric men with their young wives and children enjoying the pool. I have to say though, that the men truly doted on the children - sho who am I to judge?

... a security prison by the Khmer Rouge in their reign from 1975-1979. Tuol Sleng in Khmer means, "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" and this complex was pretty much a prison, used to torture and interrogate men, women and children. The classrooms were converted into Torture chambers and tiny prison rooms, windows barred and electric wire everywhere to keep people from escaping. It is estimated around 17,000 people were killed at S-21 during these years. The prisoners were predominantly ...

... bullets) during the khmer rouge's reign including women and babies. undescribable.

the rest of our day seems insignificant compared to the horrors of the morning.

we went to a restaurant called friends which used all profits and donations to support orphans in schooling and to learn hospitalitiy skills. the food was tapas and it was amazing.

... make some NOISE.” It was quite funny. Sarah and I with our saucy personalities couldn‘t stop laughing.

Needless to say, Phnom Penh has thus far been the emotional low point of our trip. It was a difficult city to visit. The atrocities pretty much occurred during our lifetime. We were relieved to leave the city that afternoon and looked forward to visiting a more uplifting piece of Khmer history in Angkor Wat.

... Do I believe in reincarnation? I'm not certain... it's a nice notion... but standing there amoung the graves I chose to believe, even for a just moment, that those who had suffered so greatly at the hands of the Khmer Rouge were now beautiful butterflies living happily and freely.

After my small breakdown at the Killing Fields I decided I needed to do something fun... what better way than shopping! I went to the Psar Tuol Tom Pong market. I thought of ...

... said (and we believed them at this stage) that no other cheap lodgings were to be found unless we didn't mind staying at a place called 'Cabbage'. This sounded like a strange place to me but, reasoning that cabbage is one of the chief crops of South East Asia, it wasn't beyond the bounds of comprehension. We agreed to be taken to Cabbage.

It wasn't until we were bouncing in convoy along a country road a few kilometres outside Kampot that I tapped my driver on the shoulder and ...