Bright Lotus Guest House 1 Phnom Penh

... felt inappropriate, like you were taking advantage of someone’s suffering.

After leaving the prison we found out that a girl we were with (Raj's friend Mia) had her £2000 camera stolen, on that note we headed to the killing fields. This was a place where more than 17,000 civilians were killed and
buried in mass graves; many of them transported here after detention and torture
in S21.In the centre of the area is a 17 story glass tower which houses 8000 ...

It seems like classes are starting to adhere to the schedule now at the RTTC, I've already observed several classes with my new co-teacher Han Sokum and I've been conducting surveys for the class to collect baseline data and assess their English skills. Sokum only teaches “upgrading” which is basically teaching grammar out of the English For Cambodia books, or EFC. They are the text books that the teacher trainees will use when they ...

... to obtain our visas for whichever one we chose before we left Phnom Penh. Unfortunately, visas took two days to obtain; it was Friday; and embassies are closed on weekends. Even if we dropped off our passports at either embassy, we couldn’t get them back until Monday. We were stuck. Unable to make further headway with regard to our travel plans, we decided to visit the last item on our list of things to see in Phnom Penh: S-21, the Khmer Rouge prison. Much like Choeng Ek ...

... sloten we een deal met enkele lieve mensen die ons al te graag wilden brengen. In de Floating Village vaarden we tussen drijvende huisjes, drijvende winkels, een drijvende school en kerk, een drijvend basketbalplein, en zelfs drijvende verkeersborden om het bootverkeer te regelen! Aangezien het die dag snikheet was vroegen we de familie of ze ons naar een afgelegen plekje konden brengen om te zwemmen, en twas fantastisch om 5 meter boven een weg waar er 4 ...

Phnom Penh wasn't as bad as what I'd thought it would be. Actually, I'd go as far to say I enjoyed the city and would go back. In saying this, it's not for the faint hearted. The dirt and grime and poverty are very 'in your face'. Eating at restaurants is tough when there's people staring at you and begging a couple of metres away. A little disheveled girl, aged 4 or 5, walked over to my table at least 3 times one night. I didn't want to give her money because I didn't want her to ...

... are.We just made our way back to the museum, watched the film - very interesting and a real eye-opener - and climbed into the waiting tuk tuk.
The 'Fields' weren't that far away. Apart from an impressive pagoda-type monument commemorating the victims, the place was fairly non-descript. According to photos of the place, it used to harbor a lot more skulls than the monument currently houses. A bit morbid - just a thought. We walked around photographing the evidence, ie ...

... where Xmas is properly celebrated and you have the shops decked in decorations and people singing Xmas Carole’s, then maybe. But since I was in Cambodia I was not in the mood. Anyway I politely declined the offer of lunch and left.

I got a taxi back to Phnom Penh which cost me $50 US, I left in the morning. I did not want to be on Cambodian roads at night. The taxi driver was a bit more chilled out and did not drive like a maniac, in fact we ...