Sokha Heng Guest House Phnom Penh

... years. His chat makes up for the place. Tori and I bombard him with questions!

Cambodia is really pretty expensive. Accommodation is dirt cheap, but compared to Thailand we're surprised with the cost of things. Martin explains that inflation is really high here. The only thing Cambodia really produces is rice, so they have to import EVERYTHING. Even the electricity supply comes fully from Thailand (We're told shortcuts are common but don't experience any). We spot a service station ...

... the time persuading her elderly boyfriend to give her $20 to buy a drink!
David explained to us on the way that things at the dump had changed recently. In the last few months the dump has closed down. This was good news for the children, who are no longer allowed to walk barefoot over the rubbish looking for things to salvage ( a very dangerous job). The bad news for the families here is that this has taken away their only source of income. David also said that two ...

... Erica and I so back to bed we went. After we kissed and made up we headed out by tuk-tuk to see what can only be described as breath taking! Giant ruins of temples adorn this area sticking out of the jungle and the jungle has reclaimed some with trees growing out of walls and on top of roofs. It was a wet but incredible day.

Next stop was Phnom Penh. As the Lonely Planet describes it it is a place of juxtapositions! We have spent the days exploring ...

... to get there before they went to the shooting range. Terry wanted to splurge and get himself an early Bday present in the form of a rocket propelled grenade.

The tuk tuk ride to the guesthouse was short. Once there we met Heather and Terry. After a brief catch up and getting settled into our room, we called it a night. The next day we were to meet the tuk tuk driver from the day before, Mr. Camera, downstairs at 9 to go out to the shooting range. We all had bfast, hopped in the ...

... die Killing Fields auf denen die Gefangenen des S21 Gefaegnis exekutiert wurden. Die Bilder, Texte und Videos an diesen beiden Staetten vermitteln einen guten Eindruck ueber diese grauenvolle Zeit. So friedlich wie Kambodscha heute ist, ist dies kaum vorstellbar. Des weiteren besuchten wir den grossen Koenigspalast von dem allerdings nur ein kleiner Teil zu besichtigen ist weil der Koenig den Rest bewohnt.

... called " Elswhere" which has a pool.
Next morning it was more of the same, visiting another organisation working with slum children. The band did some songs & a story which the kids loved & then tried to visit their village but couldn't get imnto it as the water was knee deep to walk through to get there.



Time for the band to fly out after lunch to ...

... as Cambodia was officially neutral during the Vietnam War & was subsequently invaded by Vietnam so most of these mines were laid by other countries. We saw a film about these land-mines, which were mainly supplied by the Russians & the Chinese. I was pleased that Great Britain was not listed as a supplier.
There are therefore many limbless beggars on the streets, there being no welfare state to look after them !
I felt ...

Tal i com em va passar amb Saigon, no acabo d'entendre o copsar l'encant de la capital de Cambodja, si es que en te algun. Es una ciutat molt caotica i bastant pobra a on els venedors ambulants t'assetgen a totes hores per comprar qualsevol cosa o per dur-te en taxi a qualsevol lloc. Els preus son desorbitats en comparacio amb els seus veins, malgrat ser un pais molt mes pobre. La guia diu que antigament era considerada la Paris del ...

... we decided to take their advice and stay at the same place, the Lakeside Guesthouse #10.

On first appearances it looked pretty shabby, but it was as comfortable as we needed - bed, toilet, shower, electricity. Plus for $1.75 each a night we couldn't complain (though mummy hamshaw, I don't think it is somewhere you would ever step into!). We really liked it here and our ...

... 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.