Asia Phnom Penh

... destination after Phnom Penh. After 30 minutes we arrived at the Choeng-Euk Genocide centre; aka the killing fields. We decided to hire a guide to educate us about the history behind this place, beyond what we know mainly from the film and the lonely planet. The guide was somber and spoke gently about the atrocities that went on in the killing fields, the brutality of the Khymer Rouge regime was shocking and made me feel numb as I saw the tower of the skulls of the ...

... my aunt and uncle). I arrived at the hotel desk and literally one minute later Rog and Sue arrived at the front door. It was great to see some familiar faces. <br><br>We dumped our bags in our rooms and hired a tuk tuk for the afternoon which was just a trailer attached to a moped however it was a better option than what was for offer in Vietnam.<br><br>Rog and Sue showed me the sights and took me for a drink on the newly redeveloped embankment which was ...

... Sorya shopping centre which had a roller skating rink where Cambodian&#8217;s were doing psycho jumps. Then we went to the roof where there was a great view over the entire city. Of course we had to visit Swensons Icecream before leaving Sorya Shops &amp; have one of the best icecreams in the world<br><br> <br> <br><br><br><br><br><br>The Concert at New Life Church was great and our ...

... Jorge at one point - but due to foul play (informing me of the wrong drop off point) i lost - but all good fun. <br>Cycled by the Mekong River (with the kids playing and jumping about), the Royal Palace (but missed the Silver Pagoda), the Independence Monument a few temples, fed some monkeys and saw ...

... s oppressive regime came on the back of civil war and the people all believed the Khmer Rouge would bring the country back to its old self and ensure peace. As the KR stormed into the capital (1975) they order everyone out on the guise that they were clearing the city to make it safe, the reality was that they were pushing everyone into the countryside to begin an 'agrarian utopia'/oppressive communist state. The KR believed anyone who was educated or had worked for the military was a ...

... that maybe it was because of the coconuts!<br><br>Back at the hotel we watched a film called the Killing Fields to set us up with some background knowledge before we visited the fields ourselves. I also managed to get a pancake with Nutella yay! We also bumped into one of the girls we had met before, she was upset as her passport had been stolen when she was trying to get a visa for Vietnam - I ...

... sleep at all). We weren't even sure if the critters might be living under the bed. We had seen two different sizes, so we decided it must be a family. <br><br>Not one of our better nights. In our paranoia any noise or movement was interpreted as a mouse and resulted in more hoots and uuuunghs. The people next door must have thought we were enjoying ourselves. Oh no we weren't! At first light we checked out and booked a bus to the beach.<br>

... sold and forced into doing this. <br><br>Yesterday, we took a bus from Phnom Penh Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Although this border crossing didn't require a bribe, for me it was more unpleasant than the first crossing. Before entering Vietnam, a health inspector came on the bus. He was checking everyone's temperature with an ear thermometer. He had a cotton ball that he touched the thermometer with after each person. I was really ...

... as well actually but we all loved it. Seems as it was my birthday i was up first, the first gun we fired was an M16 assalt rifle, i let off a couple of single shots first of all, mainly because i wasn't really sure what was gonna happen and then switched over to automatic, the thing was so powerful and unbelievably loud (we had to wear ear protectors). It was a pretty cool experience. When it was tiley's turn he let of a couple of shots and then switched to auto but when he pulled the ...

... tempo of Cambodia has been at boiling point. A coup in July 1997 which led to troops loyal to either FUNCINPEC or the CPP battling it out on the streets of Phnom Penh. The CPP came out victorious with Hun Sen still at the helm and the military bowed in support of him, clearly the strongest contender. FUNCINPEC leaders, defeated, went and formed alliances with remnants of the Khmer Rouge on the Thai border and several of them were murdered in mysterious circumstances. In ...