Big Luck Phnom Penh

... Cambodia. We started our aerobics sessions feeling like pros, the locals recognised us from the day before, we knew the music and we knew the moves - it was great. We finally left just before it got too dark to cross the crazy streets safely, however we got distracted on the way by loud music and then an amazing light coloured water fountain display. It was amazing and agin cemented th fact that this was our favourite place.
'We've just had dinner at the hostel and another ...

... The inside of the building is ornately decorated with patterned floors and matching patterned carpets. The ceilings are covered with beautiful paintings. You really get a sense of the wealth of the King here, which is a real contrast to the horrors this country has been witness to.

Within the compound is the extravagant Silver Pagoda, the floor of which is covered with five tons of gleaming silver. Unfortunately most of the ...

... it into the exact opposite, a prison of insufferable cruelty and despair. The site was truly haunting.

John and I headed back to the hostel, a walk that took about twenty minutes or so, and had lunch. After this I did a good bit of blogging, had a shower, then met up with John, Derk and Erik at 5.30pm to go out for the evening. We got a tuk-tuk to the riverfront, and headed up a flight of stairs to the distinguishedly-titled Foreign Correspondents' Club. You don't ...

Yesterday we traveled from Siam Reap to Pnom phen- quite a travel and a few of us were quite ill- hangovers/ travel sickness and probably food poisoning as we went to this Cambodian bbq where you cook your food in the middle of the table!! I shared with a girl called Katryn (German) we had snake, crocodile, squid, chicken and beef! Crocodile was my fave- apparently quite a lot of ppl get ill off snake. We went out to a few bars afterward and got a tuk ...

... at the UN General Assembly until 1991, in essence letting the murderers represent their victims.

Traveling are not always pleasant, especially when one faces something as tragic and ironic as this.

Despite what happened in its recent history, Phnom Penh looks normal. Just like other big cities in this region, it has shinny new buildings amid old and dirty ones; traffic is crazy (the only rule is that there is no rule); air is polluted ...

... little finger (for cosmetic purposes I’m told)

The modesty of both men and women alike – there is something pure and innocent about it that carries through to the way they conduct friendships between sexes

Locals wearing long sleeves and jumpers to keep the skin from darkening

Coffee Korner – my home away from home for 3 months. Thanks for the Wifi.

The little old toothless man at the end of the street who ...

... voel me vereerd. En draag de meeste bandjes nog steeds. Je moet wachten tot ze afvallen.

De dag erna heb ik dus geklommen, dit was heel heftig, veel moeilijker dan ik had verwacht. We hadden een paar gevorderden bij ons dus de routes waren niet de makkelijkste en ik heb al jaren niet meer geklommen dus het viel me zwaar maar het was leuk en de plek was prachtig.

De dag erna ging ik op weg naar Vientiane de hoofdstad. Dit is een grote, vrij moderne ...

This last week has been eventful:

- Blood tests at the tropical disease clinic revealled I have some little wiggly friends living in my guts! Got some drugs so they should be dealt with easily enough.

- Paper work all done on my registration with the Ministry of Labour. After deciding to stay in Phnom Penh and commit to working as a freelance designer through this guys company he arranged to make me legit - which involved me going ...

Travelled by mini bus to Phnom Penh on Friday - leaving at 6 and arriving 5 hours later, then came back on Sunday afternoon.
The capital city is very different to Siem Reap, with a more apparent gulf between rich and poor. There are lots of young men who appear to have lots of money (been told they were sons of Government employees or lesser Royals, but not confirmed) and yet walking between bars and restaurants you have to ...

... by to ex-Khmer Rouge defectors, Hun Sen and Heng Samrin. The Chinese didn't like this turn of events at all and attacked Vietnam in order to allow the Khmer Rouge back into power. They failed after seventeen days.

In the Vietnamese invasion, rice stocks were destroyed by each side in a war of attrition which led to a large scale famine in 1979. Hundreds of thousands of Cambodians fled to Thailand, along with many Khmer Rouge soldiers who ended up controlling the camps ...