Champs-Elysees Hotel Phnom Penh

... of US$2 each for the night! It did involve crossing back over the road and into the main guesthouse to use the toilet and shower, but it was only for one night after all. The guesthouse managed to find us rooms this morning (Monday). I'm now sharing a room with Lauren to split the cost for the next 2 nights before heading to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam on Wednesday.

Today, although I'm not sure it was something I wanted to ...

... whole pagoda is made out of silver, it is not.Only the floor is covered with 5,000 silver tiles weighing 1 kg each.You can hardly see the tiles as they are covered by carpets to protect it.

The main attractions inside the temple is the Baccarat crystal Buddha that sit on a gilded pedestal atop a high dias.The biggest attraction of all the artifact displayed here is the life-size gold Buddha standing in front of the dias decorated with almost 10,000 daimonds, the ...

... the country; our tour operator - for the princely sum of $10 per person, including transport - organised everyone’s visas while we all had lunch in the cafe. Emma randomly ran into her uni buddy Steph and remained quite freaked out for at least an hour. Soon we were back on the boat heading north again. This time it was a 5 hour stint, the scenery was stunning but you could have walked it quicker! The kids in the villages that we passed absolutely loved the waving ...

... thousands. I stared at the paintings for several minutes I am gripped by them and then looking at those weapons find it hard for me to imagine the pain they felt when my life has been full of joy and happiness.

Eventually we leave S21 and board our tuk-tuk just as it begins to rain. We all seemed to exhale heavily processing what we had just seen, I am glad to have witnessed and experienced an important part of the history of Cambodia, even though it was sad it is ...

... random confrontations, unscheduled teacher meetings, an ever growing household, and now scorpions in my bedroom, it helps to know that I have a few planned moments of peace that are in my control. So far my daily routine starts with crawling out of my mosquito fort at around 5:30 am followed by a quick shower before my host mother brings me a kettle full of hot water for a bowl of oatmeal and aam-baal (crushed uncooked rice that looks like oatmeal, really ...

... was to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek which was the ultimate destination for those not killed at Toul Sleng (S- 21). Toul Sleng had been a school but was turned into a prison of unimaginable horrors which curiously, is just opposite this Guesthouse, and is now The Museum of Genocide which I've visited. It is a truly graphic memorial to the unimaginable tortures and torments perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge and I am haunted by the ...

... service to my country (sounds pretty cheesy and trust me, it looked even cheesier). Afterward, all of our new school directors rushed on stage to have their pictures taken with us but more importantly the US ambassador and Minister of Education. I looked for Darlene among the crowd of people below the stage. Expats, current PCVs, and returned PCVs had shown up for the event and a small group had formed a line opposite of the ambassador to have their picture ...

... te worden... Onderwijs werd afgeschaft en de kinderen werkten ofwel op het land of werden samen met talloze babys afgeslacht aangezien ze zich later mogelijks op het regime zouden wreken. Alles dat naar intellectualiteit rook werd geschuwd met het gevolg dat ziekenhuizen en geneesmiddelen vervangd werden door "revolutiekruiden" en mensen die meer dan 1 taal spraken of een bril gegarandeerd vermoord werden... Vandaag bezocht ik het Tuol Sleng museum dat vroeger een school ...

... Walking around S-21 I noticed heaps of people brought to tears, the whole place just had a horribly sad energy about it.

Then, it was off to the Killing Fields. 14km's out of the centre of city the Killing Fields is now what I would describe to be as a park. Lots of trees, green grass, a monument and paths etc. It's not until you walk to the back of this 'park' and see the mass graves dug up, with signs saying how many 100's of people were all dumped naked on top of ...

... are black and white pictures of previous prisoners who had been tortured to death, this is a harrowing sight to see. I just walked through the museum in stunned silence.
Generally the museum is well worth the visit, words can not accurately describe this place. I found my driver and went back to the hotel.

When I came back I paid the driver the agreed $12 USD. I was quite shocked to see the driver walk into the hotel and pay the hotel receptionist ...