Star Royal Hotel Phnom Penh

... they were on leashes as always and someone was making money off of them. Not the case. These were free ranging monkeys, that just happen to be in the middle of this city. I find monkeys extremely intriguing, seeing as how close they are to us, and decided to sit and watch their behavior for a bit. I won’t get into details about the events that unfolded before my eyes, but there was possible incest, repeated pedophilia, and socially accepted spousal abuse going down in this troop ...

We have traveled through Laos, Vietnam and now Cambodia but we have been quite absent in our blog. So here we are again, back to you after some weeks in the shadow. We have uploaded some pictures from most places we have been to (check out the little google map!), so take a look at the different entries to follow our adventures of the past weeks.

Now lets go a little back in time...

After five days chilling in Chiang Mai, we headed east ...

During the first week of our adventure, we travelled with the Citipointe band to Cambodia. The first few days were spent in Phnom Penh and the band played at a youth concert at New Life Church. Whilst the Band was setting up for the big night Nath and I hit the markets, first was the Olympic markets (not very exciting), and next was the Russian Markets (great for clothes and DVD's) and ...

... babies and the women have big smiles one their face while trying to see you water or souvenirs. I really wish we had more time to get off the beaten path and explore the country more and just can't wait to come back!

Things we checked out:

Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda- We started our day with this spot and I'm glad we came early because I can only imagine it gets more crowded as the day goes on. It's crazy how similar the Royal Palace is to the Royal Palace ...

... to see the weird big guy who’s scared of the little spider. When the driver came back I was first on. I could hear the children flattering the other passengers as they returned to the bus, hoping this might persuade them to buy something, when this failed the young girl with the spider tried a different approach. She called the man sitting nearest to the door, told him he looked like a monkey and asked him if he would now like to buy some ...

... but tortured. All because they were of the wrong parentage, educated, for being a doctor or a teacher, for trading in a free market. Horrific. And only 30 years ago. Walking on the paths in between the mass graves, with hundreds of people buried in each pit, you can see bones and even make out whole skeletons under your feet, coming through the worn away path. A sign points out "the magic tree" where speakers were hung to cover up any noises. From another tree in the grounds, babies ...

The last day in Modulkiri was another adventure. We got up to take another rmotorbike ride about 15 miles away to a waterfall. The road was bumpy, rocky and dirty...not a fun ride for my butt and I I just tried to keep my mouth closed so I wouldn't get dirt in my mouth.

The water fall was nice. Kelly was a bit braver than me and walked out onto some rocks in the middle of the river to get some good pictures of him standing under the falls. Our guide then took us to another ...

... hearted or squeamish.

The north wing was by far the most daunting. Its razor wire clad fascia pressed home the point that imprisonment within its four walls would be eternal. Each of its floor contained a different method of confinement for its in-mates, which seemed a little strange and must have meant the prison itself was forever changing during its two years of operation.

• Ground floor; small brick cubicles measuring ...
  Phnom Penh, Cambodia emmaandpaul

... many small villages, poor kids in cities and often thought to myself 'They can't afford to eat, but yet they still find the funds to highlight their kids hair, world gone mad'. But it's only tonight that my ignorance is put right, its due to malnutrition, (boy did I feel like a ****) you get melanomine produced in your body to give you pigmentation, among other things, and you need a supply of Vitamin D to keep that afloat which is drained from the Sun and the Vegetables. But ...