The Queen Hotel Phnom Penh

... becomes phantasmagoric when diffuse fingers of rock fill the horizon and the sunlight reflects on the water forming a flickering path. Swimming in those hours of the day while chatting with your new day-friends and drinking beers from the numerous shop-boats around is an experience difficult to forget.

The same we arrived from Halong Bay we took a night train to Sapa, our next stop. Sapa is a mountain town in the northeast of the country. The ...

... Museum). It is this lovely leafy oasis opposite such a grim reminder of Cambodias past. Nath and the guys visited it after eating & then we went by tuk tuk out to the KIlling Field.







Then off to the river front to check out the tourist areas and we couldn't believe how many times we got offered drugs . We walked back to the local ...

... of books or post cards. When I asked one kid why he wasn’t in school, he responded by saying he couldn’t afford the $8 a month or $100 a year to pay for school.

I checked into a hotel that a guy I met in Siem Reap suggested. After I checked in, I met a girl, Shira from Israel who asked if I wanted to join her and go to a local school to see some kids. Of course, I said yes. We found our way and before entering we purchased balloons ...

... tiny cell blocks they used brick but as more and more people were admitted, the walls became panels of wood.

You can see where the prisoners were held captive, torture devices and even the photos they took before and after of the prisoners (many of which were unrecognizable due to weight loss and torture) to prove how many were admitted and killed.

There are floors upon floors of information ranging from personal tales of the soldiers to those that were ...

... HOOT!"
Me: "what's wrong?"
Sarah (pointing): "HOOOOOOT!!"
Me: "Eh? UUUUUUNGH!!"

So the mouse, petrified by all the noise coming from the humans, ran down the drain pipe. It was pretty big for a mouse, and in fact, we speculated later that it was a juvenile rat. Either way it was dark brown and wet looking and had made a little squeak. After we had calmed down, we covered the drain hole with a big bucket full of water. With the ...

... very excited we would be passing through. Once we arrived in this town, we pulled over at an intersection where several street vendors approached our car with buckets full of fried insects and spiders. The guy in the car bought several crickets and two tarantulas. He said they tased like peanuts and were good to eat with beer.

He and the driver munched away on the supposedly tasty snacks. I passed on the opportunity but Kelly was persuaded (quite easily) by our friend to ...

... Phnom Penh on our first day. We assume the hall is used for different functions, but we are not really sure.

Two guards stood outside of the Royal Palace. Armed with rifles and bayonets they looked far more menacing than our English beefeater's, but no where near as professional. As it seems they have the luxury to move around and make eye contact with passers-by, which made my job of sneaking a quick photo of them more difficult.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia emmaandpaul

... go for the wonder paste that is TCP to fight on my body's behalf, my Mum swears by it, and she used to say something like "Put it on a spot overnight and it's gone in the morning", but romanticise that slightly, and remember she is from the North where they normally just cure ailments with Spells and Dripping, and good old fashioned Meat and Potatoes. But I went for the TCP and plasters, and after one night they did look better, but I'll need to stick to a self medication regime ...

March 11th - written in Bangkok, Thailand

We left Phnom Penh in the early morning on a river boat. This was the same type of speedy barge that had initially taken us to Sihanoukville. We were sat on the top of the boat this time, along with about fifty other foreigners. The weather was a bit dim and I suspected it was going to rain.

We travelled up the Tonle Sap river in a northwards direction towards the great lake, also called Tonle Sap. At the end of the rainy ...