Walkabout Hotel Phnom Penh

... Magic Tree" from which hung a loudspeaker that played noises in order to drown out the screams of victims being executed. Our guide then told us that he had lost his brother and sister, both his parents, as well as all of his other family members and many friends; indeed, he was the only one that survived. I was speechless. I had to take photos, but I felt like I was doing something wrong every time I pressed the button on my camera. He stood and wiped tears from his eyes as he ...

... shelled out $40 between them to charter a big aircon bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap though. When I finally got to Phnom Penh I found a hostel for $4 a night, good social place but i had a terrible room! Nice views over the lake at the back..<br><br>At first glance Cambodia is a bit behind its neighbours - there's litter all over the place, the roads are terrible in places, and it seems far less friendly and secure. Saying that, it does have some ...

... enter the museum it hits you that only 30 years ago this happened. Some of the scenes that you saw were unreal and some thing that you would see in a Saw movie. Cells no bigger than 6ft by 3ft, all of the pictures of the innocent people that were killed were in huge rooms. The big horror was that if the person was already dead then they would still take a picture to show that they were a victim here. <br><br>While I was walking around ...

... sloten we een deal met enkele lieve mensen die ons al te graag wilden brengen. In de Floating Village vaarden we tussen drijvende huisjes, drijvende winkels, een drijvende school en kerk, een drijvend basketbalplein, en zelfs drijvende verkeersborden om het bootverkeer te regelen! Aangezien het die dag snikheet was vroegen we de familie of ze ons naar een afgelegen plekje konden brengen om te zwemmen, en twas fantastisch om 5 meter boven een weg waar er 4 ...

... that were staring back at you from across the decades. It just boggles the mind how the KR thought that it was necessary to kill children. Most of them were probably kids of people who had already been accused or killed and they wanted to prevent them from taking revenge in the future...But who in their right mind would kill kids? (of course the KR also had kids acting as guards in the prison).<br><br> After that one-two punch I had planned to go check out the royal palace ...

... of our stuff and then we went into the main room. It was great because they had a lot of specific information on handouts for us in English. I mean I am really interested in genocide and how people can be held responsible for their crimes, but I did not know the detailed information of how the court works and who was being tried at the moment. The Tribunal began and we all sat in theater style seating looking at a court surrounded by glass. I don't really know why it ...

... locals calling out hello as we rode past - felt like royalty with the waving hand going no-stop and calls of "Sure S'dey" (Hello).<br><br>Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to see any Irrawaddy Dolphins on our trip. According to World Wildlife Fund who have a team of researchers there, the dolphins are on the point of distinction. The Cambodian Government takes a different line however and the Phnom Penh Post has regular articles calling for WWF to retract statements.<br><br ...

Urgh. I hate this place with more passion than I have ever hated anywhere ever before. Even work! Vile, vile, vile! Didnt start off too bad. Hostel is fine. Bit lacking on bathrooms but nice enough and the woman who runs it is so lovely. But step outside? NOOOOOOOO! I can honestly say that this is the first place in all of my travels that I have felt in danger. Met up with one of the ...

... and connected to a small tug that towed us part way up the Seam Reap River which, any day soon, would be drying up completely.<br><br>The scene at the dock was one of charming Eastern chaos. Our boat was barely visible before we could hear the cries of the amassed touts and moto drivers, most of who were waving placards and baying like a lynch mob. As soon as the rubber tyres that were hung over the side of the boat squelched against the concrete jetty, the touts began ...