As soon as we crossed the border by bus from Vietnam into Cambodia we could see a huge difference between the two countries. Although Cambodia is the poorer country in terms of average income, there are far more cars. Some of these are four wheel drives belonging to aid workers, but there are many very flash cars too, showing that some people have a lot of money. There is also a lot more evidence of poverty and it is common to see very young children begging, sometimes carrying babies on their backs (Perhaps a sibling).
You have probably heard a lot about the awful things that happened in Cambodia under Pol Pot in the seventies. He was responsible for the violent deaths and torture of millions, but never admitted his crimes. The Khmer Rouge targeted anyone who was educated, or not 100 per cent Cambodian. There are stories of people who escaped death by pretending to be taxi drivers or mechanics when they were actually doctors or teachers.
On our travels in Asia we have met several other travellers who have been to Cambodia and we asked them about it because we were a bit nervous about what we would find. We found some people would talk about the Killing Fields as though it was another tourist destination on the list, and we both felt that we didn't want to go there as it would be too horrible. Phnom Penh for us was a stopover on the way to Siem Rep (See next entry). It was quite a grim place, very dirty and smelly and when we asked a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the swimming pool he said it was too dangerous for us to be going to such a place at night, so we felt a bit trapped. There were a lot of tourists, but they were all conspiciously confined to one street where everything cost a lot more. We ate at a proper cambodian cafe and everyone was very friendly to us and curious. Most of the photos are of the journey to Phnom Penh rather than the city itself.
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