Before I set off tomorrow for Vietnam again! I'd better let you guys know what happened there last month. I didn't do much in the way of sight seeing but it was nice to see the boys again. spent most of the time in the hotel playing cards and the eating out in Saigons amazing restaurants. While the boys arranged a 4 day trip to Dalat or hill country of South Vietnam I decided an excursion to Phnom penh would be more adventurous. So I booked my ticket from Saigon for a wallet busting $12 one way and after a 6 hour Bus ride and a quite staightforward border crossing (Nothing compared to the madness of the Indo-Pak border!) I was in the capital City of the kingdom of Cambodia. I arrived in Phnom Penh (P.P) around 7pm and I had been warned by Canadian Mike about the hawkers when you get off the bus. The police deal with the hawkers by shocking them with Tazers! yet 1000 volts of electric current didn't seem to deter them from trying to hijack the bus! I didn't have much luggage so I made a run for it to the nearest restaurant. I was only followed by one determined Tuk Tuk dri ver, Sim who's about the same age as me. He seemed like a nice guy and so he became my guide for the time I was to spend in Cambodia. The first port of call was the killing fields of Choeung Ek where some 17000
Cambodian skulls and their charred rags are on display. It's difficult to describe the sensation using words but it would move anyone. Next up was the Tuol Sleng concentration camp AKA S-21(See http://www.tuolsleng.com/). It is estimated around 30,000 prisoners were held at S-21, only
7 survived! I was a gruesome sight seeing the preserved torture chambers and the black and white portraits of the victims. men, women, children! no-one was spared by this brutal regime. Now despite all this awful history, Cambodia is one of the best Countries I've visited so far.
The people are amazing and show no signs of holding on to the past. The country is moving forward and is awakening from the nightmare of the Khmer Rouge tourism is doubling every year so that's why I'm going again tomorrow and thats why whoever reads this should put Cambodia on the top of their list of must visit places over and out!