Phnom Penh

Well after 5 hours sleep we were up and on the bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia! We got to the border and the bus driver did a bulk departure of Vietnam as he collected all our passports and handed them to customs. We then got back on the bus and drove 100mts to Cambodia customs where we got through with no dramas, even got taken to the front of the line in front of all the ‘locals’ who pushed in front of us to get off the bus and in front of the line. They weren’t happy! It was all a little too easy and we were back on the bus. The bus was a 6hr trip and was quite good except we had a horn happy driver so sleep was at a minimum. We also had one ferry trip to cross a small river and the locals were up alongside the bus selling everything and anything you can think of to the cars beside us! We got a Tuk Tuk from the bus to our hotel and checked in to our room which is pretty big, and a nice balcony looking over the museum which is a beautiful temple like building. We also booked our ticket for Siem Reap…we couldn’t decide to go by boat or bus but bus was a lot cheaper and the lady said there wasn’t much to see by boat so we thought we’d save the money for something else. We headed straight out as we only had the afternoon to explore Phnom penh. We went for a walk along the river….a little industrial on the other side so not so beautiful but the river itself looked pretty clean. It was boiling hot and the locals are walking round in hoodies and jeans!!! We then headed to the Royal Palace and had a look around. We were interested to see the Silver Pagoda with an Emerald Buddha but when we did we weren’t sure we did! Hehe! The pagoda was not silver in any way…very gold and the Buddha didn’t look emerald but we’ll go with it! There were many beautiful temple like buildings, Rudi not so impressed with the Asian architecture after India but I quite liked it. When we left we got greeted by a Tuk Tuk driver (who we later were shown has an Australian flag adorning his roof…was meant to be!) and we asked how much to get Tuol Sleng (Former Office S-21) a prison/interrogation/torture place which before being taken over by Khmer Rouge was a primary and secondary school! It was really quite horrible but very interesting at the same time. There were a lot of cells, torture instruments, photos of the prisoners and skulls of the victims. We got followed around for about 15minute by three local children. They were so cute and very funny just smiled and followed us everywhere. They didn’t ask for money they just liked us and we started pretending to go down the stairs so they ran down then we went up so they ran back up and then we told them just tricking and went back downstairs. They were adorable…we wished we had some more pencils to give them but already given them all away! After a few hours looking around the site we headed back to the hotel for a cold drink as it was boiling! We wandered the streets for a bit but nothing too interesting so we headed back and Rudi had a few beers as we sat on our balcony and watched life go by underneath us on the streets. We the headed across the road and enjoyed several cocktails….my first drink in a very long time because I was sick. Rudi has been laughed at and measure up by the waitress lady as he is so tall…she measured his leg and he is drinking girly drinks and my glass is bigger than his! She is pretty fun but silly too! Think she is playing us for a big tip…or possibly a happy ending! Hehe! Anyway about to head back and get an early night as we are back on the bus at 8am tomorrow morning!