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This morning Susan and I went for breakfast at Chivas where I enjoyed bake beans on toast. Yum! After breakfast Susan and I went to see Wat Phnom where we saw some cute baby monkeys. As it was a hot day Susan and I decided to take a tuk-tuk to the palace but we just missed it as it was now closed. Our kind tuk-tuk driver suggested a visit to the Russian market. Still having some time before our tour of the Genocide Museum and Killing Fields we decided to check it out.
Wondering around the market, we decided to look for things to take to the orphanage tonight. We found lots of stationary and toys, which we thought we are nice to take with us and it didn't cost us much at all and we bought quite a bit of stuff. The tuk-tuk driver took us back to the hotel just in time for our tour. Which we weren't looking forward to.
We arrived at the Genocide Museum where our guide took us through the horrific events that happened here. Standing in one of the rooms at the school the guide was explaining the ways in which the victims were tortured by the Khmer Rouge and I was looking around the room and locked eyes with Susan who looked like she was about to cry, not wanting to cry myself I quickly looked away, put on my sunglasses and started to bit the inside of my lip. Hearing what went on was unbelievable. I couldn't even begin to comprehend why this happened. Wanting the tour to end quickly so we could get out of here. We heard more and more about what the Khmer Rouge did. I was even more surprised to find out that many foreigners were also killed including and Australian.
Next we went to the Cheung Ek Killing Fields. Not knowing if I wanted to see this place I decided to go into the stupa of skulls and then decide. Before going into the stupa we bought flowers and incense to pay respect to the victims. Inside the stupa there are many, many skulls and it was quite a tight fit inside so we had to squeeze around the corners and while I was waiting for the people in front of me to finish, the rude little cow Esra yelled at me to move. Respecting the place in which we were I bit my tongue and moved as much as I could.
Now back outside it was time to go into the killing fields. Standing at the chained fence with everyone else in front of me, I was still trying to decide if I wanted to go further. Deciding to go on it was hard to believe that so many people had been killed here and you could see where all the graves had been, plus piece of bone and cloth laying around the site.
Glad that now this tour was over we got back on the bus and did the rounds with the envelope to tip the guide. With most of us already having a turn in giving the envelope to the guide I suggested Esra give it to the guide, as she hadn't done it yet and boy was that a mistake.
Everyone was feeling pretty horrible from what we had learned today but Esra being Esra she through a hissy fit at Graeme and told him that she wasn't going to do it. It would've been fine except she was yelling at Graeme and throwing her arms about like a spoiled little brat.
Disgusted by her behaviour from this instant and the many others I did not want to have anything to do with this girl anymore. The whole trip she has been rude, selfish and basically a spoiled little brat, also I knew it was my turn to share a room with her in Siam Reap but I was going to ask Matt for my own room and I didn't care how much it cost me.
After the tour we headed back to the hotel so we could refresh and grab the stuff we had for the orphanage then walked over to the orphanage. When we arrived all these happy, playful kids greeted us, with big grins on their faces. We gave them the donations and then were shown around. Then we started playing games with all the kids.
We played musical statues and then the kids danced for us. It was so much fun playing games with all the kids (don't get any ideas Mum). One of the young boys showed me his telescope then I let him look through my camera lens and zoomed in on a few people on the street and let him take some photos. He was so amazed by how close the camera could zoom in.
After saying good-bye to all the kids we went back to the hotel to again refresh after sweating buckets at the orphanage as we were going to Mr Ran´s house (a local Khmer guide) for dinner. When we arrived more kids from the neighbourhood who come to Mr Ran´s house to learn English greeted us. We were all grabbed by one of the kids so they could practice their English with us. I was talking to Mr Ran´s daughter, Proheda, who told me she wanted to be a guide just like her Dad. We then went upstairs where we were to eat dinner.
Mrs Ran cooked us an amazing fest. Their was so much that there was no way we could eat it all but it wasn't to go to waste as it was shared amongst the Tut-tut drivers who were waiting for us to return. For dinner we had a variety of dishes with my favourite being the chicken curry. It was to die for! Then we had desert, which was fried tarantulas! I chickened out and couldn't eat one but everyone else dug in and gave them a try. Then we were given some rice wine and another wine which had a snake, scorpion and a Chinese herb in it. Both were so potent but were surprisingly nice. After dinner we said our thank you and headed off back to the hotel for a few beers at Chivas Shack before calling it a night.
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