We thought all we had to worry about was our bus journey to Phnom Penh but then there was a lovely storm on our last night in Siem Reap. As storms do over here it knocked out the electricity in the whole hotel. We had no lights, no battery on the phone, no tv but worst of all no fan in the room. All night!! We had to pack up our backpacks and shower by torch light before settling down to a very sweaty nights sleep. By the time it came to get up at 7am there was still no electricity. But we had day light this time. We said our goodbyes and headed off.
We made it to Phnom Penh and found a tuk tuk at the other end to get to out hotel for the next 2 nights. The driver told us he knew where he was going but it was quite obvious he didn't as he had to stop to get out his map and even ask for directions!! Eventually we arrived to te worst hotel so far. It was awful. The en suite had no sink and was so small you virtually had to sit on the toilet to have a shower. We also had a resident spider which Matt did not take kindly to. After repeatedly telling ourselves it was for 2 nights we went downstairs for a little wander then back to the hotel for something to eat. We both settled on a burger deciding this couldn't possibly make our tender tummies any worse. It came, I cut it in half an was greeted by raw meat! Lovely! I tried to send it back and the guy just said they would re cook it. I was not impressed, demanding he take it away and bring me a ham sandwich. Oh the joys :-) But we did manage to book out tuk tuk for the next day to take us to the Killing Fields and Tuong Sleng or S21 Prison for 8:30 the next morning. We settled down to some CSI.
We were not prepared for what a deep day we were in for. There was so much to take in an learn about. It was well worth every minute but so sad. The worst bit was neither of us realised how recent this had all happened. Some of the pictures were just awful. It was so heart wrenching that I think we said about 3 words to each other all morning. I don't really know what else to say about it, I'm sure when the pictures come they will say more than I ever could.
In the afternoon we went for a wander up the riverside and had some lunch. Found lots of nice bars and eateries. We also stumbled across the Royal Palace and were going to go in until we realised I was inappropriately dressed, that put an end to that.
So that was about the sum total of Phnom Penh, get in and get out. The next morning we headed down south to the beach town of Sihanoukville. Another 4 hour bus journey but to a much nicer hotel :-) We are now enjoying the odd beer and soaking up the sun. Hopefully going to celebrate St Georges day tomorrow!!