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Hey people,
Our trip from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was pretty smooth.....our luxury coach was fabulous :-p We were given a tour guide, water, cake, fresh towel haha.....just like on an aeroplane. Really really nice.
However the moment we arrived in Phnom Penh was perhaps our scariest/most over whelming moment of the trip so far. As we were stepping off the bus we were surrounded and i mean completely surrounded by cambodians trying to get us to go in the tuk tuks. It was so scary....we each had like 6 on us. So we just tried to keep moving and make sure nothing was being stolen but it was really hard. So we went into the nearest shop...where they cant go which luckily was the bus company agency. So we booked our bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh and tried to work out what to do about the situation outside. The men were knocking on the glass door at us shouting tuk tuk lady, my tuk tuk sir. Somehow one managed to get inside the building and basically we just got in his tuk tuk to get out of there. Made sure to get a cheap price though yay.
Our guest house here is equally as awesome. Not as pretty....but massssive bed and drum roll please/......Airconditioning AND cable tv. Yes people we have been watching "the australia channel." It is very very lame but apparently on wednesdays they show All Saints. Ooooohhhhhhh!!!
The people that run this place are absolutely awesome.....the lady has the strongest english accent (she is cambodian) and is completely fluent. We just went on a walk to find the royal palace which was an effort but it was nice when we finally got there. Compared with the grand scale of the Bangkok grand palace this palace was kinda lame....but there was a very nice throne room to see and the silver pagoda next door. We caught a tuk tuk home and just relaxed and had dinner at the guest house. We also watched the movie "the killing fields" during dinner to prepare us for the next day.
Today we went on a tuk tuk tour with 2 other people from the guest house. They were pretty cool and fun to hang out with. Zoe an english girl from essex and john a canadian from Toronto. Both are studying in Heidelberg germany at the moment which was pretty cool.
First we went to a shooting range where Ben and John shot an AK-47. Was big whatever it was haha. But they enjoyed it...and it was loud. very very loud even with the ear muffs. The girls decided just to watch and take photos....seriously was so scary even just watching.
Next stop was the Killing Fields. We went to the main one...Choeung Ek. It was so horrible seeing all of the mass graves and the trees the Khmer Rouge used to beat children against and hang people from. They have built a memorial there and inside it there is a massive tall cabinet filled with skulls and the clothes of all the victims. That was sooo horrible to see and they have categorised them by gender and age. Really really horrible.
We then went to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) which was a former highschool turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. Basically people were brought here to be interrogated and tortured before being taken to the killing fields. The contitions were so bad here though that many didnt even make it to the fields. Now it is a museum thouguh. Inside the cells you can still see the blood stains and where people were hung and tortured. Very very depressing here but very interesting at the same time.
Now we are just relaxing at the guest house again....planning what to do next.
Hope everyone is having a great time back home. Those that are off in qld had better be tannig up as much as us....and the rest that are back at uni. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! sorry but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry sis.
Love you all lots.
Xoxoxo
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