Phnom Penh

We arrived at the port in Phnom Penh (Capital of Cambodia) from Chau Doc in Vietnam at about 2pm. We walked down the river front looking for cheap accommodation. We found Indochine hotel for $10 with air con and TV. We needed to arrange a Laos visa so got a tuc tuc to the embassy, idiot… we had forgotten our photos so had to get the tuc tuc back to the hotel and then back to the embassy!! Visa was only going to take 24 hours so decided to only stay in PP for 1 day. We arranged with the tuc tuc driver to take us to the local sights the next day. He picked us up a 9am and we drove to the killing fields where 17,000 'prisoners' were executed. There is an enormous glass tower displaying 8000 skulls of victims. After this harrowing experience we went to Tuol Sleng which was a school before Pol Pot (leader of the Khmer Rouge who rained terror for four years from 1975-1979) turned it into a prison renamed Security Prison 21. The classrooms were turned into torture chambers and holding cells. At the height of its activity 100 victims were killed a day including children. In the afternoon we went to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. I had brought my scarf to cover my shoulders and arms but apparently this was not good enough and they made me buy a t-shirt for $2, not impressed. Also, the silver pagoda was not covered in 5000 silver tiles so it didn't shine and shimmer, this is because the tiles had been stolen! The next day we were picked up from our hotel and driven to the main bus station to get our big bus to Battambang.