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So we looked around Pnomh Penh for a guesthouse near where we were dropped off which was the best back packer area, most were full or didnt speak enough English to understand what we were asking so we went on to the next, eventually we went into the first place which looked noisy but was fine, we were on the third floor but the room looked clean and was cheap. We had bumped into a couple of English guys that we met at the tunnels in Vietnam, we are constantly bumping into the same people which is funny because we're normally in a different country at the second meeting! We arranged to meet up with them by the waterside later on so we got changed and headed there, we could have walked it in about 20 mins but after the women on reception advised that we could only take main roads we thought maybe we shouldn't so we got a tuk tuk, that took the 'main roads' also which turned out to be quiet, pitch black roads! We went to a place for dinner, decided not to have the 'happy herb pizzas' unlike most of the other people there tho. The guys found us and we started drinking, I wasn't hungry for dinner and after not being able to taste the vodka in my first drink, ordered another shot, which was a large double and poured that into my drink so after that I was already well on my way, we were all having a laugh sitting in the bars but Caz started getting tired so we went into a livlier bar, it had louder music and a pool table but there was actually only half a dozen people in there! We had Jaiger bombs and lots more vodka and beer until we were all struggling to play pool! Caz actually got good when she was drunk which was funny. As we were so pissed we decided not to end the night but to head onto a club instead, it was mainly full of Cambodians but there was the odd foreigner and after not dancing for ages Caz and I screamed at every song and shook what our mothers gave us! (Shakira was played as well as other dancey tunes and that song ''I went to the desert on a horse with no name"altho im not sure what its called, that is mine and Caz's song now!) Caz turned to water but I stupidly had a B-52, although I don't like the name now I know what a B-52 actually is! We left there VERY drunk and headed back to our apartment, i hadn't realised how late/early it was but it was gone 5am when we got home!
The next day we slept ALOT until the afternoon when we went to 'the killing fields', a plot where thousands and thousands of people were killed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979. in total 2,000,000 were killed, a quarter of the total population of Cambodia! In 1980 a really bad smell was wafting from the area into a local village, they investigated as to the cause and dug up the first mass grave of which there are about 100, they then went on to discover the rest. The graves were only about 6m deep but contained as many as 450 bodies each! There are still 43 sites that have not been dug up yet but they have already found 75,000 bodies. some with no heads. There are bodies of children, teenagers, men and women. They were taken here bound and blind folded, frightened into silence, in trucks and they waited to be killed, sometimes 300 people arrived a day and they couldn't kill them all so they would wait listening to the cries, screams and gunshots for days awaiting there own grim death. A loudspeaker hung from a tree to try and disguise the noise of shooting and torture. Nails and axes were driven through some of the skulls which now sit in a huge show case constructed by the government as a place of rememerance for those who died. All around the site, thigh and other bones could clearly be seen in the ground we walked on, there is a tree which children were beaten to death against, under this tree lied hundreds of teeth from victims, left from the massacres that went on only 30 years ago. The clothes of the victims were also in the showcase and under the tree and embedded into the ground near the bones, it brought home just how recently this happened, it is so horrific and thought provoking.
After this we went back to our apartment and later headed to the riverside again for dinner, when you are ordering or eating you are left alone, but all the other time you are hassled by local children who range from about 5-16 years old, some just beg, some push around another child or relative who has some deformity or missing limb holding out their hands or a container, others have books, postcards or bracelets to sell, they hold these in baskets on their hips and try and sell them to you, always starting at a very high price and then knocking it down. The first night we were here I bought the book 'first they killed my father' off the boy who came to us, there was about 5 kids all around us asking where we were from, when we said London, they real off: London, England, Capital, Queen, Cup o tea etc.. All of the children spoke fantastic English and had a comparatlively good knowledge of the world after dealing with so many tourists. On the second night the same kids recognised us and came over to us, they were tired and said that 'business wasn't good tonight' it was so odd to hear those words coming from a 7 year old! The kids weren't trying to sell to us tonight and instead wanted to talk to us, they told us how they go to school in the morning from 7-11 then they go home as they only learn English and not history which isn't compulsory, they sometimes learn Khmer too. They told us how they start work in the afternoon and work until about 11pm and have to be up at 6am. The kids not only have a great flair with customers and a great vocabulary, they are also very charismatic and a charm to talk to! One little girl wrote me a note saying:
''I know you, I think you have a boyfriend already because you are so beautiful and I think that all the men love you''
I couldn't have put it better myself! haha. she could also read english and Kmher and loved learning English, she said she knew it was important to learn English to get a good job one day, I hoped she aspired to do something really good so she could better herself and earn good money but she only wanted to work in a restaurant, out here that is seen as a really good job, she didn't even want to leave the country. Any of the kids that did only wanted to go to England, America, Australia or New Zealand as these places spoke English and were the 'richest'. It was really fun talking to them all though and after dinner we headed back to our room. We had a bus booked for 7:30am to go to Siem Reap. I asked Caz if she thought that was a good idea, tomorrow would be her bday, but she said she didn't mind. I gave her a card entitling her to a free treatment at a spa in Siem Reap and we went to sleep.
We got up early in the morning and caught our bus, on it with us, were a lovely Irish couple that we had also met on the tunnels trip, after the 6 hour journey to Siem Reap we were dropped off at the bus station, immediately after pulling up a card was slammed against our window, it said, 'No hassell, tuk tuk any guest house $1' Looking behind that we saw another 10 similar signs and about 40 cambodians waiting for their prey, ready to pounce! We got off the bus only to be literally mauled!! They had their hands all over us, they were grabbing and pulling us and trying to get our attention by shouting at us! They tried to take our backpacks so we would go with them, it was a nightmare! The Irish couple said we should all go somewhere together, so we got two tuk tuks which had free pick up to 'popular guest house' which they'd seen in the lonely planet. Then it started raining, VERY hard. The tuk tuk driver pulled down plastic sheets that act as sides to the tuk tuk, he zipped them up and we were dry, he got drenched doing it tho and couldn't actually drive as the rain was so bad, so we all sat inside the tuk tuks at the roadside waiting for it to calm down, it didnt let up after about 10 mins or more so he put his helmet on and kept driving. I dont know how he could, it was attrocious! They took us to another guesthouse which we took a look at, the irish couple were happy with their slightly more expensive room but ours smelt damp and looked a little messy, we were going to continue onto popular but i knocked the price down and we agreed to stay. Our driver waited for us and we got taken down the road into town to find a spa! Most shops were massage parlours, but none of those offered beauty treatments which is what we wanted, then we found a very posh looking one, it was expensive for over here but still very very cheap so we went for it. They gave us drinks and inside flip flops to wear and the place was decorated beautifully and lined with lotus flowers and orchids. I had the grande foot spa and leg massage and caz had a manicure, pedicure and neck, back of head and head massage. They scrubbed our feet in a bowl and then told us to lie on these mattresses side by side, they started our massages at our feet, mine mainly consisted of leg and feet massage and pressure points but Caz's went up to her back and head, mine ended in a back shoulder massage strangely enough which I dont really like, then they started contorting us and clicking our bones! All my toes! My back, neck everything! It was hilarious watching the woman do it to Caz and we both couldn't stop laughing!! Then they sat us in huge comfy chairs in the next room for our pedicures, my feet were in desperate need of it! It felt so good too! After we were all relaxed and polished I paid (It was $37 - about 16 quid) for everything and Caz's bday treat. We then went into the shop next door which I loved as we hadn't seen shops for a few days, there have only really been small roadside stalls selling cigarettes, chewing gum and cold drinks. The shop sold everything! I was in awe and managed to buy Caz bday candles to go with the heart shaped banana cakes Id bought the night before! When we got home we told the Irish couple we would meet them upstairs in the communal area for drinks, i snuck the rest of Caz's presents, the cakes and candles into my bag and headed up, when Caz was in the loo I asked the irish girl to sort out the cake so she did and brought it back, we started singing happy bday then when people heard, everyone joined in, about 25 people and started cheering! I had bought her a lampshade in laos' night market that she really wanted and some little bits and bobs including m&ms, gold coins of chocolate and flavoured condoms! haha. She was really pleased and said she didnt suspect a thing which was good! An Australian guy who heard us singing happy bday came over and invited us to play drinking games on the other side of the room so we did. There was about 20 of us sitting on chairs in a big circle then they showed us the game. A girl got a new can of Angkor beer (coke can size) turned it sideways and then proceeded to smash it off her forehead! It took about 6 times until a small hole was formed in the side which beer came shooting out of! She then put the hole to her mouth and sucked some of it up, then she smashed it off her head again and passed it to Caz to do the same, the beer sprays EVERYWHERE unless its in your mouth so they were both drowned with beer in their hair and all over their clothes! Caz passed it to me but I just passed it on not wanting to get soaked in beer (this night was the first time i used my GHDs throughout my entire trip!) it took about 6 people to finish the can. The second time they said Caz had to start it as it was her bday, she smashed it off her head a whole dozen times or so until the tiniest hole was formed! Then when she passed it to me hardly anything was coming out so I started smashing it off my head loads until it got bigger! We were covered in beer with mascara all over our faces and beer well, everywhere! We had been drinking all night so were getting quite pissed but having SO much fun! People were playing the guitar and sharing travelling stories and we really enjoyed ourselves! The drinking went on until 5am and I didn't get to bed until about 6am. We were giggling the whole night and neither Caz or I will forget where she was for her 25th bday!
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