It is my last night in Phnom Penh as tomorrow morning I catch a 30 minute flight on the quite unsettling airline 'Angkor air'. I am expecting a teeny weenie plane with propellers and a bumpy ride. Lord Help me, as those who are familiar with me well know, I don't fend well up in the air, though I have gotten better over the last couple of years.

I am massively excited to be visiting the temples of Angkor, which some of you may recognize from Tomb Raider ( I certainly won't as there are few movies I liked less that the Tomb Raider saga, something about all the Angie hotness somehow put me off).

As my big bro told me, the area seems to be crawling with critters and snakes so I am going to whip out my secret weapon: the ankle bracelet with bells on it that I purchased in Thailand; it is going to drive me crazy to hear the constant ringing but at least its gonna keep the snakes at bay.

I am quite sad to leave PP, I found it incredibly fascinating and I would not mind living here permanently at all mainly because it possesses the right mixture of french colonialist charm while still displaying well preserved local traditions. By the way, yesterday I went for drinks at Eclipse terrace bar on the 22nd floor of a tower where the view was stunning and you could really get a grasp just how fascinating PP is, anyone visiting PP should definitely stop by, if just for a quick peek at the view.

I got to this tower on a motorbike ridden by an Italian friend of a friend who was supernice and offered to show me around and give me some advice on life here and some tips on touristic sites. Now, I know I am Italian and as such am virtually raised to ride scooters and vespas but there is no way I would be able to drive in Phnom Penh. The traffic is seriously intense, Tuk Tuks, cars, motorbikes, bikes, pedestrians and trucks all travel in whichever direction they bloody well want to and traffic lights are as scarce as whiskey in the desert. Seriously freaky!!

To prove that I haven't completely lost my mind I should mention that I have noticed some downsides to this city other than traffic. For starters, as a tourist who has just come from BKK, the sights are a bit of a letdown: the construction here isn't as spectacular so I wasn't particularly impressed with the grand palace or the Silver Pagoda ( I rest my hopes of taking cool pictures on Angkor) and the markets primarily sell clothes and items which are considerably cheaper than in BKK but of much lower quality.

Pollution is also alramingly high. I feel short of breath various times a day, in fact today, on a particularly long Tuk Tuk ride, the driver stopped and handed me a surgical mask to wear and asked me to wear my sunglasses too. Now don't be cheeky and think he did so 'cos he was tired of staring at my ugly mug through the rearview mirror, he did so 'cos the intensity of the smog had become unbearable.

During this particularly long ride I saw some of the skinniest cows I've ever encountered in my life, rice paddies crawling with snakes and rats and some beautiful Cambodian Baby Girls happily playing in the aforementioned paddies. Oh, I also saw a teeny baby boy (probably aged 4) pull his pants down and flash a little girl who seemed to be quite amused-way to go girl!

This 'particularly long ride' led me to one of the few places in the world I wish never existed: Khmer Rouge's Killing fields and mass graves. It was such a moving visit, you never really face the reality of facts until you stand before the evidence of them. I had an audioguide which took me through verious steps in the history of Pol Pot's rise to dictatorship and I was truly sick to my stomach. I am going to spare you the details of what I saw and what I heard because I am seriously still upset. For this reason I decided to forgo visiting the prisons where the condemned were detained and tortured before being brougth to the fields. Just fyi, speaking languages other than Khmer, wearing glasses, having soft hands and posessing any sort of education or special skill basically proved you were guilty of betraying the regime.Every single person I know, including myself, would've been bludgeoned to death had they been in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge régime (1975-1979).

There is so much I would like to discuss about what I saw today but this is not the place nor the time to do so.

Later in the afternoon I visited a restaurant called RomDeng, which is well know for serving local dishes with creepy crawlies. I ordered deep fried Tarantulas and red ants curry. As soon as I placed my order the waiter complimented me for being brave ( mind you I was alone so it must have been an odd sight!) and brought me a pomgranade daiquiri on the house. I probably looked like I needed it. The waiter then proceeded to approach me with a HUUUUUUUUGE live tarantula in his hand. Crazy mofo wanted me to touch it, AS IF! As soon as I caught a glimpse of the ungodly creature I sprinted out of the restaurant unbelieavably fast- Hussein Bolt watch your back!

When I walked back to my spot I tried to keep my cool, primarily because I didn't want to look like the crazy, shell-shocked, traumatized chick sitting alone on the edge of her chair ready to run, so I laid back and enjoyed my drink, toootally chilled on the outside but particularly tense and anguished on the inside.

Anyways, once the dishes came I had 10 very hard minutes to begin with, which were spent staring suspiciously at the three huge deep fried tarantulas that were presented to me. I carefully started to cut them to bits, all the while keeping my distance- you never know when the Zombie apocalypse is going to hit! I then came to terms with the reality that I HAD to eat them as I wasn't going to be a chicken and I wasnt gonna be the typical tourist who takes the cool picture with the scary critter and not follow through with eating it. I took my time and chewed it all very carefully,( I wanted to make sure the eggs in those things would never stand a chance of hatching and crawling up my nose at night) but in the end, I polished off the entire thing and caught myself picking at crumbs too!

The tarantulas were crispy and tasted a bit like duck with a twist of flowery herbs.

I was disappointed in the red ants though, as the ones I ate in Mexico with my lovely wifey were definitely bigger and better tasting.

Anyways, off to bed now, got another dawn wake up call tomorrow.

Don't be strangers!

xxx

Marta