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Cambodia is such a great country!! The people are so friendly and all seem to speak some English. And the food is fantastic!
We arrived in Phnom Penh just in time for dinner so after a quick freshen up we headed out for food. Having said how good the food is in Cambodia, I did actually 'go western' with a pizza but it was good :-). We ate down by the river so after dinner we had a wander along the front and a cheeky cocktail before heading for an early night.
The next day we headed to one of the prisons that was used during the Khemer Rouge regime and then a killing field. The Khemer Rouge controlled Cambodia for nearly four years up until 1979. During that time nearly 3 million Cambodians died, either through the brutal killings or the subsequent disease and famine once Pol Pot was overthrown.
We visited the prison Tuol Sleng, or S-21 in Phnom Penh, one of 167 prisons used by the Khemer Rouge. Pol Pot and the Khemer Rouge wanted to create a peasant population in Cambodia during the rule and therefore anyone with and education, intelligence or skills were taken to the prison, tortured for information and usually killed. The S-21 prison is now open as a museum to give a flavour of the conditions that prisoners were kept in and the type of torture that was used against them. Horrendous.
We then travelled to the Choeung Ek killing field, just outside of Phnom Penh, one of 343 killing fields used in Cambodia by the Khemer Rouge during their regime. Since 1979 a majority of the mass graves have been dug up and the bones exhumed inorder to provide evidence of the killings that took place. There is now a monument to those who lost their lives and the bones have been cleaned and treated and are on display.
After a pretty heavy morning we headed back to the hotel for a late lunch, then, to brighten our spirits we took a cyclo tour of the city. Single person rickshaws ferry you around the city to the sights for you to take pictures. A bit of a giggle and a good way to see the area with no effort!
We headed back down to the river and a roof top bar to watch the sunset but unfortunately it was cloudy so we made do with an impressive lightening show. We then had a local dinner where I tried the Cambodian amok dish again and then some drinks on the riverfront before bed.
The following day was back on the bus again, travelling to the Coastal town of Sihanoukville. A beautiful beach town with some tourist influence. We headed straight to the beach once we arrived for some lunch and relaxing before getting changed and then heading back there for a beach BBQ. I tried the barbecue crab again and was not disappointed. It was one of the girls birthdays so we headed to one of the beach bars for some free drinks and watched the fire show before dancing the night away.
On thursday we took a boat ride to a couple of the local islands for some snorkelling and beach time. A couple of the the girls had a bit of a rough ride in the boat due to hangover so once we arrived at the main beach we were pretty happy to stay there. On the main beach on Sihanoukville you are constantly pestered by people trying to get you to buy things from bracelets to massages to sunglasses. The beach we visited on the boat was much more secluded and therefore without these pressures. We relaxed and sunbathed before enjoying a BBQ lunch and then walked to the other side of the island and another beach. This one with larger waves which we enjoyed playing in all afternoon.
We got back from the beach around 4pm and spent some time by the pool before sorting out bags/washing etc and heading for dinner by the beach. A couple of drinks and time for sleep.
Friday and a new country was calling, this time over the border to Vietnam. We are on another bus to the Vietnam border now where we should arrive early afternoon. I am really sad to leave Cambodia as it has been such a great experience but looking forward to a different adventure soon.
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