Phnom Penh - 25th June 2009

I had a bit of a lie in this morning, until half 7. When I g0t up I realised my door was slightly ajar which worried me slightly as I was sure I had locked it on going to bed. What was even more worrying was that yet again I'd slept in the nude! On getting ready to go downstairs for breakfast I searched for my key, only to find I'd stupidly left it in the door on the outside. Thankfully all my belongings were still present; a lucky escape, although I'm pretty sure someone will be looking at me strangely in the hostel as I'm sure someone must have opened the door, and has no doubt seen me naked! Brilliant!! Oh well! Another mistake to learn from!
I had the seasame french bread for breakfast, and a huge bottle of water.
The previous night I had enquired about going to the killing fields, but they needed a decent amount of people to go and unfortunatly there wasn't, so instead I went by tuk tuk which cost slightly more; $8 (plus a tip!)
It was still good, and being in a tuk tuk allowed me to take more photos and see more things of interest I think. I felt a bit like royalty as they look rather like a carridge; it reminded me of Lucy's "Queen's wave'' when I had previously mentioned it!
We passed various curious sights, such as an ox-carridge; a boy of aroudn 10 on an adults female bike, which he seemed to struggle to ride!; there were some posh houses with huge gates, I'm not sure who would have lived there; and huge trenches had been digged beside the road, like a moat but with long sticks making a bridge to the houses. There was kids as young as 14 riding motos which I found rather scary!
In the town we passed stalls solely selling durians. For most of the journey the tuk tuk driver had his hand on his horn and was beeping away furiously! Bikes and cars were doing the same, it was quite a racket! I got a fright a couple of times when a huge lorry overtook us and sounded their fog-horn like horn!
There were a few rice fields on the way too. A boy I passed was wearing a playboy t-shirt! And randomly a little girl waved to me and shouted hello! She was so cute!! and only about 6 or 7. Bless her!
It was $3 to enter the Killing Fields. A japanese company privatised the place which was a bit of a shame as they're making money out of Cambodia's tragedy. The wasn't much to see; I looked around in about 45 minutes, although it was all very interesting and it brought home the suffering of those who had been masacred. There was a tower full of skulls inside a memorial. There were so many of them. The were mass graves, some full of around 450 people; others were of women and children. Many people had been murdered by extremely brutal methods to save on bullets. There was a tree which was used for beating children against, and another tree which they hung a radio up, so as to drown out the noise of the victims screams of agony. It was a very peaceful area and was a good place to do some reflecting. It really brings to life films depicting such violence.
When I'd finished, I went to my tuk tuk, where the driver was sleeping in the back! I didn't really want to wake him, so one of the other tuk tuk drivers shouted to him! There was a begger minus a leg outside but I managed to shake him off. Further down the road I saw a few kids playing in the rubble. I heard some chanting which was coming from a school, I'm not sure what they were learning. There were quite a few huts made out of twigs which looked rather cool, and some were used as garages. I also passed a President Foods factory. A boy who seemed to be weighing rubbish or recycling of some sort was stood on a set of scales, like a larger version of kitchen scales, weighing himself. There was a really gorgeous, healthy looking dog jogging down the street as well.
I got dropped off at the Guesthouse and then set off towards the Chruoy Changvar Bridge which was featured in 'The Killing Fields' and was destroyed by fighting in 1975, and then funded by the Japs it was repaired in 1993.
On the way I passed a pet shop, selling pet-fish in milk bottles, quite a few were dead which wasn't to good, plus they were out in the light, so it as pretty much boiled fish. There were also baby bunnies; dutch and other breeds, as well as Russian hamsters.
I was passed by various motos, some with people carrying huge pipes which looked rather dangerous; someone had about 40 dead chickens hanging upside down by their legs; another had so many packages on it that I have no idea how they fitted a person at the very back of the moto, it looked as if the driver had reversed into her and gone 'splat'! It was quite entertaining seeing how much people could fit onto one moto!
I got to the point along the Tonle Sap where I could see the bridge. I was in the sunlight and I was getting pretty exhausted and decided that just seeing the bridge from a distance was good enough for me, so I headed to the nearest cafe and had an iced black coffee, which wasn't as wonderful as those with soya milk, but it came with a glass of cold water, so by the end I was feeling quite refreshed. I read my book for a while to which was very relaxing!
On exiting, I was shouted at by a tuk-tuk driver, who said he recognised me from yesterday! I thought he was pulling my leg, although he did look familiar, although they do look rather the same! I was in conversation with him and one of his fellow drivers, who asked me where I was staying (usually they then offer to take me there), and my friendly tuk-tuk had remembered from yesterday that I was at the Sunday Guesthouse! I was really chuffed!! He was the one that was single and lived with a friend a couple of km from Phnom Penh. I seemed to be indirectly chatting him up by having asked him the previous day about his relationship status, and then today asking him, on arrival at the Russian Market, for his name (for which he also provided a phone number incase I needed his services in future!) It was really random him recognising me! Although I suppose whites stick out like a sore thumb here! (His name was Mr Daroth for reference)!
We went via a bookstore, but it was quite expensive, so I thought I'd just try and find a book at the Russian Market instead. The Russian Market (aka. Psar Tuol Tom Pong), named so as that is where the Russians shopped was huge; full of shops selling clothes from Billabong, Colombia, and Banana Republic, which are all made in Cambodia. I managed to resist buying clothes, although I did fall for a boy of around 12 who spoke very good English and sold me a book based on someone's experiences of the Khmer Rouge, and also a booklet of some paintings to be used as postcards; costing $8 in total. There was a young girl nearby when I was buying from him, and she started following me around, and trying to guilt trip me into buying things; she had such a sad face on and she followed me for about 5 minutes, just fanning me with the postcards; I didn't particularly want to buy any more postcards though! I bought some DVDs which were obviously copies, but they were very cheap; I just hope they work on my laptop, I think it should accept all areas! I bought 4 for $7. I regretfully went into the food section, where I was close to being sick due to the smell, it was awful! I left there as soon as possible, apart from purchasing a lychee drink. I'm not sure why, but the lady poured the can into a plastic bag, filled it up with ice, tied a knot in the top and added a straw!! What a weird way to drink something!!!It was very tasty none the less! I bought a few purses for people as presents, which were rather sweet, before continuing on to another touristy shop. The girl was very friendly and I fell in love with a chess set! I managed to barter down the price a bit, paying $25 for it. The girl was 17, originally from Battambang, and has been in Phnom Penh for 2 years, she'll be going to university next year to study tourism. She was really lovely and after my purchase she gave me a small dragonfly which balances itself on my finger! It was rather cool. I continued looking in the shop, and came across a fan which turns into a hat!! Pretty amazing!! I''ll look a bit crazy wearing it, but it could come in handy! I gave her $5 for it, which is possibly a bit much, but she was a really nice person!! On my way out I was hit by the heat so stopped for a drink; one of the fellow customers invited me to sit down. He was rather old, but had a really sweet face, like a traditional old man look about him! I read my book for a while, before braving the heat again!
I had a few close shaves with the traffic on the way back; I swear waiting on the side of the road must make people delirious especially as you have to shake your head to all the tuk-tuks and motos that pass offering a lift, it makes you want to just run across the road just to get out of the heat and away from the offers!
I popped into an internet cafe on the way back, and it took absolutely ages to load my emails, it got rather frustrating! Ít was pretty cheap though, and the keyboard worked fine which was a relief, and after 5 minutes it sped up a bit! Not bad for 1500 riel an hour! (about 25p!)
Next to me was a boy, no more than 12 years of age, who was looking at porn!! That shocked me a bit, especially as it was in a public place, and it was quite graffic stuff! I think he caught me looking (to see if he was still looking at it!) as he switched over onto something else! I was sat under a fan which was rather nice, although as it was getting to half 5, I was a bit worried about getting back before dark.
I made it back okay, just as torrential rain fell! I stripped off and went out to see how epic the rain was, and there was an american lady sitting reading. We got into conversation, and she invited me out for a meal along with two Scots she had met on her flight out. I had planned on having a one dollar dinner to keep it cheap, but for the sake of company and experience, I decided to join them! By 7pm it had stopped raining and we headed out in a tuk-tuk to the Friends restaurant. It employs and trains street children to be chiefs, waiters etc, and it's profits go to help them. On the way, we passed through rivers! which had once been the roads! It was so hilarious! I thought we were going to get stuck, or the tuk tuk was going to break down or something! It was fun watching the motos follow us. Unfortunatly a car passed us, and completely splashed us! It was a good experience though and I'm glad I'd gone out with them as it was certainly an experience!!
We arrived at the restaurant, where there were very smartly dressed young people. It was amazing to think that they used to live on the streets, and it's hard to place current youngsters I'd met as being street children. I'm not sure how people actually know that they are officially street children.
The menu was a tapas; and even for the vegetarians and vegans there was a good choice! I settled (after quite a while of deliberating), on sweet potato chips (unoriginal I know!) and tofu and vegetables in a delicious sauce. It tasted amazing! I had a tasty smoothie too to top it off. Unfortunatly, or rather fortunatly for my wallet, there were no vegan desserts! So I settled with the $7 meal, plus a bit of a tip.
I organised a tuk tuk to take me around to where the bus was going to be leaving to take me to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, in the morning. They would drop me at the Central Market, which is quite close by, as the driver was new (and looked about 14!!) and so wasn't too good on the geography of Phnom Penh as yet! It was $2, and with a tip, it made the bus journey come to as much as a minibus straight from my hostel would have cost!! Typical!