Moving further into the country to Kampot and Phnom Penh

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We got up early the next day to catch the bus to Kampot at 8, which was no fun with a pretty bad hangover - reminded why we don't usually do that. Luckily, it only took 2 hours by mini bus, but unfortunately I couldnt sleep, because the Swedish guy next to me was very eager to talk.

In Kampot we found a room for 4$ at Cozy Elefant, nice and cozy place as the name states and it has free bicycles!

We found out that our plan once again was impossible. Bokor Hill Station had been closed off along with the national park, so it was no longer possible to go there on our own, there were only tours for a whole day and on top of that they had modernised the place and would no longer look as authentic as before - so we decided it was not worth it, mostly since we did not have enough time.

Instead we got each our bicycle at the hostel and went biking in the countryside, we saw a lot of children who wanted to talk, but we couldnt really communicate - still it was fun to interact with all the locals. It was a beautiful area and great for bikes too, a lot of small paths and no cars.

At lunch we went to at small local restaurant in the center of the city, there were no other tourists and it was right next to a local market - very nice atmosphere. Unfortunately two creepy looking men came and stood just outside the restaurant close to our table, they looked like they had some kind of mental illness or was completely drugged out. One of them had a big smile on all the time and it honestly looked creepy as f* - even when he talked. The other one had white foam in the corners of his mouth and they both had waterbottles with unclear content and we are pretty sure there was something in there. They stood there for a long time with their empty eyes staring in each their direction and all of the sudden they were gone, to our luck.

We went home and played cards, later had some dinner and early to bed. The next day we woke up only 15 minutes before we had to leave, we had slept through the alarm. Luckily our drivers were late and we ended up actually waiting 15 minutes for them, meanwhile I played with the owners kitten that looked a little like my sisters cat and got a hinch of homesickness that lastet about 2 mins.

The busride took 4 hours. When we arrived in Phnom Penh we found a hotelroom for 4$, at Ling Ling, a very nice place too. There were many stairs and off course we had to get a room as high as possible. We wanted to go see the royal palace, but it was closed because the president of Timor was coming to visit the king here. Instead we joined the crowd and watched the parade and his arrival. We walked around the city, which is very hectic and there are bikes all over. At lunch we found potatoes which we were missing a lot!

We went home early and found out that we had Disney Channel, so we decided to stay in and watch Beauty and the Beast. We hadn't wacthed TV in a long time! Had dinner late that evening, because of the movie, but we went to a restaurant called the Green Vespa and had a sandwich, it was close to the harbour and had a nice atmosphere.

The next day we got up at 8. We had breakfast and then we went to the S21, an old school which Pol Pot had turned into torture rooms and a prison. It was really hard seeing the photos of all the people who had arrived there, they looked so scared and the small prison cells were really scary too. I couldnt mangage to walk around in there - it is a lot to take in, you can really feel the fear in there.

After that, we went to the killing fields, which are just outside the city. It was a bit less scary, since it was almost open country and then some big wholes where the bodys had all been found. But it was still scary hearing and imagining what had happened there, there was a tree that they had used to bang babies heads against, so they could save the bullets for the adults. There was a big glass tower filled with craniums, which was tough to see. Duch who had run the S21 prison had only gotten 35 years in jail and he was also part of the torturing and killing at the site - is that really justice?

After this we went back to the city to get some lunch and clear our heads. Finally, we could see the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which has 500 tons of silver on the floor. It was beautiful, but I think the one in Bangkok is more stunning still. But it was a nice positive experience after the less fun start to the day.

We went back to the hotel and read for a little while. After this I took a shower, but while I was in there I heard a lot of noise and people screaming which really scared me after all I saw that day my mind was imagining the worst, so I finished and hurried up to Stefanie who was a the balcony. Apparantly a car had hit a young man on a bike and had driven over him 4 times. After this people had gathered around the car which caused the driver to speed up and hit 3 more people and drive into a café. People had jumped onto the car and smashed bricks through the windows. Everybody survived but it took a long time for people to calm down.

In the evening we met some of Stefanies friends from Denmark, and went to an internet café. After a bit of a rough day we decided to go to Siem Reap the day after.

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