Phenomenal Phnom Penh

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Hi Folks,
Greetings from the capital. Myself and Amy have survived today and what a day. Sometimes the trip to your destination is the more memorable part and today was no exception. I thought that we were used to rain but no. Phnom Penh really pees down to be polite in the monsoon season. Earlier we hired a tuk tuk (Cambodian mode of transport) to the Wildlife Park. The park is a foundation set up to look after injured animals and the animals can be viewed easily by wandering around the park. We saw bears, reindeer ( who had funny looking antlers on top of their head ), deer, elephants, monkeys, and crocadiles which Amy took a liking to; so brave, almost close enough to pat them on their head. Initially it was great and then the rain came. The roads at the best of times are quite bad. Soon we were swamped with pelting rain coming at us from all angles. Our poor driver got soaked but maintained a winning smile at all costs. We broke down and had terrible visions of us been stranded in the countryside.

At night we can't escape from the wild life either, our room is invaded every night by geckos (aka 'Evenin Echo' in Cork rhyming slang) which let out a horrible noise. They look similar to tiny lizards and we were told are harmless if left alone, but still the light has been left on for almost three nights now.

On sunday we ventured to the Royal Palce where the King and Queenie live. I was very impressed by the beautiful temples and surroundings, Amy less so I believe she was still sore for not being allowed in the previous day for unsuitable attire. Outrageous girl, its getting difficult to bring her anywhere. This is the second palace that she's been refused entry to.
Again on our way home we were slaughtered by the rain, me being very coordinated...not!went over on my ankle, my cool flipflops broken. Ah well I now have two pairs of fake Nike sandals. They're not very good at faking goods over here, the Nike swoosh is the wrong way up on one flipflop.
I think travelling is bringing out our inner child. We were tempted to join in with the local kids by flying marvellous kites along the the Palace walls but common sense and the usual ripoff tourist prices prevailed.

The previous day we went market shopping to the central market and Russian market. We bought some massive black spiders coated in a sticky liquorice at the Russian market but we were both too chickeny to sample and eventually offloaded them to a blind local lady who was begging. We wisely stocked up on traditional Khmer scarves (Khrama) in anticipation of the Januray cold when we return home and maybe cheap prezzies.

In the afternoon we went to The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It is a former high school which was used as a prison and interrogation centre by the communist Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. It was also known as S-21. Tuol Sleng also means "hill of the poisonous trees" in the Khmer language. It was a very sombre experience for Amy and I as we saw pictures of thousands of prisoners and viewed the cells where they were tortured, along with display cabinets filled with skulls and blood still marking the floor. It was estimated that over two million died during Pol Pots (Brother Number 1) reign of terror.

Cambodia has surprised us both not least because of the happy welcoming people every where we go. We have read that Buddhism has helped them keep their smile when almost everyone you meet has suffered personally or loss of a loved one from the Khmer Rouge regime and continues to suffer from the extreme poverty and mine-pucked landscape which continue to rain down troubles.

So we leave the modern day capital for the ancient land of Khmer Kings...more from Angkor and Siem Reap shortly.

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