First week

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Got to Phnom Penh on Saturday late night and grabbed a tuk tuk into the city through the deserted suburbs and arrived at Longlin guesthouse to be greeted by Sokly. Sokly is one of the kids from the orphanage who I knew from before but is now living in the city, going to University, studying hotel management and tourism and working part time at the guesthouse. The room was pretty good despite it lacking a window and had one too many cockroaches that anyone wants...

Next morning we rose pretty early to take in the city. We had a leisurely stroll along the river front and had a spot of breakfast at Bojangles (an old favourite!) before heading to the central market to buy some supplies. Heading back to the hotel Kat decided she was going to have a nap and I was going to read for a bit, next thing we knew we were waking up half an hour before we were meant to be meeting up with Seth (my Cambodian friend who lives in Phnom Penh) and Alexi and Flo (our friends from back in London who happened to be in Cambodia at the same time as us) we rushed out to FCC. FCC is a Phnom Penh institution where all the journalists used to hang out hence the name Foreign Correspondents Club and has awesome views from its rooftop veranda bar over the Mekong river. After a few jugs of Angkor beer it was time to grab some food at an awesome restaurant called Boat Noodle recommended by Seth. After dinner we decided the party had just begun so a short tuk tuk to KTV for some karaoke. Nick with his previous experience and nickname "karaoke tourettes" of course showed everyone how it was done busting out melodies that would have put Bonnie Tyler to shame. The girl putting our choices into the machine didn't look so pleased being stuck with 4 pale westerners without any singing capabilities... Many beers were drunk and a new discovery of "wine pop" (a taste sensation - sparking red wine).



Day two started of in a more serious tone as we headed to Toul Sleng after a quick breakfast Pho. Nick who has visited the place before was clicking away with his camera whilst Kat tried to grasp the first encounter with Cambodias dark past. Toul Sleng was an old High School which was turned into a prison and torture centre during the Khmer Rouge times. This was not enough for the day, soon after the visit we continued to the killing fields just outside of the city. For Kat who was new to all of this it was a interesting but hardcore way to get into the mindset of the cambodian people before continuing our trip trough the rest of the country. After the killing fields when we got into the tuk tuk the driver happily asked us if we wanted to go shooting! That was not exactly what we had in mind after this experience.

Later Seth came to pick us up on his moto and drove us to a place where he was having dinner with a bunch of his friends. This small (former ice cream shop) restaurant served us all kinds of amazing little dishes like: crab in pepper, chicken with lemon grass, bbq'ed pork ribs, raw fish with a topping of deep fried dried fish and delicious fried rice. We were soo full and soo pleased to be invited as it is actually really hard to eat traditional Khmer food in Cambodia as a tourist.

Tuesday: Nick went to photograph a protest which was being held outside the National Assembly for International Human Rights Day. Hundreds of monks had marched over the past week from their different provinces to congregate with other demonstrators to ask for better human rights conditions in the country as well as dispute the last election which was quite obviously fixed by the current government who have been in power for about the last 30 years. The day went pretty smoothly and there was no conflict between the demonstrators and the police which was good as the last demonstration in September ended in the police opening fire on people and a couple of deaths. I met a guy called Garrett who was in the process of filming a documentary about the forced evictions of the people in the Boeung Kak lake district of Phnom Penh. He has been filming on and off for 4 years and had just arrived back in the country for 6 months to finish the filming. It was extremely interesting to talk to him all about what has been going on there. He also introduced me to Yorm Bopha who is an activist who has been campaigning against the demolition of homes and violence against residents living there. She was sentenced along with 12 other people to 2 1/2 years in prison but has now been released. You can check out the short 20 minute edit of the documentary that he is making here: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=QkkcWq1qo0c (warning: it is intense viewing but well worth a watch)

It was then time to head out of the city! Our little tuk tuk man who had been driving us all over town the last few days took us a bit out of town to find a share taxi to get to Takeo. Shared taxis in Cambodia is not like we know it from Europe - here it is a van crammed with as many people, animals and luggage way way way above its capability. We were shoved into the back together with 27 other people next to some chickens. However it was a fairly pleasent ride and about 3 hours later we were dropped off in Takeo and headed to Sotheavy's to get a room for the night. After dropping off our stuff we went down to the orphanage to say hello to the kids and get a grasp of the situation. We did not expect to stop of in Takeo at all as we had been told that no visitors were allowed after the death of the director, Neville a few weeks ago and the organisation had been put on a temporary hiatus. However we received a message from one of the people helping out with sorting stuff out to ask if we could come and help to organise shutting down the current building etc.



It was amazing to be back there and to see all the kids before it changed and they have to be moved. The next couple of days were spent organising the library and moving books between the orphanage and the new drop in centre which is opening in the new year. Through the orphanage we also ran into this Belgium couple who have raised money to open a new village school. We participated in the opening, handing out notebooks and pens to the new students. They had expected 120 kids at the school but more that 210 showed up at the opening. It was an absolutely fantastic experience to be apart of seeing the eagerness of these kids to go to school and the prospect of an education and a better life. Most happy was Nick as Kat randomly spotted a little happy boy who turned out to be Nick's fav from the orphanage, Ty. After the orphanage has been forced to close Ty had been moved back with some relatives and Nick had lost contact.



Kampot was our next destination after saying goodbye to all the kids we jumped in a tuk tuk and headed to Angkorson where we were meant to jump on a bus. After discovering that the bus would not pass for another 3 hours (and with no guarantee of space) we sat discussing the situation at a gas station when a guy turned around and asked if we wanted to split a taxi with him. This was a more expensive option but it got us (air conditioned and minus chickens) to Kampot within an hour and a half! After renting an awful room at a place called 'Blissfull' we headed out into town. After literally 2 minutes walking along the river we bump into Alexi and Flo again. They were planning to head up to Bokor (an abandoned town at the top of a mountain nearby, complete with hotel/casino, church, water towers and outbuildings). It was about an hour up the mountain but it was definitely worth the journey up there! It will probably also be completely ruined very soon (already changed since Nick was last there) as 3 MASSIVE luxury spas are being built right next to it. This being said Bokor is actually a national park, which again shows how the government is selling off the land to crazy developers on protected land.



In the evening we went to a riverside restaurant where Nick has been previously with his parents. Not feeling super fabulous from dodgy Khmer food we set out to have a lovely seafood dinner here. Just after ordering, a HUUUUUUGE rat turned up just next to us and they kept coming! Despite the company the food was amazing but we did not feel very well and when we staggered home holding our poor bellies we decided it was time for a treat.



As soon as we woke up the next morning we packed up jumped into a tuk tuk and headed to Kep where we are now sat at a wonderful resort overlooking the pool and sea. We are clean, have had a nice swim and are sipping cocktails watching the sun go down. Tomorrow we will yet again meet Alexi and Flo to sail out to Kho Tonsay and spend the day at the beach in a bungalow on a deserted island.

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Photos

Boat Noodle
Dinner with Alexi and Flo

Pho
Breakfast time

Police
Taking a snooze and gambling

Share Taxi
At the back of the packed minibus

Ty
He is safe!

Bokor
Stairwell inside Bokor hotel