Phnom Penh - no, NO, NOOO!! I don't want a Tuktuk!

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We left Kampot on the 19th in the morning at 7 am and - guess what? - the bus left right on time and afte 4.5 hours we arrived in Phnom Penh. As we drove into the city I really liked but this changed the very second we got off the bus. A huge crowd of Tuktuk drivers was awaiting us and wouldn't even let my smoke my cigarette in peace even though I told them to leave me alone the entire time. We wanted to go to the Royal Guesthouse as according to the Lonely Planet it is a great place to stay. We took a Tuktuk for $1 (5 mins; he wanted $3; RIP OFF) and had a look into the room and walked out again straight away as it stank like sewage. Unfortunately, the Tuktuk guy was waiting in front of the guesthouse and wouldn't leave us alone. He kept following us around and was so persistent and annoying. I have never experienced anything like that. Disgusting! All the guesthouses in this area where either full or rubbish so we had to go to a different area of PP. We eventually found the Heartwood GH and decided to stay there as it is the best value for money. I just don't like sharing the room with a cockroach family but Ryan is great in killing them. GO RYAN, GO RYAN, GO RYAN!! The rest of the day we didn't do much apart from sleeping, arranging our Vietnam Visa and complaining about PP. haha.

We slept very well and in the afternoon we went to the Royal Palace. It was really nice! We walked around there for about 2 hours and enjoyed the architecture of the different buildings. I was slightly disappointed that we couldn't see more of the gardens. We also thought the Silver Pagoda (5t of silver are used for floor tiles) would be more spectacular but the tiles haven't been polished for ages and most of them were covered with carpet. We walked back towards our place and saw the Independence Monument which is quite impressive. We then had a few beers and picked up our passports. I persuaded Ryan to go on a moto together which was great fun. We had some food at "Nice Nice" which wasn't nice nice at all. My fried noodles with chicken were contaminated with beef. URGH! The beer afterwards helped me a good deal and I embarrassed myself in attempting to play pool. haha. We took a moto back and I was asleep in no time.

Today was interesting - but shocking. After a nice breakfast we shared a moto to the Killing Fields (Ryan loves it by now. YEEEHAA!!). We walked around in complete silence listening to the audio guide which explained the history and included stories of people who survived this dark episode of Cambodian history. It is a very cruel place and the thought of 20.000 people having lost their lives there is absolutely unbelievable and sad. Even if I had wanted to speak I wouldn't have been able to. Afterwards we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum also known as S-21 which was used as a prison during the Khmer Rouge Regime and is a horrible place. It was a school at some point and then it was transformed into a prison with tiny cells. Thousands of people were imprisoned there including entire families and apart from 7 lucky ones no one survived the horrors of this place. This day was really hard for me and looking at all the pictures almost made me cry.

Tomorrow we are off to Saigon and soon we'll be back in Hoi An where everything began...

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