fri day 133

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With Jenna and I today parting company it was another sad goodbye. Having breakfast brought up to us for the second morning running to our room this whole travelling lark was starting to feel quite decedent! With Jenna staying on another day in battambang and leaving for Bangkok tomorrow then home to Germany, I was picked up at 9 in a very posh minibus - and after doing the rounds was on my way to phnom Penh. This was the first time in a month or so that I was back to travelling on my own again. Half of me was apprehensive about potentially feeling lonely and the other half was excited about all the new adventures I would be having! 4hrs and we had arrived in the capital - swopping the minibus for a tuk tuk I was taken the short distance to the hostel. Being given a 4 bed dorm room with only me in it - this isn't how its meant to happen!! But the room was small and at least I had chance to stretch out. Armed with a map I headed out for an explore of the city. With most of the tourist things being within walking distance I headed down the side of the Tonle sap river towards the royal palace - walking past a lot of eager tuk tuk drivers offering there services you spend most of the time just saying "no thanks" and begin to sound like a broken record! Walking on through some lovely gardens past the cambodian/Vietnamese liberation or friendship statue marking the defeat of the Khmer rouge in 1979 on to the independence monument when cambodia got there independence from France in 1958. While walking through the gardens two 'friendly' cambodians came up to me completely separately - talking to me and asking me lots of questions. They both then invited me back to meet their families for dinner, because their sister or brother is learning English or is going to uni in the UK. I politely declined both offers as it seemed a total scam - and chatting to a westerner later tonight who had a similar story to tell I was right to have declined it! Walking back past the royal palace I did a bit of bargaining with a tuk tuk driver for a day trip tomorrow and headed to a restaurant for dinner. Opting for my favourite Thai soup finished off with a shot of Pastis - not in the same bowl! And spending the evening chatting to half a dozen street kids trying to sell books/wrist bands etc. I brought The Killing Fields to do a bit of homework on this specific history. Before leaving I got the children to write their names down in my note book - which they did along with doodling and just seeming to be having fun with a pen and piece of paper. What little things they just don't have. Making it back to the room, with still only me in it I settled down reading my book.

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