Blogs from Phnom Penh, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 16

Right… Sorry this is late everybody, we had a tough first week at the orphanage. After realising our long work hours, intertwined with my late night revision sessions (becoming so monotonous…) I have only just found the time to write this superb piece. So let’s get down to business… I honestly can’t remember the order of our activities and so I will try to describe each one in the best way possible. However, I shall order the events as much as possible, but my brain has been frazzled with the amount of science I am trying to remember at the moment (stupid medicine exams… who wants to be a bloody doctor anyway). On Monday (28th August), the four of us set off for our first day at the orphanage. After our tuk-tuk driving round in circles ... read more

This update is for today - Saturday 26th as I thought it was necessary to upload this extraordinary story. But I will be blogging about Thursday and Friday as well after this. Don't worry. Emma and I couldn't believe our luck. Jumping from travel agent to travel agent near our unbelievable hostel "D and D Inn" on Khao San Road, Bangkok, we finally found the cheapest deal for a coach journey that would take us to Phnom Penh. Only 700 Baht each (£14). Superb. Moreover, we managed to book the journey with our favourite travel agent - "Coco" - who previously booked us to do the floating markets. We had an early start this morning (Saturday) and woke up at half 6 after another 5hr sleep - just because we are legends and it's cool to ... read more

Hostel life On the final day that Cat and Camille were in PP we decided to meet up mid morning so that the girls could have a lie in and I could finally go and collect my visa from the Chinese embassy, and dear readers all well and I have a lovely new visa in my passport YAY! I took the usual tuk tuk ride over to meet the girls. Preparations were under way for road closures as on the 11th there was a bank holiday and there was due to be a parade and the closure of some businesses and restaurants. It took longer than normal to get across town as the road closures had already started, especially by the royal palace, the national museum and the temple near by. After meeting up we formulated ... read more

Και την πρωτευουσα αυτών,Phnom Penh. Την διαβασαμε στους οδηγούς σαν τη Στάρλετ της νοτιοανατολικής Ασίας, ως την πιο φτωχή χώρα απο ολους της τους γείτονες, με διαφθορά, γραφειοκρατεια, η χώρα που ραβει για τα αγαπημένα h&m, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, Adidas, Puma και για πολλες άλλες μπραντες που όλοι έχουμε φορέσει. Όχι δεν είναι εδώ η αναπτυξη. Έρχεται ίσως αλλά κάπου χάνει το δρόμο της και παιρνει αυτον της εκμετάλλευσης. Αυτή φοβήθηκαν τοτε καποιοι Καμποτζιανοι και τον φόβο τους έκανε φυλαχτό ίσως και ο μεγαλυτερος δικτάτορας της ιστοριας. Ο Πολ Ποτ. Ο Χίτλερ θα ζήλευε τα τεχνάσματα του και θα έπινε νερό στο όνομα του αν τα είχε βάλει και αυτός με τους Εβραίους. Το τοτε δεν παει πολύ πίσω όταν ηταν μολις 1975 που οι Khmer Rouge κέρδισαν τον εμφύλιο και οραματίστηκαν μια Καμπότζη, ... read more

Guns! Wednesday was a gun day! Yes dear readers our great plan was to head to a firing range and shoot some real guns and live ammunition! I was awake early as usual and was ready and rearing to go in and the end I had to make sure paddy was up and ready to go and then had to chase him a second time! We headed off to the ATM to get the money for shooting, and to get some breakfast from a local bakery. Not sure what we chose but it was followed by a chocolate doughnut. Our lift arrived promptly at 10am as agreed and we climbed in and headed off. On the way to the firing range we collected another guy on the way but he was with the company who were ... read more