Phnom Penh

Cambodia's capital city outlived our expectations by far, with its colourful streets, winding alleys, great food and relaxed feel. By the time we reached Phnom Penh we had a group of five travelling together: Bol, Wayne, Grant, Dave and me. On arrival we headed to the Lakeside District, which as you can guess, was a series of cafes and guesthouses surrounding a lake and checked in to "Sister 9" guesthouse. At $3 a night, the place was a bargain and it became our haven for the next five days. In between our busy day trips we'd return to the guesthouse for meals, movies, pool and drinking beer on the water's edge.

Grant, Bol, Wayne and Dave on our guesthouse balcony

Any traveller to Phnom Penh will visit the Killing Fields and S-21, the former high school which was turned into a prison and execution centre during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. We visited both of these and while it wasn't a fun day out, it was amazing to see the sites where such atrocities took place. At the Killing Fields you walk through mass graves where thousands and thousands of people were thrown after being executed. Thousands of their skulls have been dug up and are on display in a big class case, while some of the graves remain in the ground, yet to be touched. S-21 I found to be even more disturbing, because you get to walk in and out of jail cells that were once student classrooms, and see photos of the victims who lost their lives. Each of them was executed because they were "believed" to be against the Khmer Rouge regime. Some were newborn babies.

On our second night in Phnom Penh the group of us ventured out to watch the World Cup. We headed to the Gym Bar, which turned out to be so full with screaming fans that it was impossible to get a drink, find a seat and all the rest of it. We decided to take a wander down the street where we stumbled upon a cute little bar that was basically empty. We were soon in conversation with the bar owners - a french man Remy and a Laos/Cambodian woman Monika who was due to give birth in two weeks. You couldn't meet a nicer couple and much to Bol's delight, Monika knew how to make his favourite food: a Cambodian pork and egg dish called Koh. Although the bar didn't usually serve food, Monika invited us back the following night to have dinner with her family. Of course, she cooked Koh and she got so excited to see Bol's reaction. Monika's hospitality was certainly a highlight of Phnom Penh and we went back to see her several times before leaving for Siem Reap. She called me her "big sister" because I am 11 days older than her. Our mate Dave took photos of us with Monika and Remy but I won't be able to upload them to the blog until we meet him again in a few days.

The sunset from our guest house

Typical market alley

Not your typical "Street kids"

One of the entrances to the Russian Market