PHNOM PENH

WHERE: Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields

WHERE (less detailed): capital of Cambodia

DAYS: 145-149

PEOPLE ARE: pretty damn cheery considering their country seems to have been used as the local crapper for the past 40 years. Tuk-tuk drivers seem to have been given the heads-up by Indians on how to annoy tourists. There is a ridiculously high number of them for a city that, apart from the Killing Fields, has quite centralized sights.

CURRENCY IS:  bizarrely dollar-centric. The local currency has been relegated to change status (4000riel = $1) but everything else in dollars.



finally we get to experience travelling Chicken class

WEATHER IS: Hot, damn hot. Entering into Cambodia we hit that sunshine-wall we had hoped to find in north Vietnam. Suddenly its high 30s and the easiest of tasks seems to require Herculean levels of effort.

FOOD IS: Not quite as good as Vietnam. Paul shows he really has no sense of shame when he kicks up a fuss in a “doing it for the street-kids” charity restaurant when his $7 Cambodian beef curry arrives with vegetable-less broth and four small chunks of beef. The shocked maitre d returns the dish to the kitchen and reappears with an extra three pieces of beef and an impressive collection of Cambodian saliva…  

makes a change from 'No Ball Games'

HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS:

Not sure you can call the Killing Fields and the s-21 prison (a former school) a highlight but it was certainly both disturbing and moving. Quite a lot less disturbing, though still a little off, is the fact the Killing Fields monument has been sold to a private Japanese firm who run it for profit. Thankfully the Japanese had refrained from erecting a giant Godzilla monument in a show of empathy… the fact that four of the bigwigs in charge of the Khmer Rouge are due to go on trial this year makes it all the more vivid…

just when you thought being picked last meant going in goal

....interestingly all the leaders of the Khmer Rouge seem to have been sent to French universities to study as teachers….the sight of hundreds of human heads stacked on top of each other and row upon row of burial pits is not one that sits well …on a brighter note the Palace in Phnom Penh is absolutely beautiful and features some of the best architecture we’ve seen so far….the city museum is pretty special too… Paul returns to his childhood holidays when we hunt around to find swanky hotels whose pool we can use....

winner of the Daily Mail's "design a prison for immigrants and paedophiles" contest

....walking along the boardwalk we see the best example of the ingenuity of the have-nots; the kids playing football have shunned the British “jumpers for goalposts” system and instead are using the impressive “Jim, you and Mark are the posts for this half” system. Best of all was when one “post” was struck in the jingle-janglies by the ball as we walked passed… Paul’s all too fleeting display of compassion quickly turns to anger when Rhaani points out that the Australian he just gave $5 to wasn’t shaking because he was stressed about having his passport and wallet stolen but instead was jones-ing for a drug fix…

UP NEXT: the sleepy coastal towns of Kep and Kampot