Leaving Siem Reap for Phnom Penh

Well, unfortunately, we had to leave Siem Reap. The place is definitely one of the most laid back, friendly and beautiful cities in SE Asia.

Left Siem Reap at 6am, taking the speedboat down the Tonle Sap river, which took 6 hours. Was quite fun though. Speeding down the brown silty river, looking at all of the stilted long-houses along the river was amazing - just like Apocolypse Now!!

Arrived in Phnom Penh and before the boat could even dock, about 50 tuk-tuk drivers lept onto the boat and hassled everyone for lifts to their hotels - it was crazy!! There were only about 30 passengers on the boat. So we grabbed our packs, by which point we were the only boat passengers left, with about 20 drivers each trying to get us to go with them. They asked where we were heading, and as soon as I said the hotel name they all started shouting, yelling prices at us and climbing on top of each other, all for 1 dollar!! Nic picked a guy who spoke good English and we went with him. He turned out to be really nice, giving us directions to different places so that we could walk to them. It was all pretty funny though.

Phnom Penh is a crazy city. The begging and the number of very young kids selling on the streets is pretty tough to get used too. You feel like you want to give money but there are so many that you can't give to everyone. An American who works as a teacher here and who we were speaking to in the bar last night said that we shouldn't give to the kids who beg, as it encourages them to skip school (which is free). You can buy things like water and juice of kids, which is fine as they mostly do it after school, but giving to other beggers is frowned upon, as just giving them a dollar is actually more than working people here get in a day.

Another thing we have noticed here, which is really creepy, is the amount of single, middle-aged western men here, obviously part of the sex tourist industry and looking for local girls. It's quite weird seeing these older guys sitting in bars and cafes with younger local girls, and according to the guide, there are quite a few bars that offer very attentive 'hostesses', so we'll be avoiding those!!!

Anyway, visited Wat Phnom yesterday, where we got to feed the monkeys and visited the Royal Palace and Silver Padoga today, which was nice to wander around in the scorching heat (this has to have been the hottest day yet). Tomorrow should be an experience as we are visiting the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot) killing fields, where so many Cambodians were executed during the communist Khmer Rouge times back in the seventies. We're also combining that with a trip to the genocide museum, which is the actual torture chambers and prison from the time of the genocides. I think I am going to have to be very mentally prepared for them, as it's supposed to be a tough trip.

Anyway, Nic and I are doing well and are preparing for our crossing into Vietnam in a couple of days.

Dene