Phnom Penh

Cambodia is a really interesting nation. After spending the past week here we have seen dust and dryness, soaking rice fields, amazing man-made temples and reserviours, palaces, pagodas, markets, mass murder fields and torures camps. So much to take in in such a short while. We had the pleasure of spending 1/2 a day with Nash and Mel who are both living out of London and who are travels SE Asia for 3 (?) months. Great to catch up and they were the first people from home we could celebrate our engagement with.

Yesterday we went to the Russian Market to buy clothes and a carved wodden head from Bayon Temple. We also went to the Cambodian National Museum which houses a lot of the monuments and buddha's from the Ankor Wat and surrounding temples. We went and had dinner when Nash and Mel came and then while Kane and Nash went and drank more Mel and I went for a foot massage and had a beer while there too.

Killing fields during the Khmer Rouge years.

Today we got up early (7.30) and headed down for breakfast and off to the killing fields just outside of Phnom Penh. Unbelieveable to know how they killed them and how many were killed. You feel bad walking around the mass graves as you can see bones and cloth coming out of the ground. After that we came back for lunch and a goodbye as our friends headed for the beach for a week. We headed in the direction of the S21 torture camp during the Khmer Rouge time of 1975-79. Amazing also that so many were tortured... thousands... only 7 survived, but they were not killed here, they were shipped to the killing fields for liquidation. And all because they were teachers, artists, politicains, doctores, dentists andyone who'd gone to school and they not only killed the person, but their whole family. Pol Pot only wanted farmers to recreate the splendure of the Ankor Wat period.We've just finished looking at the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace, some of the Buddhas in the Pagoda have diamonds totally 25 carats each! The floor is made of silver pavers weighing 12kg each and it's not a small Pagoda. So much money at different stages of Cambodia's existance.

S21 Torture Camps

Silver Pagoda at the Royal Palace. No photos are to be taken inside.

A tuk-tuk driver. They drive you everywhere, but drive you crazy asking if you want a tuk-tuk every 10 metres. That and the begging in Cambodia really make impact on your holiday.

Tonight we fly to Shanghai at 11.55pm and will arive back in Shanghai at 4.30am, then we will be driven home to Suzhou, so we may get home around 6.30-7.00am. I'm thinking we will be tired of course. But it will be interesting if the there is still snow or not as apparently it has been getting warmer.