A day flying. People say it is glamourous. Let me tell you, it’s SO NOT. I get tired, grumpy & eat bad food all day. Hunting down anything with even some nutritional value at an airport is near impossible. Though, I must compliment Malaysia for the abundance of free wifi in KL, which makes the 5 hours to kill before a flight, much easier! So, decked out in genie pants, my new flying jumper (had to buy one – it gets so cold on planes!) & curly hair, we were off.

Here in Phnom Penh, there usually nothing but smiles for us from the people here. Everyone is happy, and hapy to help. Tuk-tuk drivers are at every corner, but most are happy to leave you alone when you say no. Although Cambodia has their own currency, most everyday trading is done in US$. Taxi’s, food, wine.

There is also the opressive heat & humidity that almost overpowers you whenever you are outside for longer than 10mins. Ice-cream sellers must do a roaring trade here.

Every holiday needs down time, and one guilty pleasure I do indulge in while o/s everytime…Nat Geo. Yep, pay tv. My favourite shows…Lockdown & Deadliest Catch. I have been known to stay indoors to watch the end of these shows…as those who have travelled with me know! There is something about watching American Jails or people fishing in the arctic circle that gets me everytime. Weird, I know.

First day entailed the obligatory tuk-tuk tour. Rather than just touring the city though, we went across the river to the ‘island’ where poverty mingled with propsperity, and down on the river people lived on boats, while their neighbours looked down on them from their mansions. There is a lot of begging and touting in PP, especially from kids. They look so venerable, but we know from what the locals have told us, that if you give them food instead of money, they throw it back at you. Sad.

Paid a visit to the Royal Palace. So ornate. Everything is so detailed and intricate and….gold. Everything is gold. Inside the Royal Palace is a 90kg gold buddah statue with 2000 diamonds. Looks incredible! There was also a killer scorpian loose in the grounds. Well, maybe not killer, but everytime I tried to photo it, it chased me!

Checked out the markets & bought some very cool fake pink Converse sneakers, cheap electronics & super cheap alcohol. Gin I pay $50 for in Australia, I paid less than $8.50 here. The markets here are full of cheap souveniers, but don’t try to buy clothes. You will end up with a serious complex…’You big lady. That not fit.’ Great. Just what I needed to hear. The difference with the markets in Cambodia is that the main markets here shut at dark, and only the night markets, local markets, are open. Shows that tourism hasn’t totally pervaded this city. Though, the legions of adoring tuk-tuk drivers that follow me sometimes make it feel otherwise…

Eating here is ridiculously cheap. $3.50 for a main meal is about normal. And $2.50 for drinks. Happy hour it drops even more! The food is amazing. Had traditional Khmer food, chicken un coconut milk wrapped in a banana leaf. So nice. There is also lots of French & Indian food here. The wine can be a little hit-and-miss though…tried Bulgarian wine the other day. Interesting…

While in PP, we also visited 2 places of historical importance – the Tuol Sleng Museum & the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. These are the places where Pol Pot’s security forces took over & created a place of tourture & imprisonment, and then where the detainees were executed & buried. I had umm’d & ahh’d about visiting, because of what had gone on there, but eventually decided that it was important to acknowledge what had occured, and not to ignore it.

Tuol Sleng Museum was formerly a high school before it was taken over. Of the 20,000 inmates, only 7 survived.  It was incredibly sad, so I won’t dwell on it. The 2nd part of the journey meant heading out of town to the Killing Fields. The further you got out of town, the more the poverty became evident. Even on the outskirts of the city, people are livng in makeshift homes.

The Killing Fields were equally as sad. There is a monument that confronts you (literally & metaphorically) as you walk in the door, containing more than 8000 human skulls and bones that have been exumed from the 129 mass graves. The ground is a field of indentations where the graves were. But, amongst all this there is a true sense that the Khmer people are doing this, remembering those that died, in the hope that by showing others what happened, it will never happen again.