tony montana, monty python and tricky ricky

well. catching the plane from KLs LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) was certainly an experience. after being pushed, shoved and given the evil eye we managed to make it to the check in counter, only to have a malaysian woman beg us to check her bag on for her. we all freaked out a bit but managed to check in without her luggage. after a little bit more pushing and shoving we managed to get on the plane, only to have the worst plane ride ever! we thought we were going to crash when the pilot aborted landing and circled around. ross sat there laughing at us three girls clenching hands and looking grim.

we made it out of the airport in one piece and were bombarded with 'taxi, taxi, you want tuk tuk?!?!?!' luckily i had booked our guesthouse ahead and they had organised for rady to pick us up. he beckoned for us to follow him and we followed him to his motorbike driven carriage, better known as a tuk tuk. it was awesome to see phnom penh on the back of a motorbike! we got to the guest house and it was so nice to see a clean, tidy and inviting place. we settled down for a beer at the bar ($1 happy hour special) and met our bartenders tony montana and monty python. the guys were awesome, and totally hilarious.

the next day we set off with rady for the city tour. the first stop was the tuol sleng genocide museum. it was possibly the most harrowing experience of my life. the worst part was seeing all the photographs of the people held in the prison and seeing the cells they were kept in.

we then headed out of town to the choeung ek killing fields, which was also awful. all the graves are now just holes in the ground, and i couldnt believe how many there were. it was awful to read what the khmer rouge did to their people, but it is good that the government now acknowledges what happened and encourages rememberence.

after such a depressing morning, rady took us to the russian markets for some lunch. we were all still a bit shocked, but after some coffee and lunch we were ready for some shopping.

the next stop was the national palace. when we got there it was closed, but was opening up later so we headed to the shooting range instead. ross and jess decided to fire AK 47s, while gael and i decided just to watch.

we headed back to the palace, but it was still closed (we later found out that the thai prime minister was visiting AND jackie chan was in phnom penh as well, but not at the palace) so we headed back to the guest house for more happy hour beers. we wanted to go to siem reap the next day and ricky, the receptionist, said he'd help us get bus tickets. when i went to get them he informed me he'd also booked a guest house in siem reap for us! all my hard work was done.

cambodia is one of those places that you get a good feeling about and then the feeling just keeps getting better and better. the people are really what makes it, they are some of the sweetest, kindest, most hard working people i have ever met. the whole time we had in cambodia was awesome. like ange said before, the guest house was an absolute gem and ricky and the boys were hilarious!

the day we went to the killilng fields was really weird. at the fields and the torture camp we were wrecks, and the mood in the tuk tuk afterwards was very very grim. the markets were ok, totally crazy, and then later in the afternoon we went to the shooting range. i decided to have a go, mainly because i didnt think i'd ever have the opportunity again, nor might i want it.. i shot an AK47 which i thought i'd be awesome at because it was my favourite in one of the games on my nintendo 64. i was totally wrong.. it was so powerful that we had to sit on a chair, and after i had marks on my shoulder. afterwards i was shaking like crazy, mainly because i had to hold it so tightly, and also because i was scared out of my brains. it was weird, i wasnt scared because i felt unsafe, but i was really uneasy with the whole situation. i think i was just a tad too emotional.

after that we were driving home and rady (our driver) said that we were near his house and would we like to see it. we said we'd love to, and he drove us down his street with a huge grin on his face. when we got there, his wife and son were there and we got to go in and meet them and have a chat - or a few words, because we couldnt speak khmer and they could speak a little bit of english. rady told us how he built the house himself and how he has three other rooms at the back that he rents for $30 a month. as we were leaving ross banged his head on the door and they thought that was the most hilarious thing in the world! when we got back on the tuk tuk, i called out that rady was the best driver ever, and they all beamed and rady was so proud he couldnt stop smiling. it was crazy that we went from feeling so low to feeling really heartwarmed and happy, all in one day.

we got into siem reap at 2pm the next day. once again there was a tuk tuk waiting for us (thankyou, ricky!) who took us straight to the guest house. hok, our driver, said he would pick us up at 4.30 to take us to angkor wat for sunset. it was amazing! we walked up this massive hill and then climbed up a temple to watch the sun set over siem reap. we were pretty excited to see angkor wat at sunrise as well, so we headed back to go to bed early.

when the alarm went off at 4.30 i'm pretty sure everyone hated me, but getting to the temples at sunrise was so worth it. they were absolutely stunning! and, because it was so early there were hardly any people around as well! at one point jess and i were completely alone in one section of the temple. it was magic. we decided breakfast was in order, so we headed back to the tuk tuk to get our driver to take us to a restaurant. he insisted that we go to the next temple, and there was no arguing with him. when we got there it turned out there was some food vendors, but not what we expected! we spent the next few hours exploring the temples, which was amazing. around lunch time we drove out to the floating village and were going to take a boat tour, but were way too exhausted to sit in a boat in the sun for two hours, so we headed back to the guest house instead.

the next day we braved the 6 hour bus ride back to phnom penh, before an overnight stopover (and another visit to ricky and the boys) before crossing the border into vietnam.

i forgot to mention this really cool night we had, we went down to the river at dusk, and there was this big group jumping around and we realised they were doing aerobics!! its was so cool. the river bank was all nice landscaped gardens and there was lots of dancing and kids playing and people playing badminton and couples having picnics. it was really nice.

ps... check out this video of ross joining in the aerobics... totally awesome! xx