Day 5 – Phnom Penh (Nicky) In the morning we broke away from the tour because they were going to visit an orphanage and we felt it would be sad and difficult for us. Instead we went to the market via tuk-tuk ... only to find it was closed because it was their New Year. We ended up going out for coffee and then having pizza on the roof top restaurant.

In the afternoon we went to Tuol Seleng Prison. This was a very harrowing experience. Basically, people who were opposed to Pol Pots regime, or perceived as a threat in any way were imprisoned in five foot cells and tortured here. They took pictures of inmates as they entered the facility and many of these are on the display. Wheen they had “confessed” they were transported to the killing fields at Choueng Ek and brutally killed. Along with every member of their family so that no one would be left to exact revenge. Of the 20,000 people who went through this prison only 7 survived usually because they had some skill, such as portrait painting which the regime could use. Pol Pot’s goal was to create a communist agrarian society. When he came to power he cleared out all the towns and forced the people to work from dawn to dusk in the fields. All the intellectuals and anyone who opposed the regime was tortured and sent to the killing fields/ Many of the atrocities were committed by soldiers who were adolescents. We also visited Cheoung Ek where there is a stupa of 9000 skulls (see photo.....these are rel skulls!), mass graves and bones and clothing work their way to the surface of the pathways so you are walking on them. It is horrifying to think that 1.7 million people were known to be killed, 1.3 million are missing – half the population were annihilated. The economy was decimated and the intellectual capital of the country destroyed. It People who lived through this experience have been traumatized. As a result 50 % of the population is currently under eighteen, there are noticeably few middle-aged people and Cambodia is impoverished, those who would have been the entrepreneurs and leaders are dead. I find it really disturbing that when the Vietnamese liberated the Cambodians, Pol Pot did not loose power and in fact retained a seat at the United Nations until the late nineties. Only now are the leaders being tried for genocide thirty years after the event.

On the way home we visited the orphanage as the group wanted to give them some rice and the children wanted to dance for us. This was a really up-lifting experience –not what I had thought at all! The kids were cheerful, the bigger ones looked after the smaller and they seemed pretty happy. They danced for us and taught us one dance where you had to jump over sticks….quite painful if you missed the beat!!





Day 6 – Kratie (Colin) As usual, another early start. Sadly we had to say good bye to Jason & Lisa who were heading south to Cambodian beaches, while we headed north east to Kratie. It was a long drive over bumpy roads – the small bus we were in didn’t do too much to smooth out the ride. We weren’t too impressed with early impressions of Kratie – too much litter and a shabby market, however lunch at a local restaurant (ginger pork & rice for me, usual veggie option of vegetable fried rice for Nicky) turned out to be good – you never quite know what you might get at these local restaurants…... After lunch we went on a tuk-tuk ride out to an area on the Mekong River where the “elusive Irrawadddy dolphins” are known to exist (the elusive term being a quote from our guidebook). The ride out was along the banks of the Mekong, through some beautiful rural countryside, so the early negative feelings towards Kratie were beginning to fade. At the dolphin location we went out on a boat ride to start our search. I must say I wasn’t really expecting to see any based on the “elusive” term, however much to our surprise we saw lots of them and managed to get some decent photos. It was quite stunning being out on the Mekong in the late afternoon as the sun was setting. Nice clear water and a gentle cooling breeze (all that was missing was a cold beer). After dolphin watching we went for an extended tuk-tuk ride in the interior countryside – through rice paddies with many quaint local houses. Typically they’re wood structures up on stilts. The locals seem to live on the “open plan” area under the house during the hot season (which incidentally is the season we’re travelling in – typically around 35C, with pretty high humidity – not unbearable, but certainly hot). Our tuk-tuk rdie turned out more exciting than we planned when one of the three we were using broke doen, so we hade to cram into two, which taxed the 100cc engine to the max towing the tuk-tuk loaded down with 6 people. We didn’t get back ‘till long after dark, but it was fun non the less. By the end of our stay in Kratie, we had changed our minds entirely, not so much of the town part, but the overall experience was great fun. Just one more lesson for me not to judge a place too quickly.

Day 7 – Don Khong, Laos (Nicky) Well, as per usual we were up bright and early as we were crossing the Laos border and had a few hours travelling to get under our belt. We had a great breakfast of good coffee (the last hotel had only hazelnut flavored coffee –not pleasant!!) and crusty rolls, sweet banana

s – all it lacked was a hunk of brie! The journey itself was bumpy (no surprise there!!) –I’m so grateful our bus is air conditioned. Crossing the border was pretty straight forward. A local café exchanged money for us at an exorbitant rate –but what can you do when you need some local dosh! For lunch I tried something new - morning glory and sticky rice. Morning glory is a veggie which tastes fairly similar to asparagus. ( One of my fav. vegetables so this was a real find)

After we crossed the border we went to a very impressive waterfall. We scrambled down a treacherously steep path to dabble our feet in the water – flip flops would definitely not be my foot ware of choice if I went there again!! It was extremely hot when we scaled the hill again. Colin bought himself a new pair of sunglasses as his were road weary and the frame was cracked. He then sneakily placed his old sunglasses on the rack and tried to get me to come and look at the pair he nearly bought – only to find the stall vendor had removed them. We went to the island of Don Kong to stay for the night –very picturesque. The hotel was right by the river, very quaint and a highlight was that we could get our laundry very efficiently done next door!! We hired bikes and had great fun cycling. As part of the New Year tradition, the local kids were lying in wait with buckets of water for anyone travelling the road so several of us got completely drenched!!

Day 8 – Champasak / DongDeng homestay (Colin) Too many early starts! So we whimped out the optional 7:00am cycle ride having done one the evening before. The early part of the day was spend island hoping – off Don Kohng island, travelling north up the side of the Mekong to Champasak where we had lunch before hoping on over to DonDeng for the afternoon & night. Lunch was on a floating restaurant where almost everything we tried to order wasn’t available. I a moment of recklessness I decided to order fish soup (we were on a restaurant floating on the mighty Mekong after all). This turned out to be a big mistake, especially as I’m pretty fussy about the type of fish I like. My soup had at least 5 small, but whole, cat fish – heads, eyes etc etc. I left the table pretty hungry and traumatized, so decided for the meantime I would join Nicky (who had decided to avoid all meat on this trip) and the rest of the vegetarian team. The trip over to DonDeng was pretty cool on a flotilla of pontoon style rafts powered by the traditional mini Honda engine and the big long external propeller and shaft captained by 10 year olds. Our accommodation on DonDeng was also to be a bit of an adventure – it was set u as a home stay were we lived & ate with locals in their house. Nicky has done this before in Nepal and loved it; I wasn’t too sure! As it turned out it was great – although very basic, getting to interact with the locals and get a sense of how they lived was worth it. Some of the notable differences were they eat on the floor sitting cross legged on mats – sounds easy, but one rule is you’re not supposed to let your feet point at anyone as it’s offensive, so after a while my old joints were getting pretty stiff. The house was also “open plan” - open being open to the outside, so it was really like a covererd deck – not that bad as it is so hot with no a/c. During the night however you hear a cockerill crowing at least every hour, then there’s the drums that start at 5:00 am to call the monks to prayer, then the motorbikes and people who’re all up by 6:00 so when it was time to get up for out Thai yoga at 6:30 am we were still a bit tired. The final major difference is the bathroom arrangements – no running water and more yoga maneuvers required to use the squat toilet (with nothing to assist balance). The shower involved a tank of water and a pot – quite refreshing! In the evening we went for a tractor ride round the island – very quaint, but incredibly hard on the butt sitting on the wooden floor going over the many many bumps. After dinner we decided to go down and join the locals who were having a final day of celebration for their New Year (this must be about 4 or 5 days they’ve been going at it – I’m only assuming it’s the last day because tomorrow is Monday….). This event turned out to be hilarious although I don’t think I can do a good enogh job of doing it justice in the retelling. One highlight was when Arran & Phil went to get beer and were approached by a few of the local beauties who wanted to dance with them. After coming back with the beer, the same girls followed them to the table where they were getting quite friendly.......then some one suggested one (or more) looked like doyboys (men dressed up as girls), so we did a foensic examination on the camera and sure enough there was the adam's apple larger than life!!! (to be continued......)