Cambodia: Phnom Penh

I thought I'd keep the blog nice and consistent by updating you on our travels 3 weeks later, at least that's my excuse.  So at the time of writing we have both entered Cambodia and left and are now in Thailand, but more on that later...  Oh and if you hadn't guessed it's Nick here and I will be writing the next section.  Exciting stuff...   So onto the nitty gritty.

After feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves at standing our ground and not caving in to the additional tourist visa fee we arrived in a good mood at our first Cambodian city, Phnom Penh.  However we shortly brought down off our high when we discovered that all the accommodation we had planned to stay at was full.  After walking around the baking hot sun for a good two hours we decided to take a tuk tuk to a hotel which name had been etched in my memory due to association with all things surfing.  And so we headed to the gorgeous Billabong hotel (which may have been a little over our budget..)  It was everything we wanted in the baking heat, a lovely air conditioned room overlooking a swimming pool.

The next day we headed out to gain a greater understanding of the horrific Khmer Rouge regime, which was responsible for the death of around 1.4 to 2.2 million people between 1975-79.  We visited one of most famous of Khmer Rouge killing fields in Cambodia (out of an estimated 20,000), as well as Tuol Sleng genocide museum (the site of the notorious S-21 prison).  Both of these were an eye opening experience and  we both struggled to comprehend how people could be so inhumane.

Weird and wonderful mountain goat

The following day we headed out of town again to the largest wildlife rescue centre in Southeast Asia.  We were a little appalled on entry to find many animals (monkeys, birds etc.) in small cages.  After a few questions we found out that this was the holding area for quarantined animals before they were given a larger enclosure in the park.  We then walked through what looked like the entrance to Jurassic Park into the main area, being a little cautious about the herd of deer (some with big pointy antlers) waiting for us on the other side of the gate.  Turns out the Cambodians are a little more lax in health and safety than back home and we were soon walking through a huge enclosure similar to Woburn Safari park with free roaming animals (we had no idea what was in there..).  Particular highlights of day include: seeing the weirdest mammal we had ever seen, the Biturang, google it!!  A giant aviary full of the biggest storks.  Over 120 rescued bears from cruel practices.  A blind Langur who would follow our voice and still show perfect swinging ability.  Oh and I also got man handled by a gibbon in a cage when I got too close.... honestly it just wouldn't let go of my shirt!!!

On the way back we enjoyed a couple of frogs on sticks and palm juice with our tuk tuk driver by the side of the road.  When I say enjoyed I really mean I got dared to down the bottle of palm juice and felt horribly ill afterwards....

The ominous frog on stick and palm juice

Hmmm that was a long one, probably should make it a little shorter next time...