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It's a real interesting country besides all that because 30 years ago they had the holocaust here where 2.5 million Cambodians (about a third of the population!!) were killed under the notorious Pol Pot regime (he was waaay worse than Hitler). Everyone in the country had to abandon cities and homes and go and work in the fields for the new communist governement. Anybody who wore glasses, spoke a foreign language or gave any other indication of being intellectual was tortured and then killed. I visited the Tol Sleung prison today which was used for the torture and was one of the most hectic places I've been to cos it's still in a pretty original condition and there are some hectic photos of what went on. It was tne place where my camera didn't come out cos don't really want to relive that.
The commies were overthrown in about 1980 so the country is relatively new in a lot of ways. There are very few old people (most died in the 70's) and the people are all super friendly. A beer costs 40 pence at a restaurant here and you can hire your own tuk tuk driver for a full day for 6 pounds..... And I didn't even try and bargain him down (which u normally do in Asia). I don't think that would be fair here cos everyone is so poor and therefore desperate for work. My room now costs 5 quid a night with aircon, hot water and cable tv. That is pure luxury here. My last room was 2 pounds a night but that's for a small fan room....
Hmmm - some other prices. Today I got taken to a shooting range where the artillery is supplied (backhandedly) by the army. For $200 you can fire a rocket launcher!! For an extra $500 they will give you a live cow as a target! Crazy place this.
You can't take photos of the "menu" at the shooting range but how's this for my hotel room door!
On a much lighter and brighter note, there are a lot of people doing volunteer work here as well as teaching English etc. I was pretty keen to do some volunteering too and try help out so visited an orphanage the other day and it was pretty crazy to see where they lived. There's basically 1 room that's not totally enclosed (so if it's windy and rainy they get wet). This is their classroom, bedroom and playroom!! They had to sit on the floor for their lessons (the teachers are volunteers) and at the end of the day they pack the books away and sleep on the floor right there. 25 kids in a pretty small area.
But the kids are all super happy and only too keen to learn!! All they want is to go to school and learn as much as possible cos they know it's the only way out of poverty for them. So decided to do my bit and went to the local town and bought them 10 desks and benches and a bunch of books and pens. They were soooo stoked that when we were offloading them at 4:30pm on Saturday afternoon they immediately set them up and wanted to be taught with their new desks. Not a "bunker" among them! Speaking of which, I actually wonder if they gonna use them as bunk beds now too!
So to bring you riiiiight up to date now, I've been in Phnom Penh for 3 days. Original plan was to spend 1 day here and then head to the beaches and then try and make my way to the Phillipines to join Badger and a couple other mates for about 10 days or so. Unfortunately, I got put on the Cambodian diet the first day. Very effective weight loss program where you basically just go to the toilet all day and don't eat a thing. Thought it was pretty mellow at first but after 24 hours of not going further than 10 metres from the toilet I was eventually forced to go to the hospital. Scary thing is that the worst toilet I've seen in all of SE Asia was in that hospital. Little bit worse than the infamous Trainspotting one! Luckily I only needed some medication and didn't have to be admitted. But it was still 2 and a half days in bed so became a bit too late to get flights to the Phillipines.... So tomorrow I will hit the Cambodian beaches and then on to Vietnam from there!
This is the view from the restaurant of the $4 a night hotel.
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