Jan 18, 2005 - Phnom Penh

kolejna granica. zmiany. tu placi sie rielami, przynajmniej teoretycznie gdyz ceny sa prawie wszedzie w dolarach :/ tak jak w laosie tylko, ze bardziej: tam dotyczylo to w zasadzie tylko hosteli, tutaj ceny w dolarach znajduje sie w sklepach, aptekach... zreszta podobienstw do laosu jest wiecej: napoje na wynos znowu w reklamowkach i generalnie znowu drozej. zeby w zupelnie ordynarnej knajpce piwo kosztowalo $1.5?! wstyd! (w wietnamie bylo $2/3, w laosie $0.8, w chinach $5/8. to sa ceny w knajpce, w klubach w hanoi ceny byly $1-2.) w...

Jan 15, 2005 - Phnom Penh - The sadness from Pol Pot's time

We decided that the easiest way to get down to Phnom Penh would be to take a flight. It was a short journey on a plane that was so old that it looked like the Wright brothers had some input in the manufacture of it. Ironically it was called President Airways. Can't imagine Dubya replacing Air Force One with this rickety plane! On boarding we saw how the hoards of Japanese tourists got to Phnom Penh as the plane was packed with them. Once the jostling for the best seat had finished we were engulfed with the air-conditioning smoke bellowing...

Jan 13, 2005 - Retour a Phnom Penh

Retour en bus ( beurk, Manue, elle en a marre du bus...) dans notre ville preferee: Phnom Pehn. Apres une petite pause dejeuner, on repart a pied visiter les batiments coloniaux: Ambassade de France etc ... mais surtout ce qui nous a beaucoup plu: la balade a dos d elephant pour Vinz et Manue pendant que Virginie faisait le reporter photo en manquant de se faire ecraser par notre cher ami Sambo. Il a le poil un peu dur notre ami mais on est trop content!!! Et pour terminer en beaute avant que je reparte(...), nous sommes alles d abord...

Jan 10, 2005 - Phnom Penh

We got the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, the bus round took about five hours, and was thankfully a lot smoother than the journey to Siem Reap. We arrived at the Capital Tours offices, and we was promptly being sold accommodation in the Capital Tours guesthouse. We turned it down and opted to stay in Sunday guesthouse. As we knew our time in Phnom Penh was limited we went straight out to the Tuol Svay Prey High School, which was turned into Tuol Sleng interrogation and detention centre, also known as S-21. The place was incredibly...

Jan 9, 2005 - Phnom Penh

After the ancient wonders of Angkor, Phnom Penh quickly brings us back to Earth. Whilst the apparent happiness of the people belies the horror of the recent past, scratch the surface of the city and the proximity in time of that past is quickly and violently brought home. The maimed, disfigured and malnourished are everywhere. There is no postal system, few organised institutions and aside from the hotels, guesthouses and shops near the main sites funded by western tourists the only structure given to the city appears to come from foreign...

Jan 8, 2005 - Phnom Penh, la ville la plus ... francaise!

Nous voila de retour des iles ou nous nous sommes quand meme bien reposes et detendus avec nos copines. Desormais VinZ se fait appeler Charly et nous sommes ses "droles de dames". La ville de Phnom Penh est assez deroutante car elle est faite d ambiguites : On y parle Cambodgien mais on comprend le francais! On y mange des nouilles et du riz mais il y a des baguettes de pain dans chaque resto! On y boit du the mais il y a aussi de l Orangina sur les menus! Bref le melange Franco-Khmere est assez etonnant et nous l apprecions a sa juste...

Jan 8, 2005 - Phnom Penn

Took a local bus to Phnom Penn, with tarmaced roads (nearly a year old) and it actually arrived on time - this is when we ditch all the tourist buses - they never get anywhere on time! Stayed at a really nice hostel, and met a nice Khmer family who ran a local retaurant and taught us heaps of words and phrases - we impressed the pants off every local we met after that!! Visted an old detention centre showing the horrors carried out during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, and found it amazing that the Cambodian people have shown such resiliance...

Jan 5, 2005 - Cambodia -- Phnom Penh

We visited the Sihanouk Hospital, a project Hope hospital in Phnom Penh. I found a contact through World Anaesthesiology an individual who had written about his life in Cambodia. He picked us up and we met with a number of the hospital staff. There are a number of ex-pats here. The chief of surgery came for one year from Scotland, and she has stayed for seven. An Orthopedic surgeon came for 3 months from Perth, Australia, and he is staying for a year. The hospital was exceptionally clean, and I spent a few hours talking to Chin Nareth about...

Jan 4, 2005 - Phnom Penh

Tegen de avond arriveer ik in Phnom Penh, de hoofdstad van Cambodja. Het eerste dat opvalt is de zeer goede staat van overheidsgebouwen. Kennelijk heeft al het geld van de VN en de EU zijn weg gevonden. Ik had al voorgenomen om niet al te lang in Phnom Penh te verblijven en dat komt goed uit want alles wat ik wilde zien kon ik in 1 dag doen. Cambodja kent een turbulent verleden. Van 1975 tot 1979 werd onder aanvoering van Pol Pot het land in korte tijd omgevormd tot een agrarisch land naar Maoistisch voorbeeld. Geld werd afgeschaft en...

Jan 2, 2005 - Siem Reap to Phnom Pehn

We wake early and take a bus to Phnom Pehn stopping at roadsides along the way for pee breaks and to pick up additional passengers. Karaoke is blasting on the TV up front and the driver beeps his horn at anything that is in his way or that he possibly could run over. Chickens, pigs, people, people on bicycles, people pushing carts, people on motorbikes, you name it and he beeped at it. I learned that it is a common driving technique used from South East Asia all the way to India (where I hear is just one constant beep war). What was...

Dec 30, 2004 - Posessed by a Demon!

We woke up early this morning and caught a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. The bus and the road were both nice and the 5-hour trip was a breeze. We stopped at a town where a woman was selling bags of giant fried spiders. I bought a grapefruit instead. When we got off the bus at Phnom Penh, we were swamped by touts trying to get us to go to their guest houses. Once again, I had countless laminated cards and signs shoved into my face so close that I could see nothing. At one point, Zak and I were standing together...

Dec 25, 2004 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well yesterday Lance and I arrived in Phnom Penh. We flew from Hanoi, which turned out to be a very good idea. No hassles. Lance and I were invited to a Chritmas party at our hotel in Vietnam on the evening of Chritmas Eve which was very nice. We got to talk to some of the other travelers staying there and to the hotel staff also. We also got to drink some pink champagne from Russia and a very strong alcohol made from rice. We are staying at a guesthouse in Phnom Penh called the Boddhi Tree. It's pretty nice and has a great restaurant too....