Saigon - Phnom penh Cambodia

Well not as up to date post as hoped, but unlike everywhere else nowhere in Cambodia seems to have internet in the hotels so we are having to pay for it!... I thought i had done a blog in Saigon but apparantly not.

Well firstly the night bus was again a joke - the seats were hardly big enough for a vietnamese - let alone me and Emily, and we were assured they were long enough - for Vietnamese people So as you can imagine our knees were by our chins and all in all it was a pretty long night! when we arrived in Saigon Emily realised that her bag was open and that she had been mugge s- however all they managed to take was one flip flop.... good effort for the a team!
Anyway it was seriosuly hot in Saigon and as we arrived we checked into probably the most expensive hotel we have stayed in and probably the worst!. Our room had two stick beds in it and air conditioning that didnt work - a fan that didnt work and also a shower that doubled as a sink... try showering in the sink and then needing to use the bathroom 5 minutes later... not fun!
Anyway we didnt want 3to stay in our room all day so we decided to have a chilled day (seeing as we hadnt slept in 24 hours) and go to the Ben Thanh market. This market was seriously just a metropolois of food and clothe stalls which consisted of us rummaging through and finding fake (and some real) clothing and jewellery!
On first look Saigon i thought was really rather beautiful - a major city - more so than the capital Hanoi but a real metropolis. Emiwly however didnt enjoy it as much, she was blistered to a pulp and tired and really didnt like, sowe decided that we would only stay here until the next day in the afternoon before we headed out to Cambodia.
The next day we decided to do the sights and go around the city for our last day, before we caught our bus to phnom Penh at 2.
We went to the War remnants museum - which all i can say was breathless. Both Emily and i felt very ignorant and didnt really know much about the war or genecide - however the artefacts, pictures and stories didnt really need much explaining, it was horrible either way. For example in the museum were tiger cages that prisoners were held in and they were literally the size of one small vietnamese size single bed and this held 15 prisoners - vietnamese or not, its a pretty tight squueze. The worst thing was the photos of the victims that had been abnormally defected due to the gases that the Americans had used during the war. All in all the museum was incredible but seriosuly heart wrenching - both emily and i nealry came out of there in tears - we definately were speachless (well for about 10 minutes) - a first for both of us.
At the Cambodian border Emily (never one to dissapoint...) lost her immigration card which you have to get in Vietnam and so we then held up the bus for about an hour while we sweet takled the border security to let her in (i wasnt trying that hard to be honest!!)
Almost straight away we noticed a change in the heat and in the culture. It seems to be far more Indian influenced here with a much flatter terain and far more poverty - a child is begging next to you where ever you are - its horrible and sad but unfortunately you soon learn you cant help everyone and as soon as we saw the child pimps we stopped sharing our chocolate and sweets.

Our first real day in Cambodia and it was pretty action packed. The night we got here we met 3 boys who had just arrived and had a pretty similar itinery for the next day as us so we thought we would all go together and split the price. We first went to the Killing fields of S-21. The killing fields of coeung Ek is where most of the 17000 detainees held at the S-21 prisons were executed. Although the grounds are now peaceful and slightly idilic situauted next to the river and with the shady trees and endless amounts of butterlies it makes it ahrd to realise the severity of what happened here - however the huge stupa of skulls and the pieces of clothing and bone that are still buried on the ground and the blood stains on the trees from where babies and children where battered to death send that peaceful picture right out of your mind. The genocide here was larger than the Hitler Nazi genocide and neither Emily or I had ever heard of it - even though it is far more recent as it happened from 1975-1979, and trials are still going on.

After this particularly heart wrenching site we took a tuk tuk (with our friend Tin Tin the Tuk Tuk driver) to an orphange just outside of the city. On the way we stopped and bought a 50 kilo bag of rice ($50) which will serve as 1 days food for 70 children. Once we were there we played with themm and watched in on thier classes and then snuck out to buy another $80 worth of toys and mosquito nets and soap. This was an incredible experience and although we spent our whole budget on one excurison it was definately worth it - these kids have nothing and no government funding and if that didnt rub it in their face enough there is a private school wehre rich kids are playing with footballs and basketballs in clean white uniforms right next door to the orphange, which has nothing.

Our last stop was the Tuol Slong museum. This area was taken over during the Pol Pot regime and was transformed from a high school to a prison and a zone of imaginable torment. This was then renamed S-21 and the classrooms were turned into the torture chambers and equipped with various instruments to inflict pain suffering and death. The instruments are still there along with graphic photos of the victims as they lay dying. This was the largest incineration centre in the country and and the height of it s activity a schocking 100 peopl ewere killed a day. Again a horrible experience but well worth it.

The next day we decided to do something a little more light hearted. We strated off by going to the Russian market and getting our haggling hats on. HAving been pretty terrible hagglers in Saigon we turned out to be rather talented with the quote of the day being when i was trying to buy a bracelet which was quoted at $60 - "real silver..." and me being like no its not for the girl to then be liek ... "well a little bit...!!!!" i ended up getting it for 5!

We then got a tuk tuk to the river for what we wanted to be a relaxing lunch (when has anything ever been relaxing with me...?) and an Australian guy (quite old) came up to me and said he had lost his wallet and phone and needed some money to make a phone call so his family could send him some money to the western union. as a traveller i am well up for help travellers alike - and although i was skeptical he was Australian and so i gave him $10. ALthough this is a days worth of food in the grand scheme of things its not that much and i would really hope that someone would do it for me if i was in trouble. anyway he ws obviously a scam artist, but karmas a bitch and next time we go on a tuk tuk we may run over him and i will get out and demand my $10 back with interest!... horrible to think travellers take advantage of one another like that but at the end of the day - i would hope soqmeone would do the same for me and also it teaches you that everyone is out for themselves and to not be as trust worthy as you would be at home.

Anyway thats all from me from here - next one should be in Siem Reap!!

Lots of love xxxxx