From one tuk-tuk to the next!

Day 77 - 10/08/2010 - 21:48 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

So our final day in Phnom Penh today. We were uninterrupted with our sleep today, much to our bliss, which was very nice. Still doesn't improve our view of this hotel particularly though. Our room roof was leaking this evening too, to top it off. The guy from downstairs just came in and said, "do you want to move room?" No! We both replied, I said to him - "as long as we're not flooded tonight, I don't care any more!". It seems to have resided now, I guess they sorted whatever was going on upstairs out!

Today we were outside at 10:30am, with no sign of Sara from the lobby, I went out to have a look around. I had refused the advances of tuk-tuk rides from those waiting by our hotel and a man came up to me. Great, I thought, another offer. He said "Is your name Tom?". Yes. "I am friends with Sara, he couldn't come today, he's busy". That sold it for me, and I went and got Laura from inside. His said his name was C.K. (I don't know what his proper name was, if at all), and was very friendly and much more talkative than Sara, which was nice. I don't know whether Sara was genuinely busy or not, but it was nice to have CK today.

He took us to the S-21 prison museum this morning, the high school turned prison under the Khmer Rouge regime which is where prisoners were kept until transportation to be killed. Wow, I though Choung Ek (killing fields) was harrowing. This place felt haunted. Empty rooms, with just a steel bed in - broken tiles and even the occasional blood stain still on the wall or ceiling. Horrible stuff, but you really felt for the victims of the horrify time. There were a lot of photographic exhibitions too, including thousands of individual file photos of all the victims. It was really unpleasant, but it needed to be seen to appreciate how Cambodia has been shaped and what the people have been through. Anyone over the age of 35 would have grown up under part of this regime and survived - it really is modern history. Laura felt ill bless her, the sensitive soul.

After that, he took us to independent monument and around Diamond Island. On the latter there really wasn't much to see, but he told us about what will be there in a few years time - business district. A sign of things to come for Cambodia? They deserve it, if anyone. He then took us to a restaurant for something to eat. He originally took us to the riverside to the restaurant we went to on our first night. When we told him we'd been, he took us to a restaurant called "Friends" which is staffed by children who had no homes/family who are learning a skill and developing a career. All profits go to orphanages. It was really nice to see so many young people busy in the restaurant and knowing it was for a good cause. I actually was delighted to be able to donate a couple of dollars through a "tip" (the first tip I've ever been this happy about leaving!!).

In the afternoon we went to the Royal Palace which was absolutely stunning, and massive. The silver pagoda and the surrounding area was particularly beautiful. It had absolutely everything, from crafted hedges, ancient wall paintings, massive statues and even a water feature which had some massive fish and turtles in!

CK then took us around the city some more and actually told us a bit about stuff, which was great. We gave him the full amount $15 which he seemed absolutely delighted with. We told him of our plans to Siem Reap in the next couple of days. He has a friend who he grew up with in the same village who also drives a tuk-tuk, but in Siem Reap. We've quite happily allowed him to take us around and he's picking us up at 10am on the 12th. He told us that it's very difficult to find work as a tuk tuk driver - I can see why, there are so many drivers and just not enough customers. I can imagine it's the same in Siem Reap if not worse so we're definitely happy to help out a friend of a friend and look forward to meeting him in a couple of days!

Phnom Penh has been absolutely amazing and completely harrowing at the same time with it's dark history. It does though have a very nice present and a promising future and we've met some very nice people here. Onto Siem Reap and Angkor Wat tomorrow!