I haven't written for a while so have a bit of catching up to do!
I arrived in Phenom Penh with m new travel partner - Kerstin who likes to be called Chris, and we headed off to S21 and the killing fields for our first day of sightseeing.
S21 used to be a school and was converted to a prison by the Khmer Rouge. It is an awful and depressing building, the top floors containing the tiny cells that prisoners were kept in with barely enough room to stretch ou to lie down, and literally thousands of people were turtured here. Afterwards we took a tuk tuk out to the killing fields were the Khmer Rouge excectued thousands and thousands of people. Just to bring home how recent all of this took place - you can actually see clothing and bones coming out of the ground around the pits that were used as mass graves. It was a really disturbing day. On the way back to town I could help but look around at everyone I passed thinking - this was recent enough that you lived through it. Such a horrible thought and it touched me even more than visiting the concerntration camp in Berlin.
On to more pleasent things - after such a heavy day of sightseeing we all declared that it was time to lighten the mood and head off go carting!! We had met some English boys Paul and Ali and a Canadian guy and girl and off we went! Being the only one who had never driven go-karts before (or even a car for that matter) I sucked but it was great fun!!!
I had originally planned to head to the south coast after Phenom Penh but the English bioys were heading to the North East to see dolphin and swim in volcanic craters and I thought that sounded great so decided to join them!
First we headed to Krati where the Irradily dolphins live in the Mekong river. nIt was a long and bumpy bus ride but when our little boat was surrounded by about 5 dolphins it was definitely worthwhile!!! The area around Krati is really rural and beautiful and we were treated to one of the nicest sunsets I have ever seen.
Next we headed off to BanLung. Getting there involved a 7 hour bus journey on the bumpiest roads I have ever travelled on!!! Everyone was being thrown around the bus - on numerous occassions I was thrown clear out of my seat! - It was kind of fun though - like being on a roller coaster!
BanLung is literally the middle of nowhere. The town has all dirt roads and due to the rain they were entirely mud. Dressed in my flip flops and balancing my pack I slip and slidded my way to the hostel in a scene reminiscent of glastonbury 2003!
But what an amazing place!!! We hired moto guides and 5 of us (joined by a Dutch guy we also met in Phenom Penh and an American we met on the bus) we set off for a day of swimming in waterfalls which was just beautiful and exactly what we all needed!!!!
BanLung also has a lake which has formed in a volcanic crater which is one of the most stunning places I have ever visited. The photos really don't do it justice - but I will try and upload some in the next couple of days anyway.
We spent one of the best days I have had on this trip so far floating on tubes around the lake till the sun went down. Perfect!!The next day we hired our own motos and headed back to the lake for more fun on tubes. It was great!!
The bus journey back however was stiff competition for the worst bus journey of my life - 15 hours on mainly dirt roads, being thrown out of my seat all the way back to Phenom Penhn.
So now I'm in Bangkok after flying in from Phenom Penh this morning and waiting for Andy to get to the hotel - He has just landed. I have met some great people in Cambodia and travelling on my own was not scary in the slightest, but I'm pretty happy to have a friend arriving now.
We are off down South of Thailand tomorrow night - the beach calls!!!
