took the 5 hour bus from siem reap to phnom penh [capital of cambodia] yesterday. staying in a guesthouse called the bright lotus, which is not as good as the last one in siem reap [bou savy], but ok. food is good here though. loving the asian food, noodles, rice, veggies; it's all good. had a few drinks last night for the first time in a while which was nice - drink is much cheaper her than malaysia or singapore.
headed off to the killing fields this morning and then to the genocide museum after. crazy stuff. and only happened 30 years ago! basically the weirdo leader of a rebel group got into power and decided that he wanted to make cambodia a group of peasant farmers. he went about this by killing all intellectuals, leaders, teachers, medical staff, diplomats... even anyone with glasses! [as they were considered intellectual]. then presumably no one could take over his rule as all that was left was farmers with no education. i don't fully understand it, but thousands were tortured and killed. pretty depressing stuff.
to cheer ourselves up we decided to go to massage by the blind, which is on the same street as our guesthouse. it is a good cause, and they are meant to be very good as they have hightened scences and all that jazz. anyway, this cambodian lady battered and rubbed the cr4p out of me for an hour. we chose the relaxing japanese option, so i'd shudder to think what the more serious ones are like. it was nice all the same, and i'm now very relaxed and ready for a kip. i think next time i'll opt for an aromatherapy or reflexology massage... maybe tomorrow, as it only cost 5 dollars!
traffic here is completely insane, but we've become used to it now. motorbikes all over the place, tuk-tuks, and a few jeeps. merging is a black art that requires driving on the wrong side of the road weaving through traffic like the film ronin until you get a space on the right side. fun fun! we're gonna have a look at the royal palace and russian market tomorrow. then off to ho chi minh city the day after that [in vietnam].
