(Daniel) Last night I woke up for a second time, early in the morning itching all over.  I had been bitten on my knee, my leg, my shoulder, my belly, my back and my eyebrow!  The latter being the most annoying.  I lay awake, just as I had done yesterday, waiting for the tiny creatures to strike, and then killing them.  In the forty minutes I stayed awake, I managed to get five of the little sods,  but when I woke up again in the morning I had been bitten twice more.  God knows I am glad to be leaving this hotel, and it’s small winged inhabitants.

After packing the vehicle, Nii and I climbed into the Wolf, and braved the morning traffic returning to the Café de Paris for breakfast.  As we pulled up outside to the open mouthed stares from the Tuk tuk drivers, I couldn’t help myself from offering them a ride somewhere.  A little revenge for the hundred offers that I had received from pushy drivers over the last few days!  We sat down under the street awning and took in the morning scene.  I ordered the Croque Monsieur while checking my email before the trip to Phnom Penh today.  I was very upset to see that my pictures and updates that I had sent two weeks ago were still not loaded, and wrote a stinking email to Oliver and Nicky.  Immediately after sending I regretted the tone of the email.  I realised that I was still really stressed about the Visa situation with Nii.  With no-one else to talk to about it, I had just unloaded in text form on my two unfortunate brothers. 

Before I left the café, after eating an excellent breakfast, I thought of my happiness at finding my favourite beer here yesterday, I had been so happy, that I cancelled our plans to leave for the day as they paled in comparison to a glass or two of my favourite treat!  I asked the girl if they had any left.  Apparently the manager had bought a crate of each kind, she checked the stocks and found that there was only two of each left.  I bought them all, ending the bars special promotion with one fell swoop.  I carefully packed the bottles into the ice box, and with my treasure on board, followed the compass to the NH6 road towards Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s Capital City.

The drive was a far cry from the bone rattling craziness that we had endured from the border to Siem Reap.  But the traffic which had previously been almost non existent was far worse.  It built up more and more until we reached the City of Phnom Penh 300kms later.  The traffic reminded me of Iran, people were slow and unwilling to react, any space was an opportunity to progress without thought to who you are pulling infront of.

I felt the same strange forced calmness required to drive around a city like this come over me again.  Motorbikes were everywhere, at least in Pakistan and Iran people were too afraid to drive the death machines opting for the car if affordable.  Here people without helmets scoot in and out of traffic with out regard for safety or traffic laws.  Motorbikes seem to think that they can drive the wrong way through a heavy flow of traffic.  Somehow you rarely see an accident, but I can’t help but feel that this is a false reflection of the number of accidents that actually do happen.

As for the city itself, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the town I had described as a war zone for the last six years, has changed and is now considerably improved as a result.  Rowan, Gabby and I came here together on that last trip and I found myself recalling the events of our first night here to Nii.

We had checked into a hotel near the main market building, a short walk around the block had shown the place to be cramped, filthy and littered with unsavoury characters. We had not yet visited the killing fields, or the death camp, but we had already heard all about the countries dark history and were a little nervous of what such atrocities could do to the human psyche.  From or hotel we could see apartment buildings that had walls missing from whole sides, as if they had been damaged by explosions or earthquake.  The effect reminded me of pictures of Kosovo during the war.  People still lived inside those buildings, with sheets hung up to preserve their privacy as they lived out their lives in a building that resembled an ant farm.

The staff in our hotel had warned us not to go out at night, and that if we needed anything, anything, just to ask them.  This ‘anything’ I took to mean prostitutes and drugs.  I had been approached in Siem Reap already by children who had offered themselves in prostitution, they had been pushed forward by older people who I took to be their parents.  The country had us scared enough to take the advice of our hotel manager and stay in for the evening.  The roof of the hotel sported a large terrace with comfy chairs.  We sat out on these with a beer chatting and looking out over the city at night.  Suddenly gun shots rang through the air.  They had been close, all three of us ducked down, risking another look over the side I peered cautiously over the wall to the street below. 

Two men, they looked to be young, were standing at either end of the street.  One hiding behind some bins at one end, and the other in the entrance to an alleyway at the other around fifty metres away.  In the centre of the street a girl huddled down next to some boxes.  Just below me a window opened wide, the head and shoulders of a man appeared.  He looked down and took in the scene, then turned around to see Myself, Rowan and Gabby peering over at him.  “Get inside!”  He called and gestured at us to move back. We returned to our room, shocked by what we had seen.  The next day the Manager explained to us that the fight had been between two young men over the girl who was crouched down in the middle.  He didn’t tell us if anyone had been hurt, but the story remained with me as vividly as if the shootout had claimed lives that night.

Here I was, six years in the future and the City that greeted me was a very different sight.  Nii navigated us to the first area which we knew to have guesthouses, the prices and location seemed a bit remote.  I prefer to camp, but of course in a capital city this is nearly always impossible.  We drove to the river then, a sight which brought back more pleasant memories of Phnom Penh, obviously blanked by the events described above.  Here cafes and hotels overlooked the mighty Mekong river as it flowed past the huge boulevard outside the Palace and cultural centre.

We sat down and ate lunch, occasionally bothered by a young child selling books or begging for money. There is never an adult too far away from these children, the parent usually, taking advantage of our sympathy for the child by putting them to work.  I have often heard people tell me that this is unimportant, and that we should give the child money anyway, as it will indirectly benefit them through the parents.  But my opinion on the matter is that children should be allowed to be children, and believe me that is still possible even in dire poverty.  This selling of innocence can only lead to worse and worse abuses as the child grows older, leading to a life of crime or prostitution.   I believe that many of our values stem from our innocence, and that if we deny a child that time to gain trust for the world, their view of life will be a cynical one that will hold them back at every step.

After lunch, I approached some Tuc Tuc drivers and asked them about hotels.  One of the drivers asked if he could take us to the Hotel, as they would charge me the same amount, but pay him a commission, I agreed and we took a free Tuc Tuc ride to check out the selection.  Nii and I found a hotel with Parking and a guard, the room overlooks the vehicle and the river and will do for a few days while we take in the sights of the City.  The Tuc Tuc driver drove us back to the Wolf, which we brought back to the Hotel and parked up securely.

After checking in we had a rest for a while then headed out to have dinner and some drinks.  We took a bicycle rickshaw home with a nice man who looked so pleased to have received our business that he shook my hand before and after the journey!

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