8TH - 9TH NOVEMBER

As we touched down at Phnom Penh Airport the looming dark clouds that had provided us with a fair amount of turbulence let rip and the heavens opened. It was absolutely lashing down! We both gave each other that look and wondered if it was just a bad weather day or we were in for yet more monsoon. As we’d already filled out our visa forms on the plane it was only a matter of standing in the small queue handing over our passport then paying our $40 and getting our passports back. We were upgraded to the diplomats channel at immigration much to our amusement. They were apparently struggling with a new computer system, so all lanes were put into use!! I got talking to another British man who also was amused about our sudden leap in stature. He worked for World Vision and was over here with a group of English people who were from various Church organisations and who had helped raise a great deal of money for the World Vision charity. They were to go around and see how the charity

money was being spent and then meet some of the people who had benefited from the charity. He was a really nice man and was very much looking forward to showing the fundraisers the benefits of all of their hard work.

After clearing immigration we took a car taxi into Phnom Penh, we opted for the car as we really didn’t fancy the alternative mode of taxi transport - the back of a moped!!! We had decided to stay at Capitol Guest House, which is a bit of a backpackers haven, but as Cambodia has no official tourist information office, they act as the next best thing. We booked in, had a shower and then went down to the restaurant for breakfast, as they had no veggie breakfasts on the plane! We checked out the tours available and then booked our speedboat trip up to Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat and a tour to the notorious Killing Fields for 9.00 a.m. the next day. We then went out and visited