Phenom Phen

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Trip Start Nov 23, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End May 29, 2007 Next
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  Phenom Phen, Cambodia
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

We reluctanlty booked another bus journey down to Phenom Phem, and we set off at 7.00am this morning. Fortunatly this time our bus did have Air-con and was actually quite comfy, although not quite the Limo Bus as advertised. The road to Phenom Phen was as smooth as silk compared to our other journey, and we arrived at 12pm and were greeted by hundreds of people wanting to sell us accomodation and food. We eventually got in a Tuk-Tuk and headed for accomoadtion by the lake. Our guest house is called 'No Problem' and so far its lived up to its name. It's actually next door to where Flett and Jambo stayed 3 years ago, I think the locals are still haunted by their visit as we seemed to get some funny looks as we arrived. But thats how it is in Cambodia, there are definatly some dodgy parts, but most of the locals are friendly and happy to see you. In general Cambodia is a really poor country and its not unusal for a starving kid with grubby hands and face to come up to you and beg for money. But we've learned to cope with Dan and now that he can finally withdraw money he's stopped begging and cleaned himself up a bit.

The city itself is full of traffic and bustling with people, there're some really nice parts, especially around the lake and the river that runs through the city. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Killing Fields, which remain from the Pol Pot era. We're not really sure what to expect but i'm sure it will be interesting to see.

Alright fans, we've had a busy day today, our Tuk-Tuk driver and guest house owner took us on a tour, we took another bumpy journey down dusty roads and eventually arrived at some huge gates, we were a little perplexed as we got there. We thought we were going to the Killing field's. A shifty looking bloke opened the gates and we drove in. There was loads of Cambodian guys lying about in hamocks and sitting about, then one guy came over and handed us a menu. I was'nt that hungry but on closer inspection we discoverd that it was a menu of weapons. We were at the infamous shooting range. AK-47's, M16's, Shotguns, Colt 57's, Hand Grenades, Rocket Launchers, Anti Aircraft Missiles, you name it, they had it. The funny thing was on the Menu, just below Hand Grenades was, Coke, Fanta and Sprite, i'm not sure how much damage you could do with a Can of Coke, but if you shook it for long enough and threw it quite hard, you could probably kill someone.

The ex-army guys reccomended we use the AK-47, seeing as it's the most popular weapon on the planet it would have been rude not have a go. The place was pretty legit, is wasnt as dodgy as i'd imagined and were all given ear muffs, no googles, but it was generally safe...ish. We each fired a few rounds of the AK-47 at a small target at the end of the range. First up was Josh, after a few individual shots the gun was switched to automatic and he let loose on the poor paper target that closely resembled Burt Reynolds. After examining the target, Burt had taken a beating to his left side, in real life Burt would have been rushed to hostpital with major injuries and half his ear missing, but I reckon he would have survived, Burt Reynolds is a tough bloke.

Next up was Dan, he had Burt in his sights, you could see his paper tash quivering with fear (I think it was the wind) Dan picked him off with a few individual shots, Bang Bang Bang!!!!the gunshots were so loud! Dan switched to automatic and sent Burt to his grave. On closer inspection of the target, Burt would have lost his right arm and definately died in hostpital, although 50 Cent would have probably survied and gone on to have a successful rap career.

Saving the best till last, I stepped up brimming with confidence, I was ready to take Burt down. I picked him off with a few individual shots, but it's impossible to see if your hitting the target or not as it's dark and quite far away. I was a little dissapointed with the AK, as the sight was bent and not very accurate, it was more about luck than judgement. I was gutted when I saw my target, i'd hit him twice, 1 in the chest and 1 in the bladder. Burt would have definately survived this attack, but he would have been pissing into a bag for the rest of his life, unfortuantly probably not enough damage to put an end to his acting career.

We decide to use some Hand Guns next, Josh and I were equip with the Chinese Police handgun, while Dan used the Colt 57 like you see in the movies. Dan went up first, shooting at the same target as before. We had 8 rounds each, Dan hit his target twice, one in the stomach and one was off target. I was up next, determined to redeem myself from my previous embarrasment. This time I didnt fail to deliver, Burt didnt know what hit him, I killed him till he died from it. 1 in the forehead, one in the eye, one in the nose, 4 in the chest (including 1 in the bullseye) and 1 in his lower abdomen. Burt Reynolds R.I.P

Equip with the same gun, Josh let rip at his target, he hit it once, but it was a fatal blow, right in the neck. These gun's were not easy to use, the kickback on the AK-47 is imense, it was an experience i'll never forget, shell's flying everywhere, heart pounding, the smell of gunpowder, the noise, its a serious weapon. The hand gun's were equally tricky, Dan's colt was not as acurate as it had a bigger kickback, but a cleaner shot. The Chinese gun Josh and I used, was older, but more accurate, when you shot the gun, as the bullet exited the barrel you could see sparks like fireworks.

We were tempted to have a go with the rocket launcher, but it was a little out of our price range. Instead we stayed around for a bit, had a Coke, posed with the guns and took photos. We got back on the Tuk-Tuk and headed for the Killing Fields.

At the killing fields, there is a huge memorial building, full of shelves and on these shelves are hundreds and hundreds of human skulls that remain from the Killing fields. As we walked round, there was an erie silence, there wasnt really much to see as most of the things had been dismantled or destroyed in 1979. But there were loads of mass graves (just big holes basically). Dotted around the fields was information on what was found, one sign said that at first they found over 800 bodies, but after an huge excavation they found closer to 9000 bodies. This was a graphic history lesson and its crazy to think that genocide on this scale was going on only a few years before I was born. Anyway, I hope I havent put a downer on things, in other news I won $33 on the football, in the funniest bookies i've ever seen, its basically a desk in the middle of the road, thats it! We've been invited to play the Cambodian's at football tonight, which should be interesting, i'm not sure how long we'll last, but we'll give em a run for their money. Take care, Ells x x 
Since I last wrote on here, we've played the Cambodians at football, visited a Russian Market and raced around a Go-Kart track.
Our guest house owner and general guide, 'Ali' took us everywhere on his Tuk-Tuk and he invited us to play football with him and his mates at around 4pm. We did'nt know what to expect, we had visions of bare grass, possibly a couple of goals without nets. Perhaps we were naive, but we didnt expect a dusty gravel pitch in the middle of the city. There were small traffic cones for goals, a group of parked cars yarded off one side of the pitch, a bunch of mo-peds on the other. At each end there was about 15 spectators, from old men, to little kids, all avidly watching the game. The surface of the pitch was flat, but the gravel contained, broken tiles, bottle tops, glass, loads of sharp stones and it was so,so dusty. It was a six-a-side match, Ali and 2 of his mates made up the rest of team England. Our opposition, team Cambodia were all playing with barefeet!! The match started and we were eager to prove we had talent, we got off to a good start we were 1-nil up within the first ten minutes with a goal from myself. But the Cambodians were good players, they had a really good first touch and could pass the ball around with ease. A couple of their players were really skillfull, but the problem was they couldnt shoot, they're finishing was poor. The game went on for ages, about 2 hours, after an hour we were knackered. I had hundreds of stones in my shoes, my feert were aching, Josh was nursing an ankle injury, while Dan was gasping for air and water, barely able to stand, meanwhile our opponets danced around us with barefeet. But in the end we were too strong for the shoeless Cambodians and we romped to a 14-7 victory. I think the turning point was when the crowd starting chanting 'UK' 'UK' 'UK', the Cambodians had lost the support of their home crowd.
When we got back we drank about 6 gallons of water and had a cold shower (not that we had any choice) Our shoes were orange and my white socks were ruined, so I threw them away. It was a brilliant experience of international football and the pitch was like something out of FIFA Street, i'd definatly do it again!!
The following day we visited a Russian Market, it was just a maze of stalls inside a huge tent. I'm not sure why its called a Russian Market because they did'nt sell anything Russian. It was difficult to find your way out of the place it was full of stalls selling jewlery, fabrics, carvings, weird buddha heads, food, dvds, cds, more jewlery, suits, sunglasses, watches, loads of crap! It was a strange place and not nice if your claustraphobic, plus it was absolutly boiling in there!
On our final day in Phnom Phen we went Go-Karting. The track was empty so it meant it was just us three. We kitted up and revved our engines, we did one trial lap and then took our place on the grid. I took an early lead and Laurel and Hardy crashed into eachother. As far as the race was concerned it was over, Dan and Josh never caught up, my aim was to try and lap Josh, but by the 8th lap I think he found the accelerator. After a short break we were ready for our second race, the track was brilliant it was big and had everything, sharp bends, a chicane and a long straight. Dan got off to a poor start as his Kart wouldnt start, so I gave him some friendly abuse as I pulled away. Josh had somehow taken the lead, but I regained pole position on the third turn. Again it was game over, Dan was never going to catch up and Josh was driving a milkfloat. So I stopped and waited for Josh and Dan to catch up, to make things more interesting, I let Josh over take me while Dan was fast approaching. I caught up with Josh within one lap and I tried to take him on the inside but he wasnt budging, I had no choice but to crash into him..Bang!!! We hit eachother pretty hard but Josh came off worse and went into a spin. I turned round to see Josh's raised middle finger pointed in my direction. 'Thats Racing' I shouted, I dont think he heard me. I raced ahead again and waited for Dan to catch up, he overtook and the race was back on, I thought to myself  'I'll take him on the harepin corner', as I overtaking I smashed into the side of him, but this time I came off worse, I went into a spin and then Josh overtook me. I came last, but I knew I could have won. It was a good day and we all really enjoyed the racing, Josh took defeat well, but he's still the Kingpin around these parts as he's beaten us at bowling twice.
 

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