A Step into the Seventies - Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 8th & 9th Feb 2006

Wat Phnom from the foot of the mount on which it stood, commemorating the very spot where it was said the Lady Penh founded Phnom Penh. No prize for guessing now for whom was the city named. Phnom is actually hill in Khmer, like Bukit in our Bahasa Melayu.

Sisowath Quay - Phnom Penh's modest answer to our Boat Quay. But it will do. Cafes serving all kinds of dishes from Cambodian to Italian cater to the needs of the many tourists that frequent the place. On the right hand side, unseen here, runs the Tonle Sap river, on which fishermen depend almost totally for their livelihood. Vannak said a stretch a kilometre's length can yield up to a ton of fish.

Victims of the S21, who died at the Killing Fields. The skulls were catalogued and categorised according to age in a pagoda built in their memory. My first encounter with the skulls so often associated with the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. A haunting experience. These were once people who thought and felt very like you and me.

The deep breath before the plunge. Go-carting on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. I am in blue, because all the red outfits were too big. Seriously. I am last despite finishing first for the warm-up lap because I braked too late, and past the starting line, and so had to go one more round to get behind it.

We were at it for about half an hour, and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite my initial reservations. I had earlier castigated both Darren and Jansen, the chief perpetrators behind the whole go-carting idea for being profligate with their money, and I never heard the end of it after that because they nearly had to drag me out of the go-cart once the time was up!

The Silver Pagoda in the Royal Palace. Nothing silver about it, until you head inside.

A picture of Pol Pot at the Toul Sleng Genocidal Museum. I'm not sure if it was first vandalised and then displayed, or conversely. I think it must have been the latter order. Well, the fact that the people who run the museum don't ever bother to replace the picture speaks volume about what the Cambodians think of their former leader.

Cambodia fare, at this place called the Boat Village Restaurant. It was our last night in Phnom Penh, and we invited Vannak to join us, for his eternal enthusiasm and helpfulness. In the foreground my favourite cha kreung - chicken stir-fried Cambodian style with some kind of sweet sauce that Darren licked the bowl clean of. Not a single morsel was left of it when we finished.