We had a little rush tour sorted for today. Our first job was to send a package back to the US for Amy, so we wolfed down breakfast and sorted out a tuk-tuk to the main post office. Just so you know, sending 5kg from Cambodia to the US costs a lot. Lucky for Amy she knows a Brit with an ATM card that doesn’t charge for withdrawals…

Just around the corner from the PO is the hill after which Phnomh Penh is apparently named. Atop it is a nice little temple (the Wat Phnomh) and we paid the dollar fee to clamber up and take some photos.

Amy had spotted a mosque on the map of the area she had, and it was only a short walk away so we strode along to get a look at it. In honesty, it wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring and in fact looked like it may have been shut. I guess I’ve been spoiled by some of the amazing ones in India, but this one really needed a new coat of paint.

Ignoring one tuk-tuk driver who was simply being annoying, we picked up another one and got ourselves down to the National Museum. The small entry fee got us an hour or so looking at some fine examples of Khmer art and old religious artifacts. I think Amy enjoyed it more than I did, but it was certainly interesting. In three spots around the museum, women were selling small garlands of flowers to place at the base of some statues. They got all sulky when we refused.

Amy had spotted a cafe called the Boddhi Tree in the Lonely Planet which she’d wanted to eat at – it was recommended quite highly – but we’d forgotten when we went to S21 the previous day. Which is a shame as it’s right opposite. With tuk-tuks being so cheap, we decided just to hop into one and zip off anyway. I’m glad we did as the food and atmosphere was superb. Despite being so close to such a depressing memorial, it’s a lovely relaxing little waterhole covered in foliage. Sadly, we didn’t have time for lunch as Amy wanted some time back at the hostel before our afternoon appointment at the orphanage.

Well. We got that time. And then some. There was a "problem" with our driver so our 2pm pickup didn’t arrive until 3:30. This meant we didn’t have time to stop and pick up anything for the kids. Instead, I dug out the football I’d been lugging around for 14 months along with the pump and adaptor I’d been using to inflate it – the two times I’d used it in over a year. Kids like football, right?

Wrong.

They loved it. As luck would have it, they’d just destroyed their old one (one kid was running around with the burst ball on his head like a Spiderman mask) and within seconds of us turning up there were at least six kids stood in front of me with their eyes glued to it.

Because of the delay with the driver, we arrived shortly before all the other visitors had to leave, but the orphanage let us stay on for over two hours while we mucked around with these bundles of energy. Their ages ranged from 5 to 18, apparently, though I swear some looked younger. We played pat-a-cake, sorta-volleyball, sorta-football and "spin the small child round till they scream" until I was literally blinded by my own sweat. At one point I had a queue of kids lined up waiting to be thrown in the air.

Who needs a gym or a funpark when you have 40-or-so children to keep you occupied?

After all the fun we returned, exhausted, to our hostel and met up with a girl from Canada we’d talked to earlier. After a shower and freshen-up we headed into town for some dinner. Pizza called and we found a fairly nice place which offered free dessert, sat down and started putting the beer away as well as the pretty passable meal. From there, we barhopped a little and returned to the guest house early enough to get packed. We were all leaving at 6:30am for various destinations so we all agreed to bang loudly on each other’s doors at 6:00!

I woke with a jump as my alarm went off, and trotted to the bathroom to freshen up. Then I collapsed back in bed for “five more minutes”. The next thing I know I heard Amy yelling at me and realised it was 6:20 and I’d not quite made it over to her hostel to help her with her bags. Sorry!

Despite the lack of sleep and the lack of lack of alcohol in my bloodstream, I managed to get everything tidied up and checked by the time the minibus to the coach station arrived. We’d opted for the expensive ($10) VIP coach rather than the $4 public bus. I’m glad as it meant I had a nice reclining seat and legroom to catch up on the missing Zs.

For some reason, the driver opted to put a Thai karaoke disc on the DVD player to entertain us on the 6-hour ride. The “free breakfast” consisted of a slice of cake which was very nice but hardly the full English my beer-sodden stomach was crying out for. We did stop after two hours at a cafe where we ordered noodle soup… and left almost all of it when the bus started to depart without us. It seems it was only a leg-stretch stop. Argh.

A couple of hours later, we stopped again and didn’t make the food-ordering mistake this time. Only we should have as we were there for twenty minutes.

Finally, at around 1pm, we pulled up in Phnomh Penh and fought (literally) our way through a heaving throng of tuk-tuk drivers to meet our pre-paid collection dude. Ten minutes later we were at the Sunday Guest House, booking another tuk-tuk for the next day and going through Lonely Planet for things to do in the afternoon.

A simple route was chosen and off we walked to see a few of the sites. In five hours we saw the Independence Monument (modeled on one of the Angkor Wat towers), Cambodia/Vietnam Peace memorial, Royal Palace (outside only), National Museum (same) and a fairly nice cafe where we spent a good long while out of the rain eating far too much nice food. Chicken and green pepper followed by chocolate cake and washed down with a banana shake. Mmmm. And all for $8 – quite pricey by Cambodian standards but still cheap compared to home.

After checking our emails and booking more hostels and so on, we walked back along the riverside and through a small park where a huge number of people were gathering, milling, chilling and relaxing. It was a truly wonderful site to see all these people just socialising at the end of the day. Kids played football, teenagers cuddled, adults browsed the handful of stalls which had appeared and we got pictures of several of the monuments from earlier in the day with nice lights all over them.

Phnomh Penh is a pretty nice city. A couple of days here should do it for us, and they’re going to be quite full as well. No time to waste!

We made it back to the guest house for the nightly movie – The Killing Fields – which I’d somehow managed to avoid seeing up until now. Even more amazing was that we were both still awake by the end of it. No reflection on the film which was a powerful piece of drama, but we were both wasted after the short night, long day and walking. Our beds called and we were more than happy to answer.

My first task today was to walk around to the Jayavarman VII Children’s Hospital and give a bag full of the red stuff to a good cause. Back home, I’d donate every 16 weeks on the dot but since I left I’ve not had the chance to bleed into a bag.

The hospital sees a phenomenal number of patients, every single one is guaranteed treatment and not one of them pays a penny.

I don’t think I’ve ever shed blood so fast, and the staff were friendly and efficient. The only real differences to the procedure back home were the lack of a local anaesthetic (not a problem) and the much shorter list of unacceptable donors. I can’t donate in the US or Oz because I lived in Europe during the Mad Cow scare, which is mad in itself. Cambodia will accept your blood as long as you’re fit, able, not knowingly carrying anything and haven’t done anything you shouldn’t have with someone you paid money to for the privilege.

As a "thank you", I was given a t-shirt, a whole packet of biscuits, a can of Coke, some tablets (no idea what they were for, so I’ve dumped them), a sticker and an offer to return in a week to get the results of my blood tests. Yes, unlike the UK they will tell you the results of the screenings they do on your sample. In fairness, I think the UK blood service deals with many more samples.

The area around the hospital is covered in a bizarre mix of five-star hotels and shacks with ten people living in them. It’s heartening to see that several of these smaller abodes have signs outside telling passers-by that there’s a water pump inside which was paid for by tourism. People here like tourists. They very much don’t seem to prey on them, but instead realise that treating us well means more visitors and more honest cash. Even the ring water main near our guest house has been replaced recently and goes through proper filtration – you can drink the water from the tap!

I then took a walk back down towards the river and around to a cybercafe. On the way, I saw what I think was a wedding. People were milling about outside a pagoda in very bright clothing (the groom wore pink) and the women had really gone to town with the makeup. Children sat on the streets with caged birds which they sold to the family to release for good luck. Maybe good luck for the bird. Definitely one custom I don’t like.

Next to the FCC (expensive) cafe was a health spa outside of which were some interesting statues. You may have seen the large ones around made from scrap metal, old bike chains and the like. Here were several similar works, only they were all made from decommissioned guns.

I then spent four hours online, though I blame that on the weather. Just as I was about to wind up, thunder sounded, lightning flashed and rain poured down. Well, at 50c an hour it wasn’t an expensive way to stay dry.

After dinner, Amy, Jason and I returned to the hospital where Dr Beat Richner performs weekly under the guise of Beatocello. Richner is the man behind all three children’s hospitals in Cambodia and also a talented cellist. His concerts are used to raise funds and awareness for them. Entrance is by donation and there’s a ton of merchandise to pick up should you want it.

Tonight, however, was to be different. On what would have been the night of his 358th appearance, he opted instead to premiere his new DVD which features a lot more information on the hospitals’ history and less of the music. In a way that suited me as I’m not a huge fan of classical music! I won’t bash on about the issues presented in the video (there’s a lot of politics and bashing of the WHO involved), but I will say that what this man has achieved is nothing short of astounding.

And finally to Bar Street for a couple of quick drinks. We started in The Temple with it’s $3 jugs of beer. Amy found a Korean guy she knew from her teaching job in Seoul and he also joined us for the evening. From there, we crossed the road to the graffiti-encrusted Angkor What? bar.

Amy and Hoon departed at a time I simply can’t remember. By that time we’d gone through four jugs of beer, one of vodka red bull and one of Mai Tai (or something equally sickly). Jason and I got talking to quite a few people – two girls from Australia who for some reason were pretending to be from South Africa; an Australian guy traveling with two English girls; a huge but friendly Kiwi…

I finally made it back to my shack at around 4am and, after packing, collapsed in bed at around 4:30… with my alarm set for 5:45. Whoops.