Hello Cambodia

29 August - Another day of non-stop travelling. Woke up pretty early and had an average breakfast - we were slightly delayed as one of the English girls was sick and she and a friend stayed on in Chau Doc, presumably going to leave tomorrow. Had a brief stopover at a fish farm and also a brief stop at a village comprised of the Cham ethnic group (mainly Muslim) and we watched some weaving (almost as much fun as slitting your wrists but not quite) before jumping on another boat and heading up the Mekong towards the border. Did see one of the most amazing looking human beings i've ever put my eyes on though. He was an old fisherman (couldn't guess his age, in Asia it's far too difficult due to exposure they're subjected to), he had beautiful dark, almoist negro, skin (from pretty much consistent tanning from birth I would say), he was extremely well muscled for someone of his age - didn't seem to smoke like everyone else on thr river, and he had completely bleached white, almost blond, hair. He was standng up and glaring at our boat as we passed, doing some work on his fishing nets. I gestured with my camera, asking to take a shot and he gave me a small smile and a nod. However, after I did it an old woman on the boat (probably his wife although she wasn't nearly the fine specimen he was) started yelling at me - perhaps she didn't want to share him with the world. On the boat we were given another opportunity to exchange our dong for US dollars at an increasingly ridiculous rate - which most of us declined - it was raining today so was stuck inside the boat (i've been doing a lot of reading on this leg of the journey) but we finally arrived at the border. We were processed reasonably quickly but I was kind of disappointed by the shabby walk to Cambodia. The little Vietnamese girls who were offering us even more ridiculous exchange rates were running back and forth between Vietnam and Cambodia and the guards weren't giving them a second glance. Got shifted to a second boat, which took about four hours to get to land and then had a two hour minibus ride to Central Phnom Penh (would have been quicker but we broke down twice). Have checked into a reasonably priced and reasonably nice guesthouse (it's very dark) and haven't had a chance to check out the city yet. First impressions ar that it is very modern, lots of cars, wide streets, lots of neon - much more like home than any of the cities i've been to thus far. However, these roads turn into dirt tracks straight away (my guesthouse is on one of those dirt tracks) that are currently flooded and also choked with garbage, which absolutely reeks. Certainly a place of contradictions right now but we'll see how it pans out. Will probably go and see the Killing Fields tomorrow (have to get that out of the way, not seeing it would be like visiting munich and not seeing dachau) before planning my next step. We shall