Cambodia - getting comfy

Dear all, it sounds from your stories that I picked a good year to skip winter. Firstly A HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL MOM. So to my update; I am getting used to Phnom Penh, as is evidenced by the fact that having thought I would only last a few hours here, I am still here after 4 nights. The little fella I met, NAk, was a darling - absolute delight - although I was surprised that his little motor bike (moto) carried the 2 of us and my rucksack. He took me to the Killing Fields, the 'shooting range' and the Toul Sleung Genocide Museum. Shooting the Charlies Angels style colt45 was a bit of a disappointment and will go on the same list as eating the insect - box ticked, hopefully never to be repeated. NAk is gone to the countryside to be with his wife for a few days as their little girl has a fever. I may have paid him a little over the odds as well but whats a few dollars here and there. I couldn't find words to describe Phnom Penh when I first got here but I am sure that they have good times ahead as, despite all the killing and poverty, they are still so cheery and the weather is fantastic. 20,000 bodies were found in the mass graves, the city was emptied and many of the atrocities were carried out by children. Most of this happened in the 70's but the so called revolutionaries were never brought to justice and many of them died over the last few years or are still alive. Many of the more junior murderers were killed by their replacements and many of them just went back to their day jobs after the Vietnamese came and liberated the place - I feel even sorrier for the killers when I looked around the museums. Apparently, Pol Pot and the other leaders of the Kymer Rouge wanted to create a communist state faster than anywhere else and they did anything necessary to achieve this. People were really killed for showing affection to each other so whole families were wiped out - they even had special child sized shackles (but I didn't search these out although they were available to be seen). All that contrasts so sharply with the National Museum and the Royal Palace which survived and are splendid so photos will follow at another time. The thing that is most upsetting to me is that we are hearing about genocide in Darfur right now like its something that should be tolerated or managed carefully or something... my heart pounds with the hopelessness of it. The place I am staying in now - The $10 Bondii Tree Guesthouse is lovely - simple but with a good bed and mozi net and lovely restaurant. There is a shared bathroom which seems a bit strange and most of the people there seem to be journalists or workers of some sort. It is directly opposite from the Genocide Museum so lots of people come there in a sort of daze, for a breather, after looking around the gruesome stuff across the road. Tomorrow I will probably head on to Siem Riep depending on the return of my laundry. I need to work out whether to go by bus or boat - choices choices... I am heading to the Russian Market now, making the most of my compass and map. I hear all the bargains are there but I have little room in the rucksack so I wont be buying much.