I Had A Message From Diana,

could I pop into town to pick up a package for her?

no sooner said than done, so out past the snail mail box into a grey overcast day, 

the flowers on the bottom half of the chestnut tree looking good, 

in the side garden of Foxgrove Lodge, 

the other rhododendron bush starting to flower,

the ones on the second bush,

really starting to open up now, 

at the rear of Waitrose there was this machine, I had never been here before, only yesterday I mentioned I had not used a code thing before, but I now remember I did this once before at a similar pick up box at Beckenham Junction, and guess what? unlike the last time, this time it worked! I was amazed,

the car park, except for disabled bays, was packed, 

looking at the plants on offer, 

I do not think Cooling's or Polhill will have anything to worry about,

as I passed Foxgrove Lodge, 

the peonies look like they will be opening soon,

the chestnut on this side packed with lower limb flowers, arriving home Diana had sent me some photographs from Kraków,

well Auschwitz actually as they had gone to visit there, 

Diana mention although it was interesting is was also a sad place to be, 

much like our visit to Choeung Genocidal Center, or the killing fields back in September 2015, Diana said the same ominous, dark atmosphere was here as well, it was now time for my evening read and sherry, 

one of the many things I like about Private Eye, is an occasional box titled 'Number Crunching',

it just publishes 2 accurate and factual figures, 

which can sometimes be a bit of a eye opener, especially if you have only read about the lowest figure,

'Cheers!', for tonight Diana had left me a plate of bangers & mash, 

and also sent me some photographs, 

of her stay in Kraków, 

I am not sure of the names of the places they visited, 

but this one looked nice, 

a local restaurant, 

and a walk around town after their meal, there is some bad news, the cold that Diana had before she left was getting worse, it is such a shame that this is happening on her days off, for myself after my meal it was feet up for a couple of films, firstly, 

 Gattaca, a film set in the future, to travel to the stars you have to be 100% fit, but a menial worker assumes the identity of a fit person to travel, a good film, well worth watching, but I could not help thinking the futuristic cars were in fact 1960's Rover 2000 models with some of the chrome and badges taken off, next one about the merry men of Sherwood forest, well how they came about, 

 Robin Hood, great fun to watch, but totally implausible, but then that is what films like this are all about, after which I was off to bed.

As Usual,

before starting the blog,

I have a look out of the window, and there they were,

two ducks,

fast asleep on the communal lawn,

which did not put the crows off at all, today was a househusband day, hoovering, watering the plants and trimming the flower's stems in the vase when I changed the water, I spent another afternoon having a look back in time, at some of the videos Diana and myself made over the years of our travels,

this one from the Killing Fields Museum in Cambodia, near the end we were introduced to one of the survivors,

also in Cambodia Monkey and Bat Island,

we then went for a ride around a part of the capitol, things might have changed a bit, we made  this video in 2015! after my evening meal and Diana returning home,

 it was feet up for our film of the evening Clash of the Titans, we had in fact watched the film before, way back in 2018, here are my comments then, "an all action romp through the underworld, the story centers around Perseus, who gathers a war band to help him conquer the Kraken, Medusa and Hades, god of the underworld, and all action it is too, with great special effects", we had watched the late night New Tricks just a few weeks before, 

so we settled for In The Earth, made during the pandemic, it could have been so much better, but at 1 hour and 47 minutes long it was more than a bit drawn out, and so many holes in the story, but there it is, the good news was that there was a new Have I Got News For You, which was great fun, especially the part about 'The Slap', so funny it brought back memories of Jeremy Clarkson and what happened to him when he made a slap off camera, it was by now late, so for us we were of to bed.

Whilst We Were In Cambodia,

Diana said she wanted to make a video,

of the Killing Fields and Security Prison 21, it is her first attempt at making a video and here it is.

Day Seven,

whist we had been sleeping,

the Jahan had made it's way to Phnom Penh,

a full selection again for breakfast,

I almost thought about some cereal,

but that seemed a bit too healthy,

well you know me!

lots of fresh baked foods too,

as well as fruit,

from the upper deck looking inland,

the bridge we went under in the night,

and the island,

every-time we went ashore for every trip we were handed a cold water bottle, so thoughtful, also in every room there were complimentary hats, his and hers, I wish I had worn mine, at the holidays end I had a very peeling head!

off of the gangplank,

and we were on our way, past the Post Office,

and Van's we ate here last month when we called over to Phnom Penh,

we made our way past the Grand Palace,

one of the many stretched tricycles about town,

a bit out of focus but all of this wooden scaffolding is nailed together, it might look unsafe, but it works,

we returned to the Killing Fields that we had visited last month,

it was depressing to say the least, 

one in four of the entire population murdered, the numbers are mind blowing, if you want to know more about the fields and our last time here, also how we first meet the Jahan, have a look here,

back on the coach we past many strange sights, another extended tricycle,

a slightly over loaded one,

it also appears the the petrol tank on these bikes are some times considered too small, so you can hang a water container on the side of the bike fill it with petrol and increase your range between fill ups,

a bit of a Oops! moment, if you look at the tractors tyres there are black rubber marks on the road when they cannot get enough grip,

those far wheels,

are well and truly in too deep,

just when you thought you could not get any more on, some one threw a motorbike on the back!

another extended trailer, but that was not what I was looking at,

it was the galvanised pipe that had been welded in place to make the frame more rigid,

rice left overs I guess for the pigs and chickens,

lots of wasted space on this bike,

but this owner knows how to use it,

with a custom built carrier that goes over the rear seat,

to save space you can carry the extended range petrol tank,

between your legs,

speaking of extra capacity petrol tanks, there is the super long range version available, like this yellow one behind the driver,

it may look a bit insecure,

but I am sure those bits of rubber holding it on are very strong,

at least this one has a custom frame to keep the plastic petrol tank in,

our next stop Security Prison 21,

again we had visited here on our last trip,

we did not go into any of the buildings this time,

the memory of our last trip still fresh in our minds,

it is all so sad,

we both sat under one of the trees as our fellow passengers went inside,

one thing I did not notice the last time we were here were these pebbles in the concrete, what did the numbers mean?

just some of the graves,

we were privilege to meet one of the seven survivors of this prison,

one of only two still alive today,

the fingers of his right hands still crippled and twisted today as he tried to defend himself from the blows from a fellow countryman, if you want to read about our last trip here and why we did not go inside have a look here, scroll down until you reach the prison, it is near the bottom of the page,

we bought a copy of his book, 

Diana has not put it down since we returned,

our next stop for lunch, Malis, 

parked outside one of my dream trucks, this one a Ford Tundra, 5.7 litre V8, that will do nicely!

we made our way inside,

we were so hungry we had eaten most of the food before we got the camera out!

our next stop brought us to the Royal Palace,

and Silver Pagoda,

as you might imagine,

the complex is huge,

and beautifully maintained,

I am not going to try to name all of the buildings,

but if you clicked on the link,

you will see them all,

correctly named there,

one of the gates leading to the inner courtyard,

Diana strikes the pose,

everything,

so immaculate,

the problem is, 

that I just can not stop taking pictures of the palace,

OK last one,

we will now make our way to the silver temple, but first a look around some of the artefact's that are on display in some of the buildings, some of the Royal coats,

hats and vases,

and in the Royal court there are different colours for every day of the week, 

I know the jacket on the left has the title of the Royal Chief Mandarin, but I am not sure about the title of the one on the right,

we are now going to the Silver Pagoda,

so called because the floor tiles are all silver,

7 tons of it we were told,

we continued our tour,

a quick pose from Diana,

as some monks look inside,

it was now time to start our journey back to the boat,

but whilst we were waiting we had a look up these steps,

at the top a shrine,

with statues all around the top,

past this imposing Stupa,

and these monks as they make their way around the complex,

we waited for the coach, 

for our next stop, the National Museum,

cyclos wait outside for a fare,

the museum, 

the museum itself has a great story to tell,

the roof space of the museum,

was the home to some 2 million bats,

despite putting in a false ceiling the bats droppings, fleas, ticks and smells were still a menace,

so one night when the bats were out hunting wire mesh was put in place to stop them returning, it is thought that they now live in the surrounding countryside,

pictures are not allowed inside except this one, but what a fascinating place to look around,

time to head back to the ship,

it is cyclo time!

this is going to be fun, 

we thought as we set off,

but it was a bit scary dairy,

facing the oncoming traffic with nothing between you and it,

the chicken express going the other way,

Diana was enjoying every moment of it,

non-stop scream, it was almost like we were on the railway in Disneyland,

we were some of the last to return,

with some of the other guest arriving before us,

but we were soon back on the jetty,

a final picture in the low afternoon sun,

and farewell to my cyclo driver,

we made our way back on board,

where after a shower and change we went to the sun deck,

to watch a show,

I took a panorama of the far shore only to find that a problem with that camera had returned, it sometime does not stitch each frame together so there is a sudden jump in colour, you can see the join about a third or the way in on the left hand side, unfortunately this is just one of several failings the camera had as we continued the trip,

as night fell,

it was cocktail time,

and then the show began,

we were being entertained,

 by the Apsara-Khmer Angels dancers,

each movement was timed perfectly,

next came the story,

of the monkey and the mermaid,

beautifully,

told, danced and acted,

next the troupe played classical instruments,

and performed traditional folk dancers,

the performance was superb,

a bow from the performers,

as a smaller cruise vessel passes us,

and on to the next performance,

it was all so nice,

and enjoyable, we all sat around the covered over swimming pool for the show so we all had a good view,

then our dinner,

it was on the sun deck,

lots of condiments,

and for tonight a bar-b-q,

but not just any bar-b-q,

there were steaks, ribs, chicken, pork fillets, huge shrimps and prawns plus rock lobsters,

plus so many other dishes of which these are just a few,

so 'Cheers!', eyes down and tuck in,

next fresh fruit and desserts, yummy!

next stop after our dinner into town, we were on a mission of mercy, Mark had run out of tea bags!

Mark had just arrived,

when the heavens opened up,

the thunder and lightening was none stop,

we were trapped by the rain,

still the good news was that we were in a bar,

so we settled down to wait the storm out,

the staff were pleased to see Mark,

eventually the rain stopped, so after saying our goodbyes to Mark it was back to the boat,

where some complimentary chocolates were waiting for us, with that we were off to bed.