Running all over Pnomh Penh

I'm in Pnomh Penh at the moment, the capital of Cambodia. I've been here about 5 days now, but the first couple of days were spent mainly on the toilet with the runs or in bed, due to a nasty case of Delhi Belly that started on my last day in India - kind of a leaving present I guess. But with the help of some magic pills from the doc, all is now good.

I'm liking Cambodia. I realised in my last few days in India that it was a bit too 'in-your-face' for me (especially Varanasi and Delhi), and I was glad to arrive in a (relatively) calmer, more easygoing country. It's also a country with a tragic history, which I saw at the genocide museum (a former school that had been turned into a prison/torture centre by the Khmer Rouge) and the 'killing fields' (where people were sent from the prison to be systematically killed). The memorial at the killing fields was a tall glass column, with rows of skulls from the thousands of victims.

Some people I spoke to before coming here, who'd been here before, found it a really sad place - for obvious reasons. There are lots of beggars, often amputees as a result of landmines, and a real lack of middle aged and old people - because so many were killed in the 70s. But I feel quite positive about the place. Maybe I'm desensitised as a result of 2 months in a refugee camp and a month in the craziness of India (which also has lots of poverty). Maybe it's partly because I've not ventured far out of the tourist bubble (running out of steam to be honest; illness didn't help). But I also see lots of positive work being done, by NGOs but even more so by private social entrepreneurs (who don't waste money like NGOs here do). In the past few days I've bought clothes in a shop that trains former street kids as tailors, eaten in a restaurant where the owner puts all the profits into the orphanage he runs, got a massage in a shop that only trains blind people as it's masseurs; and from tomorrow I'm staying in a hotel that gives free English lessons to poor local teens.

Not sure the government can match the work of its citizens. I saw a group of about 100 Cambodians sitting on the pavement opposite the Royal Palace a few days ago, being watched over by a group of policemen. It turns out they were peacefully protesting against illegal seizures of their land. But the government doesn't really like protests, so the protest was stopped and they were being made to sit on the pavement for hours (as a punishment?). What amused me though, was the police's official reason for stopping the protest, and holding them (opposite one of Pnomh Penh's main tourist attractions): apparently, a protest would have "looked bad in front of all the foreigners".

Going to Siem Reap tomorrow to see Angkor Wat, some impressive temples about 1000 years old, then after a few days I go to Sen Monorom to stay with Catrina in a less touristy area. Then on to the States on the 22nd.