24th November, I was up at 6am to pack and say my farewells to Nuria for a while, as we will briefly meet again in Kuala Lumpur on the 2nd December when we both fly to Perth. It was another sad moment in my travels, I have spent the last 7 weeks travelling with her and will miss her a lot, but, at the same time, its also nice to be back on my own. So I boarded the bus to take me to Phnom Penh and settled in for the 3 hour trip with my iPod fully charged (god only knows how I would survive without it ). I arrived in P.P around lunch time, wandered around for an hour or so, then got myself into a guest house in the middle of the city next to the river, jumped into a cold shower, changed, and headed for a local eatery. There are loads to choose from, but I picked a one who help train the local street kids to be chef’s or waiters etc., the food was amazing, and you would have thought you were in a 5 star restaurant with the service and quality of the nosh. It was then time to ratch around the city (its not that big actually) and see some of the sights, (not the normal touristy ones, I like to toddle off down back streets and see what the locals get up to) there were kids stripping engines down on the pavements, welding and grinding steel fabrications (with no welding goggles on, the sparks flying all over your feet as you walk past). By this time I was feeling a bit tired so headed off back to the guesthouse with a can of beer and a bag of nuts for my supper. Next day, it was time for another walk, this time right down the riverside, trying to avoid all the beggars and taxi drivers so I could have a peaceful morning, After lunch I ended up in the royal palace next to the river and spent a few hours taking in the architecture of these buildings,

Later, it was time to eat, go back to my hostel, shower and pack again as I was leaving Cambodia the next morning and needed to get up at silly o clock to get to the airport. So at 5.45am I got up, sorted stuff I had forgotten about, and checked out of the hostel, my taxi was waiting for me, so off we went to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur. The flight was only two hours, so no sooner had you got up in the air, had a quick snooze, you were on your way back down again !

Getting into K.L. was easy considering the airport is about 60km away, you just jumped on a non-stop train and within 28 minutes, you were in the main transport hub of the city, so once there, it was just a case of finding somewhere to stay. The first place was a nice hotel (thought I would treat myself for a couple of nights ) and at £20 per night, I decided two nights was enough extravagance ! I moved onto “Pods Backpackers hostel” after that, and at £7 per night, was more to my budget. I spent the next three or four days meandering all around K.L. exploring the transport system, the shopping malls and even a local pub (that was an experience).

The hostel was an amazing place to meet people, being in a twelve bed dorm isnt the place to be if your a loner ! I met a young australian guy who has given me tips on visiting Melbourne, and even offered me his house to stay in when I get to visit his city, which might be early next year, depending when I leave Tasmania.

On the fifth day in K.L. my dear friend and travel pal Nuria arrived and booked into the same hostel, It was great to see her again even though we had only been apart for about a week , so the next couple of days were spent showing her around the city and its parks, eating good Indian food and of course sharing the odd bottle of wine. On the second of December, we again had to pack and make ready for the next leg of our travels, I had persuaded Nuria to go to Australia seen as she was so close, so we both boarded the night flight to Perth for the next adventure.