Fitting that Angelina's Orphans, our Cambodian utlimate team, got hammered in a city infamous for "caning".

Nope. We didn't do so hot in the Singapore Open. But we still had a blast, got to know some fabulous people, ran around and got exercize and managed to find some relatively inexpensive things to do in one of the most expensive cities in the world!

We rented bikes and cycled around an island off the coast, ate copious amounts of Indian food in Little India, giggled at Singapore's hilarious "Don't you dare" signs, basked in the frigid AC of several malls along Orchard road, and raced down waterslides at the cleanest swimming facility we've seen this side of the Pacific.

It was surprisingly refreshing to spend 5 days in the spic-n-span city with its 7/11's stocked with familiar treats, McDonald's McFlurries, public transit and drinkable tap water.

But also good to come back to Phnom Penh. And we're already scheming the next utlimate tournament we can get to!

We had ridden all over Phnom Penh and it was time to take the plunge: an 80km cycling trip to the coast.

One of Amie's colleagues from work, Tim Rann, is huge into cycling and not only did he orchestrate the whole adventure, he also came along for the ride. 12 of us left work a wee bit early on Friday and hopped in a minivan to Chhuk, a town about 100km south of Phnom Penh.

We gorged on Cambodian BBQ and slept soundly in Chhuk's one and only guesthouse.

Bright and early Saturday morning - just as the the sky was beginning to lighten, we fitted our bikes and started the journey to Kep.

A M A Z I N G

We pushed biked down small country lanes and beside paddy fields. We lost count of how many people stood up from their work in the rice fields to wave and holler hello.

With supremely sore bums, we pulled into Kep and topped off the day with a dive into the ocean (in our sweaty cycling gear), fresh crab and pepper, Angkor beer, and a sound sleep at a beautiful guesthouse.

Now we're scheming where we can cycle to next.

We love chasing plastic in Phnom Penh. We've been dreaming about playing in an international tournament for a few years and finally got our chance.

A group of 20 disc players from Ho Chi Minh came out for a mini hat tournament last weekend.

We ran. We dove. We snagged discs. Quite frankly, it was awesome.

So six of us took the better part of an afternoon and headed to Kien Svay, a popular Khmer picnic spot near Phnom Penh.

When you've lived in Cambodia for a few months, you start to forget how much bigger Barangs (foreigners) are than Cambodians.

Oops.

We heard the sickening snap and within a few seconds Daniel was sitting in the water, Amie's flip flops were floating downstream, and everyone was panicking to pick up the food, the cameras and other personal belongings while all the Cambodians around us roared with laughter.

Luckily a few other huts were open and our Cambodian hosts shuffled us off to another one that was "stronger" and made for fat barangs.

We'll certainly never forget that trip!

Koh Dach is a small island in the middle of the Mekong about 14km away from Phnom Penh. We took off with a few friends on Saturday for whatever adventures we could find. And there were a few! After a ferry ride to the island it is a treat to not have any traffic as compared to the busy highway up to the ferry from Phnom Penh.

It has been ages since we've last updated our site - shamefull, it's true. Since getting back to Phnom Penh after our trip to Canada, we've been going full on. Big meetings, lots of work, busy weekends. And with a bunch of stuff piling up over the summer months, it doesn't look like it's going to slow down. Here are a few of the things that we've been preoccupied with!

1) Dentist Appointment: It was that time. It was approaching a year since we last had a good dentist's clean and so we ventured to Roomchang Dental clinic on a few recommendations.

We slipped off our sandals and stepped into tan colored imitation crocks (for that extra dose of hygiene). Waited in reception for close to 1/2 an hour and were finally led into the same dental examination room at the same time. I (Amie) had another meeting to get to so I got to go first. The dentist, along with his three dental hygienists (so now we have 6 people in the room) cleaned and scraped and buffed my teeth keeping the water on the whole time. The bib they put on you at the beginning was soaked by the end. Then they discovered a small cavity. Not to fear, Roomchang told me, five minutes. He drilled my tooth and put the filling in, while Steve hovered above my face to get a closer look. (I guess the imitation crocks we made up for this lack of hygiene). They sure don't allow you to do that in Canada! I was out of there within 1/2 an hour. Total cost for cleaning: $15 per person.

2) Aerobics: It is not easy to get exercise in Phnom Penh. Short days, long work hours, the heat. But, when I do get out to public aerobics, it's a huge treat. Watch the video and you'll see why.

3) Frisbee: We love ultimate. And now, every Saturday from 9-11am we run around and toss the disc around with other ultimate lovers in Phnom Penh. The best part is one of our team mates has a pool in his backyard and he has no reservations with us jumping in - fully clothed - after a sweaty two hours of frisbee. It has become a huge highlight of our week. Now we're prepping for our first ever International Ultimate Frisbee Tournament in Singapore in August. (stay tuned for pics and video from our upcoming adventure!).

4) Learning Khmer. Every Monday or Tuesday we get together with our Khmer tutor, Mano. He comes to our house and we drink coffee and eat cookies and learn Khmer. We've been going through one book that was actually designed for Cambodians to learn English. I'm actually really glad that we're learning Khmer from it instead of English. See why?

5) Housekeeping For the longest time we sat on the solid wood furniture in our living room. It came time however, for a set of cushions. A trip to the market for fabric and a stop at a mattress shop were the tasks we needed to do to go from sore-cushioned bums. We did it all one weekend. And learned how much white people can carry on motorbikes.

-amie

We finally had some time for adventure last weekend. We jumped on a motorbike and went off into the countryside with no planning. We picked a couple places on the map and went there - relaxed at a riverside restaurant, climbed a large hill with a temple on it, found a really amazing Angkorian ruin, and walked around a small town where we found a guesthouse.

-steve

We had 10 days off over Cambodia's New Year so made use of them to adventure in Vietnam with friends Dan and Amanda. What a great experience - and what a truly remarkable country. Vietnam has really gone from worshipping Uncle Ho to worshipping the Dough - and has opened itself to a capitalist economy.

It is true.

The communist country has welcomed Luis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry London. Our jaws dropped. Not just at the stores and movie theatres and incredible food, but the infrastructure too. After 8 months of long, dusty, daytime bus rides in Cambodia, we were thrilled to discover that Vietnam has night buses - with berths to sleep in! And in the 10 days we were across the border, we experienced zero power outages - a friendly surprise.

We had a great time exploring Saigon, the highlands around Dalat (wearing long sleeves comfortably again), and beach city Nha Trang.

Here are some of the things we did and saw.

Duch reads a statement during trials this week in Phnom Penh

He's a short man, gray hair, definitely Cambodian - old and grizzled as he should be for his late 60's. The only thing between him and I was some thick (likely bulletproof) glass. I guess this is the typical setup at all genocide tribunals. Today I caught a glimpse of history in the making as the (never-ending) trials resumed for Duch (Kaing Guek Eav) - former leader of the infamous S21 Toul Sleng torture school in the Khmer Rouge war.

Until this point we have only been keeping watch over his old school from our balcony. It's still a busy place, but with mostly tourists coming by choice now to view the school in its current state as a museum. I’ve been wanting to pay the old headmaster a visit for a while now. He’s up first for trial followed by the even more sinister Khmer Rouge leaders (all who haven’t died yet awaiting trial).

This international tribunal sure drags on and now I know why. Duch huddles behind a desk in the back after already confessing his guilt and resentment while a bunch of purple robe clad lawyers drag on and on with repetitive language and article this or that. This morning's talk centered around the fact that Duch has been held without trial for 10 years now and his defense lawyers petition for his release for the duration of the trials. First comes a passionate speech by one of the Cambodian defense, followed by a long-winded statement by a French defense attorney who referenced on and on about how precedent clearly lays out the obvious next direction to take (citing previous trial outcomes with Rwanda and Yugoslavia).

Anyway, I don't think this is a question of guilty or not guilty – that answer is obvious. It comes down to how many of the numerous crimes are going to laid forth to pay justice to the endless victims. And then there is the question of the current powerholders - how deep can the trials go before unveiling their role in the atrocities? In the end, how are these old men going to be dealt with? Will taking a few more lives ease the pain and horror of the past, or is it time for some reconciliation and moving forward into the already bright looking future that the new generation sees?

Here is an recent and interesting article that may be of interest: Notorious Khmer Rouge killer Comrade Duch confesses his crimes

-steve-