Day 2 Camobia - Phnom Penh

Today has been my sightseeing day and it deserves a seperate blog due the difficult places i have visited, namely S-21 and the killing fields.

I went touring with Chicago Mark, we got a tuk tuk for the day, it saves a bit of money and gives you the freedom to do your own itinerary at your own pace. We kicked off early and headed for the Tuol Sleng museum (s-21), it's very graphic and eerie but you really need to get the story of the Pol Pot regime before the killing fields. The new part of the museum on the top floor of the second building of the school gives a lot of infomation and facts, it would be beneficial to take this info in before looking around the cells.

The killing fields are 15km out of town, i was pretty much gobsmacked and just walked round, took it all in and tried to work it out in my own way - although it's pretty hard to digest. With S-21 & the killing fields together you get the full picture of how much suffering the Cambodian people have faced, only recently. There are still bones sticking out of the ground and you know that there are many more bodies lying beneath your feet who suffered greatly. It is quite gruesome and the reason that these sites are open is to highight the terrible suffering and to make sure that it never happens again, and so that people can pay thier respects. That's how i see it, i went to pay my respects and understand (or try to) what happened in the countries recent history. Enough said. RIP.

It seems almost wrong to continue with this blog and talk about how i just got back into town, spoilt and enjoyed myself but life moves on. We lunch at an excellent Khmer restaurant called Khmer Borane, a chicken curry and a superb fish dish, both with cocunut cream and nuts giving them a distinctive flavour.The afternoon was polished off with a tour of the kings palace, it reminded me of the grand palaces in Thailand, can't quite beleive they are 600 years old, grand, intricate, colourful and just incredible stature. At $6 a bit expensive but worth it for the photos. We walked back through central market for a bit of shopping and that's that.

Time for a quick shower (cold one but its refreshing) and then its off for a happy pizza?!. Up early tomorrow, booked a bus to Seim Reap, they said 4 hours so expect 6!. I'm pushing along pretty swiftly as i think i'm going overland through Malaysia to get a flight from Singapore - seems Thailand is in a bit of a mess ?

Bye for now