We actually arrived in Bangkok a couple of hours ago but have aready written about this place loads so will go back to Phnom Penh.

The first day we arrived we bumped into the two guys we'd already met in Vietnam, plus another couple and headed out for beers with them. We ended up in a club called 'The Heart of Darkness in the middle of the Cambodian capital and had an absolute ball! Next day we consoled ourselves with beans on toast and pretty much mooched for the rest of the day.

The day after, we hired a tuk tuk to take us around all the sights. Our first stop was the Toul Sleng S-21 Museum. This former high school was taken over during the Khmer Rouge revolution, led by Pol Pot, and used as an interrogation facility. It's horrifying to see some of the pictures and read what happened to the victims that were held there. In the end I think it had something like 20,000 people that passed through and only about 12 survived. There were rooms that had been turned into cells, skulls on display, rooms with just a bed and a photo of how the victim was found there, plus paintings showing the types of torture used; fingernails pulled out, hanging, dunking in water, etc. Very much pictures speak louder than words. And it's all the worse because it only happened 30 years ago, so the country is still struggling to recover.

The next necessary stop after this was the Choeung Ek Genocidal Killing Fields. All the victims from S-21 were taken here, plus many more from other areas and killed; left in mass graves. Overall it's thought that 2 million people were killed during the reign of the Khmer Rouge across the country. The Killing Fields also has a type of monument dedicated to the victims which houses 17 stories of skulls and clothes that were found in the graves.

After the morning's somewhat disturbing yet 'makes you appreciate everything you have' history lesson we went to Wat Phnom (another temple!) and the National Museum which housed some interesting pieces of Khmer sculpture. We were meant to visit the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda but it turned out this was quite expensive and we realised we'd done enough 'sightseeing' for the day.

So that's basically our account of Phnom Penh. Overall Cambodia has been great, the country itself is beautiful and the people, after all they've been through are really warm and friendly - a great change after Vietnam! We will definitely be visiting again.