Now back on track:

Phenom Penh Part 1:

The most famous places had to be visited first. That is, S-21 aka the former prison (a converted high school) for the Khmer Rouge where they tortured out confessions from the innocent. The confessions taken from people were not just one from each to warrant their execution but hundreds of pages were written down for many. They would then be taken to the killing fields, which we visited shortly after, outside of town where they would be bludgeoned to death. About a third of these mass graves have been exhumed to discover the nature of the crimes in the hope of a trial still yet to commence. There is a multitude of information on this which you can look up if you wish but these sites were quite blatant with little attempt to hide the atrocities from the public nor leaving much to the imagination.

Phenom Penh Part 2:

After a few days on the coast and forgetting the killing fields and S-21 we were back for some fun and visiting a shooting range. Supposedly starting life as a way for the military to make money from tourists whilst exercising a munitions reduction program these ranges with a variety of weapons were built. The government the decided this wasn't a good image and banned them. They went underground and still today it is definitely not hard to find one. Tuk-tuk drivers are ones connected and not just for the shooting!
We were taken to an army camp on the city limits where we could have our fun. Starting with the Russian AK47 before switching to an American equivalent M16. At this point, realising we were there to try a few guns and not just the AK47 as most do hence spending lots of money, they offered us to shoot live animals. "you want to shoot chicken with Uzi?" or "you want to shoot pig with M16?". The ludicrosity continued. Moving to a previously vehicle mounted machine gun now its tripod resting, un-bolted, on the ground. An amazing gun complete with the long strip of bullets feeding in from one side. After this we then moved to the choice of the mafia - the Tommy gun. Even more fun - when it didn't jam. Whilst shooting these it's easy to see, from our targets, why people never get shot in the movies! The last bit of fun for the day was to throw a grenade. After this they tried their best to persuade us to spend more money. By spending the same again we could go and fire a rocket off our shoulders in the mountains. And going with the animal theme there was also the option to purchase a cow and blow it up with said rocket! Although if you missed, the cow was technically yours to take home!
Tomorrow (I have now caught up with the blogs) we leave for Viet Nam leaving all animals in one piece. Apart from the ones we ate. They eat some interesting stuff out here - anything goes. Fancy a skewer of 5 fried frogs? No? How about deep fried snake? Cockroach? Of course there's some dog and cat. Supposedly a delicacy is eating the brain of a monkey whilst it is still alive! I'll stick with the fried rice thanks!