Day 59 - Phnom Pehn

We woke up late today feeling a little bit rough and headed out for lunch. We bumped into Tom, the guy from the bus, and he came for lunch with us. Phnom Pehn is so full of beggars, particularly children, so we were pestered a lot sitting in the garden area of the restaurant. It's heartbreaking, some of them are barely even five years old. We decided we wernt going to do much today, and spent some time walking around the city and then reading our books. At night we met Tom again and went to a bar so the boys could watch the football and we had a few drinks while there.

Day 60 - Phnom Pehn

We got up early today, had breakfast and then flagged a tuk tuk. We arranged with the driver for him to take us to the S-21 prison museum and the killing fields, and wait for us and bring us back. The prison is actually a school, where the Khmer Rouge imprisoned and tortured 17,000 Cambodian people during the genocides, and the killing fields are where these same people where taken to be killed and buried. It was going to be a depressing day! We went to the fields first. It's very strange and almost impossible to imagine what actually happened here. Recently the mass graves were dug up, and the fields are full of holes which were once filled with hundreds of bodies in each. A temple type building was built recently and they have all the skulls of the bodies on display! It is so creepy and so sad. Every now and then, one of the mass graves would have a sign post with some information on who was in the grave. For example, one said there were 100 headless bodies, another 100 naked woman. We came to one which had babies and toddlers. The sign said that the huge tree right beside the grave was used to kill them by swinging them against it, and then throwing them into the graves. By then I was a bit overwhelmed and we got back to our tuk tuk and left. We went to the prison, which looks just like a normal school. Each classroom had homemade cells which are barely big enough for someone to lie down in. Other rooms where used for torture, and the beds and tools are still in the rooms. Lots of people died after the torture went too far. Throughout the other rooms, there were mug shot photos of every single prisoner, most of them looking terrified. They also took photos of people after torture, which were on display. We didn't spend long here, it was too much. When we left, a man came begging to us in the tuk tuk. He was very persistent. His face was covered in burn scars and he had one eye missing. We saw many people in Phnom Pehn with burns and missing arms and legs. Apparently most of these injuries are from unexploded bombs from the war which people have stumbled across. It seems this country has been through a lot in the last 40 years! So when we got back We went for a sleep. We were so drained! When we woke up we went and had some dinner further away from the main street to try and avoid the beggars. Michael had arranged with Richard to go to a bar and watch the Celtic and rangers games, so he walked me back to the hotel and went round to Richards bar to meet him. Unfortunately, Richard said something had come up and he couldn't go, but Michael went himself anyway. I stayed and read my book in the room. We had an early night to get up for our bus to Sihanoukville.