We cruised right into the centre of Phnom Penh mid afternoon, and although I felt it had been one of the longest ever journeys, it was still a nice change from arriving by bus. Once again we were accosted by touts and a pricing war kicked off between them all so we managed to get a bargain, even if we did have to pile 4 of us plus bags precariously into a tuk tuk!

We were all feeling a bit groggy from our 6am start so we had a bit of a lazy afternoon before heading out to a restaurant along the river, where we sampled some local delicacies including fish/chicken Amok and Cambodian sour soup, both of which were very nice. We then went for a couple of drinks and some games of cards, where Rob failed to prove himself as self-claimed "sh*t head king" and me and Em whooped the guys' asses at pool, oh yeah!! Whilst we were there a fight kicked off outside between two locals, in which they started throwing bricks at each other from a nearby building site.... Nice area then!

The itinerary for Sunday was a visit to the Killing Fields followed by the S21 prison.

The first while was spent understanding how Pol Pot's regime the Khmer Rouge had committed genocide between 1975-1979 in order to create a pure Cambodian Race eliminating American Imperiallism. It was chilling to see the number of skulls piled into the pagoda and the mound of clothes that were found in the graves. It really was difficult to comprehend how anyone could have committed these crimes, particularly when we saw the tree against which the babies' heads had been smashed. The craters in the field, from which hundreds of corpses had been exhumed, were smaller than you would expect. In one of the graves, all the bodies had been found without heads. All the killings were brutal and the fact that it was all going on just over 30 years ago made it all the more shocking. However harrowing, it was a necessary experience in understanding the history of Cambodia and a tragedy from which it will take generations to recover.

After that we went to the Russian markets for a bit of light relief. It was pretty hectic and once you were in, it was almost impossible to get out as it was a maze! The food section was particularly questionable, especially the deep fried pigs' heads!!

After lunch (and Em getting a bargain fish-foot massage) we headed to the S21 prison, where rebels against the Khmer Rouge were taken, interrogated, tortured and if they were not killed there, were then sent to the Killing Fields to be executed. The first shocking thing about this place was the badly disfigured man outside begging and practically chasing after us for money. Second was the fact this building actually used to be a school, and a structure that was once used by children for exercising had been turned into an instrument of torture.

Some of the cells had been for high ranking rebel leaders, and graphic photos on the walls showed how they had been tortured and killed in these rooms. Other blocks had been divided up by building tiny wooden cells. On display in some of the rooms were mugshots of all the many people brought to the prison, often without knowing why. It was particularly upsetting to see all the photos of the children, and to know that out of all these people, only 7 survived.

That evening we felt like we needed a bit of a pick-me-up so we went for a couple of drinks at happy hour. It was a pretty deserted bar, but it still did not stop some woman from coming in and swiping my handbag when it was behind me on the seat. Although I didn't lose any cards, money or passport, what I did lose was my camera which was pretty gutting! Luckily, we had recently backed up our photos so it could have been a lot worse, and we still enjoyed the rest of the night, having a nice meal and a couple of cocktails to try and help forget about it.

Before leaving on the bus to Siem Reap the next day, we checked out Wat Phnom which is how Phnom Penh got it's name. It was set in nice grounds with lots of cute monkeys around much to Em's delight! A local guy also shamelessly took a photo of us, but didn't oblige when I asked him for "one dooolllar".

In spite of everything we left PP with a positive impression that it is a much less depressing place than everyone says!