After a crazy mini bus journey across Cambodia we arrived in Phenom Pehn. We got a tuk tuk journey across the city to another hostel recommended to us by the hostel in Siem Reap. The staff were friendly and we arranged a tour for the next day going to S21 Museum, the Killing Fields and Russian Market.

S21 is now a Museum it used to be a school but when Pol Pot and the Kehmer Rouge became the rulers of Cambodia they turned it in to a prison and tortured thousands of prisoners before sending them to the killing fields. We watched a documentary about the rule of Pol Pot and how people came to be in S21 which was interesting. The prison was set up how it had been left, there was still blood stains on the floor in the small cells and it was horrible to imagine what had gone on there. The place definitely had an eerie feel about it and hardly anyone spoke as we wondered through the rooms, some displaying the torture equipment, others with the pictures of the 20,000 victims which included children. Out of the 20,000 people who went to S21 only 7 survived. We then went to the killing fields, where the prisoners were taken and killed. Pol Pot was aiming to create a communist state and wanted Cambodia to go back to year 0 so he killed everyone with an education and their families saying they were enemies of the state. It is thought that 3 million Cambodian's died, half the population. The killing fields were all across the country we only visited one which is now where the national memorial is. We had a tour with headsets round the killing fields. Some of the mass graves have not been disturbed and you could see bits of cloth, bones and teeth which had risen to the surface it was a grim site. The main memorial which is about 20 meters high is also filled with the skulls and bones of victims of the graves that have been excavated. Some of the stories that he heard walking around about how adults and children were killed are too horrible to write. It is hard to believe something happened like that not long ago but not many people we know have heard of it.

We then went to the Russian Market although we weren't in the mood to shop. The market is famous for its designer clothes at cheap prices. In Cambodia there are a lot of the designer factories that sell slight faulty stuff at the market although we didn't see any true bargains. So after a quick look around we went back to the hostel.

Our second day in Phenom Pehn we collected our Vietnam visas and waited for our night bus to Ho Chi Minh City. We went to the Central Market which was nicer than the Russian Market. It was more spread out so you could see things properly and it was less hot! We then found a mall with nice shops. It was nice because we could escape the heat in the air conditioning so looked around that for a while. J bought a watch but we are waiting to buy most things in Bangkok so we don't have to carry much around with us.

Phenom Pehn was the first time we experienced Toby's night terrors too as we were all in a dorm together. Darius had kept us entertained with the stories, our favourite being the one in Koh Panghan in their 16 bed dorm. Our first night in Phenom Pehn we woke to Toby saying 'woo what's up, where are we?' but the second night was worse! He screamed 'F**k, where are we?!' and lots more gibberish. We both woke up straight away, Rachel was scared as didn't realise what was going on at first. Darius who was now used to it and J tried to calm him down to which Toby apologised and said he 'thought we were on a boat' and went back to sleep. Rachel couldn't stop laughing for the next hour or so. We mentioned it to the Swedish guy in our dorm the next morning and he was so drunk he didn't wake up from it! Goodness knows how as it was so loud, we are pretty sure people in the next room heard.