Monday 17th November 2008

So, today we left Siem Reap and headed to Phnom Penh. On arrival into Phnom Penh it was chaotic, TukTuk drivers literally everywhere.. banging onto the coach windows for our custom. Getting out of the coach was pretty difficult.. after getting out of t5he way of all the hustle and bustle we eventually found a cheap driver to take us to 'The Lakeside', the main backpacker area - narrow with lots of bars, eateries and guesthouses.

We ended up at a guesthouse on the lake called 'The Lazy Fish'. It was really peaceful, with the restaurant right on the lake that you could see for miles. Once settling in, like we usually do we set off exploring for the rest of the day.

Outside the backpacker area Phnom Pehn is filled with bars, eateries, clubs and really nice big parks to sit in and soak the atmosphere up. We headed off on a long walk to the Russian Market .. so long that it took us about 1.5 hours to get there - only to find it closed! We were not happy. As we couldn't walk any further in the sweltering heat he tried to catch a tuktuk.. only there were none! So, instead we tracked down a motorbike taxi!! It was so scary- 3 of us on the motorbike dashing through the traffic!!! What a sight!

Anyway, feeling hungry we decided to try out 'The Curry Pot', situated in the heart of The Lakeside and recommended by the Lonely Planet guide. The food was perfect.. owned by an Indian Chef - really cheap and you get a free beer!! Bonus. Later we decided to watch the sunset on the lake at our guesthouse, which was by far one of the best we had seen!

The following day we decided to have a picnic in one of the parks before heading to the Royal Palace. The park was really nice - very similar to Lumphini Park in Bangkok with lots of people doing excercises etc. Later that day we arrived at the Royal Palace to find it pretty expensive, and not that exciting to us! So we decided to give it a miss! Whilst walking out we bumped into Nick and Josh (the Australian guys from Siem Reap.. so after them doing exactly the same - taking a look at walking out - we all decided to make a day of it and go for some drinks! After quite a few at a bar, before we knew it we were at their gay uncles appartment having yet a few more drinks!!Later that night after quite a while trying to find somewhere nice to eat.. Chris and I eventually persuaded them to eat at the Curry Pot - again!! eek. We all shared a few dishes which was nice!

The next day was the one we had been looking forward to: The Killing Fields and the S21 school/prison, and what an experience it was!!

Our first stop in the tuktuk was the Killing fields. Mass 'graves' (deep holes in the ground) of the hundreds of men, women and children who were all brutally killed in the genocide of the Khymer Rouge regime. The killing fields ware a real eye opener. We walked in to find a huge monument filled with human sculls and clothes of the small children to adults that had being found in the mass graves. There was a huge tree also hanging from it used to have a horn to hide the cries and screams of those who were being tortured. Walking round the sight, looking into the huge graves it was hard not to imagine the heaps of bodies, skinny limbs and body parts missing, and the stench that must have come off the graves - it was really gut wrenching - especially to think that these people were being brutally killed by the Khymer Rouge with iron bars, bamboo sticks, hoes and spades etc all in a bid to save money on bullets!! Absolutely discusting considering that the Khymer Rouge did all of this to change the Capitalist Bourgiousie Society into a Communist , classless society as they believed that the rich were getting richer, and the poor poorer. Therefore killing all middle and upper class people (and anyone who looks to be middle/upperclass) - and therefore creating their own 'Angkor' (Khymer Rouge law) - anyone who disobeys is killed/punished all in a bid to gain total control over society!! How ridiculous!!

We moved on to go to the S21, which was set up to detain individuals accused of apposing 'Angkor'. It was horrific to see what initially looked like a normal school on the outside, was turned into a prison for brutal punishment. All of the classrooms of the Toul Sleng were converted into prison cells, with windows enclosed by iron bars and converted with tangled barbed wire to prevent the escape of prisoners - some a little bigger used for mass prison cells. Another part of the school was used as 'interrogation' rooms. A large room with stone walls, a metal bed and a few torture weapons. It looked horrific!

The Khymer Rouge also used the young children, aged 10-15 years, to work as guards in the S21, who started out normal and grew increasingly evil towards their elders. What was used in the old school playground as gym apparatus was turned into torture weapons also.

We got back into the tuktuk feeling a lump in our throats.. It is really strange to think that it wasn't that long ago, 1975, when all of this started - and to think that the world outside Cambodia were more or less unaware of the extreme lengths that the Khymer Rouge went to to gain a so called 'better Society'??

We had a peaceful evening sitting out looking onto the lake, getting prepared for our journey to Sinoukville the following morning - Ahh, so nice to see the sea!!