We are in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Originally this is as far into 'Indochina' as we planned to venture, and from what I've read of the place I was expecting a beautiful little city. In reality, although nice in parts, it doesn't match up to some of the other places we've been recently. But of course, what Phnom Penh lacks aesthetically, it more than makes up for with history...

The bus ride from Saigon to the border was ok, but then we had to cross on foot and find our next bus from the sister company. The 'guide' told us to go 300m down the road past the border to a small cafe to get the bus. We were first into Cambodia from our bus, so we set off down the long, straight and exceptionally hot road. We walked at least 600m (seemed like ten times further in the mid-day sun) before giving up and going back. And of course, what do we see not 10m from the border, behind a high wall? Our cafe. How ridiculous, God knows where she got 300m from.

We arrived in Phnom Penh at 5pm. We quickly found an ok room at Spring Guesthouse, and then ventured out to find a restaurant. Ventured is an accurate word for it; I'd read in a couple of books that it's a dangerous city with very frequent muggings, and that you should never go out alone after dark. Our guidebook even advised us that even a bag would attract a thief's attention, and also gave advice on what to do when mugged... That's when, not if... Great! So, bagless, we ventured forth and proceeded to find zero muggers and one rubbish meal. All in a days work...

Our first full day was spent, as we usually do, by walking the city and getting a feel for the place. We visited some of the tourist attractions: the National Museum was first, and despite its huge collection of Buddha images, only detained us for half an hour (there's only so many buddhas that you can look at in one day/lifetime). Next was the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. The latter was interesting, the floor was laid with 5 tons of silver tiles, and there was a life-size solid gold buddha encrusted with over 2000 diamonds, up to 25 carats, and several other priceless treasures. Katies was amused at having to rent a huge t-shirt to cover herself up, showing far too much flesh with a tank-top on! Afterwards we jumped in a cyclo (bicycle taxi with a seat on the front) and went to the Central Market; an extensive collection of stalls housed in and around a huge, yellow, decrepit art-deco dome. The market itself wasn't very interesting, same old touristy junk mixed in with meat and veg for the locals.

Our second day was to be considerably more challenging. We walked the kilometre or so from our guesthouse to Tuol Sleng Museum (also known as S-21). During the Khmer Rouge regime, this school was converted into the country's main prison. We entered through high walls topped with barbed wire. The school is made up of two L-shaped 3 storey blocks. On the ground floor of the first block were around 12 rooms. Each contained a bare metal bed, and a photo on the wall of one of the victims who died in the room. Some rooms also contained shackles or implements of torture. Such a stark, powerful image. These were the interrogation rooms, where innocent people were tortured for 'information'. It didn't really matter much what people said, they weren't going to improve their situation. In just over 3 years, seventeen thousand people were brought here; of these only twelve survived. Unbelievable.

On the next block were photos of thousands of inmates of the prison. So many of the pictures were of children; not even babies were spared. It's quite impossible for me to imagine what kind of 'logic' could persuade a human being that they are justified in killing women, children and babies in the interests of a better society. One thing that struck me about the photos was that few people looked scared. Whether this was defiance or simply ignorance I don't know.

The second L-block was the main holding area for the prisoners, and it's still covered in the barbed wire that was put up everywhere to prevent suicide attempts from the higher floors. On the ground floor were brick cells, about 6'x2'; tiny. And on the first floor it was the same, but with wooden cells. The prisoners weren't allowed to move at all, they had to ask permission to use their toilet pot, or even to shift position slightly (they were shackled to the walls with chains). If not, they were beaten savagely. And all of these cells, everywhere in fact, you can clearly recognise that the rooms used to be classrooms. Such a contradictory history for a building.

One of the last exhibits we looked at contained photos of the main leaders of the Khmer Rouge and information about them. All were heavily vandalised and graffiti'd. Pol Pot's was simply gone. It shows that there is still a real hatred for the leaders of the regime, and for the fact that they have never been prosecuted. All the leaders denied knowledge of the existance of Tuol Sleng. A likely story indeed. It is particularly strange to think though, that most of the Khmer Rouge soldiers defected when the Vietnamese invaded the country in 1979. Since then, most of these people have continued to live normal lives. So when we're served in a restaurant, or take a ride in a taxi, and so on, the person we deal with could easily have been a KR soldier. And all of these KR people murdered their own people, it wasn't like the regular army whereby certain soldiers fight. I think that maybe this explains why there hasn't been any action taken against regular soldiers; there are just too many of them, and it would cause too much upheaval, and the people just want to forget and move on. Everybody says it, but it's true; it's so hard to square my knowledge about the recent history of this country with the fact that they are the nicest people of any SE-Asian country we have been to.

After Tuol Sleng, we headed for the killing fields of Choung Ek. All the prisoners who survived torture at Tuol Sleng were brought here to be executed. I was expecting a huge area given the 'fields' plural, so I was surprised to find that it's only about 750m sq. However, 17000 people were killed and buried here. A huge white and glass stupa dominates the area, looking like Cleopatra's Needle but with windows all the way up. And inside, placed carefully on shelves all the way up to the top, are over 8000 skulls. I don't think there can be any starker image of the mass madness that people can develop. I still don't understand why the Cambodians don't feel that it's disrespectful to the dead to display their skulls given how superstitious they are about such matters usually.

After visiting the stupa, we took a walk. The major burial sights were highlighted, about five altogether, but there were so many more pits from which masses of skeletons had been disinterred; perhaps 30-40 pits altogether. And this is only two thirds of the graves, the rest have been left undisturbed. We were disturbed to see that there were many rags and parts of clothing part revealed, part buried, presumably by the rains and the erosion of people's feet. This would've been bad enough, but a number of times we came across bones protruding slightly from the earth, occasionally still with clothing. I think the sheer number of corpses that were disinterred meant that the people doing so were bound to miss some skeletons, particularly those not buried in the big mass graves. Seeing such sights brought home to us, more than anything else, that these people died less than thirty years ago, in huge numbers, for no reason other than a hugely paranoid and dictatorial regime thought they should. They were arrested, whole families at a time, taken to prison and tortured, then taken here or to one of the hundreds of other killing fields across the country, and shot or hammered to death (to save bullets). It's unbelievable, but the evidence was staring us in the face.

For me, the scariest thing is that this could happen again, and the 'International Community' would stand by and do nothing in the name of 'diplomacy' (think Robert Mugabe, or the current events in Darfur). Would you believe that the U.N. of all organisations continued to recognise the Khmer Rouge as the government of Cambodia until 1991, twelve years after their overthrow and eleven after the excavation of the killing fields of Choung Ek? Neither would I have, but it's true. And just like everything else to do with this part of Cambodia's past, it leaves me incredulous with disbelief.

I certainly wouldn't say that we enjoyed this day, but there's something essential about it, and the experience will stay with us forever. Now, however, it's tome to head to Siem Reap, to see something that Cambodia can be (and is) infinitely proud of: Angkor.