We got to the Cambodia border after about 3 hours of travelling. We all had to get off the bus and get our backpacks to take to be x rayed at the border inspection area. The whole process must have taken an hour in total which was annoying. After everyone got their passports and visas back we had time for lunch, but the heavens opened so we didn't have much time. We then drove for another few hours until we got to a ferry port. The bus stopped and we got surrounded by loads of homeless people and beggars. Some local people got off the bus to get food and fruit but we thought it was safer to stay on the bus! A little girl got on the bus and wanted our tub of Pringles but we thought if we gave them to her we would have millions of kids around us. It was awful to see so much poverty and we knew Cambodia was going to be a lot worse for homeless people and beggars.

We then got the ferry over the river and carried on for another few hours. Even passing through the villages you could see how much worse off the people are compared to Laos and Vietnam.

We finally arrived at the bus station and practically got mobbed by loads of tuk tuk drivers! We ended up hooking up with a French couple and German girl to get to the guesthouses. We stayed at the Okay Guesthouse which was near the river in the centre of phonm Pehn (the capital of Cambodia). It was a fifteen min walk to the bars and restaurants from our guesthouse which wasn't too bad but when walking back at night we were shocked at how many people were sleeping rough. Whole families sleep under a mosquito net on the pavement and many others just on benches or grassy areas.

The next day we decided to hire a tuk tuk to take us the killing fields and the S-21 museum.

The killing fields of Choeung Ekare 14 km from Phomn Pehn. Between 1975 and 1978 around an estimated 17'000 men, women and children (including 9 westerners) were tortured at the S-21 prison then sent here to be executed. They didn't want to waste bullets so were killed in various other horrifying ways. The area was kept hidden for many years until mass graves were exhumed in 1980. Fragments of human bones and clothes are still scattered around the fields and even we found teeth and small bones on the ground. We hired a guide for the killing fields so that we could get some more information and learn a bit more about what happened here in Cambodia. Some of the stories were really upsetting to hear and it's hard to believe humans can act like the way they did here.

We then went to the S-21 museum which was once called Tuol Svay Prey School until it was taken over in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge, who turned it into the largest torture/interrogation prison in the country. Almost all the people taken to the prison ended up being executed at the killing field. S-21 claimed the lives of up to 100 - 300 people a day. The museum itself was really upsetting and very eerie. There were old school rooms that had been turned into lots of brick prison cells only just big enough to lie in and others that had just one bed in with original torture items still in the rooms! When we were looking around the prison there was a huge thunder storm so we had to stay abit longer before going back to the guesthouse.

That night we went to a tapas restaurant called the friends restaurant. It's a restaurant were disadvantaged children from orphanages etc come to learn how to cook and basically complete a qualification in catering over a few years, to give them a chance in life. They also run a beauty place and other places to learn careers they can do out here. The meal was really really good and the profits go towards helping the children.

The next day we decided to go to the Russian market in the centre of town. It was really small compared to the ones in Thailand so we didn't stay too long but I got a Cambodian scarf and a ring. We found a posh hotel that had a gym and pool so we decided to splash out and go for the afternoon and Ady was pleased to have a proper workout too!

That evening we bumbed into a couple (Vicki and Sam) we met at the CuChi Tunnels in our guesthouse, so we decided to go for a meal in a nice restaurant near the river.

The next day we left for Siem Reap.