We got a largely uneventful bus from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh. There were much more people working the fields in Cambodia than we had seen in Vietnam, as we made our way through the countryside. The people didn't necessarily look poor, but there was a distinct lack of any kind of modern developments and the main road through Cambodia had apparently only been concreted a few years ago.

When we arrived in Phnom Penh we had the usual barrage of tuk tuk drivers to deal with as we got off the bus. We found one that seemed nice enough and he took us to a place in the backpacker area of the city. We were a bit disappointed with the accomodation we settled with: we expected to get less, but also pay less, what we got was actually less for more! The currency in Cambodia is still very volatile so they have taken to using dollars for any transaction worth anything more than about a dollar. Unfortunately this seemed to have caused an inflation of the price of many things when compared to elsewhere in S E Asia. It was hardly expensive though and we had a nice 'traditional Cambodian Italian' meal that evening, by the river front.

The next day we set off to see the Killing Fields and S-21 prison. The killing fields were around 15km out of town, and were used by the Khmer Rouge (1975-79) regime as a dumping ground for the 2 million people they massacred during their reign. We learned that they had fought and won a civil war in Cambodia leading up to their reign, and were initially celebrated as champions by the local people. Almost straight away, however, they began killing anyone they suspected as being against their extreme Communist ideals: this included anyone with a role in the previous government, anyone with an education (as well as their families, to prevent revenge up-risings) or anyone who had lived a 'Western lifestyle'. The fields themselves had been excavated many times, but the heavy rain during each monsoon continued to uncover new mass graves, a sight that we were unfortunate top have seen.

After seeing where the murders took place we went to see the S-21 prison, where prisoners were sent for torturing to get information about other 'conspirators'. The prison itself was a primary school when the Khmer Rouge took power. They quickly converted the classrooms into small prison cells and would eventually torture/kill over 20,000 people there including women, children and babies. Only 7 people survived their stay at S-21 during the 4 years the Khmer Rouge were in power. We learned all this from a tour guide who had lived during the Khmer Rouge's reign. She was a child when they came and fleed to Vietnam with her mother, but lost her father and brothers to the regime.

We booked a bus and left to Siem Reap the next day, where we would visit the Angkor Temples, one of the seven wonders of the world.