Hello

We are currently in Siem Reap after a 7hour bus journey from Phnom Penh. Its not at all what i imagined- i thought it would be a much smaller version of Phnom Penh, a bustling town with lots going on- but its tiny and there are huge muddy rivers in the middle of the dirt track roads and apart from some cafes and the market we haven't come across a lot else- but its our first afternoon and we're here for all the historic sites we're visiting tomorrow, so not that fussed about the town itself.

We had a busy day yesterday in Phnom Penh visiting S-21 and the killing fields and it left us both quite pensive. We got a tuk tuk to S-21 which was once a high school which was then taken over during the Khmer Rouge regime and turned into a prison and torture house. All the classrooms on the ground floor where individual cells where anyone who was educated or considered high class and officials and soldiers etc were arrested and taken to be tortured here. In each class room was a metal frame of a bed and various weapons of torture- horrendous things, and on the wall was a photo of someone lying dead on the bed or floor afte r undergoing various torture. It was really horrific, especially when this was happening during the 70's.

There were between 14-20000 people killed in S-21 prison, nand estimated 3million during the revolution years and throughout the building were boards of mug shots of every prisoner brought in, men women soldiers and a shocking number of children as well. We read a lot of stories told from family members who had a relative taken from their house and never seen again until they came to the 'museum' and spotted their mug shot. In a separate building they had converted 2 classrooms into tiny cells like pig pens where the prisoners were kept permanently, with a tin box to use as a toilet and not enough room to lie down on the floor to sleep. The upstairs rooms were used as giant cells with lots crammed into the one room with no beds or anything. It was a very moving and upsetting place to visit- and as soon as you step outside the museum you are greeted by severly disfigured and burnt beggars and people with missing limbs all pleading for some money or food.

Our tuk tuk driver then took us to Choeng Ek, a village just outside of Phnom Penh to visit the killing fields. The village was very basic and poor, but it was fascinating to drive through and see the real parts of Cambodia with all the peasants wearing their Krama and picking rice and with cows sleeping in the middle of the roads and tiny tots running around naked or swimming in the filthy rivers. The road was more of a series of holes and ditches which all the tuk tuks and bikes were struggling to get across, we were literally being chucked up in the air and all over the place- Claire and i also developed manic giggles which made staying secure in our seats a lot harder!

The Killing fields is an area of land where the prisoners were brought to be murdered and left in these mass graves. As soon as you walk in there is an enormous temple type building which is filled to the roof with the skulls found from the graves. At the base of teh building is a wooden shelf where all the bits of clothing was found and cleaned and placed as a memorial. We then walked round the area which was covered in these huge craters with signs next to tehm saying "women and children found naked with gun shot wounds to their skulls" or "men found with hacking wounds to skull". There was also this tree wich was signed as being used to beat the children against, and another was used to hang microphones in to play music to drown out the noise of peoples moans and screams.

It was just so shocking to see and we just couldn't get passed how many people would have known and lost someone to the regime and still officers are denying that it even existed and that anything went on there. The khmer rouge are apparantly still around in living in Cambodias jungles and many of those involved are now living free without any sort of punishment.

So it was a heavy and intense day or tourist activities, but i am glad we came here to see them and learn about Cambodia's history. Tomorrow we're off to see Angkor's temples, then we're heading back to Bangkok Friday morning. Its been a very fleeting to Cambodia, but i can definitely appreciate what an amazing country it is, everyone has been so friendly and helpful to us and the scenary between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap was stunning- i will definitely be coming back.