It was only a 1 night flying visit to Cambodia's Capital city, with only two stops planned - collect our passport with our 60day Thai visa in (that we dropped off the previous week at the Thai Embassy) & the visit to the famous Killing Fields. When we were here last week we'd arrange to meet Coco the tuk-tuk driver (not clown) on our return to take us around S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum & Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre (Killing Fields) & as soon as we stepped off the bus there he was - waiting for us with a free ride to our hotel so that he knew he'd have a fare for the following day! The drive was mad - the traffic is crazy here - as with all capital cities in Asia, they pay no attention to road signs, traffic lights or even which side of the road to drive on, and seeing a whole family of 6 or pig on the back of a moped is a common occurrence.

We checked into The Royal Guest House, a little bit more expensive here than the rest of Cambodia however we managed to get a decent room for only $10 a night. The hotel also has nightly movie documentary's that are based on true stories of the history of Cambodia, so after some beautiful cheap street food we settled down to learn about the places that were on our itinerary for tomorrow! Wow…how naive we were?! People speak about the Killing Fields as some sort of tourist attraction (us included), but after the documentary we were appalled & disgusted by the suffering the country of Cambodia went through at the hands of the Khmer Rouge between 1975-79, which resulted in millions of innocent people losing their lives. It put a whole new perspective what we were to view the following day.

Coco collected us in the morning & our first destination was the S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, formally the Security Office 21 prison whereby almost 20,000 men, women & children were tortured & murdered - their bodies then dumped into mass graves at Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields). We learnt about the dictatorship of Pol Pot and his dream of agrarian utopia forcing millions into the countryside to work as slaves. On April 17th 1975 he established S21 prison, (once a children's school & playground) where he detained prisoners for interrogation and inhuman torture to confess to crimes most didn't commit. After confessions they were killed and discarded like rubbish. The museum had an eerie feel to it and many of the rooms or cells still had the original shackles, beds & photographs of the prisoners in. There was also a section of the prison that housed the original torture equipment with horrific real life accounts as to its usage (see photos). Out of the estimated 20,000 inmates who went in only 7 returned alive as they had skills the Khmer Rouge required. We both left a little bit uneasy knowing that the Killing Fields were still to come.

15km from the centre of Phnom Penh lies the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre (Killing Fields) which contains 129 mass graves that held over 8,000 human skulls which were excavated during the 1980's. In 1988 a Memorial Charnel, 17 tiers high, was built in the centre of the grounds to house all the remains of the victims so that their spirits were no longer buried. However, probably the most disturbing account of the day "The Children's Killing Tree". It was used as a weapon to save on ammunition. What I couldn't get my head around was that the main leaders of the Khmer Rouge haven't been trialled until recently with one receiving a 35yr sentence only LAST YEAR! Whatever we think about the UK, stories of torture to this degree happened many centuries ago not within the last 35yrs so it sure makes you appreciate the world we come from.

We left Phnom Penh that evening but not before we paid another visit to the happy street food woman who served us beaut veggie noodles for less than a $1. I love that the people of Cambodia are so friendly & welcoming despite what they have been through! After a few Skype sessions and emails back & forth we are finally off to meet Simon & Becky for some fun in the sun on Thailand's South Islands…yeah!!