Phnom Penh - Cambodia 5th-7th August 2011

After a uneventful bus ride to the Cambodian capital we were warmly welcomed by our hotel. Our room was great with 2 giant beds (although no window) and Air-con which was a God send. We spent an hour cooling down. We could actually feel the heat seeping under the door!

Luckily our brilliant host was able to get us a Laos Visa for just $5 more than it would have been at the embassy. Plus it was done in a matter of 4 hours! So that was one less thing to worry about.

After a good nights sleep with the air-con on full blast we set of for a day exploring the Khmer Rouge tourist Trial. Once again our brilliant host set up a Tuk Tuk driver to take us around for the day.

For anyone who does not know about the Khmer Rouge Regime you can Wikipedia the finer details but it was basically a mass genocide of the Cambodian people by a corrupt government group.

This group was aiming to kill off any person with knowledge i,e Educated people like doctors, nurses, lawyers, anyone who could understand what was going on. They wanted to build a nation of outright slavery. Even wearing Glasses was considered a threat to them. Not only that but they killed children including babies as in the future they could rebel. They would only allow new generation children under the regime.

So our first stop was to visit ' The Killing Fields' This was an area of farmland where people who were taken from there home (namely around Phnom Penh) were taken and Killed.

In later years these 'Killing Fields' were found and over 200 mass graves were found. Up to 30 of these graves were exhumed and the skeletal remains have been displayed in a memorial building along with the clothes and other accessories found with the bodies. They are displayed as one mass glass pagoda grave, as a lot of the people are unidentifiable and it makes it easier for people to come and pay their respects and it also acts as a reminder that it will never happen again!

After this we headed back along the bumpy roads to "S21 or security 21" which was a school converted into a prison and torture/interrogation camp. It is a rather unpleasant sight with steel beds and leg chains left untouched in some rooms and car batteries and steel chairs and chains still left in other rooms - obviously these where used to "interrogate" anyone who opposed the Khmer Rouge and their ideas. One of the worst things about this place is that there is still blood all over the walls and ceilings and floors from where people where beaten and left to die alone in the rooms.

We left feeling quite sad and lucky that we had never had to experience something so terrifying and on the way back to the hotel we could see all the Cambodians going about their daily lives and they have had the resilience to bounce back in such a small amount of time - you will rarely see a Cambodian who is not smiling or joking about with their friends on the street or enjoying a large meal with their family in a restaurant and they always make you feel welcome. We enjoyed another couple of days enjoying the city before our hotel arranged our onward transport.

Next stop Sihanoukville...

To see our pictures from Phnom Penh please click on the link below;
https://picasaweb.google.com/112941139607408893724/PhnomPenhCambodia5thTo7thAugust2011#