Hey again everyone,

Hope you are all still well. We're still missing you all loads.

After a good time in Siem Reap and having seen our fair share of temples now, we set off for Phnom Penh which is the capital of Cambodia. We got a bus again which was all good. On the way to Phnom Penh we stopped for half an hour at a hotel where we could have got some breakfast if we wanted. We had a look at the menu whilst sitting amongst hundreds of flies, however we quickly escaped after seeing pigs brain and some body part of a frog on the menu - how vile!!! Hence, we stuck to a good old mango and some pineapple for our brekkie!!!

Arriving in Phnom Penh we were accosted by Tuk Tuk drivers, but we picked one who looked just slightly quieter than the others who were shouting in our ears!!! So off we went in search of a place to stay for the last three nights of our stay in Cambodia. We headed to the area which the bible says is for "backpackers" we looked at five different rooms all of which were not what we were accustomed to!! We did however pick the last one which was the best of the bunch (now believe me thats saying something). We tried our hardest to set up home in the hole, but after seeing odd marks on the sheets, the state of the curtains and the general dirt we promptly decided that we would stay one night and one night only!! (only because neither of us could be bothered to move, and our Tuk Tuk driver was meeting us there the next day). The old sleeping liners came out again. What also topped it off was when I turned the TV on, it was sparking and making a horrible noise! That eve we got the hell out of the room and had dinner and drinks! Claire said she needed Vodka to cloud her memory from what we were actually staying in. Now you may all be thinking 'well you are backpacking, and isn't that what its all about!' in answer to that 'no' hehe! We are obviously 'travelling' and we have tried to be the typical backpacker, but to be honest we AREN'T your typical traveller, not with the hairdryer and straightners!!!

Anyway, immediately we noticed the amount of children sent out to work selling books, dvd's etc. everywhere we went, sat, ate, walked there were children on the streets trying to make some money. Their ages varied but the youngest was probably about 4/5, its so sad to see.

So, after managing to stay in the 'hole' for the night we got up and immediately checked out. Our Tuk Tuk driver that we hired for the time we were in Phnom Penh drove us to a hotel that we had found on the internet but it was out of our price range, so we went to another and immediately took the room for the next two nights. It was a lot nicer but more importantly 'clean' and we both felt happier again.

Ok, we were then able to get on with our day. We headed straight to Tuol Sleng, genocide museum which was the former Khmer Rouge S-21 Prison. Before the Cambodian war the prison was both a primary school and a high school. Looking at it before we started walking around we both said that it does still resemble a school. S-21 was the most secret organ of the Khmer Rouge regime. S-21 stands for 'Security Office 21'. S-21 was their premier security institution, specifically designed for interrogation and extermination.

S-21 is located south of Phnom penh and covers an area of 600 x 400 meters. During the Khmer Rouge regime it was enclosed by two folds of corrugated iron sheets, covered with dense electrified barbed wire to prevent anyone from escaping the prison. One of the most shocking and disturbing things was that many of the torturers were children aged between 10 to 15. Apparently these young children were trained and selected by the Khmer Rouge to work as guards at S-21. Most of them started out normal but grew increasingly evil. These children tortured hundreds of thousands of civilians. Between the years of 1975 and 1978 10 499 people were recorded (some reports have been lost) to have been tortured at S-21 and this does not include children. The prisoners were kept in cells with concrete floors and had their legs shackled to long or short iron bars. Every prisoner was photographed before entering the prison and were stripped of everything down to their underwear. I am not going to go in to anymore detail about this, but Im sure you can all imagine the horrendous conditions and the suffering every single prisoner went through. We have some pictures but some of it was too horrific to photo.

We were able to walk around the prison and go into each room which used to be the cells. Spread out between some of the rooms are picture boards of every single person who was sent to the prison. There are photos of men, women and children being tortured, there are items of their clothing in cabinets. In one of the blocks are stories and photos given by relatives of prisoners who they never saw again. It was extremely moving and upsetting but it is something we, and most visitors to Phnom Penh have to see. We both put messages in a condolence book.

The prison is actually set in fairly pretty surroundings. There are palm trees and flowers scattered around. There are also little squatters living in the corridors......Dad can you guess what they are?.....Bats!! It brought back some memories (look at the photos, just for you) they looked just like our ones but slightly bigger.

One of the main things that stood out to me was the fact the country is still recovering, hugely, from the effects of the war and it will do for many yeas to come. Tourism is increasing in Cambodia but there are things that need to change. A major thing we noticed was the amount of rubbish, everywhere and it looks and smells vile. There is no disposal system whatsoever! But, I still find it hard to comprehend the fact that anyone can move on from such violence and evil, especially families of those who died, but they have had to and they have done an amazing job, I found it really inspirational to witness.

After a very morbid couple of hours we had some lunch, then went to the Russian Market and made a couple of small purchases. We decided we would have a drink that night as we both needed a bit of a lift! so whilst I spoke to home Claire went a grabbed a bottle of vino, that went down nicely. That evening Claire had sent Chris one of the guys we met in China on our boat trip an email as he was in the area and just said where we would be and the time, well he turned up. It was really good to see him. We went out and had dinner and a good few drinks as we both needed cheering up.

The next day after a great nights sleep in a nice room we headed off to the killing fields of Choeung Ek just outside from Phnom Penh city. Between mid 1975 and 1978 about 17 000 men, women and children (including 9 westerners) detained and tortured at S-21 prison, were transported to the extermination camp of Choeung Ek to be executed. Many were bludgeoned to death, to avoid wasting 'precious' bullets. The remains of 8985 people, many of whom were found bound and blindfolded, were exhumed from mass graves in 1980. As we entered the killing fields we lit an incense stick in front of the Memorial Stupa, in memory of those who died and their families. In the memorial stupa are more than 8000 skulls arranged by sex and age. We both found it very difficult to look at the skulls and still couldn't believe that it had happened. We just walked slowly around not knowing what to make of it all really, other than it is horrific. There are still remains of clothes on the ground which was really disturbing. Apparently there are still lots of areas that haven't been unearthed yet!

Well, again we needed to lift our spirits once we left. In the afternoon we went to a children's orphanage. We took two big bags of fruit for them as we saw a sign and it said that was a good idea. We turned up in our Tuk Tuk and the instant they saw us we were swamped. They were so happy to see us, and would not lave us alone. They were pulling us here there and everywhere, jumping on us. Claire was playing games, I was plaiting hair. We had such a great time. They gave us drawings they had done. They sang and danced, they called us 'teacher'. Some of their stories as to why they are at the orphanage are shocking. Its not all because their parents aren't alive, for some it is because they just cannot afford to look after them anymore. Leaving them was probably one of the hardest things ever, driving off seeing their beaming smiles was heartbreaking. Don't worry we haven't got them in our backpacks, unfortunately!! However it was one of the best things we could have done. It was AMAZING!!!

There we go. Again sorry if I've gone on but its all part of setting the story so it seems as if you are there with us!!

Well country number 5 done.

Now we are both looking forward to stepping down a pace and not moving as fast as we head back to Thailand for the Southern beaches!!!!

Take care

Love and Miss you loads

Carly and Claire
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