Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Wow what a couple of days we have had! We took a slow boat trip from Saigon to Cambodia which turned out to be more of a bus trip the first day! The second day was supposed to be the same but we changed our ticket to a fast boat which took us all the way to Cambodia by boat. The trip was very mis sold but you live and learn. We arrived in Cambodia at 15:00 and had a bit of a chilled out evening.
Yesterday we went to visit the Russian and central markets which was good. Bought a bright pink Casio watch for $2 bargain. We visited the shopping centre which was also good. The evening turned out to be a little more adventurous as after some brilliant food we came back to the hotel for some cheap drinks and then at 1am headed to a local nightclub called Pontoon. This place was some sort of pick up club but turned out to be a great laugh! Ben and I just danced like idiots for ages!
Today we got a tuk tuk driver called Peter from outside our guesthouse to originally take us to the killing fields and the S-21 prison museum. He mentioned that he would take us to the shooting range if we fancied it so we all went (Jamie, Alice, Ash, Ben and me) Ben and Jamie decided to share 20 bullets on an AK47 while Alice and I shared an M16! It was incredible and we all really enjoyed it! I would recommend it! We all came out buzzing and then headed to the killing fields. This place was really interesting but at the same time so sad! I won't go into the details of the history but if you are interested , research the Khmer Rouge or Cambodian Genocide! It was not a nice period and only began 35 years ago! They discovered over 8,000 bodies in mass graves at this place and half of the liking fields have still not been excavated! They estimate that over 20,000 people were executed and buried there . We all came out really quiet and really couldn't get our heads round why? We then headed to the S-12 prison museum that was and old school converted into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. The place gave me the creeps. The torture that took place there was brutal. At the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979 there were only 7 survivors! The classrooms were turned into 11 cells using brick. The shackles still remain cemented in each cell to this day! There were mugshot type photos of all the prisoners including children and there were thousands! It was really hard to see but really worth going to understand the background surrounding Phnom Penh!
We are leaving Phnom Penh in the morning and heading to Siem Reap. If anyone is reading this that is thinking of coming to Phnom Penh I would recommend trying to find Mr Peter to take you to these places as he really made the day and really knows his stuff on the history! You can usually find him outside "11 happy backpacker " which is a really cool hostel on the corner of streets 136 and 15 outside 11 happy guesthouse.
Miss you all millions x x x x
- comments