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During our week in Cambodia we had so many great experiences. Our first stop was Siem Reap and the ancient temples of Angkor. Our first couple of days were spent exploring the temples by tuk tuk, which was a great way to see the sights. We decided to start off with the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. We couldn't believe how huge it was and the stone carvings were really beautiful and in such good condition. It's hard to believe that they've been there for around a thousand years. After spending two days clambering around exploring the temples we have to admit that we got a bit templed out. So we decided to indulge in a massage, which was just what we needed to ease the aches and pains of carrying a backpack around for the past 7 weeks. Another thing that we loved about our time in Siem Reap was the food and so we decided to take a cooking class where we visited the local market and learnt to make traditional Khmer dishes.
We then took a long bus journey to the capital of Phnom Penh. Although we enjoyed our time here it was very upsetting to learn about the city's traumatic past. We first visited the Tuol Sleng museum, a former torture prison, where we had a guided tour of the prison by a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime. Our guide also told us her own horrific story of being taken from her home in Phnom Penh; being seperated from her family and being made to do forced labour on a farm. We also visited the Choeng Ek Killing Fields where thousands of people were taken to be murdered and put into mass graves. As we walked around there were still pieces of the victims clothing and fragments of bones that had been uncovered by the rain. It was very sad but it was something we had to do to understand more of the history of Cambodia.
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