Wednesday 20th July - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
mahoosive bus journey today, 7 hours from HCMC to Phnom Phen, Cambodia. Of course I was asleep for the majority of the journey but we did have some fun at border control! Because I hadn't previously sent off for my Cambodian Visa I had to get it there, on arrival. My Intrepid leader and the bus company were great at organizing it and it was sorted before I knew it! A few stamps whacked heavily into my passport, quick trip through quarantine and out onto fresh Cambodian soil. Lush vegitation adn greenery surronunded me, stilt houses were scattered amongs the fields and waterways. The Meekong River was as strong as ever running along side the road. Temples and Pagodas appeared every mile or so, really emphasisng the importance of Religion here. Most of the population are Buddhists, however a large proportion are Muslims and the remaining few Catholics or Islams. The really peaceful thing about this country is that all religions live along side one another in harmony, and it hasn't never really been the cause for upset. We had a small ferry crossing and I was back to sleep again before we arrived at our hotel.

After a quick orintation walk of the city, and whitnessing my first road accident here (thankfully all motorbike riders involved walked away unharmed, incredible there aren't more accidents when you see the roads and the haphadzard driving approach taken). We settled down for dinner. Frogs legs to start followed by a traditional Cambodian Curry - was devine. Also similar to the Thai curry and my one in Vietnam, but I throughly enjoyed it. Due to Happy Hour in our restaurant and the consumption of 8 jugs of beer (by the group not just me!) we decided to move onto another bar for more drinks....it was only 8pm!

6 Jugs later we all staggered back to the hotel for a deep deep sleep.....

Wednesday 20th July - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
We all knew today was going to be hard, confronting and upsetting. I don't think any of us could have anticipated to what extent. I fought the tears back for the entirety of the day - most certainly the hardest day of my trip so far.

Arriving at the Choeung EK Genocial Center I had no idea the museum was the actual 'S-21 Prision' where Pol Pot conducted most of the torture and interrogation during his devastating regime. The building we arrived at had originally been a school, full of happy children eager to learn. During the regime it was converted into a prison to harbor all intelligent people for integration while they were tortured, before they were killed. "designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture, and killing after confession from the detainees were received and documented". We saw the orginal cells the people were kept in, the walls of pictures of those that had been killed, it got worse as it moved on to show the detailed methods of torture that were used on the prisioners. There was a wooden frame in the original yard of the school, which had ropes attached to it that the school kids used to climb up - the officers turned the frame into a device they hung the men from... they tied their feet and arms and hung them by their ankles. When they fell unconscious they then dipped their heads in pots of water to revive them. It was silencing.

Seeing the photos of all the individuals and knowing nothing had been moved was devastating. In 1978 alone there were 5765 prisoners, not including children. There were only 7 survivors in the prison, all others had been murdered. Only 2 of those survivors are still alive today and they were in the grounds. The sheer rawness of this trauma, and the recent nature was so upsetting. Even our tour guide had been involved, he was 8 at the time and had to work the fields after separating from his family to ensure their safety.

In the final room we visited there were bookcases full of skulls and bones, I simply couldn't look any more and had to step outside. Was heart wrenching.

All back on the bus and en-route to the Killing Fields. All I could think as we drove there was that this was the journey thousands of terrified people did blindfolded and in silence. Walking around the site our guide pointed out the floor we were walking up... there were bone fragments in the floor as well as cloth which was appearing out of the soil. I couldn't believe it. Due to the rains the cloth and bones become more and more exposed. People have been collecting it, but there was just so much. I feel I must quote something so that I can really covey the atrocities that occurred here: "...during 1975 - 1979 about 20 000 people including foreigners were executed and murdered. Obviouls, 129 mass graves and about 8000 human skills at the site bear testimony to this unspeakable crime.". We were then shown the "killing tree". It was used to kill babies. The officers used to smack the children against the tree to kill them. My eyes filled up.

There are many other killing fields that haven't yet been excavated, however the locals have decided not to as its just too painful. In the center of the fields there is a memorial holding all of the skulls which have been found, I chose not to walk in and around.


We had a very somber lunch before a mooch around the Russian Market, Watt Phnom and the National Museum... however today has centinally impacted the group and we will be reflecting upon what we saw for quite some time.

This evening we are off to our tour guides home for dinner, to sample some local Cambodian food.