Today we flew from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, our original flight was cancelled and they just put us on a charter flight without telling us, the time was exactly the same. The flight took 45 minutes and was a little bumpy before our captain got us down. We were met at the airport by our driver and 30 minutes later, through heavy traffic, we arrived at our hotel.
After checking in and partially unpacking, remember we are backpackers, we hit the streets to get a feel for the place. We walked along the riverside then up the side streets into some dated markets, they were cooking some strange and exotic meals and snacks.
We stopped at a bar for a large Cambodian beer and to ask the way back to our hotel, after studying our map for twenty minutes the waitress pointed 30 yards up the road and said that's it. I'm glad Sandra was in charge of map reading that day. While in the bar we had to move three times due to an army of red ants passing through. But we did get an impromptu cookery lesson as the 2 young cooks sat right next to our table preparing fresh noodles & dumplings presumably to cook later.
The killing fields is our trip for today. We left the hotel around 9.30 am and looked for a comfortable tuk tuk, Sandra checks the seats and the back rest, bounces up and down on each side to test the suspension, asks about the service history and wants to see the MOT certificate. Two hours later we're on our way with a guesstimation time of 40 minutes. Twice the tuk tuk driver got lost and made u turns on very busy roads and even stopped to ask someone the way. After a while the roads where nearly as bad as Hart Lane and, with dust flying up, the driver turned round and passed a face mask to Sandra indicating for her to put it on, maybe you're putting him off when he looks in his rear view mirror I said.
Upon arrival we went for a drink in a bar which turned out to belong to the drivers sister, so it was a bit strange that he kept getting lost.
On entering the killing fields as we know it or the genocide centre on the signage, we pay our six dollars entrance fee and are given an audio player and headphones. Then you follow the route which is numbered and press the corresponding number on your tape, which talks you through the harrowing scenes of what happened in the not so distant past.
The silence is deafening as we stroll past the mass graves and listen to the stories of the atrocities that occurred here, and we see the tree used in the past for the worst crimes imaginable now covered in bracelets & momentos that visitors have left in memory of the victims, and lastly we see the thousands of skulls on show.
This was a place that we had to see, but didn't want to see.

The tuk tuk driver dropped us off near the quayside, where we had a stroll through the market then went for lunch at the Noodle House. Curry noodles was my choice and Sandra chose the Dim Sum, both were good. With the Dim Sum being extra large we struggled to finish them, the two large bottles of Cambodian beer washed it down well.
After lunch we went for a cruise on a boat with two couches on the top deck, the cruise took us down the Tonle Sap river then into the mighty Mekong river where we visited the floating village. With a couple of beers it was a nice way to pass the afternoon, once or twice I even came close to getting up off the couch.
Next day we went to S21 prison and we arranged with the tuk tuk driver to pick us up at 9.30, and believe it or not we got lost again, questions were asked about his suitability as a driver which were answered with a shrug of the shoulders. On arrival at S21 we were besieged by a crowd of beggars, where unfortunately it pays not to be the prettiest.
In the prison it was probably more grim than the killing fields, with the tiny cells and the manacles that were used to shackle the prisoners on show and the many gruesome pictures and testimonies, it did not take a lot of imagination to realise the terrible torture and treatment the victims received.
S21 is a place again like the killing fields glad we came, but equally happy to be out.
We are now in the hotel packing and it's time to leave Cambodia and fly back to Vietnam.