I'm now back in Kuala Lumpur and waiting to catch the plane to South Africa - I have a twelve hour layover here.

On Sunday we headed to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Once again, we didn't have the best journey - our seats were right at the back of the bus, which meant they didn't recline, and we had the biggest Asian men we'd ever seen (who clearly hadn't showered in a week) sitting right in front of us. Naomi and I nearly had our legs amputated a few times!!

Once we'd crossed the border, the drive was beautiful. I was surprised how quickly the scenery changed within literally a couple of minutes. While Vietnam had constant towns, with no breaks in between, Cambodia actually had farm land, which had seen lots of rain, and was very green.

We arrived just after dark, and headed in tuk tuks (scooters with a carriage on the back of them) to the hotel we'd booked on the internet. Our first lesson of the day was not to book hotels on the internet, as the one we arrived in was nothing like it had promised on the internet, and they wanted to charge us twice as much. It was so dodgy that Naomi, Fergal and I went on a hotel hunt in a rain storm to find a better one! We ended up with one close to the river which was very nice and very well priced.

We then set about seeing the city on Monday. We hopped on tuk tuks out to the killing fields. That was again a very interesting trip, as the dust and pollution on the streets was overwhelming, and we weren't in an enclosed taxi as we'd been in Vietnam. It was worth the trip however once we arrived at the killing fields.

I didn't really know what I was going to see. And after checking it out, I am horrified that I was never taught about what happened in Cambodia at school, especially as it happened right before I was born, in 1979 and 1980.

The first building we saw was a tower, and it was stacked floor to ceiling (about ten stories high with shelves every metre or so) of people's skulls. They were grouped into "female aged under 20" and "male aged 60 or over" and so on. Skulls as high as you could see. All of them killed around 28 years ago right where we were standing.

Innocent people (including women and children) were taken here and killed, just for believing in the wrong thing. It was hidden - thousands of people dead and no-one knew it was happening. They were even dousing the bodies in chemicals, one to eliminate smells so nearby workers couldn't smell the rotting bodies, and two, to kill anyone who might still be alive. We walked from one mass grave to another. The thing that upset us most was that as it happened so recently, we were literally walking on clothes of the people who had died - they were now mixed in with the paths.

Once we finished at the killing fields, we went to the prison, where thousands more were killed, again, without the knowledge of the public. We went into the cells where it happened, including the torture rooms. The regular rooms looked like horse stables. I know there are children who get on and read this site, so for that reason, I am not going to go into too much depth on here, only to say that the sick people who were involved with the killings took photos of all their victims as they were dying, and they were all on display at the prison.

Thousands and thousands of them, each more horrific than the next. As adults, we all struggled to look at them. I have taken photos of what was in those rooms, as I think more people need to be made aware of what has happened in our time, but again, I am not going to put them on here, as they are much too graphic for children, and will also upset most adults. If any adults want to see them when I get back, I will show them to them.

The thing that concerned me most was that such atrocities had happened not so long ago, and I had to come to Cambodia and stumble across it by accident to know of its existence. Never had I heard of this before. I have no doubt that had the same thing happened in America or another western country, that we would still be hearing about it today.

While in Cambodia we also visited an orphanage, which like the ones we visited in Vietnam, was not a nice place to be as far as the surroundings and living conditions went -three to five kids in each bed, things falling apart, clothes that were too big, etc. The kids were lovely though, very friendly and huge smiles, and very interested in us.

I found the Cambodian people to be really nice, probably the friendliest of all the Asian countries I've been to. We caught the bus back to Vietnam on Wednesday, and flew to Malaysia this morning.

As much as I've enjoyed this trip, I am more than happy to be leaving Asia. I've never been a fan of it, and I am over people harassing me every time I walk down the street, of people trying to rip me off every two minutes and the dirt and chaos. I will come back, but only for the kids and people I have met, not for all the other stuff that comes along with it. Three weeks in one go is definitely enough!

I am now looking forward to getting back to South Africa and catching up with all my friends and host family there!