Day 2 - 26th June

Just before coming to Cambodia, we found out about 'Cambodia Deaf Tours' on their website www.cambodiadeaftours.com - they can provide an interpreter called Meng who is skilled at CSL (Cambodian Sign Language), ASL (American Sign Language), BSL (British Sign Language) & International Sign Language!! So we hired his service for our trip to Toul Sleng (a prison), Killing Field & Russia Market.
Meng came and picked us up at our hotel @ 8am and off we went to Toul Sleng - Toul Sleng is basically a Communist prison encampment formed in 1975 where they captured, interrogated and abused people in support of the Democratic party. The torture was inhumane - pulling nails out with pliers and then pouring alcohol which stings, having to go a toilet in a small canister box (if they knocked it all over the floor, the prisoner then had to clean it all up with his/her tongue and then swallow it all). Chained to an iron bed and whipped with a long piece of wood, hanging them upside down until they start to lose consciousness and then push their head under water which is mixed with urine and poo.
All the communist solider who had to carry out the tortures were aged 15-18 - because they would do as they were told whereas an older solider could question or refuse such tortures.

Then we headed to the killing field where the prisoners from Toul Sleng were taken to be killed.
The male prisoners (who were blindfolded) were made to kneel down before a pit while the 1st solider would bash the back of their neck with a long piece of wood. As the prisoner fell into the pit, the 2nd solider would then cut the prisoner's throat open....and then the 3rd solider would put gunpowder up the prisoner's nose while they were still alive with their throat slashed open.

The females were raped before being killed and the babies were either thrown up in the air and landing on a bayonet knife that the solider would be holding up, or the solider would hold the babies legs and bash their head against a tree trunk.

It was hard to believe that this had all happened 37years ago.

We got back to the hotel and thanked Meng for a great tour - without him we wouldn't have understood anything. So it was all worthwhile.

Two of our roommates (Victoria & Elouise) we had gotten to know, were gonna go and have a massage and asked us if we'd like to come along - as if we were gonna say no to a massage!
Ross and William had a back and head massage while Victoria and Elouise had a foot and head massage. It was a top massage and we can't wait for our next one.

As today was gonna be our last night in Phnom Penh, Ross wanted to go to a restaurant called 'Romdeng' so he could try out Tarantula spiders. Victoria and Elouise came along too.

Ross ordered tarantula deep fried and along came 3 tarantulas - the sight of it was disgusting but at least they were dead and not alive!!
Ross ate one and said it was delicious. It tasted like a crispy potato.
The girls then tried the spider's leg and also said it was good So that left William who initially refused to try it, but since the girls who also hate spiders tried it, William had no choice but to try a piece of leg. William ate it and although it didn't taste bad, the fact that he's ate a spiders leg made him feel sick!!
(video to be uploaded soon)