Phnom Penh - a time to reflect

We manage to make it through a 6 hour bus journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh despite the bus driver insisting on putting on a Cambodian karaoke DVD at full volume for the entire journey. We did make a rest stop, which was nice, where there were an array of stalls selling pineapples and deep friend beetles - a tasty treat for any bus journey. I had pineapple.

We had heard many horror stories about Phnom Penh including beggars and sellers constantly on you, as well as police using stun guns to stop the hoards of tuk tuk drivers that surge when you get off a bus and cyclo drivers sticking a gun in the face of passengers demanding money. The Lonely Planet even has a "tip" section of what to do if someone with a gun tries to rob you (you don't reach into your pockets is one of them, as they think you are going for a weapon - useful tip that). Being in Phnom Penh for us was like being in any other city in the world in that you have to be aware of what is going on around you and be cautious and don't act like a complete tourist! Generally, we found Phnom Penh to be very similar to other Asian capitals with a mix of Western run and very polished restaurants along the river to the street stalls with their plastic stools.

The main reason we went to Phnom Penh was to Tuol Seng - S21 (the former school, turned prison and now museum) and Choeung Ek. Here the Khmer Rouge incarcerated intellectuals (anyone from a Professors to Doctors and Nurses and Engineers. Also anyone who wore glasses was considered an intellectual. Other people who were put in the prison were those who they found to be opposed or even allegedly opposed to the Khmer Rouge. The people at this prison were held in stark conditions and subjected to horrific torture. The implements remain to bear grim witness to the outrages perpetrated here.

The prisoners from Tuol Seng where then taken to Choeung Ek or what is known as The Killing Fields. This was a very harrowing experience. The sheer scale of the manic mindset of the Khmer Rouge is hard to take in. Big pits were dug and people were made to kneel next to them before being executed with hoes, axes or bullets. Not all of the fields have been excavated so we both had to take a minute when we were told that what looks like a tree root or stone in the dirt was, in fact, a human bone or all the half buried cloth we were walking on were the remains of the people's clothes.

The guide walking us around explained that he was there in 1980, when he was 16, when the first pit was uncovered. The smell and sights from that day still haunt him even now. We asked him how he could be a tour guide in The Killing Fields day after day. He said that a lot of his family were killed by the Khmer Rouge and he is still very angry about what happened and he wants people to know what happened.

It was a very sobering experience but also an important sight for people to see. It was overwhelming that this happened in our lifetime. On the return journey to Phnom Penh, we were both very quiet as we both reflected on the horrors that we had seen.

One thing that we highly recommend to anyone if you find yourself in Phnom Penh and that is to go to a restaurant called Friends. Here street children are given the opportunity to learn a trade through the restaurant from waiter to cook as well as electricians and carpenters. The charity also runs outreach programmes including Aids education as well as reuniting street children with their families and the follow up reintegration that that requires. Friends do sterling work and we were only too happy to be able to support the charity by doing something we do best - eating and drinking! The food was sublime modern tapas which included dishes such as grilled fish with salsa verde and bbq meatballs. The drinks were slightly unusual but very tasty - Paul had a pineapple and chilli margarita and I had a strawberry and green peppercorn margarita. Very strange sounding but very delicious tasting (and very big, as you will see!).

We then enjoyed some tourist activities and went to the National Museum which houses some great Khmer sculpture and then we went to the Grand Palace where we saw the famous Silver Pagoda which contains a floor tiled with 5000 solid silver tiles weighing five tons! You couldn't walk on it though, funnily enough and you weren't allowed to take pictures but we definitely saw it!!

And so, we plan to travel by bus to the town of Kampot in the south.

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