Capital and Sihanoukville in Cambodia

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Hello once again!

So after a nights rest from the rain - it didn't stop until early hours of the morning , we went on a trip to visit the killing fields and S-21 prison. Although Cambodia is safe country now, it was only free from the Khmer Rouge in 1998. I didn't really understand what had happened with regards to Pol Pot so this was a good opportunity to learn the history of Cambodia. Briefly for people who do not know who Pol Pot was he basically believed in communism and trained an army of children to take over the country and try to take the country to the basics of humanity, everyone was taken out of there houses and cities and were sent to work in the fields, the borders were closed and know one was allowed in or out in the late 79s until Vietnam intervened. People who were educated or did not believe in PolPot were taken at in trucks and told they were going to teach or nurse, however they were taken to S-21 prison. This prison was a high school made into a prison. While looking around the prison is was rather hard to believe just how many people had been tour turned and taken there. Only around 7 people survived from the prison from the 1000's which had gone in. While in the prison you could still see all the original cells and chains used for the prisoners. We also met one of the survivors who managed to escape after a fight between the Vietnamese and Pol Pots army. There was also another survivor you could met to who was in the prison for 2 years and who painted the scenes he had witnessed. Although both men had seen awful things and lost most of there family they still go to the prison most days to tell everyone there stories and they never stopped smiling - our guide said that because of all the horrible things they had seen they smiled all the time because they were lucky to survive.

Once our tour had finished of the prison we headed to the killing fields. Once the guards had received what information they wanted from the prisoners they were taken blind folded to the killing fields and killed. This was a really sad place to visit as you walked around the graves and realise how many innocent people died. In the middle there is a memorial containing bones from the victims. I only took a picture of the memorial and a picture with the survivor as I felt it was disrespectful to take photos of such a hideous crime.

Although it was interesting to see both places it was really sad and quiet shocking what was going on during not only my parents life but it also continued into my life time too.

We headed for lunch and a wondered round the capital after a sad morning. We saw the grand palace - a huge palace with temples for the king. We all headed out for a group meal in the evening as one of the guys sadly slipped and fractured his angle in Angkor Wat so he had to fly home. We ate at the foreign corespondents club, this is where all of the journalists would hang out through the 50/60's until pol pot took over. Very interesting place all of the walls had photos that journalists had taken - ranging from the Cambodian civil war to just everyday life. The restaurant also had a fantastic view over the city a river.

After a early night we hit the road to head to Sihanoukville, the beach town! Sadly when we got there and finally arrived at the quiet beach it poured with rain and didn't stop - well that didn't stop me getting into the sea, the sea was so warm compared to go home so I thought I should make the most of it! In the evening we had a BBQ meal on the beach - I have never seen so much food on my plate - amazing would recommend if anyone goes there to try out the BBQ restaurants.

The next day we went on a boat trip to the local islands. Yes the sun stayed out and hot with no rain! At the first island we snorkaled over the coral reef. We were told not to touch the coral or the sea urchins - what did I manage to do - jump into the water and bash my toe on the coral - thank god I missed the sea urchin! It takes a little getting use to snorkaling but well worth it, you could see all of the fish swimming I between the coral. Found loads of sea urchins to and they were huge things covered in huge black spikes. Got back onto the boat and I my tour leader told me I had to clean the cut as coral easily infects cuts. Great I didn't exactly want to loose my toe so instead I covered it in iodine , oo well a scar to tell people of my travels!

The second island was where the beach was, so picturesque and exactly what you would expect to see on a southern Asian island. Not surprisingly I spent almost all the time in the sun and sea - had to make the most of it determined to come home with a tan! When we were in the sea we found this black thing in the water, when we looked with googles we saw it was a giant star fish - each tentical was the length of my for arm. When we got back on the boat we also saw some flying fish swimming across Nearer to the island. On the way back we headed to a final island - I just went for a swim a few others snorkaled but most people had stayed on the boat - it was a long hard day as you can tell 😉

Early morning to leave for vietnam tomorrow!

Speak soon!

Em

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