Geckozy

---

After some difficult goodbyes in Siem Reap, we got on the road to Phnom penh. We spent a few days here and based ourselves in the lakeside area; a backpacker part of town soon to be bulldozed as the land is apparently too valuable to be wasted on budget guests. It was a little run down, but had a lot of personality. It appeared to us that they were trying to change the face of tourism for a much cleaner image of Cambodia, other than that of child prostitution and shooting ranges where you can buy a cow and blow it up with a B-40 grenade launcher.

We squeezed in a lot of things during our short stay, but little did we know that a visit to the bank would be one of our Phnom penh highlights. Outside the main bank there was a sign which had a picture of a gun with a red cross over it that read "please leave your gun outside the bank". Of course we thought this was a joke, but there were two stone faced security guards standing by.

We went to see Security office number 21 (S-21), an experience that made your stomach turn. It was an old school that the Khmer rouge turned into an interrogation centre, where unfortunate Cambodians were tortured until they confessed their “crimes” towards the regime. Everyone that ended up here faced almost certain death at the killing fields- less than 5%!s(MISSING)urvived.
The killing fields about an hour away was another horrific sight. There was a memorial placed in the middle of the field, filled with a couple of thousand skulls. This was only to be compared with Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen or Treblinka.

Sihanoukvillle

There were a number of expats living in Pnomh penh and we partied with a few of them before heading down to Sihanoukville on the south coast.
Back on the beach, we got busy doing nothing. This was a sweet and very characterised beach town. Cambodia isn't known for it's beaches, especially as we found ourselves alone on Otres beach which went on for some kilometres. There's no golden sand, or Thai style clear waters here, but there were lots of cool people and beach huts/restaurants where you could sleep for free as long as you ate there. On the flipside there were resort style hotels too.

Who's next to roll one?

---

Photos

prison cells
S-21

closed in
S-21

The security of regulation
S-21: Rules for the prisoners

skulls
Killing fields

Getting hair done
In Thailand before heading to Lao

Finished product
In Thailand before heading to Lao

Comments

[Fahmida]

woah..
those skulls.. dam man that place must of been a bit freaky, but hey i guess it's all part of learning the history! anyway it's good you put some pics up, a pleasure to always log on and see what you and erik are up to. love fam .x

[Bwalya frm Bacon's College]

Fit Lady
I'm sooooooo jealous of you guys cool travels but I'm loving the travel blogs. I must say Shakira that you are looking very sexy in your bikini.

[Still trippin]

Thank you both babes!!
Glad you're both enjoying the blogs.... sorry it's not up to date, but we're getting there x

[Clifton]

Fantastic trip
Shakirah, i've been really enjoying following your journey with Erik. You've done so much and aren't blogs fantastic for keeping everyone up to date.