Phenom Penh, Cambodia

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While Phnom Penh we learnt a detailed account of the Khmer Rouge - Pol Pot’s cruel regime which ruled for only a few yet destructive years during the seventies. It was shocking to acknowledge the chilling bloodshed, horror and people turmoil that rippled through the country in what, historically can be seen as recent times. It was also disturbing to find that it took almost 30 years to bring to justice the high officials responsible for ripping lives, families and communities apart - some legal cases are still continuing to this day.

We visited the killing fields and as I wandered through, I was appalled and shocked at the many shallow graves lined like the lining of a chocolate box. Up to 180 peoples remains were found in individual mass graves which were no more than 1.5m in depth.

The place now can be described as a tranquil garden, abundant with butterflies and deathly silent with only the faint tweeting of birds. It was really hard to realise that such ugly stores and facts emerged from this peaceful place and it was distasteful to see tourists taking many pictures of this morbid ‘tourist’ attraction.

On our return back to the city we visited S-12, a former secondary school which was transformed into a notorious prison and detention centre for torturing those who threatened the fundamental beliefs of the Khmer Rouge. We shivered at the many lines of photographs of petrified prisoners and many visions of torture.

Our day was depressing learning and seeing the effects of recent genocide but it was essential to learn this history which still effects Cambodian people today.

The following day we decided to visit an orphanage. After the mandatory haggle with the tuk-tuk driver and after explaining that ‘no we did not want to buy a child’ we set off for an orphanage called Sunflower which homed 15 children who suffer from HIV.

We decided on this orphanage as it was not popular with tourists and we realised it was off the beaten track when even the driver couldn’t find it and got lost! Eventually after a rickerty journey through villages compiled of wooden shacks, barefoot naked children and dogs running riot and foul smells we arrived. It was really good fun playing with the children and was sobering to see their wide happy smiles and hear their giggles despite them having such little, there wasn’t any evidence of any clothes, toys or possessions and they have only mats on the floor as beds and living with a terminal disease. The children were aged between nine and about fifteen and all happy to play such simple games like duck duck goose and what’s the time Mr Woolf despite some of them being teenagers. It made us really appreciate life and how materialistic we can be in our privileged Western world.

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