Sunday, September 29, 2013

Phenom Penh - the killing fields and S21

Take two - some how the first post I wrote for this this morning deleted itself.

We travelled from Siem Reap to Phenom Penh by bus with a company called Giant Ibis, they were great. Picked us up from our hotel (a few mins late but not too bad) then took us to the bus station, when we got on the big bus we were given a bottle of water each and a croissant. They had wifi on the bus, but it was too slow to do much other than send emails. Our trip to Phenom Penh was in eventful, a nice drive through some nice scenery. Lots of water lilies in bloom. 

We arrived in Phenom Penh and got a tuk tuk to our hostel. We decided to stay in a backpackers as we tended to meet more people doing this. We checked into eighty 8 and headed up to our room.  We were on the top floor, and that's a lot of stairs when your carrying a pack! It didn't help that the girlwho was showing us our room practically ran up the stairs! The room was basic and had everything we needed, except a door to the bathroom. There was just a curtain, which proved pretty useless when the fan was on! 

Once we were all settled we went down stairs to use the pool and wifi that was only available in common areas. We went for a swim, the pool was great! Then we met a Dutch brother and sister and a couple of other people, had dinner with them and then decided to share a tuk tuk for the following day with the Dutch.  

The next morning we got up fairly early to head out to the killing fields.  A very emotive site.  When you arrive you are given a headset to listen to as you walk around the grounds. Some horrific things took place at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.  It was hard to listen to and look at, but I am glad we went to understand more about Cambodias history.  

It was also good to have company in the tuk tuk. After the killing fields we went to S21 which is an old school that was used by the Khmer Rouge. They used it as a prison and to torture their prisoners. One part I found particularly difficult were the hundreds of photos. Every person who was arrested by the Khmer Rouge was photographed, so there were boards and boards of victims all who lost their lives at the hands of these people. It was horrific. 

Shaun and I decided not to take photos of either the killing fields or S21.

We decided that after that morning we needed see something that was a bit more positive, so headed to the royal palace. When we go there though we were all a bit hot and bothered and hungry so decided to head back to the hostel for a swim and some lunch.

We ended the day chilling out in the hostel which was good. Really nice food, and decently priced beers. The next morning we were headed for Sihanoukville so headed to bed fairly early. 

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