Previously, in Phnom Penh...

Phnom Penh

We stayed at the Manor House Boutique (ooh) Hotel in PP. This was a cosy place near the centre of the action, with a cute little pool tucked away behind some trees. Despite having seen many run down buildings as we came in from the airport, the centre of the city seemed to be thriving, with loads of cool cafes and bars to choose from, and designer shops scattered around. That night we had tasty Amok (local curry) and Lok Lac (beef dish, v good).

We knew only a little about Cambodia’s history, so we made a point on our first full day of going to Tuol Sleng, or S21, a grim but fascinating museum on the site of a Khmer Rouge prison and torture facility, where Duch did his work and is estimated to have tortured between 12 and 20 thousand people before sending them to be executed. In another previous place, this had been a school, so it was particularly galling to hear and see what had been done to so many poor souls there (and elsewhere) between 1975 and 1979. The audio tour was excellent, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone else who happens to be there. Not to be missed - a plaque from UNESCO marked this as a part of the memory of the world - not to be forgotten, and instead to be learned from in the hope of preventing future tragedy.

Next day, we followed the obvious route, and took a tuk-tuk (heh) ride out to a place known as the killing fields, about 45 minutes out of the city. This was where people were taken in the middle of the night for execution, after ridiculous confessions had been tortured from them. Another grisly stop, but undeniably worthwhile, again made all the more real by another good audio tour. The main exhibit here was a powerful monument in the centre, standing tall and displaying the skulls of over 9000 victims, each of which had been subject to pathological exam to determine age and likely cause of death. They didn’t use bullets here, as those were expensive and noisy. Not for the faint hearted, but again very worthwhile from an educational point of view.

More to come...