Phenom Penh

The bus to Phenom Penh takes 6 hours. After the relative calm so far, Phenom Penh is a culture shock - there are 1000s of motorbikes and tuk tuks. We headed to our chosen area for accommodation but it turns out to be a bit of a ghetto, even Adrian isn't overly bothered. Not too far away we come across a lovely little guest house and we have the penthouse suite, with air conditioning and a cold shower.

Immediately we hail a tuk tuk and head off to the Vietnamese embassy as it could take four days to get the visas.  Our luck is in and we are told to return 2 hours later for our passports.  We pass the time in a market which is mainly for tourists but it's great haggling with the stall holders.

Our lovely tuk tuk man makes himself available for a small charge, for the following day and we head off to Cheung Ek the killing field of Phenom Penh. This was a very emotional place to visi,t a vast monument displaying 8000 skulls is the centre piece. The place is full of mass graves that have been excavated and some that haven't. The ground is full of pieces of clothing that the floods bring to the surface. A short film shows the evacuation of Phenom Penh that took place and shows the people working in the rice fields. Reality strikes on how recently this has happened - the film is in colour.

Our next port of call is S21 prison, a former high school, although it is difficul to see that this place was every a place of learning and inspiration. There are 'mug shot' type pictures of the people who passed through the prison, the Khmer Rouge were as thorough as the Nazis for their record keeping here. I try to view every picture, all these people deserve to be looked at, but the whole thing is completely overwhelming. One face in particular, for some reason, stands out for me, so I print her here for all the people who suffered here.

Our final day in Phenom Penh finds us visiting the Royal Palace which is quite spectacular, in the Silver Pagoda we find the floor is laid with 1000 silver tiles, mostly hidden by carpets but in places visible - they are so beautiful.