Hang Pech Guest House Phnom Penh

... hung speakers from another tree that played music to drown out the sounds of the killings so the other prisoners would not freak out and start to struggle.

The next stop was the prision, S-21. When the prisoner was first discovered, the Khmer Rouge had already fallen and had fled. In 1979, the prison was found with 14 bodies inside. Each one in a different room and each one had been tortured to death, among the 14 there was 1 woman. Also found were ...

... experience I think I've ever had. It was at Choeung Ek in 1980 that the bodies of 8985 people were exhumed from a number of mass graves, all of them victims of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. The victims were taken to this site to be executed and buried, many of them first having suffered prolonged torture at S-21 prison back in the city. The Khmer Rouge perpetrated genocide against their own people on a massive scale during their four years in power in an ...

... river that the driver recommended. The Riverside Hotel had a view and AC, two things we had not planned on. After checking in and discussing at length all the "deals" we could get at the hotel if we booked various trips, we headed down the road for dinner. The roads were crazy and we darted across streets as scooters flew by.

We chose a table at a little café and promptly ordered a pitcher of beer for a ridiculously cheap rate. With it they ...

We took a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh on our way to Siem Reap. We decided that there wasn't really anything there that we were very interested in seeing. It was a huge city with LOTS of congestion. We decided that we didn't need to make another 6 hour bus journey to go back from Siem Reap. So we had a few hours in the city to cruise around in between bus rides. We feel that we got a very vague feel for the city, which is good enough.

... br>even more died of starvation. The Khmer Rouge was finally overturned
when Vietnam invaded in 1979.

It
was very eerie walking around the former school. The rooms still have
a classroom feel with their linoleum floors but the rooms now house
graphic photographs of victims who died there chained to metal cots.
Also on display are the instruments of torture that were used on the
20,000+ people. It was the largest prison complex in the country and
at ...

... leave… Coinci-mental. Becky was out to visit him and was making her way home a few days after me. The Zeppelin bar, some hours later, Peter the Bulgarian owner raised in the country of Africa and owner of countless bars in his time as well as speaker of 8 languages. A good bloke all round really. Drinks did flow like the Mekong River and White Russians that looked like ice-cream sundaes came at me like silver bullets to Werewolves and I did my best to put my 6:00am ...

... banks. Lovely little houses on stilts, a few animals and veges out back and a fishing boat/raft to come and go. It looks so quaint and peaceful and all the kids are splashing about in the water waving as boats go past and not a playstation in sight. I really cant emphasize how friendly the Cambodian people are. The country definately deserves its nickname as the land of smiles. Our hair colour is definately playing a part in the staring and smiles we get tho ...

... they have no been buried in the school yard. The killing fields and S21 prison are not complete museums or memorials because much of the two sites are still being used as evidence as some of the perpurtratos of the Khmer Rouge have only just started their trials, when it is finished, many of the skulls and bodies will be buried or cremated according to their religion. Ther were also boards of ...

... central area of Phnom Penh after 2 nights in Lakeside. But that stuff is all part of the experience, I can't expect everywhere to be nice and comfortable. Especially in Cambodia!

I regret spending 4 days in Phnom Penh but unfortunately I had to wait to get my visa for Vietnam processed so I had 2 extra days to kill in this city and once you've seen the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng prison, there's not that much else to see.

I hired a moto driver ...

... where food can be purchased in the village. Again, we were the cause of much curiosity. We were offered crabs, squid, fish or prawns - all with rice. There is little variation in the food in Kep, it seems. As we ate, the family sat around us on a type of Cambodian charpoy in the gathering darkness as we picked inexpertly at the crustaceans we had been served with. By seven thirty, apart from a few assembled people watching an over-amplified karate video and the distant thrum of a few ...