La Paillote Hotel Phnom Penh

... they were. But the worst bit was the photos. The Khmer Rouge photographed all the prisoners, from babies to old people. And it is absolutely heartbreaking looking at how sacred the people looked. Visitors had scrawled things on some of the walls about how they felt about what happened. Completely enraged me and tori that people would deface the place. We didn't even feel it right to take photos. No need for photos, don't think I'll be forgetting it in a rush.

We then got a tuktuk ...

... it very clear that we must keep a clear line as otherwise everyone will push and small children may get squashed. Within ten minutes all the pregnant women arrived. Most of them had babies in their arms resting them on top of their new bumps. We were introduced to a beautiful girl who was heavily pregnant as well as having an 18month in her arms... she was 17! (Maybe they should be handing out condoms as well as food, we thought!)
We worked as a team, the driver ...

... you can realy feel the amotion of the people that you meet.

the history of cambodia in 1976 -79 was horific as a ragime called the camir rouge took over the country and tryed to tern it back in to the 6th centry, killing 1/4th of the population in 3 years mass generside bassicaly, its realy hard not to feel for the people off cambodia + only five of the carmi ...

... Tuol Sleng' prison/torture camp from during the Khmer Rouge rule. Having already read the 'Daughter of the Killing Fields', I had a good idea of what had gone on in S21, but the poster boards, film and photos around the complex did an amazing job at describing what people went through there. The prison is actually a converted school, with playground equipment in the yard, the only immediately obvious difference being the barbed wire netting over the fronts of ...

... or look like. And so far I had missed by a long shot. So we had van loaded with enough weapons to take over Andorra and off we went a good ways on a desolate, deer lease looking road. We followed, supposedly, two 4 or 5 star generals, who were on a moped, to a clearing, where they parked the moped far out of the way of danger.

The clearing was a sandy lot stretched towards a tree covered hill, almost a mountain. Is there an in between? Either way, it was tall, tall enough to ...

... Central Committee here in Prey Veng for the past 2 ½ years. I met him at his small private house later that day and proceeded to bombard him with questions about the town; where could I order a newspaper, how does transportation work here, who are the other foreigners, and where oh where could I go for western style junk food? He was very patient and filled me in on all of the details that only a foreigner would appreciate and saved me the frustration of having to call my ...

... to know at the beginning of a stay in the country. The events had taken place relatively recently and to see the unbearable similarities between the genocide in Cambodia and the holocaust.

The other main place I wanted to see was the royal palace and famous silver pagoda. It is still a functioning palace so there was a limited area we were able to view. We got to see the throne room, some gardens and the silver pagoda ...

... and the shops.

Monday morning we got up early to put or passports in to get our Laos Visa and then walked over to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21 Security Prison 21) where about 20,000 people were held during the Khmer Rouge rein. It used to be a school before they turned it into a prison. Countless atrocities occurred here over the 4years. Here we watched the S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine ...

... Sleng
Toul Sleng was a secondary school that was transformed into the biggest interrogation centre in Phnom Penh. Thousands of mainly middle class Cambodians were tortured here before being sent to their death at Choeung Ek. In one of the rooms is displayed hundreds of photographs of prisoners, men women & children, who passed through this dreadful place.
The Khmer Rouge numbered all of the prisoners, just like the Nazis ...

... prices are quite high in comparison with its neighboring countries. My book guide says that prior to the civil war it was considered to be the Paris of Indochina. I sincerely don't find any similarity whatsoever, except that one might encounter a baguette in a local bakery. After visiting some of the most important cities (Vientiane, Hanoi, Saigon, Phnom Penh) of the former French province of Indochina, I have the feeling that ...