Exploring Cambodia's Capital

Trip Start Dec 28, 2005

Trip End Sep 01, 2006

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Flag of Cambodia Phnom Penn, Cambodia
Monday, August 21, 2006

Woke up relatively early for us and reunited with Mhairi over a cup of PG tips and cheesy beans on toast (and actually cheddar - yes!!) Felt so spoilt! Haggled impressively with a tuk tuk driver to hire his services for the day and went on our way to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum; a former high school used as a prison and interrogation centre by the Khmer Rouge regime, also known as S-21. It has been preserved as it was when the Khmer Rouge were eventually driven out including extensive records and thousands of photographs of the prisoners. There are literally rooms filled with mug shots of victims - men, women, children, even babies; many look terrified, others defiant and others completely confused - it's really upsetting. Other rooms contained rusting iron bedframes, beneath black and white photographs showing the room as it was found by the Vietnamese. In each photograph, the mutilated body of a prisoner is chained to the bed. Other rooms preserve leg-irons and instruments of torture

. These are accompanied by paintings showing people being tortured. There are also exhibitions upstairs about the Khmer Rouge and the main instigators. There had once been a map made with 300 skulls and other bones to serve as a reminder of the events that had taken place at the prison. However this was taken apart in 2002, although the skulls of some victims are still on display in shelves in the museum. A really hard-hitting museum all in all.

After the museum we opted for a more light-hearted activity and went to explore the Grand Palace and the Silver pagoda - both of which are simply stunning and very peaceful. Actually got stuck in the Silver Pagoda whilst a storm raged on outside - best place to get stuck if you're gonna, I guess!

The next day we visited The Killing Fields, where many people (anywhere between 1.3 and 3 million out of a population of 8 million) were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge. Victims were usually bludgeoned to death to save on bullets and then buried in mass graves. At the site there is a commemorative stupa filled with the skulls and bones of victims, underneath which lies their raggedy clothes. As you walk around, you still see bones, skulls and scraps of clothing on the ground. There was such an air of sadness there as we walked around under a gloomy sky and smatterings of rain

.

That afternoon we volunteered an hour of our time to work with some street kids. Basically we signed up, went to a meeting to be briefed and then went to the local Mosque grounds to be met by kids with huge smiles. We sang songs, helped them learn the words for body parts, did a couple of fun activities and then played games with them in their 'free time' - a really wonderful afternoon and a really successful project. I hope the programme continues to do so well.

In the evening we decided to try out the club we'd heard about called Heart of Darknes - hmmmm... It looked like quite a cool building but definitely had a dodgy feel to it. Dancing on the dance floor was a bit of a challenge due to many sleazy men - called for some big arm movements - they eventually got the picture and we managed to gain a small amount of personal space! Funny place, pretty good evening - give it a go!