I waved goodbye to the girls as it was now time to go are seperate ways and tagged along with two Danish guys to Cambodia, Christian and Oliver who we had met on various occasions in Vietnam.
Of course I couldn't leave Saigon without one more issue so as I walked towards my seat on the sleeper bus to find a couple sat there, I was hardly shocked. They'd kindly left me with their seat to sit in which had suitcases so low above it I would have felt like I was in a coffin and the aircon system so close to it I couldn't have heard myself think. Quite frankly, it shouldn't have been sold as a seat.
Well I wasn't having that, so it turned into a half an hour battle against me and the most arrogant French guy I have ever met and the whole bus watching on as my audience. Felt like A level drama again. Never one to back down or be trampled across, I of course came away victorious and the couple left the bus whilst I received high fives and congratulations from my audience. Well at least that was one way to make friends!
We arrived in Phnom Pen and checked into the White Rabbit hostel. It had a lounge with TV and tonnes of films to watch so it was really nice to have a chilled night infront of the TV. It felt like a home comfort!
The next day we went to the S-21 museum which had once been a school and then had been made into a prison by the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot.
It was such an interesting museum, particularly as there were lots of first hand stories from survivors of the prison and those who had worked in the prison and been recruited by the Khemer Rouge. The conditions sounded horrific and some of the cells were so tiny, it's made worse by the fact that most of the prisoners were inprisoned for things they hadn't done but tortured so badly hat eventually they confessed regardless. But despite all this, I still found myself feeling sorry for some of those who had ran the prisoners as many had been teenagers who only worked there as they feared for their own life.
It was such an interesting museum, particularly as there were lots of first hand stories from survivors of the prison and those who had worked in the prison and been recruited by the Khemer Rouge. The conditions sounded horrific and some of the cells were so tiny, it's made worse by the fact that most of the prisoners were inprisoned for things they hadn't done but tortured so badly hat eventually they confessed regardless. But despite all this, I still found myself feeling sorry for some of those who had ran the prisoners as many had been teenagers who only worked there as they feared for their own life.
Afterwards, we went to the killing fields, which is where many of the prisoners from S-21 were taken in crowded vans, unbeknown to them, to be killed.
We were given head sets which talked us through the killing fields as we walked along and this really set the seen and was far more powerful than just reading information. It's in humane how many people were killed there and they would literally be blindfolded and stood at the edge of a mass grave and then smashed round the head, where they'd then fall straight into the grave.
But what really got me was the grave that was filled with babies. Next to it was a large tree and we were told how the babies would be swung by the feet and smashed against the tree then chucked into the grave. It's disgusting and unimaginable.
We spent the rest of our time in Phom Pen wandering around the town and royal palace which had really nice decorative buildings. As we hid from a rain fall, I saw a woman tucking into an egg which contained a half formed chick, head and all. Apparently it's a delicousu there. One that I didn't try...
As it was the run up to the elections, we saw hundreds of demonstrators everywhere having parties and going past on motorbikes waving flags. The atmosphere there was really postive and I actually thought it was quite a nice town just with not too much to do, so one night was enough.
Onwards to Siem Reap...
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