Phnom Penh

This morning was the return of DJ Camera (we learnt his name was actually Camara but that's not as amusing). Yesterday we booked him to go to the killing fields and some museums so at half 8 he was waiting outside our hostel for us. Our first stop was Choeung Ek (the killing fields) about a 40 minute ride out of Phnom Penh. As someone who knows nothing about what went on in Cambodia between 1975-79 I was a little taken aback by the brutality that occurred. We were given an audio guide to listen to whilst walking round the field like area (it's now more an uneven grassy area where the mass graves of thousands of people that were killed are clearly marked). Basically, for those who don't know, a group of people, led by Pol Pots, wanted Cambodia to be communist so ended up carrying out mass genocide to those people who had more money or who were better educated (this ended up being nearly 2 million people). It's rather Hitler-esque but happened less that 40 years ago. I was coping quite well with the gruesome detail until I saw the 'killing tree' where the communist soldiers would hold babies by their legs and hit their heads against the tree to kill them. 

In the centre of the field was a structure they have built more recently to store the bones (mainly skulls) of many of the victims at this particular killing field (there were others). This tower of skulls is rather striking and powerful looking. It really hits home that all of these innocent people were killed. 

Back in the tuk tuk we returned to the city centre and stopped off at the Russian market. Thinking it would be different we were a little disappointed. Nevertheless, is was lively and still exciting so we wondered round, checking out what was on offer. I purchased some new sunglasses as mine had broken and my dad isn't here to glue them back together. We also got some food for lunch, avoiding meat as the place didn't look the most sanitary. For a dollar (they use US dollars a lot over here) I got a plate of rice with a mango salad. It was pretty good but I had to pick out the mango skin bits as they were incredibly bitter. 

The next stop in Phnom Penh was Toul Sleng, the genocide prison museum. The building had formerly been a school so from the outside didn't look like a prison (the Khmer Rouge didn't use guns and covered up their crimes quite well so if they had any visitors from other countries nothing seemed too bad). This prison was the stop off point before people were brought to the killing fields. They would be tortured and forced to make confessions (many made up confessions so they could be killed rather than tortured). There has been too much evil in this world. 

As it was raining when we left Toul Sleng we wanted to go to the national museum to keep dry. DJ Camera thought he'd try to rip us off and wanted to charge an extra $5 for taking us to the museum rather than our hostel. The museum was a lot closer. We weren't impressed and decided he wasn't so nice after all. We didn't give him the extra $5. Our guide book and reviews online had said that being fair to tuk tuk drivers is good as it's their livelihood and a few dollars to us is nothing really. However, we had been fair already so we weren't taking any nonsense. 

The building of the national museum is really impressive but the inside we found a little boring. We didn't stay long. A little way along the street we found a place called Daughters of Cambodia. It's a company that helps sex workers in Cambodia and gives them jobs and a better life. We walked round the little shop which had some really cute things and went for a drink in the cafe there. I also decided to go all out and get cookie dough egg rolls. I haven't had a proper dessert in a long time. Imagine warm cooking dough in a crisp shell with chocolate sauce. I was in heaven. But then it got a little too sickly and Matt had to finish it. 

We wondered round the corner and found another shop that I think was similar but I don't think this one was for sex workers. I think it was for underprivileged young people. We still went in and they were doing manicures and pedicures so I took advantage. I paid $2 for a manicure and obviously managed to ruin it within 10 minutes. It was still nice though. When I'd done I wondered out to find Matt who had disappeared. He rocked up 2 minutes later having just been for a hair cut. His hair looked funny. 

We found a little place that did noodles so paid a dollar for a plate of Cambodian noodles with veg and a bottle of water. The noodles kind of looked like fat bean sprouts. They weren't the most flavoursome so I added some hoisin sauce. The sweetness made it a lot tastier. A good day all in all.