Cambodia - Phnom Penh

After traveling to 8 cities/towns in 2 weeks, i think we are ready to chill out a for bit in Cambodia. We arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday evening after a long 7 hour bus journey from Vietnam. I didnt really know what to expect. As we drove through the chaos of traffic on a tuk tuk i couldnt really make up my mind about the place. The city is made up of poverty and welth but there is no "stucture". For example on the bus i saw a huge house with a 8ft wall built around it and either side was a line shacks where people lived and sold good from. The shops in the city ranged from locally run businesses where people are selling goods from their homes, to fancy bakeries and western shops/resturants.
We arrived at the hostel - happy house, which is run by a cambodian family, they are so friendly and happy to help out with anythung. The owner Alex, smokes weed and watches stoner films all day. We checked into our room and decided to go find a bar. After sitting there for a couple of minutes we realised we were in prostitute central. It was a bit weird. Lots of old men.
Hannah gave in her cv so shes hoping to hear back about a job soon 😂

The following day we took a tuk tuk to the killing fields. The roads outside the city are bumpy dirt tracks, at one point we were made to get off and walk over a bridge because there was a huge hole in the middle of it.
The killing fields were pretty and peacful with butterflies in the trees, definatly alot different from the horrors that occurred there 36 years ago. As we walked aroud you could see there were still bits of bone, teeth and clothes on the ground. When it rains the earth uncovers more remains of the people that were killed here and caretakers will walk around collecting them to keep safe.
In the middle of the killing field there was a memorial stuper which held 17 tirs of remains, mostly skulls which have all been carefully checked by foresics to deturmine their sex and how they were killed. Alot of the people were bludged to dealth to save bullets, it was really hard to see and hear what had happened to the people of cambodia and yet they are such friendly happy people today. Choeung Ek is only 1 of 300 killing fields found after the Khmer Rouge, alot of them are still now inaccessable due to them being surrounded by land minds or being in the middle of the jungle.
Next we went to the S-21 prison which was were people were held before being taken to the killing fields. It was chilling to walk around the tiny cells where they were changed up by their ankles and see blood stains on the floor of almost every one. Finally we met one of the remaining 2 survivors of the Khmer Rouge. His name is Chum Mey and he is now in his 80s. He sat and told me about how he used to be tortured everyday by the guards, they would electricte him, pull his toenails off and break his fingers. He was one of the very few to survive as he was put to work repairing the typewriters used to type the forced confessions of prisoners. It was heartbreaking to hear what he had gone through and I dont know how he can still come back to this place, which must have been his hell, and sit smiling and have photos with tourists. Very inspiring person with a strong spirit.
I think we all came back to the hostel today feeling thankful for our lives and what we have back home.Read more