Phnom Penh

We arrived at our accommodation and did the usual walk around to get our bearings. We had lunch at a restaurant where they didn't even have a menu...it was noodles or rice. We were just looking for some fuel rather than anything hugely exciting and so both settled for fried rice with vegetables. We had read that there were a few sky bars in Phnom Penh and so decided we would get the glad-rags on and have some cocktails. We picked a bar at the top of the tallest building in Phnom Penh, and certainly weren't disappointed with the view! We had a couple of cocktails and then made our way down to the river front for some dinner.  A few more cocktails ensued at our hostel until we were thrown out at closing time and made (twisted our arms, honest) to go to another bar around the corner which was open later. 

The next day we got a tuk tuk to take us to the killing fields. There had been some to see near Siem Reap but I'd been told these ones were better, I'm not sure better is the right word for somewhere like this, maybe more educational.  The Killing Fields are a number of sites all over Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge killed over one million people in secret after the civil war. They were mostly killing highly educated people like doctors, lawyers and teachers. They also targeted anyone thought to have any connection to the previous government. Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge was described as the Hitler of Cambodia. If you were targeted, the would also kill all of your family to ensure that there would be no revenge on them, this included new born children. The place was horrific but also a very peaceful place to be as everyone was silent while waking around. There is a monument which has the skulls and other bones which were discovered there on display. It's crazy to think that all this happened only about 35 years ago. 

We went to another NGO, Daughter's of Cambodia, for lunch after the killing fields. This one was for women and men fleeing the sex industry.  A huge amount of girls are sold by their families into the sex trade every year. This NGO provides over 100 woman and men with jobs and training every year. http://daughtersofcambodia.org - if you fancy having a wee look at what they do. 

It was a bit of a whirl wind visit to Cambodia but the only thing we missed out on doing were the beaches, and we'd spent so long at the beach in Thailand that we were a bit beached out! Next stop, Viet Nam!