After a four hour boat crossing to get into the country and a drama with buying several visas, we finally made it to Cambodia! When we arrived in Phnom Penh we were thankful that we hadn’t gone with traditional backpacks and we were very smug wheeling our bags through the port in the 40 degree heat!
Final leg of the crossing!
Our first stop in Cambodia was a real eye opener as we went to the infamous S/21 prison, it was a former school which was converted to a prison during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror. The country was robbed of all possessions and identity. All those that were educated, or holding a position of power, were sent to prisons such as this- those that survived the prison were then sent to the killing fields.
It seemed somewhat reminiscent of the Nazi era and was awful to think that it happened so recently- the torture was inhumane, as were the conditions that the Cambodians were forced to live in. Two survivors from the prison were telling their stories in the grounds and it was a moving experience.
The school that became the infamous prison
‘Rooms’ for prisoners
We were then taken on the journey that many prisoners were forced to take, believing they were being released or taken to hospital, they were instead driven to the killing fields just outside of the city. Our tour guide explained all of the different methods of torture that the Khmer Rouge used, but we weren’t prepared for him telling us that he had been taken there as a two year old! He recalled watching them beat his mother before cutting her fingers off. When she refused to speak they threw her, alive, into the mass graves before dousing them with acid. He explained how all of his siblings and parents were killed during the era and he wanted to educate the rest of the world on the atrocities that the country had suffered. The country still seem to struggle to speak out against their government for fear of their life and while it is not the same place it was 30/40 years ago, it is still incredibly corrupt.
We squeezed in a sight-seeing tour around the city on a traditional Cambodian tour-bike. Safe to say the cyclists were out of breath after pushing us around in the blistering sun for an hour!
After a couple of days in Phom Penh we flew to Siem Reap to see another side of the country. We started with Angkor Wat, which we had seen a lot in pictures, and were impressed with just how grand it was and were fascinated by the history. We spent a few hours there suffering in the sun (!) but managed to snap an incredible sunset shot.
We also managed to go to another temple that was made famous from Tomb Raider- of course I took the opportunity to re-enact some Lara Croft moves, much to the tour guide’s shock!!
Tomb Raider temple
Five temples was more than enough culture for one day (!) so we headed to the famous ‘Pub Street’…..they keep it simple here- it was a street full of pubs! At $1 a drink, it was certainly lively and there were plenty of places vying for custom. Luke was chuffed that he managed to bag a spot to watch the Liverpool game and ended up surrounded by fellow Reds!
After spending some time sunning ourselves by the pool, we ventured out on a bike ride to a famous mine-detection centre nearby. The country is littered with American, Chinese and Vietnamese land mines from previous wars and they’re now detected with trained rats! They weren’t your average-seized rats, these looked more like medium -sized domestic animals.
Our trip to Cambodia was a fleeting one and we think we’ll certainly be back, as the country was beautiful!
We have become Tuk-Tuk regulars and been in them in each country so far, we’ll definitely stick with this mode of transport for the next city or two. Next, we’re off to Bangkok for a 24 hour pit stop before flying to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpar and Singapore- we’re certainly clocking up the air miles!
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