It's More or Less the Things You Fail to Say in Your Way That's Your Trouble

Sometimes in life it is the little things that make the difference.
I feel like that is true for me no matter where I am on the map.

During my two month stay in Asia so far, I have certainly had a few of those 'little things' that have helped bring me comfort in difficult times, or reassurance when I've had uncertainty. There is no doubt that seeing fantastic sights has brought me a significant amount of joy, and although it is difficult to appreciate right now whilst I am in the middle of my journey, I feel like when it's all over I will be happy to look back on reflect on what kind of experience I have had.

Cambodia is the eighth different country I have visited, and not trying not to be prisoner of the moment but, I feel like it is perhaps the most interesting and diverse on my journey so far. It seems to present so many different contrasts across many different areas that it is very hard to get my head around it all. This country twenty years ago would have been totally different to how it currently is, and I feel like in another twenty years time the same will be true. Right now it is going through something of a tourist boom and like it's near neighbours Vietnam and Laos it provides intriguing sights, fascinating history and cheap prices.

Having visited only two cities in this vast country, I don't in any way think that I can claim to be an expert on the subject, but Cambodia definitely has an identity and with its war-torn past it is rapidly developing at a rate which is comparable to any country across South-East Asia. The people here are probably adapting with the times; more speak English than I expected and there are a certain amount of western influences here which govern its outlook and future.

Today however it was time to find out more about the past....

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This morning my thoughts turned to an appropriate way to spend my final full day in Cambodia. It seems as though I arrived just yesterday despite having been spent the second longest amount of time in the capital than I have anywhere else on my entire trip. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was preparing to come here and dive into the unknown, and I wouldn't say that I feel comfortable here as yet, but I think that I have certainly got to know the basics about the country itself - particularly the capital.


I was feeling rather tired this morning when I woke up; I'm not sure if it's the heat or the amount of walking that I have been doing in the last couple of days, but it took a lot of energy to drag myself out of bed - I didn't even climb into it that late last night.
Each day has been very hot here, and I have been doing my best to travel around as a pedestrian so that would seem like the most logical explanation. Do you think it would acceptable for me to take a holiday after returning from this kinda, sorta, holiday? I feel like I am going to need one.

After breakfast this morning I started making plans for what to do. Having a break from my Cambodian history lessons yesterday by visiting the Royal Palace there was one location that I had yet to visit that was pretty essential to putting a ribbon on my stay here which was to visit Choeung Ek - The Killing Fields.
Despite my lack of knowledge about the history of this country, I had heard the name mentioned before, and it was featured several times when I visited S21 the other day to find out about the horrific genocidal acts of the Kymer Rouge. I feel like such an important and significant historical location was pretty essential to visit on my trip here - no matter how depressing the subject matter.

When one of the security guards was giving me his sales pitch the other day to try and get his Tuk-Tuk driving friend some business he quoted me a price of $25 to go to both the Killing Fields sight and also the Genocide Museum. Considering I'd already visited S21 the other day I was probably figuring that the price should be lower, and when I looked it up online it said that with a bit of haggling you should be able to get a return price of around $10 - this is why it is always worth researching these things.

A bunch of drivers always sit outside of my hotel every morning and usually try to offer their services to me when I am simply crossing the road to get breakfast, but this morning I was actually going to try to have a conversation-slash-negotiation session with them to try and get a ride to the museum which is about 15km from the centre of Phnom Penh.

There was a driver lying in the cab of his vehicle, and he actually seemed quite surprised when I talked to him. I mentioned where I wanted to go and he said that to "Go and come back" would be $20. Refusing his first offer he asked how much I wanted to pay so I said around $10. He said that $15 would be his "good price deal" for me, but knowing how these things usually work I started to walk off and said that there are loads of Tuk-Tuks who I could probably get a ride from. Realising that a potential fare was walking he way he said: "OK, super low price, my friend. $13?"
I decided to continue walking off wondering if he would eventually agree to a price of $10 and he eventually called me back saying that he agreed. Although I don't like haggling and it can often be a nuisence, I feel like I go into each one with enough information about how much I should be paying to ensure I don't get ripped off.

So off we set through the busy streets of Phnom Penh towards one of it's most historic sights. It actually took about half an hour to get to the Killing Fields as we left the city and headed in the direction that I had started walking in the other day when I was desperately seeking a passport photo. We dodged and weaved our way out of the chaos even using the curb at one point to avoid having to wait at the traffic lights to change right before we left the city far behind and headed into what looked like a slightly more rural area of the city. From my knowledge of history, the Killing Field in Phnom Penh was one of many spread out across the country, and usually they were far away from the cities they were based in so it was convenient to transport people to them. It is probably about a twenty minute drive from S21 to Choeung Ek, and as I discovered this journey started off by being made around two to three times week before it eventually became a route which was followed three to four times a day as more and more people were killed under the reign of Pol Pot.

We arrived at the museum, and my driver told me that he was going to wait outside. It cost $6 to get in to the museum itself, and this included an audio guide which was associated with the map I was given along with my ticket. Considering the audio guide was free it was actually a really good price.
I remember when I went to the Olympic Stadium in Greece and used an audio guide as part of my tour around there and I found it to be very useful, much more so than just walking around and reading signs - or as is more commonly the case, not really understanding what you are looking at.

There were nineteen different points on the map with a couple of extras at various stops where you could pick up more information about a specific event or part of the museum. It was narrated by a survivor of the Killing Fields and was extremely well put together giving details about each of the stops I made on my way around.
The first thing you notice when you walk into the museum is that there is a large building in front of you, from the distance you can see that it is filled with what look like human remains, but this is the final stop stop on the journey so you later get to discover that its purpose is:

I followed the audio guide around, listening to the tracks with extra information on which gave background details on the Khmer Rouge, how they were formed and what happened after the invading Vietnamese drove them from power. The first couple of stops were signs which indicated where buildings used to be. One was an open space where trucks of prisoners used to stop, and another one was the place in which they were registered before being executed later that night. It was fairly harrowing stuff, and at times it was very hard to listen to as the narrator described what I was seeing along the way:

After five or six stops I eventually came to an area with several large divots in the ground which the guide explained were mass graves. Looking at some of the ones later on, it was actually possible to see fragments of cloth and bones which are brought to the surface by rain.
There are people at the museum who go around collecting these items once or twice every month, but in a way it was perhaps more chilling to see them in the ground than collected together in one larger deposit:

There was a mass grave further around which was actually found to be filled with soldiers who disavowed the Khmer Rouge, and this was apparently left open as a warning to staff at S21 and the Killing Fields who considered going against what the ruling party believed was right. Once again I heard details about how the Kampuchea Republic felt it necessary to start by eliminated the educated amongst the population and then followed by removing doctors, nurses and even monks from society in order to create what Pol Pot saw as a perfect communist society.
Around the corner from this there was a lake with you could walk around whilst listening to the stories of two or three people who were fortunate enough to survive the Killing Fields. These were pretty disturbing tales of what they had to go through, and essentially how each one felt they were mentally broken despite living to tell of their experiences. It's so hard to imagine going through something like this and not being horrendously affected both mentally and physically:

After walking in a loop around the river I came across what was perhaps the most difficult stop on the tour which was a point which was described as The Killing Tree which was a mass grave next to a large tree where the audio guide discussed how women and children were treated. The Killing Tree was a place where children were brought to be killed, and usually this involved the tree itself as they were pushed into it repeatedly or even in some cases held by the legs and swung into it (sorry for the brutal mental images you probably just received from this):

Next to this there was also a plastic box where fragments of bones were found, and close to the tree itself were fragments of garments which belonged to the victims. This was the most difficult part of the museum to comprehend, and it was a little disturbing to imagine that I was standing very close to a place where forty years ago that kind of thing would be happening quite frequently:

Around this area there were also some more mass graves as well as what was known as the Magic Tree:

This was a large tree which was used by the Khmer to hang speakers which played revolutionary songs throughout the camp at night, but actually acted as a guard against the sounds of people being killed. The tree allowed them to project the sound across the whole camp and therefore the prisoners had no idea what was happening, thinking that it was all part of the propaganda which the Khmer Rouge were taking part in at the Killing Fields. I walked from here to the final stop which was known as the memorial stuppa.
I listened to the audio guide explain first how this had been created using both Hindu and Buddhist designs and how it went seven levels up with skulls and bone fragments which were found when the graves were excavated from 1980 onwards.

It was chilling to see as high up as I could see rows and rows of skeletons piled on top of each other representing the death which too place in a four-year period:

Each of the skulls had one, sometimes two stickers on it to represent whether it belong to a male or a female, and also whether any forensic evidence had been uncovered to find out how this person's death took place. There was a key on the side which showed the various different methods of killing which were carried out in this place, and on the very bottom row there were some examples of tools which were used, and also an example picture of a skull which allowed investigators to know the cause of death. Obviously it was pretty alarming to see all those skeletons in one place, but I think it creates a powerful image that something like a large number of gravestones or a huge memorial couldn't really accomplish.
This was genocide on a grand scale, and something visual like that really brought it how and emphasises how terrible these events were.

I left the museum feeling the same way I had done S21; depressed - but feeling like I had really learned something and also wanting to read and watch more about these events. I wouldn't describe myself as a historian in any way, but I feel like I have a good knowledge of world events and this is one that definitely escaped my attention. I guess our proximity to it in the UK is significant in explaining why. Although the audio guide did say that for at least twenty years afterwards the European Union still recognised the Khmer Rouge as leaders of Cambodia because there were still tensions with Vietnam, and the near neighbours to this country had set up a government which most of Europe did not trust. Despite what they had done the Khmer Rouge had seats at the UN and were also offered financial aid and traded with by other countries which is pretty worrying and shows how ill-informed the rest of the world was about the whole situation.

Heading back to the city it was hard to get most of what I saw out of my head. There were some images dotted around the museum which showed pictures of the excavations taking place, and although it is hard to take in I think those images will remain with me forever and make me have a better appreciation that we live in a world which is unfortunately still filled with these instances, even today.

I got back to my hotel room around 3pm, but didn't stay long as I had to go back to the Vietnamese embassy to pick up my passport which was hopefully now filled with a visa to allow me to leave tomorrow.
Thankfully it was all sorted and ready to go when I got there. There were quite a few people waiting around, but just as I went up to the counter to enquire as to if mine was ready or not, the guy brought a huge tray to the desk and mine was one of the ones on top of the pile. I was quite relieved it was sorted, and not that it was a complicated process in the end, but I hope that is the most difficult visa-related situation I have to experience as I continue my trip.

The sun was still beating down and I headed back to the hotel once again to quickly cool off before decided to head out to get some food and find a fitting way to end my stay in Phnom Penh.
I had seen when I was walking by the river the other day that cruises along the Mekong run every half an hour or so, and I figured as I had done in Malacca that this would be a perfect opportunity to end my stay in a very relaxing way. I got to the dock just as a boat was about to set off, and hopped on board just in time. It was quite filled with people eager to see sunset which was beginning to take place just as we departed. We drove up the river to where the Tonle Sap and the Mekong meet before eventually turning round and heading back toward the city itself:

In the half an hour whilst I was on the boat the sky had transformed from a slightly overcast one to a beautiful range of colours which created the most perfect sunset I think I have ever seen. I've been fortunate enough to experience some great ones on this trip, including several in Bali and also one at Angkor Wat, but I genuinely couldn't get enough of the colours in the sky which were nothing short of magnificent. Whilst those around me seemed to be taking it in naturally, I was doing anything but act like I'd been there before and I managed to fill up the remainder of my camera memory card with fantastic pictures of what I saw:

Night had started to fall as I got off the boat and headed back up the very steep metal ramp to the shore. The lights were now twinkling and I had planned to grab some dinner from one of the many restaurants along the riverside.
Both sides of the road were lined with Tuk-Tuk drivers waiting to take passengers somewhere, but I continued walking along until I eventually came across a restaurant which was fairly full of people and had some good prices to go along with this.

I had probably the best meal I've had in long time which was called Khmer Amok which was absolutely exceptional and is fish served in a creamy sauce with rice which was absolutely delicious. I was thoroughly stuffed after eating my way through the huge potion I got and was glad of some time to walk it off as I headed back to my hotel.

So another leg of the journey has been completed as I leave Cambodia tomorrow to head to Vietnam. My stay in this country has been a complete whirlwind, but starting with my two days at Angkor Wat and finishing in the capital it has been one which was well worth the effort.
I don't want to be 'prisoner of the moment' and spout too much about how this has been one of the most interesting places I have ever visited, but I feel like from the moment I landed here I was pretty much in awe of what was going on around me.
Of the countries I have visited so far this is the most un-Western of all the locations I've made stops in, and it certainly took me a while to get settled and feel comfortable with being here.

I say this about everywhere that I visit, but I feel like Cambodia is somewhere that you should visit if you have the opportunity. If the incredible draw of Ankgor Wat isn't enough then it is certainly worth paying a visit to the capital, even if it's just to learn about its tortured history, spend a few days walking around its grid-like streets and to experience the thrill / near death experiences that are every ride on a motorbike or in a Tuk-Tuk.
Moving on to Vietnam, I feel like this could be another set of eye opening experiences.

The Riverboat Song
Ocean Colour Scene (1996)

I Have Run, I Have Crawled, I Have Scaled These City Walls

Even in the far reaches of Asia, I am still able to draw comfort from certain things which remind me that globalisation is truly making the world seem smaller.

Although expensive, I noticed today for the first time that a convenience store sold bars of Cadbury's Dairy Milk. Other worldwide brands like Coca-Cola are also very prevalent here, and whenever you go into a shopping mall you always come across western shops like Gap or H&M.

These little things often help to make me feel more comfortable, and it really is incredible how many signs are actually written in English - some don't even contain any Cambodian script at all.
Obviously not being able to read any of the foreign languages I have or will encounter on this trip makes things an awful lot more difficult, and it's hard not to feel a touch ignorant when, for example, I have to go to a restaurant with an English menu, just so that I can feel a bit more at ease with that I am ordering.

I can't claim to speak any language other than my own fluently, but I feel like I have at least some understanding of French, German, English, Spanish and Korean - although with the latter my knowledge is gradually fading with each day. I have always had a significant amount of envy for people who I've met throughout my life who can naturally swap between two languages - and so many times on this trip I have been grateful that people in shops, restaurants and hotels have been able to converse with me in English.

I've discussed the difficulties I encountered in one of my original blogs, and it certainly hasn't got any easier as time has gone along. I try not to get flustered when it appears that there is a massive language barrier in the way, and I feel like keeping cool and calm has definitely helped me along the way or I will feel extremely overwhelmed by everything that is going on around me.

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With the weekend out of the way (I'm still amazed by my ability to keep track of what day it is) I was hoping that everything would now be back open and allow me to complete the important task of obtaining a visa for Vietnam - the next country I am scheduled to travel to.
I'd attempted to venture to the embassy on Saturday, but had arrived about an hour or so after it had closed, and with only a couple of days until I am due to fly in to Ho Chi Minh City, I was pretty anxious to get it all sorted as soon as possible.
I'd read online various bits of information about securing a visa, and even though I wasn't able to sort it either of my first two days here, I was pretty relieved that it was only a twenty or so minute walk from my hotel. The one thing I needed to try to sort out was a passport photo as unlike in Cambodia where I managed to pay and extra $2 for them to scan my passport fee it seemed like the visa wouldn't be granted unless I could actually get a picture taken.

When I asked about getting a photograph taken on Friday, the guy working on reception said that I should be able to get it done somewhere off the main road where I am staying, so after breakfast I went to get some further instructions about what the place was called and how exactly I could get there.

I tried following the directions I was given, but I couldn't find the place - it doesn't seem like they are very obviously placed as even the one I did find looked like a regular shop, it was only when I read some of the services they offer in the window that I confirmed they take pictures.

I headed out back towards the embassy, the photo shop was about half way between my hotel and my destination so I figured I had plenty of time to get there before the embassy closed for the morning at 11:45am. As well as not opening at weekends it also appears they close the visa applications office for two hours between 11:45 am and 1:45pm, no idea why.

I kept walking down the road until I reached the photo shop, and going inside I discovered that they did take pictures, but not the kind I was after. It was a bit like one of those places where you go to have a family photoshoot, and although they do print passport-sized pictures it would have been very expensive and I would have had to make an appointment to get them done.

Running out of ideas I decided that the best thing to do might be to go to the embassy and ask someone where to get the pictures printed. I carried on along the way and when I eventually got to the office it was just after 11 am and fairly crowded. There were some people lined up to process visas, but it looked like there were also a number of people sitting around waiting to collect them as well.
With the size of the queue, I didn't really have time to waste by waiting around for someone to ask so I figured that logically there would be somewhere around the place that would have the facility to take pictures. This is considering that the Brunei Embassy is across the road and I had also seen the Australian one on my way past.

Clearly no one had my business acumen as I walked about 20 minutes down the road until it basically ended and didn't see the sight of a single place. I found plenty of places that looked like they did printing and photocopying, but nowhere that seemed to take passport pictures. Considering people in Cambodia have ID cards as well as passport, there must be a market for it surely?

Realising that time was beginning to go against me I decided to go back to the embassy, fill in my form and then if it was a little bit quieter I'd be able to ask someone, or at least ask a person applying for a visa where they got theirs taken. I was very concious of time figuring that if it took 48 hours as it said online then I would be making an early trip back on Wednesday morning before flying out in the afternoon. If I didn't get there before it closed then that could very well throw a massive spanner in the works of my whole schedule.

I got to the office at about 11:35 am (definitely walked back a lot faster than when I'd gone looking for a photo shop) and began furiously filling out the form.

I was one of only two people in there and after they had completed their business I held my form up to the guy behind the desk and asked: "Do you know where I can get the photo taken?" Can you guess what his response was.....?

"What photo do you mean? For the form? It's OK, you don't need one". Brilliant. So glad I spent all that time searching round for three days to discover that you don't actually need a picture!!! 

Bear in mind I checked this with various different sites, including their official one, and I even saw the guy in front of me hand a picture over and put the rest of them he had taken back in his wallet!

That news was a bit of a weight of my mind thankfully and after handing over my $60 he told me to come back tomorrow afternoon to collect my passport with the visa completed. It is very typical after all that, that I actually didn't need one. In all honesty as I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, how many countries these days actually make people get visas for stays shorter than 30 days?
I can't imagine that there is a massive immigration problem into Vietnam so I really don't understand (aside from the obvious financial aspect) why it's necessary to hand over large sums of money for permission to get in.

With that sorted and out of the way at least I could go and spend the rest of my day doing something else. 

I debated a couple of options, but decided considering it was just after noon, the best thing to do would be to take in an activity relatively close to me. One of the things which fell into this category was going to the Royal Palace which is just a couple of streets over from my hotel. I briefly walked past it yesterday and there are some very regal looking roofs that you can see when you walk down by he river which belong to the palace itself, and the most famous attraction which is the silver pagoda.

It's strange that I have never been to the major palace in my own country but spent a couple of hours walking around the one in Bangkok, and was probably going to to the same today as headed out after taking a shower to cool off a little bit.
I don't know if it's the amount that I have been walking, how compact Cambodia is or another factor, but these last couple of days I have been feeling really warm. I'm not usually particularly affected by the heat, but today it has been extremely humid and I must have gone through six or seven bottles of water throughout the day.

Even though it is so close by, the entrance to the palace wasn't easy to find. It actually faces the river which means from where I am staying I can only see the back of the grounds. It took me a couple of minutes to navigate and go the right way, but I eventually found the way in.
I'd read that it was another one of those occasions to dress smartly, but I decided to go for some long shorts and then opt for taking my trousers in the bag just in case I was refused entry. I took solace from the fact that a few of the people I saw on the way were wearing shorts, although there were some females who had to buy 'Royal Palace of Cambodia' t-shirts and use them to cover up their bare arms.

The palace grounds themselves were pretty impressive:

I heard one tour guide mention that at the moment the king of Cambodia is in China, but I feel like this might well be a ceremonial house, and even if he was in the country he was hardly going to be spending his time in the gardens of his tourist-filled palace.
Upon entry you got a little card which demonstrated the way to walk around, but it was quite confusing, and two of the first six stops had signs in front of them saying 'Access Prohibited'.

You couldn't actually walk inside the palace itself, and you weren't allowed to take photos through the windows so they only thing I was able to grab were pictures of the still magnificently-decorated outside.
I continued following the path round past another couple of impressive looking, but non-descript buildings before eventually going in to a second rather more open courtyard. 

It had a bell tower shaped stupa in each corner and in the middle was the Silver Pagoda which is home to the precious emerald Buddha.

Around the edge of the who courtyard there was a mural around which appeared in one second to be being finished, but there were no explanations as to what it was depicting:

There were some other smaller buildings which you could enter, one which led to a small shrine with a golden statue of Buddha inside, and there was another one which contained an exhibit on the different façades of the palace and this also gave some information about what each building is used for:

I went inside the Silver Pagoda last. It was very busy, and I timed my exit wrongly by going in at the same moment as two tourist groups who then moved their way very slowly around:

Again I wasn't allowed to take pictured in there, but the Emerald Buddha was sitting about three quarters of the way towards the back of the room.
There was a large area of carpets in front which many people were using for worship. At the back there were some more statues that can be found in place in other sections of the grounds and the buildings themselves.

There wasn't really much else to see so after about an hour or so I decided to head towards the exit via a small collection of paintings which are related to the king's life and his coronation.
The palace itself was impressive, but it certainly didn't have as much of a 'wow' factor as the one I visited in Thailand.

Still with some time left in the day I decided to go and find somewhere to grab some food at that point and then I could just work on getting a snack later. I continued walking down the river from the palace before the Mekong turned to the left as I headed straight on towards the Aeon Mall which I figured as as good a place to find food as any. There was a food court on the top floor so I continued with efforts to eat as many different types of Cambodian food as possible. Tonight I ate something called Lar Chaar which was beef with noodles and vegetables. It was pretty delicious and filled a small gap until I started to get hungry again later on.

I managed to make it into the pool again tonight - I find it's a good way to relax even when it's dark and when the water isn't that cold I think it makes me much more encouraged to spend a bit of time in there.

Tomorrow is my last full day here so I will be attempting to do at least one more activity before leaving, and also collecting my passport from the visa office to make sure everything is all sorted before I head off to Vietnam.

Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
U2 (1987)

The Nights Grow Long

Every country in the world has some kind of fractured of tortured history.

Conflict plays a part in every country's development, and whether these conflicts are civil or international, they often help to shape an identity.

Take the United States for example, a country which freed itself from the rule of the British to gain independence. Rather than choosing to focus on the conflict itself, the US translate this into the patriotism we see not only on the 4th July, but in pretty much everything they do on the world stage.

Some countries have seen war devastate their land, and even in the last ten years or so we have witnessed scenes in the Middle East and North Africa as people battle against what they see as injustice.
Going to school in England we learn plenty of European history which spans from the World Wars to the French Revolution, but Asian history is something that is never really covered.

From living in Korea I learned a lot about the on-going tensions between the north and the south as well as the DPR's five attempts to invade by using tunnels which crossed the boundaries of the demilitarized zone.
It seems like an almost yearly event that during military exercises tensions rise as the US and South Korea's joint operations are frequently disrupted by North Korea 'accidentally' aiming their weapons a little too close.
Whilst I was there in 2009 it is believed that tensions were very strained between the two countries, and were it not for some Chinese intervention, the US were ready making official plans to launch a full-scale operation to liberate the north - so the story goes anyway. That certainly would have made for an interesting six or seven months in the country.

I am by no means a history buff, but reading about each country I visit or by looking up places I am going to see, I find bits of information here and there about the events which have shaped each country - or perhaps contributed to their perception amongst the rest of the world.
In Malaysia I found out more about the British's control over territory and in the Philippines I learned how how the Japanese were eventually removed, leading to the creation of a republic which is currently in place today.

With a trip to Vietnam coming up next week I expect I will be learning a lot about its tortured history and gradual rebuilding, but I have to say that I am yet to discover much about Cambodia to this point.
Before coming I knew that some atrocities took place here, and I'd read that the name Pol Pot was frequently mentioned a lot in relation to them, but I wasn't fully aware of what occurred.
My aim for today was to discover a little more about my current location's story.

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I felt like I'd made a good start to exploring Phnom Penh yesterday by taking to the streets and attempting to navigate their confusingness.
As well as having street names for the main roads, they use a system of numbers for the side roads with all horizontal streets being even numbered, and all vertical roads being odd - it's very confusing for someone like me who always uses maps, and relies on a slightly less difficult way of working for navigation. When I first got here I had to commit my road number to memory to make sure that I was able to just count through them if I ever got lost.

Last night I had spent some time working out what I want to do whilst I am here, I factored in that on Monday I will hopefully be getting my visa arranged (despite the lack of a time-scale for how long it might take.) I went worse case scenario and figured that it would take an entire day to sort out, and that I'd have to spend a couple of hours another day going to collect it, and this gave me the chance to split my activities up and deciding what to do each day.

Today I was going to make another attempt at finding somewhere to get passport photos done, but that was a peripheral task along the way.
My first stop of the day was the Museum of Genocide - I know, perhaps not the first place you'd want to visit on a Sunday morning, but I had read lots about how important a place it is in this city, and I was intrigued to learn more about the history of Phnom Penh.
The museum was in roughly the same direction as the Vietnamese embassy so I took to the road again, and tried to navigate my way there as best I could. It was really hot today, so I made an early stop to get some drink when it dawned on me that this might be one of the only places in the world where things actually close on a Sunday. By close, I don't mean close early as the embassy had, I mean just generally not open - in the west I'm not sure we're familiar with that concept any more as everything seems to be open unless it's Christmas or New Year's Day!

Luckily the museum wasn't one of the things that is closed, and I eventually got there after about 25 minutes of walking. Despite the huge sign, it is quite an inconspicuous thing and probably very easy if you're not paying attention.
Tuol Sleng, of S-21, was a school before it turned into a prison camp under the Khmer Regime. It has been left in tact since being liberated as a constant reminder of the horrors that took place there - many of which I learned on a tour today.

I've never been to Auschwitz, but I imagine the same eerie feeling hangs over the former Nazi prison camp as does in S-21. I always find it strange when a tourist attraction has such a sombre feeling around it, and I imagine I will discover the same atmosphere when I visit Japan and go to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorials towards the end of my trip.

The first thing that was striking about S-21 was how cold and depressing it looked from the outside. It was split into two different sections with Building A and B of the compound separated from C & D by a line of trees:

It's quite hard to describe how the museum itself is set out, but what I will say is that it is extremely thought provoking, and informative. I learned so much information, and took so much from it that I think half of it might end up slipping out. One thing to take away though is a sense that these events only took place in the 1970's and to me that is a scary thought as we're not far removed from all the information I discovered taking place.

The museum did a great job of breaking information down to someone like me who has no previous knowledge of the subject matter. The first room you entered explained the atrocities which took place, and from then on each room of the ground floor of Building A was filled with a prison bed and a photo of what was found there. Some had the shells of batteries lying in the middle of the room which were used as part of the torture process, others had chains which had been used to lock the prisoners up.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't claim to be a historian, but my knowledge started to grow as the day went on:

In the aftermath of World War II, povety had struck Cambodia pretty hard, and when Pol Pot's Kymer Rouge party took power in 1975 they attempted to create what Pot saw as a 'perfect' communist society (with the eventual goal of everyone being equal).
They abandoned the currency, and began to arrest and imprison scholars, teachers, academics, monks and doctors as well as anyone who opposed their ideas.
Many were brought to S-21 and accused of crimes they did not commit. This led to torture until these people were eventually forced to falsely confess just to make the horrific torture stop, and in doing so they were killed on account of treason.
Imprisonment was brutal with water-boarding, electrocution, beatings and suffocation all common place.

Access to Cambodia was very limited to 'foreigners' and somehow this was all kept secret from the world. It took until 1979 before it was eventually discovered what was happening, and it took the invading armies of Vietnam to discover the dark secrets of Pol Pot's regime.

There's a lot more to the story, and I would definitely recommend reading up about it, especially if this is the first time you have heard these details mentioned.

Continuing along there were some very gruesome pictures of what took place, and it took a moment for the reality to sink in that the things these photographs depicted actually took place in the rooms I was standing in. It was certainly very hard to imagine, and a very depressing thought indeed.

Moving up to the second floor this gave more information about events which unfolded. There were descriptions of Sweden's involvement, and how Cambodia's ruthless leaders somehow became allies with the Scandinavian nation by convincing them that there were no merciless killings or a prison camp, and that it was all just propaganda from the US and China.

There were some photos which showed propaganda scenes of happy children and locals enthused with the Khmer Rouge's reign. It was quite clear that this also had an effect on the Cambodian people who saw nothing of what actually took place, and genuinely believed the false promises of Pol Pot who promised to help people out of their post-war struggles.

Building B had lots of visual works on the prisoners themselves. It is believed that 17,000 people were held at S-21, and this building showed photos of their 'mugshots' which were taken, and a description of how people were arrested at night so citizens were not aware of what was going on. It also discussed how arrests were made by convincing people that they and their families were going to be moved to safety.
The top floor of this building also described how the museum is set out to educate, and what the plans are for expansion and education in the future. It has a clear vision which should see is playing an even more important role in Phnom Penh once also the renovations have been completed.

The bottom floor of building C contained more photos of prisoners, and it also explained about some of the devices which were used to torture those who were brought to S21. Between building B and C were the gallows used to water-board people into confessing, and also there was also an illustration of how guards would often cut prisoners and then pour things onto their wound to make it cause extreme pain:

On the second floor of the building was an example of the rooms for prisoners which were basically small cubicles which were maybe 2m long and less than 1m wide. There were rows and rows of them lined up next to one another and on the outside balcony area there was barbed wire put up to prevent escaped prisoners from committing suicide by jumping off.

The top floor of Building C was a slightly lighter experience, telling the tales of the seven people who survived the prison camp. Each one gave a detailed account of how and why they were arrested as well as why their life was spared. It was interesting to read, and I'm sure like all of the victims of war and suffering these people have incredible stories to tell.

The last building had a theatre on the top floor where documentaries are shown throughout the day, and also where the education centre is planned to be built. The bottom floor had two rooms, and in each of them was information about the perpetrators of the Khmer Rouge's atrocities, and it alarmed me to read that some of them only went on trial as late as 2009.
I'm not are of the current status of any of these cases, but it was interesting to learn about the trials they were going through and how each person had been charged with a combination of things including war crimes and crimes against humanity. The middle floor had testimony from former guards at the prison who were forced to work at S-21 to save their families lives.
The room was filled with pictures of them in the past, and then a recent one along side it and it was eye-opening to read their reasons behind joining the Khmer Rouge. It was interesting that some showed remorse whilst others seemed to suggest as though they were doing it to protect themselves from the same fate as the prisoners.

The museum itself was absolutely fascinating, and it was tell worth spending about two hours of my time to walk around and just discover information about a major event which I knew very little about before today.
It's one of those places that brings a horrific event to life, and makes you consider how fortunate you are to live the life you do.
I remember in Year Ten we went on a week long trip to the historical sights of the First and Second World Wars in France and Belgium. By then I had some understanding of what destruction both of those conflicts had caused across the world, and I remember that it felt very strange to be going to bed feeling deflated every night because of what you had been looking at or learning about each day.

Even though these kinds of events are horrific I think there is great value in going to places like S-21 so that you can appreciate such terrible events. Being there in person really gives it a magnitude that you don't get from looking at photographs or watching videos.
These kinds of places are always very respectful, sombre locations and there were very few conversations being held as people took in all of the information that was being presented to them.
I remember going to Ground Zero in New York, and feeling a similar sense of being overwhelmed by what I was seeing, and through knowing what had taken place. I think that as morbid and depressing as it was visiting S-21, it was an important activity for me to do on this trip as it relates directly to the history of the country that I am in just as any other building or historical site would. Just so happens that culture changing atrocities took place at this one.

I left the museum at about 3pm so still had a bit of the afternoon to spend in the city. I decided to head towards the central market which us a spider-shaped looking building about ten minutes down the road from my hotel. It looked to be extremely busy and I had a quick walk through just as a passing interest:

Continuing to walk up the road I headed towards Wat Phnom, which is an impressive looking temple sitting on a hill just by the riverside.
It took a while but I eventually found it, and walked around at the top for a while. It wasn't anything too spectacular, just a good view of Phnom Penh and the riverside which I intended to head to next:

I'm hopefully of being able to do a river cruise whilst I'm here in the capital as I'd seen that boats travel up and down the Mekong throughout the evening. For tonight though, I was just on a walk as the sun was going down. The area was quite busy with people and there were a number of restaurants on the riverside as well as shops and souvenir stalls. I guess this is probably where quite a few hotels are located too, taking advantage of the river view:

Once I'd completed the circuit I came back to my hotel briefly to take a shower pretty much being out in the sun the whole day, and then I decided to just pop to the restaurant next door for dinner to make things easy.

It feels like it has been a long but productive day. I think the 36 degree weather and the emotionally draining subject matter of S-21 has taken it out of me as I'm feeling rather tired this evening.
I didn't get a chance to go for a dip in the pool tonight as the moment I stepped through my door the heavens opened.
We experienced two more brief power cuts tonight, but thankfully they didn't take too long and they didn't stop me from emptying all of the information I'd collected in my brain about the museum.

Always Suffering
Rolling Stones (1997)