This was a fairly short visit, as there were only two things that I wanted to do: go to S-21, the genocide museum and the killing fields.

I arrived in Phnom Penh after another hassle-free journey on one of the big buses. I got on this in Kampot and arrived in Phom Penh a few hours later. A couple who were also on the bus offered to help me once I was in the bus station at the other end. They had sounded English on the bus and it turned out that they were from Bristol with 3 weeks to explore Cambodia before going back to work. We got on really well and it was very nice to speak to someone from your own country!

After getting some tips from the friendly bus couple, I headed in the direction of one of the areas that they had recommended. It turned out that there was nothing there (in my opinion) and so I got on a motorbike to another place that they had described as being a bit too well-to-do. I got there and it seemed much better, so I spent a while looking around and eventually found one guest house. It was good enough, but I only spent one night here, as I didn’t like the vibe and I had found somewhere else with a bit more going on the next day.

Once I had moved rooms, I went to Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum. This was a school that was converted by the Khmer Rouge as an interrogation centre for suspected enemies of the revolution before transfer to the killing fields. The killing fields I went to the next day, which was a very moving experience. They have a very good quality audio guide that you can take with you through the exhibit. All of the mass graves have been excavated, but there are still items of clothing and fragments of bone coming to the surface on a regular basis. I even found a shell casing sticking out of the mud in one of the areas near the graves. I could go into more detail, but it was very graphic and it still has a place in modern history, with trails against the main party members still continuing.

After going around the killing fields, my remork driver wanted to get some extra cash and shift a girl who had been left at the killing fields to Tuol Sleng. I objected to this, as we had agreed on a price, but we got it lowered as he was making extra money from moving her. We actually had a really good conversation about the killing fields, which she had been to the day before and departed outside Tuol Sleng. After that I went back to the hotel and got ready to go to Kompong Cham the next day.

Below is an audio recording which is used on the guide in the killing fields and will only make sense if you have been there. It was written after the liberation of Phnom Penh in 1979 and is called ‘Oh Phnom Penh’. From the audio guide: “it speaks of love for the city and sadness for all that was lost”: