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Phnon Penh - Genocide Museum and Killing Fields Early in the morning we took a flight from Bangkok to the Phnon Penh airport in Cambodia at which point we had to pay an extortionate airport tax of $20. The tour in Phnon Penh focused on the Khmer Rouge genocide of 1975 to 1979, during which time about 1.5 million people died as a result of murder, torture and starvation. The tour started at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which was a former school which was converted into a prison. The prison was used as a centre to torture people whom the leadership didn't like. Once a confession for whatever crime they were accused of had been obtained, they were driven out to one of the killing fields and executed. The next stop on our tour was the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. At this site they have a large Buddhist Stupa which contains skulls collected since they started excavating the site, but the whole area is littered with human bones which can be seen sticking out of the ground at many places. After the tours finished for the day we headed back to the hotel for a rest and then Steve and I went for a short night out in Phnon Penh. We took a short walk from the hotel in search of food and managed to find a fairly high end pizza restaurant. We got in a Tuk Tuk and headed to the bar area, the driver didn't speak any English but got the idea about where to take us. The first bar we went into was quite peculiar and something not matched for our whole holiday. We walked in and were confronted by a sea of Cambodian girls working at the bar and talking to the customers. The ratio was at least of the order of 5 bar girls per customer and probably the result of the global financial problems keeping people away. We had a few drinks and played some pool with two of the girls; quite an unnerving experience when you are being watched like a hawk by the other girls. Due to the imminent early morning wake up for the next day tour, we decided to head off at about midnight and stopped off at one small place before getting another Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel. |