what can you say..lets just hope nothing like this ever happens again
We got the bus here for 6 whole dollars each, not bad for a 6 hour Karaoke frenzy from one end of the country to the other!!!!
We decided to stay on the lakeside in PP as this apparently is the most laid back area of the city, so we consult the Lonely Planet, have a look at their top pick,after seeing it , instantly decide against it and go to another guesthouse down the street . All the guest houses on the lake jut out on pontoons over the water and we manage to get the end one with a great view of the lake, and later a fantastic view of the sunset. A real bargain at only 5 dollars thanks to my amazing haggler of a wife!!!!!! There's no time to look around the city so we content ourselves with a quick look around the local alleyways, then a quick cambodian curry ( not a patch on thai greens but not bad ) then bed.
The next day we're up and still humming Bob Marley no woman no cry, which they seemed to have on repeat in the bar all night occasionally mixing in I shot the sheriff for good measure!!!!!!!!
First off we head to the hospital/ school/ interrogation centre Tuol Sleng, fucking hell ( sorry but it's necessary ) what a journey you go on in there, every emotion possible except laughter. How can people actually act like that, and more importantly how can people not learn from this and make sure nothing like this ever happens again. The whole tour leaves you completely shellshocked. The photos are just haunting - totally unreal.
Next on our tour we cycled out to the killing fields, 15 km out of the city, and here again it's absolutely horrendous. Sorry but it is , Pol Pot and all his many brain washed supporters must have been completely mental, it's disgusting what they did and how any of the many who are still avoiding arrest can actually live with themselves is beyond me. Bastards, bastards , bastards ....it truely is an awful experience going around and reading about the atrocities that happened in each place, but also one that would probably do every one of us some good and hopefully stop anything like this ever happening again!!!!!
One of the most striking thoughts we had was that all of the people milling around us have some connection with the war, with over two million people tortured and killed ,either they know or knew someone who was murdered or knew one of the murderers, what a mad thing that is.
Enough of this though.............................................PP is a great city and we've loved being here, we're off tomorrow on a bus to the beach to totally digest what we've seen here, read the book ''First they killed my father" and think about everything that happened here , first though I think we'll have a big stiff drink............................
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