Phnom Penh

We decided to stay here for 4 nights and booked a nice hotel right in the centre, with a swimming pool, so we could have somewhere nice to sit when not walking around the city. The hotel - The Blue Lime - was good. Most of the furniture is made from concrete.

The city is amazing considering it was evacuated by the Kmher Rouge for 4 years, just 30 years ago. The riverside has lots of tourist orientated cafes, bars and restaurants and there is a fantastic history museum with sculptures from Angkor Wat, held there for safe keeping. The Royal Palace is beautiful as are the temples around the city.

We had some great meals in Phnom Penh - especially in the Malis Restaurant which is a fancy restaurant with the reputation of being the best for Cambodian food. We particularly liked the papaya curry and green mango salad.

We visited Choeung Ek which was the execution site near Phnom Phen during the 4 year Khmer Rouge rule and Tuol Sleng the political prison, which is near the centre of the city. Both are horrific. It is estimated that up to 50,000 people were executed at Choeung Ek where they were taken to after being tortured at Tuol Sleng. There were only a handfull of people who survived Tuol Sleng/Choeung Ek after the 4 year period.

One British person was murdered there, a young man on the englsh language teaching scheme in Japan. He was on a sailing trip with 2 friends from Canada and New Zealand, who were also teaching english in Japan. They were heading for Thailand but sailed off course and were taken by the Kampuchean navy - one of them was shot during the arrest, the other 2 were brought to Tuol Sleng for torture. After weeks of torture, both signed "confessions" of being CIA agents. On the orders of Pol Pot both were murdered. It was reported by an ex-guard that at least one of them was burnt alive using burning tyres in the street outside the prison. Apparently it was the policy to execute any foreigners by burning them alive.

A group of 8 experienced Cambodian doctors working in France were invited by Pol Pot to return to Cambodia to help with the revolution. He knew all of them from when he was a student in Paris. They were all murdered on arrival in Cambodia.

Any Cambodians returning from abroad to help with the revolution were treated with suspicion - all those who returned from the USA were murdered on arrival.

During the 4 year period, 2 - 3 million people died from starvation, exhaustion, illness, misdiagnosis of illness and murder by the Khmer Rouge - about one quarter of the population. The murders were concentrated on: cadre of the Khmer Rouge, educated people, landowners and political oppponents. The aim of the murders was to purify the ongoing revolution by quashing dissenting voices and those "actively plotting" against the Khmer Rouge.

The murders continued after the Khmer Rouge were removed from power following the war with Vietnam in 1979. For example, Pol Pot ordered the murder of Son Sen and his family in 1997 - probably 11 people in all. Son Sen had been a close associate of Pol Pot since the 1950's and had been an active member of the Khmer Rouge since that time.

Just before his death in 1998, the Khmer Rouge arrested Pol Pot and found him guilty of murdering Son Sen - the only trial he ever faced.

So a visit to Cambodia is overwhelming - the beauty of the historical buildings, the incredibly friendly and hospital people, the fabulous food - as well as the jarring effect of its recent history.