We found a nice tuk tuk driver at 9am that took us to the S21 Prison that was formerly a high school. This place was eerie and reeked of torture, murder and misery. The school was converted into a prison where a political leader Pol Pot decided it would be a good idea to murder all intelligent Cambodians so that he could rule a country that were not so clever and would therefore follow him.
From here the tuk tuk took us to the killing fields which is where the 17,000 prisoners were taken to be executed and buried in mass graves in secret from the surrounding villages. The fields were deceptively quiet and peaceful bearing in mind the horrors that had been carried out here. There was a very tall pagoda with a central column of clear glass with thousands of skulls peering out together with a pile of clothes removed from the remains of the bodies.
We were pleased to get back on the tuk tuk for a bit of a breeze and a break from the 40 degree heat. However, the pockets of stench and traffic fumes were equally overbearing. We asked to be dropped off at a huge roundabout where the Wat Phnom temple was built on a hill in the centre together with an elephant providing rides around the hill and monkeys watching the world go by.
We arranged a dollar ride to the KFC near our hotel as we deserved a nice air con building and a break from Asian food. We dined in bliss for an hour then made our way via the supermarket back to our hotel to relax until the Royal Palace opened for afternoon visiting hours.
We ventured over at 3pm and walked the grounds of the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda containing the emerald Buddha. Still in immense heat we sat in the shady gardens to absorb the beautiful surroundings until closing at 5pm. Unfortunately the Royal Palace was shut off as the king was visiting, typical.
After booking a cheap bus ride for tomorrow morning to Siem Reap we walked to Bar 33 which had a great cosy, modern and relaxing atmosphere with free internet. We stayed for happy hour which lasted 3hrs and dinner. The bar had a great view of the Palace and we sat watching the sunset behind the Palace until 8pm.
On the way back to the hotel we got side tracked by a cheap massage. Kris went for the full body while I went for a hands and feet. We could definitely get used to all this pampering!
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