Let's just say, the journey to get to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap felt like it was a lifetime. I felt very sick because I was suffering a hangover from the night before. I ended up being sick on the bus because of it. We got into Phnom Penh around 9pm, as usual, there were tuk tuk drivers there to greet us from the bus. One quickly came to find us and offered to take us to our accommodation. Before leaving, he asked us if we wanted to do any tours tomorrow. We didn't really want to do them tomorrow, but he was persistent, so we agreed he could take us to the killing fields tomorrow. We checked into our hostel and said we'd seem the driver tomorrow, his name was Toma. The hostel has a restaurant, so we ate down there. The food was really good, but I still felt rough, so we just got an early night, ready for tomorrow.

Friendly kids

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and met Toma, who was waiting outside the hostel for us. We set off in our tuk tuk and he drove us to the killing fields. It's over 20km from the city centre, so we just admired the countryside, once we were outside the hustle and bustle of the city. We passed lots of fields, farms with plenty of animals. Near to the killing fields we passed many children, they were dressed in school clothes and were on their way to school. Some of them were walking, and some were cycling bikes, perhaps with 2 children on each bike. The kids were so friendly, when they saw us in the tuk tuk, they were waving and shouting hello. They were adorable and it was lovely to watch them just being so happy. I felt like the queen waving to them as we passed them by. It was good to see them going to school. Education isn't free in Cambodia, parents need to pay school fees, so these children are privileged to be able to attend school.

Killing fields - Choueng Ek

On April 17, 1975, Phnom Penh fell under the control of the Khmer Rouge, the communist guerilla group led by Pol Pot. They forced all city residents into the countryside and to labor camps. During the three years, eight months, and 20 days of Pol Pot’s rule, Cambodia faced its darkest days, an estimated 2 million Cambodians or 30%25 of the country’s population died by starvation, torture or execution. Almost every Cambodian family has lost at least one relative during this awful holocaust.

On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese invaded and freed the Cambodian people from Khmer Rouge’s reign. 600,000 Cambodians fled to Thai border refugee camps. Many Cambodians had no choice but to emigrate to the United States, France, or Australia.

Pol Pot year Zero

Pol Pot declared 'Year Zero' when Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. He started a harsh program to "purify" Cambodian society of capitalism, Western culture, religion and all foreign influences. He wanted to turn Cambodia into an isolated and totally self-sufficient country. Anyone who opposed was killed. Foreigners were expelled, embassies closed, and the currency abolished. Markets, schools, newspapers, religious practices and private property were forbidden. Members of the government, public servants, police, military officers, teachers, ethnic Vietnamese, Christian clergy, Muslim leaders, members of the Cham Muslim minority, members of the middle-class and the educated were all executed.

The country's whole population was forced to move to the agricultural labor camps, the so-called "killing fields". Prisoners lived in primitive conditions. Families were separated. Buddhist monks were not allowed to practice their religion and were forced into labor brigades. Former city residents were brainwashed. Children were encouraged to spy on their own parents.

Up to 3 million people worked or starved to death, died of disease or exposure, or were executed for committing crimes. Crimes punishable by death included not working hard enough, complaining about living conditions, stealing food for personal consumption, wearing jewellery, engaging in sexual relations, grieving for loss of relatives or friends and showing their religious inclinations.

These are the shocking facts of what happened to the Cambodian people; mass genocide, terrible suffering of a whole nation. When we arrived at the place, it felt so calm and tranquil, which is worlds apart from what the place would have been like almost 40 years ago. The place contains many trees, plants, flowers, crops used to be planted here for the workers to harvest under forced labour conditions. The first thing we saw was the Choueng Ek memorial stupa , which was built in memory of 17,000 people who were tortured or executed at this site alone. It houses a collection of human skulls, bone remains which have all been recovered from the mass graves at Choueng Ek.

We were given headset recorders to play, and walked around the site, listening to the corresponding numbers of each stop. It's really hard to just sit there and listen to things that happened, it just doesn't seem real. People would be driven to Choueng Ek in the middle of night in big trucks, being told they were being relocated to a new place. However, what was waiting for them here was death. Prisoners were put in dark, crowed cells for a few hours before they were blindfolded, carted outside, interrogated, tortured and beaten to their death. They were killed with tools such as mallets, hatchets, axes, or bamboo sticks, sugar palm trees,which were like a saw; a blow to the head, throats cut, some were shot, although they didn't do this as much as bullets were expensive. They were then thrown into a pit, where you'd think they were an animal, not human. These pits were a mass grave site, one contained as many as 400 people. Nobody was spared death, and even mothers, children and babies were sadly beaten to death. We saw the 'killing tree' where babies were smashed against, now as a mark of respect, there are lots of colourful bracelets all tied to the tree. It was so horrible to visualise things that would have happened here.

We finished with paying respects to the dead by visiting the memorial stupa. We saw the skulls, bones, and victims clothing. Also, some of the tools that would have been used to kill them with. It's only when you see so many skulls and bones in one place, that you realise these were real people, just like you and I. Innocent people who died under Pol Pots Khmer Rouge routine. Nearly one in four of a nation died, people now must still be suffering and grieving for loved ones lost. Although Choueng Ek is a place filled with a horrific past, I am glad I came here to gain an understanding of what happened to those poor people in Cambodia.

S21- Toul Sleng genocide museum

After leaving Choueng Ek, we stopped briefly for lunch, then Toma drove us to S21. This place basically used to be a school, but was turned into a prison where people were brutally tortured to death. It became the largest centre of detention and of torture. More than 17,000 people were held here and sent off to Choueng Ek to be executed. They were then buried in mass graves there.

As the Khmer 'revolution' reached the heights of insanity, it began devouring its own children. Generations of tortures and executioners were in turn killed by those who took their places. During the first part of 1977, S-21 claimed an average of 100 victims a day. When the Vietnamese army liberated Phnom Penh in early 1979, they found only seven prisoners alive at S-21. Fourteen others had been tortured to death as Vietnamese forces were closing in on the city. They are buried in the courtyard outside.

S-21 was an important secret prison operated by the Pol Pot regime in the capital city of Phnom Penh from mid-1975 through the end of 1978. The focus of S-21 was on those who were inside the Khmer Rouge, and thought to have betrayed the movement. The families of offenders were taken to the prison as well in order to keep the deaths of their loved one from being avenged. Most of the prisoners had worked in the armed forces, factories, or administration. Upon arrival at S-21, the prisoners were photographed, tortured until they confessed to whatever crimes their captors charged them with, and then executed. The prisoners' photographs and completed confessions formed dossiers that were submitted to Khmer Rouge authorities as proof that the "traitors" had been eliminated.

We walked though each building, on each level there were different prison cells. The cells just contained an iron bed frame, a shackle, and some form of pot for the prisoners to get rid of excrement. In some cells, there were graphic photographs of the prisoner. These photos would show the dead prisoners body laying on the floor beside the bed, still shackled. Some cells even had blood stains on the walls. It's hard to imagine this place was ever a school before it got taken over to be a prison. Some other cells were wooden, others were brick cells, but the ones upstairs were the worst. They only had enough room for a bed and no more space than that. We walked through these brick cells and I couldn't get out of there quick enough, it was spooky in there.

Then we visited a whole building which had lots of pictures of prisoners, Khmer Rouge soldiers, women, children and babies. There were many mugshot pictures taken of each and every prisoner, with a number to identify who they were. You could see the fear in their faces. These pictures would have been taken after they'd confessed their crimes, then they would have been murdered. The pictures of the Khmer soldiers, both men and women were all uniformly dressed. Each and every one of the soldiers had the same hair cut, both male and females. There were also more graphic pictures; lots of dead bodies were photographed. It's only when you see this, that you can start to paint a picture of the horrific scenes. I didn't want to take any pictures of those, as I would constantly have their images in my head, although I can still visualise it without taking pictures.

Once we'd had enough sorrow we found take in the day, we decided to leave. It was pouring down with rain, so we ran towards the exit. As we were leaving, we passed a book signing by one of the former prisoners. One of the survivors had written a book and promotes it here. We should've stopped there, but we were getting soaked so left. It takes a brave person to return to somewhere they were being tortured. I have so much respect for them and can only imagine what they were going through. We got our tuk tuk driver to take us back in the rain. He'd put the rain cover on to protect us, but he only had a poncho to stop getting wet. I am glad we paid these two sites a visit, but it's been a really emotional day, and we're both totally drained.