Postcard from Phnom Penh

We've been in Phnom Penh the last few days and its been great. The city traffic is a law unto itself but it seems to work. Anywhere in Europe and there would be a traffic jam but here everyone just weaves around eachother, it doesn't matter what side of the road you're on.

Yesterday we split up for a while and Harry and myself visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum whilst the rest of the family went to the Russian market. It was pretty heavy going - Tuol Sleng was formerly two schools which were then used by the Khmer Rouge as a place of incarceration and torture before the unfortunate 'traitors'were sent to the Killing Fields in Choeung Oek. There are graphic pictures of the last 14 vistims and a multitude of photos of other unfortunate victims, taken prior to their interrogation. Their faces tell it all. It was a harrowing experience for me, I'm not sure what Harry made of it all.

Later that day we went out to the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh. I had always imagined a vast landscape where bodies were dumped - in reality it was little more than an acre with the remains of over 17,000 victims of the Khmer Rouge.

Today we kept it a little lighter. We visited the Royal Palace and whilst the kids went to the playground with Caroline I hit the National Museum. It was pretty interesting but the funny thing about the visit was that the rains came and all of a sudden the museum was surrounded by a three foot moat of water. I had to stay in there for about an hour until it subsided and i could walk out again. Great craic.\

We hit Siem Reap tomorrow for three days of Khmer temple overload. Angkor Wat beckons. Great stuff.