The Killing Fields, Kampuchia

We arrived by bus from Saigon to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh (I can't pronounce it, so have to call it Phlom Plemgh). Its a great city, we were very surprised, its clean, pretty, green parks, and flowers everwhere, and amazing riverside, with wicked people who spend the whole time laughing and joking with you (even though they are trying to sell you stuff). However, you can't get away from the darker side of this city, there are hundreds of amputees, and beggers around scarred from Pol Pots Khamer Rouge killing machine, and the remaining land mines. (50 people per day are killed or maimed by land mines + there are many amputee because of snake bites - the medical help here is so bad that they usually get gangerous infections and need to be amputated).
On our second day here we visited the School Prision S-21, where 17,000 Khamers were held captive, then taken to the 'Killing Fields' to be executed. Only 12 people survived.
The Khamer Rouge were meticulous (like the Nazis) about keeping records of the inmates, such as photos before and after tourture (sometimes during). The tousands of photos are displayed in the class rooms of the school.
The thing that shocks you most about this place is that it is so clearly a school building, which you usually associate with different things.
Outside the school are lots of beggers...one will always stick in our minds, his face was totally burnt, he had no facial features left, apart from his left eye. Very upsetting.
We them drove out to the 'Killing Fields' where the prisioners were taken to be killed. They didn't like to waste bullets so they were usually bludgened to death. 800 sculls of women, men and children are displayed in a cabinet, the fields are covered in craters, which are evidence of mass graves that have been dug up. There are still 9000 bodies buried, and as you walk on the fields you can see bones and bits of clothes poking up from the ground.
A sad day, but one we will never forget.
Chris & Sam