The Happy Reunion at Phnom Penh Airport...

Steph and I took a tuk-tuk to the airport in the morning to meet the new arrivals - and as you can see, Steph got quite a shock when Alex popped out from behind a column and tapped her on the shoulder...

Alex coming-up behind Steph...

What?!? Alex?!?....

''Oh my God!!''... That's all Steph kept saying over and over... :)

Just can't believe it... :))

Still in shock...

Finally caught her breath...

Phnom Penh airport

We took 3 tuk-tuks from the airport to our guest-house and dropped-off our bags before heading out to visit some of Phnom Penh's 'must see' sights...

Back in a tuk-tuk...

First-up was S-21, the high-school that during the Khmer Rouge rule was turned into a prison where high-level security prisoners were tortured before being sent to the Killing Fields. Haunting sights when you consider that the events of the Pol Pot regime took place only some 30 years ago!! A reminder of the mad and destructive bent of the human species - and that history repeats itself all too often...

Prisoners were chained to their beds between torture sessions - these large cells were used for high-profile prisoners

Prisoners included men, women and children, all accused of being 'enemies of the regime'

The 1 meter by 1 meter cells for 'regular' inmates - prisoners were tortured for 3-6 months before being sent to the Killing Fields. Only 7 prisoners were found alive when the prison was liberated. Only 1 Khmer Rouge leaders has so far been convicted of Crimes Against Humanity - several others are still 'awaiting trial' (more than 30 years later...).

At the Killing Fields we were confronted by hundreds of skulls in a memorial stupa, and the indentations in the ground, where the mass graves of over 15,000 people were dug-up... But more confronting was the fact that we were walking on the bones and clothes of the murdered... The private company that runs the Killing Fields site, does not see fit to build a low path OVER the remains, and the regular rains simply wash away the soil, exposing more remains and clothing, living visitors walking down the marked path no option but to act disrespectfully and walk on the remains... We honoured the dead, but frankly felt that we were being very disrespectful to the past and the dead... The experience was of course nothing like Yad VaShem or the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC - which it should be consideing that 1-1.7 million Khmer (the count varies significantly) were murdered. That's 20-25% of the population...

The Stupa at the Killing Fields - 17 storeys of skulls

The dug-up mass graves

Clothes and bones are everywhere on the ground. With 1 in 4 or 5 Khmers killed by the Pol Pot regime, there is no family living in Cambodia that has not been affeced.

The other major site we visited in Phnom Penh was the Royal Palace, which was very interesting as the Khmer religion includes elemenst of both Hinduism and Buddhism... Still a working palace, the king (not married) and royal family live and work on the grounds. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda adjoining the palace were the only 2 major stuctures not destroyed by the Khmer Rouge - the king (the current king's father) remained in the palace as a prisoner.

The Throne Hall

Lots of gold... Used for coronations and State events

The palace staff wear a different colour (and different hair-dos for the ladies...) every day of the week... Kiry, our guide, is wearing red - for Sundays... :))

The girls cooling-off under the rain shower sprinkler...

Alex and Emma joined the palace musicians...

:)

2 hot days were enough for us in Phnom Penh... Tomorrow we're off to Sihanoukville, a beach resort about a 4 hours' drive south...

I'll post some of last week's activities at the school and orphange in the next couple of days...