The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek

After the genocide museum we carried on out of the city to view the Killing Fields. This was where the prisoners were taken, before being killed and buried in mass graves. 9,000 skeletons have been uncovered, but a further third of the graves remain untouched. The burial pits themselves, just look like a building site, except for the signs identifying them and the scraps of clothes uncovered from the mud each rainy season. Alongside the area of the graves is a large stupa, with glass walls, containing the thousands of skulls and some of the clothes found on the victims.

We’d left Emily in the car with the driver, as she’d been asleep when we arrived, and when we got back to the car it was surrounded by the small children who beg and sell things at every tourist site in Cambodia. They were all peering in the window at Emily, who’d woken up and was reading her book. Every time you arrive and step out of your taxi or tuk-tuk, you’re immediately surrounded by a horde of children asking you to buy their postcards/fans/chopsticks/t-shirts or just begging. I would imagine that would be frustrating for tourists who are just here for a week or so, and haven’t had time to adjust to the hassle of Asia. Fortunately, we’ve now been here long enough to get used to it, and although it was initially quite daunting and confusing for Charlotte and Emily, they’ve learnt to cope with all the pushing, shouting and touching that goes on.