The Killing Fields

30 August - Woke up early today feeling quite awful - not sure what it is this time but perhaps it's a reaction to the food or a cold or something else quite unpleasant. Tried to go out to find a bicycle to hire so I could head out to the Killing Fields but had no luck and also found myself in the middle of the fresh produce section of the markets which sent my head and stomach spinning. Headed back to guesthouse in time to take the tour (the four remaining British girls were also doing it plus two other antisocial and very miserable looking brits).
We went in the same minibus that broke down twice yesterday over some of the worst roads i've ever had the pleasure of crossing. They were generally all dirt and with potholes everywhere (going through them was reminescent of the x-wings going through magnetic turbulence in star wars IV) and a huge pile of dirt as tall as me completely blocking the road at one point.
Eventually made it to the site of the fields at Choeng Eck - we took a guide who was quite knowledgeable and very nice - it was one of the strangest and most harrowing tours i've ever done - I suppose I could compare it to Dachau but after walking through the temple that was piled high with skulls (all smashed in signifying extremely violent and horrible deaths) and then through all of the excavated mass graves I was completely numb. On the ground there were patches where bones and teeth were coming up out of the ground (when it rains it brings them up) and there was often a pile of human bones marking the pits which hadn't been filled in. Our guide gave a very good account of the events that led to the fields and the history of the Khmer Rouge and also told us of his personal story, he was only a child and managed to survive but he lost two of his older sisters who died by starvation. After this we were taken to the S21 camp in town, where many of the prisoners were interred, tortured and executed. The site, now a museum, doesn't have the money to set the place up like a proper museum and therefore a lot of the documentation is aging but because there are no guards and few signs it appears as if they've the Khmer Rouge has just abandoned the place. Many of the torture implements are still in place and there is still blood spattering many of the walls - there were't a huge amount of people there but all of them were just walking through in silence, everyone contemplating the horrors to themselves, it was very sad.
I was struggling a bit near the end being quite upset and very uncomfortable in the heat and with my new mystery illness so when we returned I tried to pass out in bed, unsuccessfully. Not really feeling up to seeing much more today and will probably leave Phnom Penh tomorrow - still haven't worked out the next place but am sure it will come to me.