Phnom Penh & Southern Cambodia

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July 28th 2008

Published: August 19th 2008

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Steve and Laura

Bliss

Sihanoukville

Hello There Friends!!
After the rest and relaxation of the Mekong Delta we travelled to the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh. The Journey was by slow boat, and the name didn't lie! The boat was definately slow taking around 9 hours in total but luckily the scenery along the way was fantastic. We watched children playing in the river and locals washing and fishing as we trundled by, being overaken by the occasional duck in the process!!
The day of this journey was in fact the wedding day of my oldest friend Sir Graeme Hill (or is it Hainsworth now?? We all know she wears the trousers GH!!) and his lovely WIFE Lucy, so congratulations to you two, I've heard all about the day and the honeymoon sounds like both were fantastic. Our thoughts were with you both on the day.

Phnom Penh

Once we had finally arrived into Phnom Penh we settled into our hotel and spent 3 days looking around the town and its sights.
The first night set the sombre tone for the rest of our stay, the famous film The Killing Fields was being shown in our hotel so we watched that and learned a

Rural Life

In Cambodia

little more about the shocking sights we were planning to visit.
The next day we visited the famous S1 Prison, where the brutal khmer rouge regime, kept thousands of innocent people including womwn and children, before torturing them and eventually killing all but 7 of the people who had had the misfortune to have been taken there.
It was a terribly sobering experience and we followed that with a trip to the infamous killing fields where many of the bodies were dumped in mass, unmarked graves. Many of the graves have since been dug out and the skeletal remains of the victims are held to be seen within a glass monument built in their memory.
It wan't the most fun we have had on our trip by any means but we felt it was important to try to gain a better understanding of the horrific times the Cambodian people went through less than 30 years ago (more than 2 million people or 25% of the population were killed during the khmer rouge rule which only lasted around 4 years!!)

The second day in Phnom Penh was a little more upbeat looking aroun the town at the various colonial architecture

Colourful Stonework

Phnom Penh

and temples that make the town an interesting place to visit. We finished the day by having drinks on cushions by the lakeside and watching the sunset. It was beautiful.

Sihanoukville

After leaving Phnom Penh we travelled to the south coast of Cambodia and the beach resort of Sihanoukville.
The beaches here were lovely and we spent 4 days sunning ourselves and drinking cheap beer and cocktails in he lovely bars along the beachfont.

Kampot

Our final stop in Southern Camodia was the small colonial town of Kampot.
We spent a few days here relaxing, exploring the local caves (with the help of the local kids who guided us through them, for a small fee of course!!) and cycling around the beautiful countryside.
Kampot has a lovely, relaxing atmosphere and beautiful old (if a little delapidated), french architecture. It would have been a much more memorable place to visit had the weather not been so appalling during our stay, making activities and trips much less appealing.
Next we move onto Siem Reap and the Ancient Temples of Angkor, something we have been looking forward to for the whole trip!

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