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Published: April 9th 2008
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I decided it was time for an upgrade when I reached Phnom Penh and after an uncomfortable two hour cramped bus journey from where the boat dropped us off I was away with my 35kg of luggage in a crazy tuck tuck to the Bouvillier 3 star hotel on the river front ( most of the tour group stayed in the dodgy guesthouse where the bus dropped us off). I'd booked 3 nights and wasn't sure where I was going after that, either Siam Reap or Sihanoukville.
I'd heard reports from guide books and other travellers that Phnom Penh was a dangerous place so I was on guard the first night. It wasn't necessary though as the main tourist area by the river front, National Museum and Royal palace is fine but its worth getting a tuck tuck at night rather than wondering aimlessly as none of the streets have names and there are a few dubious characters on street corners.
Over the next three days I visited the National Museum, Killing fields, S21 Museum and Gym Pub. The national museum ( seen in the pictures with the elephant outside) was ok and gave you an insight into ancient
Cambodia.
To get to the Killing fields I hired a Moto driver for the day (USD 8.00) which was quite fun as I'd never been on the back of a motorbike before!!. I was expecting the Killing fields to be a lot worse that they were but the main tower with all the skulls was pretty grim!. For those that are not aware of Cambodian history in April 1975 the Chineese backed Communist party CPK ( Khmer Rouge) captured Phnom Penh and took power of the country after a 5 year war against the US backed government. Under their leader Pol Pot they imposed an extreme form of social engineering ( year zero), emptied all the cities of Cambodia, removed the concepts of religion and family and the whole population had to work on collective farms. Through execution, forced labour and starvation they killed up to an estimated 2 million of the population. In terms of the number of people killed per percentage of the population it was one of the most lethal regimes of the 20th century. S21 was one of the camps in the city and it was a harrowing place I couldn't take any pictures I
was so shocked by what I saw.
Meeting the local people you wouldn't think the country had been through all that though they are so friendly and hospitable. One thing I did notice was that there were not many old people walking around!. By the end of the day I'd had enough and it was time for some R&R in some of the night spots of the city which were pretty good.
On the last day I visited the Royal Palace which was quite impressive and bumped into some of the Hoi An possy. I finaly decided to go to Sihanoukville....... so I took a small amount of luggage and left the main rucksack at the hotel as I was going to come back to PP before going to Siam Reap and got the bus down to Snooky for some beach life.
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