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Published: February 16th 2011
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After the delights of Thailand we were a bit nervous of stepping into Cambodia especially as we did not know what to expect. After seeing off everyone at the airport we headed to Phnom Penh which is the capital of Cambodia. The flight went well and we managed to successfully find our hotel, The Pavilion. It was recommended on Trip Advisor and once again they weren’t wrong. The building has been converted from a 1920s colonial style villa, (designed originally for the Queen), and has a pool and some excellent places to sit and relax.
Phnom Penh seems an exciting city so far, however it does have it’s bad points. There are a lot of beggars and Tuk-Tuk drivers trying to hassle you, but they are nothing we have not encountered before in Vietnam. Saying that, a polite no seems to work and you are then left alone.
Last night we headed out for a drink and some food after our day of traveling. We managed to get lost and end up in some pretty dodgy side streets, but luckily after being seen in distress we were rescued by a Tuk-Tuk driver who, after a bit of haggling, took
us to the riverside for a small fee. We found a small restaurant which served beer for $0.75 and food for about $2 - $3! I could get used to these prices! I feel my recent weight loss will be reversed though!!! Nevertheless, the food was excellent and we both tried local Khmer (Cambodian) dishes and could not fault them.
Today we headed to the National Museum to look at statues from the Angkor temples, and then onto the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in the afternoon. This was a real eye opener, and gave us a greater understanding of what this country has been through. It was quite distressing and upsetting. The museum was originally a school which the Khmer Rouge converted into a detention centre which was used to torture and execute enemies of the state (which was pretty much everyone). The place has been left pretty much how it was discovered, the cells are still there, barbed wire and fencing has been left in place and the gallows still stand next to children’s climbing frames. In the holding cells there must be thousands of photographs of the victims staring back at you. It makes it a lot
more personable than looking at skulls and bones. Included in the portraits were pictures of children which was pretty shocking. The museum also had pictures of what the liberators found when they first entered the prison, such as dead bodies still tied to the bed with horrific injuries and piles of clothes from the people that had been executed. There are also pictures of the mass graves and a room full of skulls piled up. These included some that had bullet holes in them and others which had simply been beaten to death so they didn’t waste too many bullets.
Tomorrow we’re going to visit the Royal Palace, followed by The Killing Fields in the afternoon, then much alcohol I’d imagine!!!
Strange things I have noticed…
-They insist on using the dollar over here, they seem to want to ignore there local currency, and the local ATMs (if you can find them), only dispense US dollars.
-They love dancing! Walking around at night every open space is full of gangs of children lined up and dancing in sync to random music, it makes a strange sight but beats the ASBO yobs robbing people I’m used too!
-They city
was rebuilt in a grid system which should make getting around easy. Howver over the years the numbers have got messed up. So you might have 23rd street in between 101st and 3rd street! Also they do not number there buildings in order so you might have 32 next to 1 and 65, makes getting lost very easy!!
After our little trip to the genocide museum we thought we would top it off with a trip down the road to the killing fields in a village called Choeung Ek. Here the Khmer rouge executed anyone who they thought was a threat. There a large number of these killing fields and this one were found to contain the remains of 9000 men women and children.
It was quite an experience to visit this place, they have a large stupter which contains the skulls and other bones from all the bodies stacked over 17 floors. They have then separated the skulls in age groups from children to adults which is a bit upsetting. Walking around the place there are large pits were they dug the bodies up from. There is also a large tree which they used to tie
people up to and beat them to death as it was cheaper then bullets! There is another tree next to another pit were they used to swing babies and children against to kill them prior to chucking them in the pit! All in all was not a good trip but we are both glad we saw it to see what Cambodia has been through as it is not something we knew about prior to coming here.
We’ve got two more nights in Phnom Penh and then have a bus booked down to Sihanoukville which is a beach resort!
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