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Published: October 8th 2011
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Our journey down to Phnom Penh was fraught with lots of bumpy, wheel crunching, flooded roads but eventually we made it.
For our first night we stayed in hotel 252. Everything was made of concrete; bed, wardrobe, bathroom, tv unit and bathroom. It was clean but the grey decor was odd and the bed very firm.
Phnom Penh is unlike other parts of Cambodia, the smiley faces we had encountered previously have somewhat dissolved, replaced with miserable faces not out of place with what you would find on the London Underground.
I blame it all on the seedy undertones that can be found all around the city. It does bring you down and it seems Cambodia is the perferred destination of the ozzy perverts and drunks, sorry if thats offensive but it is.
During our time in the capitol we visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. Seeing such wealth with all the jewel encrusted Budda's seems like such a contradiction to what we had seen in the rest of the country. We were trying to work out whether the 2089 diamonds on one Budda were real, it would mean the value of that particular statue would
be millions of dollars. Then on the street you get tuk-tuk drivers running after you for a $2 job, weird.
We had to get ourselves over to the Killing Fields of Cheong Ek to learn more of what happened to this country. As you enter you are given a head set which takes you around the site to numbered locations. At each stop the head set explains in detail what happened here along with some background stories of the events. The Killing Fields used to be an old Chinese cemetery but when the Khmer Rouge took over they used the area as a place to kill prisoners from the S-21 prison.
They dug out over a hundred pits and filled them with bodies and all killings took place at night under fluorescent light to the sound of loud piped music to cover the screaming. When we came out of the complex we got talking to a tuk tuk driver who mentioned that on 17th April 1975, when KR came to power they requested all over-sea's Cambodian people return. His father was studying at the time in America and stupidly came back only to be taken straight from the
Killing Fields Monment
Contained the bones and clothing of the deceased airport and killed. The regime didn't like anyone who was skilled or educated, they believed in a peasant society.
Cambodia is a very unique country, nothing like Vietnam or Thailand. They do need more tourists to come here and head out to places other than Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to help spread the wealth. Problem is at the moment the majority of tourism is run by oversea's investers so most tourist dollars don't really line the Cambodian pockets or go to where its needed.
On a different note must say compliments to the chef though, the food has been a real high point. On previous trips we were always of the opinion that meat and certain food groups should be avoided to prevent illness but as meat is about the only thing on offer around here we thought to hell with it, we can deal with the worms later. Needless to say we will be sporting a couple of budda bellies on our arrival back home.
The shopping has been a highlight also, we have bought so many paintings, carvings, shoes and camera accessories that we had to buy an extra suitcase in order to get
National Museum
The only thing I remember is the trip to the toilets and seeing the horredous sight that someone had pebble dashed the toilet cistern them home. Bargin of the day goes to the three paintings we got for $10 down at the Russian market!
If it weren't for our employment and house shackles we would love to see more of this country but I guess it will just have to await our return visit some day.
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