Cocktails and Genocide in Phom Penh

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Once again we were up before the sun and headed for a new destination, this time it was via a somewhat dubious looking bus and the city was Phnom Penh. The trip took 6 hours and featured loud Khmer kung fu movies, a dodgy road stop with outdoor squat huts and food stores selling fried bugs (not for arachnophob's), local fruit and other unidentifiable food stuffs. And last but not least Karaoke videos in broken English at full volume instead of a radio. Matt didn't think the trip was too bad but Trace has it at the top of her list as worst bus trip EVER.

Luckily we had organised for someone to meet us at the bus station and take us to a hotel as it was crazy, there were people everywhere, they were jumping up and trying to get our attention before the bus had even stopped. We grabbed our bags and pushed through to the hotel minivan which whisked us to the hotel; it was reasonably clean and in a quiet location. Well at least we thought it was clean until trace met the local bedbugs, and the smells from outside started coming through the aircon.

We spent the afternoon walking around, and took a moto to the river front for drinks and dinner at the Foreign Correspondence Club (FCC). After the warnings we received from virtually everyone about staying out after dark we headed back to the hotel, where we drank beer whilst watched the John Malkovich movie "The killing Fields" which was being shown in the common area.

The following day we set off on a day tour which included a visit to the killing fields, S21 which was the main Khmer Rouge torture prison after its initial use as a high school, the royal palace and the museum. The day was one of mixed emotion; we set out expecting it to be extremely emotional knowing that we were going to the location's where some of the world's worst modern day atrocities occurred. And knowing that we were going to see the resting places and remains of more people than could ever be counted and identified, yet it was all so matter of fact. The local's don't cry when explaining, they just describe everything as a matter of fact, simply just the way it was. As westerners we found ourselves feeling obliged to be upset as this is how we have been brought up, yet being there and talking with locals we came away feeling angry if anything. Not angry with the local people who have suffered so much, but angry with the rest of the world for letting it happen.

The afternoon was more upbeat we looked around the palace, followed by the museum which was also being visited by Bill Clinton at that time, and then back to the FCC for some of the best cocktails ever tasted and dinner. Again we headed home by 8pm to sleep and pack ready for our morning flight to Bangkok.

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Photos

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It's not gay when your on holidays.