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Published: February 13th 2008
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Day 3. Our shuttle was to pick us up at 06:10 for our 07:00 bus. We were at a nearby coffeeshop getting yaucharkwai and coffee to go, when we heard our shuttle bus honking for us at Mandalay Inn (I had almost forgotten to mention that upon arrival in Cambodia, it appears that everyone honks at everyone and everything, BUT the worse has yet to come. Wait til you get to Saigon 😉
The bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was uneventful, and they were mostly playing music videos of local pop star, usually featuring a male involved in a love triangle. (Later on they switched to some recording of a local comedian/s live performance which instantly brought life to the local passengers 😊 We made a stop halfway where we bought some mango and sugarcane from the peddler kids that swarmed around us before we could even get our last foot off the bus.
We arrived Phnom Penh at about 1300. Before the bus even managed to stop, tuktuks/cyclos/motos were already touting us for business. At this point, I decided I did not like Phnom Penh much, take me back to Siem Reap!!!!! But, I must
say that Phnom Penh did prepare me for the bustling city of Ho Chi Minh.
We got robbed USD1 by a stupid tuktuk driver who agreed to drop us off at the guesthouse area in the city. After being left by the side of the road nowhere near any decent guesthouse, we took out our lonely planet guide and were relieved to find out that we were only a few streets away. But of course, it did not help that the road numbering system isn't exactly the most organised in the world. Luckily, a kind old man (who probably saw us looking totally sesat, with book in hand) pointed us to the right direction. We checked out a few guesthouses along the stretch and finally found a pretty new (and most importantly clean) guesthouse (Sompovmeas Thmey) for USD7. Also rented a motorbike from the opposite guesthouse (It is somehow okay to ride in Cambodia without helmets *shock shock horror* Yeah, we decided to live dangerously and did it Cambodian style!)
After lunch (Pho with stewed beef) at 'Pho Olympic' we continued our episode of 'getting lost in Cambodia' looking for the Tuol Sleng (Pronounced 'tool sly') Genocide Museum
(S-21 Prison). Like I've mentioned earlier, although the road names seem simple enough (They're just numbers) but they are organised in the most bizzare ways. After a while, I was starting to get worried that we might not be able to find it before the museum closes at 1730 :P After missing many a turning/junction/lane, and stopping every now and then to inspect the map again and again, we finally found it. (Yes we found it! I see tourists and tuktuks!) Right smack in the middle of a housing/shoplots area. Not exactly a location one would expect a genocide museum to be.
For the uninitiated, Tuol Seng was formerly known as Tuol Svay Prey High School. It was used as a security prison (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge when Pol Pot's regime 'exterminated' the Cambodians. I will not further elaborate on this place (feel free to look it up) There's not much to say really. The whole experience of the horror defies not only words, but emotion. Not sure if the pictures will evoke that horrible feeling in our stomachs while we were there. Having visited Angkor just the day before and witness in awe how grand the kingdom
Doggie
Just had to snap this pup taking a snooze - At one of the stops during bus journey SR - PP had once upon a time been, Tuol Sleng illustrates the depth of slumps to which humanity can fall. We sat silent for awhile at the courtyard before leaving the place when it closed at 1730.
We didn't exactly have the mood to shop (or do anything at all...) after Tuol Sleng, but since we were leaving for Vietnam the next day, we decided to go to the Russian Market. Unfortunately, when we arrived there close to 6pm, all the shops were already closing. The only section with ongoing business is the wet market right outside. We walked around a bit, browsed the food stalls, and decided to go back to our guesthouse to wash up and rest and come out later to look for food (Once we've regained our appetites..)
After purchasing our bus ticket to Ho Chi Minh, we had dinner at an open air food court outside Psar O Russei (Yummilicious rice with beef - the best meal in Cambodia yet) and headed back after that to call it a day.
/ End of Cambodian adventure.
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