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Published: November 25th 2009
Phnom Penh - S21 Genocide Museum 2
The Khmer Rouge took over a whole block of the city to house their prison and other buildings. Prior to the rule of Pol Pot the S21 prison was a school. This is where "political" prisoners were brought, tortured and killed in ways that I don't want to write.Hi again
I decided to once again take the easy option and fly to Phnom Penh from Bangkok and arrived in the evening rush hour which means that the traffic is even crazier than usual! After I managed to fight my way out of the airport through the throng of taxi and tuk tuk drivers I was lead to a taxi to take me to my hotel.....we drove about 100 metres to another taxi which I was transferred into....still trying to figure that one out! We battled our way through the traffic to the hotel and I was quite enjoying the madness that was going on around me.....people, motorbikes, tuk tuks, trucks and cars everywhere and noise all around me.....crazy!
After checking in I went for a walk....and yes once again I got lost in the dark!! But I found the national monument and area where all the locals hang out.....and get this do line dancing to hip hoppish music in the main square. It looked great....there were people of all ages doing it and having a great time....it's one way of keeping fit I guess.
The next day started with a fantastic english fry up (included in
the room price)...I later found out that the owner was english which explained it all. I then walked down to S21 which is the name of the school that was taken over by Pol Pot and his men to use as a prison to torture, imprison and kill so many people over the years of their control. It was pretty gruesome stuff with graphic photos etc. The killing fields just out of the city were my next port of call by tuk tuk through more traffic madness. The Killing Fields is an area that was the site of many more killings and the last resting place of many people....once again not the most uplifiting experience but one I'm glad I have had....makes you appreciate what you have so much more!
My tuk tuk driver took me back into the city thankfully without having an accident but narrowly missing a few! I went for a walk along the Sissowath Quay area which is where all the tourists seem to hang out....I had a fantastic Khmer curry with a pint of Angkor to wash it down :-) then decided to finish off my day with a visit to the royal palace
Phnom Penh - Killing Fields
A relaxing tuk tuk ride out of the city to the Killing Fields......This photo is of the 17 story stupa (structure)that holds 8000 of the exhumed skulls from the Choeung Ek site. Pretty chilling stuff. which was like a peaceful paradise in the middle of mayhem.
And today I've been on a bus making my way up to Siem Reap....tomorrow I'll be hitting the temples of Angkor Wat which I'm really looking forward to.
Catch you all later :-)
Trace
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Ames
non-member comment
cool
sounds like lots of fun... really looking forward to arriving in 4 weeks. I was a little worried based on info I had read about the safety of PP....but if you can do it on your own then all will be ok! looking to catching up and hearing all about it.