Day 15 - Phnom Penh

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Our guide met us in the hotel lobby (lift still broken), and our bikes were waiting for us outside. The guide took us on a whistle stop tour of the city. We had been scheduled to visit a dancing school in the morning, but a day of mourning had been declared for the Water Festival disaster, so dancing was inappropriate. Instead, we cycled past a number of the important monuments, avoiding the traffic. We cycled past the Royal Palace which we were going to visit that afternoon. After we had done some cycling, and had a short political lecture on government corruption from the guide, we headed to the National Museum of Cambodia. This contains a number of the actual statues from Angkor Wat that have been removed for safe keeping from the temples for safe keeeping. We went for an early lunch. Our guide asked if there was something we would rather do instead, and we suggested the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek.

We headed off in the mini bus about 15km towards the site. When we arrived, we watched a short film which told the story of the genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge and their leader Pol Pot. We then walked the short distance to the memorial monument that has the skulls, bones and clothes of victims piled up. We then walked round the site which had been excated for a number of mass graves. What we found one of the most disturbing elements is that not a full scale excavation has been carried out on the site, and every now and then you can see a bone in the ground that you are walking on. The guide said that in the rainy season, they come to the surface and are then removed and added to the memorial structure - uurg. This place is very sobering and perhaps even more so when you think it wasn't that long ago only between 1975 and 1979 and the reality that Pol Pot and his men went on to kill an estimated 1.7 Million men, women and children is quite disturbing.

We then drove back into the city, and went to tour round the Royal Palace. The palace is very impressive, with a number of important structures within a complex. Within the Silver Pagoda, there is a golden Buddha that has a number of large diamonds on it which was commissioned in the early 1900's. This is within a collection of Buddhas which have all been given to the King by various important sources. The King still lives within the palace grounds, and succession will be to one of his nephews as the King is not married. There are lots of depictions of the coronation, and the old king and queen now live in China. There is also some conservation work being carried out by UNESCO on a pavillion, which considering the probable wealth of the king we wondered whether he should be paying for the work. There was a lot ot see in the grounds of the palace, and we were pleased we had seen them.

We then got the guide to drop us off at the Russian Market. We didn't get very long to look round, as it closed at 5pm -something not mentioned in the guide books. We patiently waited for mum and dad, thinking they had got lost as all the shops were closing around us. When they finally appeared, they explained that they had been looking for somewhere to have a drink after shopping! After going for a drink to review the purchases made, we headed back to the hotel to pack for the next destination. That night, we returned to the Riverside for something to eat. We looked at the menu for a couple of places, but it seemed to be much busier that night, and the place we fancied had no tables ready. The tuk tuk driver from the night before recognised us and said he would have a word with the owner and get us a table, we said we'd look at a couple more places and come back in 10 minutes. Everywhere was pretty busy except the really grotty looking places so we returned and when we got back, the table was ready and the driver was looking quite pleased with himself. Quite how they make any money sitting there for 2 hours waiting for a $3 fare is anyones guess.

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