We’d initially only planned to stay in Phnom Penh for two nights but ended up exploring this fascinating place for almost a week. Though it doesn’t have a large number of touristy sites or an immediately obvious town centre, plus the pavements are pretty much unnavigable and the roads even hairier than Vietnam, it has a strange charm due to its unconventional layout and slow pace of life.
View from our guesthouse over northern Phnom Penh
Cambodia has had a tumultuous history - the French occupation, Japanese occupation in WW2, bombing by America in the Vietnam war and most recently the horrendous atrocities inflicted by the Khmer Rouge in the late seventies and subsequent civil war until the 1990s. One particularly poignant memorial to those who suffered at the hands of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime is the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, or Security Prison 21 (S21) as it was from 1975-79. From the 1960’s, these buildings formed a primary school; after the Khmer Rouge seized Phnom Penh and evacuated the city in 1975, the school was turned into a primitive prison and torture centre. Over 20,000 civilians were held here and tortured before being killed and buried in the mass graves at the Killing Fields outside the city. We visited the museum on our first day and it was pretty harrowing – images of the people they found mutilated when the prison was liberated in 1979, photos of the thousands of men, women and children who were tortured at the prison and the cramped cells in which they were held. Across the country between 2 and 3 million people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
Building B at the Toul Sleng Museum – pretty much as it was when it was liberated by the Vietnamese in 1979
Former classrooms turned into prison cells
We also visited the infamous Killing Fields a few days later which was also a sad experience – pile upon pile of skulls from the excavated mass graves, some bearing the evidence of the way in which they were cruelly robbed of life. There were also piles of clothes from the victims, more of which are exposed by the land every time it rains – again a poignant reminder of the undignified way in which they were massacred. Though neither the Genocide Museum nor the Killing Fields was a pleasant experience, it wouldn’t be right to visit Cambodia without remembering the suffering the people went through.
Mass graves at the Killing Fields
Most of these skulls are from teenagers
After learning about Cambodia’s troubled past, we admired the Cambodian people’s hospitality and warmth even more. Pretty much everyone we met was welcoming and genuine (though as with all of South-East Asia there was the usual ‘tourist mark-up’ on everything!) and they were keen to put the past behind them and develop as a country.
Phnom Penh – old and new
Inner-city monkey
Phnom Penh’s Art-Deco old market
Quite a wide variety of traffic
Peering through the gates to the Royal Palace
As usual at this time of year in a South-East Asian city, it’s ridiculously baking when the sun’s out but afternoons can bring some pretty spectacular rain showers, plus some impressive lightning shows in the evening. The trusty Tesco Value ponchos are still going strong and coming in very handy indeed!
Pretty moody-looking dusk!
Somewhat soggy
One highlight of our time in Phnom Penh was a trip out to the countryside to go quad-biking (from our wedding list – thanks Charlie!). Our Tuk-Tuk driver took us to the base camp where we donned some ill-fitting helmets and hopped on some pretty ragged-looking quad bikes, revved the engines and careered off into the beautiful paddy fields and villages of the Cambodian countryside! The pace was pretty steady, although Fran’s quad did either top speed or no speed due to a dodgy clutch – mine was OK but I did a fair bit of hanging back so I could give it full throttle to catch up again – awesome!!! Our guide led us down mostly dirt tracks (a relief as the roads are pretty hairy!) through lots of little villages with stilt houses, children running out of their houses to come and wave at us as we passed (plenty of the adults were waving too which was nice). We passed a few temples in the middle of nowhere, went through a muddy orchard and passed a school where the kids ran out of their classrooms to wave as well – very friendly but maybe a good excuse to bunk off! It had rained the previous day so we got pretty mucky ploughing through the mud but had such an amazing time it didn’t matter! A great experience all in all – definitely recommend it to anyone!
Crossing a somewhat rickety bridge
Easy rider
The beast!
A bit mucky
Waving kids
Giving it some beans!
Junglemania!
Our next stop after Phnom Penh was Siem Reap – the gateway town for the temples of Angkor. We opted for a bus for the 6 hour trip which was actually surprisingly bearable – a refreshing change! Our next post should see us exploring some old, old temples, spotting monkeys and generally making like Indiana Jones… :)
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