Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a huge, bustling Asian-style city with a European flavor to it.

Getting to Phnom Penh was a bit of an ordeal. We bought bus tickets for $3.50 a person. That should have been a tip-off. A little red flag saying, "Maybe you're getting too good of a deal here." The trip started off well; the roads were paved, so the ride was remarkably smooth. (Thank God for asphalt!) Unfortunately, half-way to Phnom Penh and in the smack-dab middle of nowhere, our bus kicked the bucket. After a lot of tinkering, it was discovered that the bus was...out of gas. A problem that was easily solved...if the engine wasn't tinkered with until it broke. (Though I must commend the busdriver for his engineering mentality: if it ain't broke, fix it until it is.)

Jon and I chilled out on the roadside for 4 hours, waiting for a new bus to come and pick us up. I tried to sew up my torn day-bag, but by the time I took the needle out, a (very friendly and kind) Cambodian woman had snatched it from me and sewn it up herself!

Fortunately, a new bus came by and we made it into Phnom Penh before dark. We got some Cambodian food (vegetable curry for me, frogs for Jon) and a not-so-Cambodian apple crumble before going back to our guesthouse and crashing.

The next day, we decided to relocate because our current guesthouse was aesthetically unpleasing. We headed off to the National Museum, which housed a few sculptures and other artifacts taken from Angkor. Since we were unsuitable attired for the Royal Palace, we decided to return the next day. That evening we competed in a pub quiz. Though the opposing teams had many members, Jon and I made a respectable showing. This was, in part, due to his extensive knowledge of music, and my knowledge of completely worthless crap. :)

The next day we returned to the Royal Palace, only to find it was closed. No worries. We stopped by a bookstore and browsed for long time, then drank a Sprite on the riverfront. (I tend to drink Sprite at least once a week now. I know that may seem really odd to those people who know me back home. I think it's the heat.)

The next afternoon, we traveled to the Royal Palace, yet again. This time, they were open! We checked out the throne room, the royal mint, and a few other buildings. Most of the buildings were off-limits to tourists. We then wandered over to the Silver Pagoda, so named because of its silver tiles. The pagoda houses a jade Buddha, a gold Buddha (who holds a 24 karat diamond), a silver Buddha, and a bronze Buddha. I was very excited about the Buddha's footprint, a relic brought back from India, so I was a little disappointed to discover it was not a real footprint. It was about 10 foot long and made of gold.
That evening, we went to an orphanage for traditional Cambodian dancing and music. All the kids were really cute, and they kept climbing all over me. I think it's because I am tall, not unlike a human jungle gym. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to raise money for orphanage.

The next day was devoted to Cambodia's dark genocidal past under the reign of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. Our first stop was the Killing Fields, located about 14 kilometers south of Phnom Penh. In these fields, 17,000 men, women, and children were executed for alleged 'crimes' against the state. (A crime could be something like possessing the ability to read.) The remains of the Killing Fields are huge pits (excavated mass graves), tattered pieces of victim's clothing and stacks of bones. The center of the fields is home to a giant tower, which houses 8000 skulls of the field's victims. A sobering experience, to say the least.

We then visited the Museum of Genocidal Crimes, formerly known as Tuol Sleng prison, or S-21. Prisoners were repeatedly tortured here until they were taken to the Killing Fields to be executed. Out of 14,000 prisoners, only seven survived. The prison itself was formerly a school, making the place seem even eerier. Please check the link out on Tuol Sleng. The Cambodian holocaust was not insignificant, though it is often overlooked and ignored--25% of the population did not survive the reign of the Khmer Rouge.