After a pretty non eventful border crossing and a long day on the bus, we finally made it to the capital of
Cambodia,
Phnom Penh. We were beyond grateful to our pre booked guesthouse to
have a man waiting for us with a luxury padded tuk tuk to whisk us away
from the bus station and into bed.
The recent history of
Cambodia
through the Khmer Rouge movement is intense to say the least and the
must do tourist sites related to this are nothing short of awful. We
jumped on a tuk tuk to take us round the sites and after the Cambodian
Museum and Royal Palace we were headed for S21, a former school turned
prison, utilised for torture during the Pol Pot reign. The pictures of
thousands that were tortured here and the images of how they were
tortured, killed and found were harrowing. The killing fields were
next, and as the name would suggest, not a delightful place. A
brilliant audio tour led us around the site with survivor tales retold
to give you a feel for the massacre that went on here and other sites
around the country.
Despite two rivers
running by, the riverside in Phnom Penh wasn't up to much, especially in
the dry season, although it was pleasant enough for a night time stroll
along the numerous bars and restaurants once the sun went down. We
were pleasantly surprised with this city, finding it not as manic as
HCMC for example, yet yearning for the beach again, we set off for
Sihanoukville.
After a pretty non eventful border crossing and a long day on the bus, we finally made it to the capital of Cambodia,
Phnom Penh. We were beyond grateful to our pre booked guesthouse to
have a man waiting for us with a luxury padded tuk tuk to whisk us away
from the bus station and into bed. 
The recent history of Cambodia
through the Khmer Rouge movement is intense to say the least and the
must do tourist sites related to this are nothing short of awful. We
jumped on a tuk tuk to take us round the sites and after the Cambodian
Museum and Royal Palace we were headed for S21, a former school turned
prison, utilised for torture during the Pol Pot reign. The pictures of
thousands that were tortured here and the images of how they were
tortured, killed and found were harrowing. The killing fields were
next, and as the name would suggest, not a delightful place. A
brilliant audio tour led us around the site with survivor tales retold
to give you a feel for the massacre that went on here and other sites
around the country. 
Despite two rivers
running by, the riverside in Phnom Penh wasn't up to much, especially in
the dry season, although it was pleasant enough for a night time stroll
along the numerous bars and restaurants once the sun went down. We
were pleasantly surprised with this city, finding it not as manic as
HCMC for example, yet yearning for the beach again, we set off for
Sihanoukville.
No comments:
Post a Comment