Phnom Penh

Marsh, Kristina and I flew to Phnom Penh and spent a day and a half before heading north to see Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

Don't be jealous of our room's majestic river view

Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city in Cambodia, with a population of around 2 million. As we drove to the River Palace hotel in the city, I noticed that from what I can tell, there are four main modes of transportation in Phnom Penh.  Bicycle, motor-bike, tuk-tuk or Toyota/Lexus.  Seriously, I'm not sure what Toyota did or when they entered the market, but from driving around the area, they seem to have at least 2/3 of the cars on the road. 

Once a high school, the Khmer Rouge turned it into a detention facility

On Thursday we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields).  I did a little bit of research on Pol Pot and Cambodia before the trip, but was still shocked by what I saw.  Tuol Sleng used to be a high school before the Khmer Rouge turned it into a prison, interrogation and torture facility.  Over 17,000 people passed through the facility between 1975-1979, and only 7 survived. We had an amazing tour guide named Hang Nisay, who was our age and spoke English very well.  After the museum we drove about 20km outside of town to the Choeung Ek, where thousands of people were sent to be executed.  Several times during the day I was reminded of visiting Auschwitz and Dachau, and couldn’t help but feel lucky to be born in the late 20^th century in the United States.

Our amazing guide Hang Nisay

Tuol Sleng

To lift our spirits, we decided to take an hour-long sunset river cruise down the Tonle Sap/Mekong river for $5.  Well maybe cruise is the wrong word. Extremely slow float is probably more accurate.  Provided a nice view of the Royal Palace, National Museum and a number of other wats dotting the riverside.

Ruining a romantic moment for the couple on the left

For dinner we went to a French restaurant named La P’tite France.  Even though Cambodia was a French colony until the 1950s, and the restaurant was one of the top-rated French restaurants, it couldn’t hold a candle to Friends restaurant.

Apparently Tomato Gazpatcho is French for Marinara sauce in a bowl

To get to Siem Reap, we took cab.  Another interesting experience.  Pretty much 4.5 hours of us playing the game chicken with buses, cars, tuk tuk, motorbikes and the occasional cow or motorbike carrying swine.  A great way to see the Cambodian countryside and see briefly what life outside a city is like.

Not quite pigs in a blanket

                                                               
                                                            The drive to Siem Reap