Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The four of us took another taxi early Tuesday morning to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. The taxi ride was about 5 1/2 hours and only 65 USD (btw..everything is in USD, even the ATMs dispense it). I am pretty sure we had the most aggressive driver possible. I don't think he took his hand off the horn the entire drive. We all intended on sleeping during the drive, but between his honking and weaving around motorbikes, cars, buses, cows, and bicycles none of us really got much sleep.

Phnom Penh is a beautiful city of 1.5 million people with a very dark history. It was a French Colony from about 1884 till 1953 causing it to still have a large community of French expats. In 1975 till January 1979 Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia forcing people into slavery and performed mass executions on anyone that refused or tried to rebel.

We started our day at the Tuol Sleng Museum to learn more about the history behind the genocide. The museum was originally a school, but when the Khmer Rouge took over they converted it into a prison. It looks the way it did when it was a prison with barbwire covering the front of the buildings, bars covering the windows, and in some of the rooms they still have the torture devices they used along with photos. The most intense part of the museum by far was the hundreds or thousands of headshots of the prisoners. The expressions on their faces were just so intense that I can't even begin to imagine their thoughts at that moment.

After the museum we headed to the killing fields, which is where they took people to be executed during the Khmer regiment.

After paying our respects for this terrible genocide we headed back into town to meet up with our friend Richie with hopes to lift the mood by doing a little shopping at the Russian Market and catch the sunset at Wat Phnom. We accomplished the shopping (of course), but just missed the sunset.

That night we met up with Mathieu, a friend of a friend who is French and has lived in Phnom Penh for the last 5 years. He took us to great spot right on the river where we of course danced the night away!

Overall I really enjoyed my short visit to Cambodia. It is definitely one of the poorest countries I have visited, but even though these people have so little they are still so happy and extremely friendly.

The beggars and hagglers are more abundant and annoying here compared to any of the other Southeastern Asian countries we have visited, but with a history as dark as Cambodia you can't really blame them.

Xoxo,

The Explores Club