Phnom Penh

On Wed 22/4, we'd arranged a tour around Phnom Penh. We took our driver's suggestion on the itinerary and so firstly we ended up in the Killing Fields as it was the furthest away. The site is where thousands of Cambodian people were executed by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. There is a large memorial and shrine at the centre of the site which is surrounded by shallow pits which once housed mass graves. It's a pretty sobering experience but one that should be undertaken. Trials for war crimes of former Khmer Rouge members are happening in Cambodia at the moment so it was pretty chilling to see what they're on trial for in person. Our next visit was to the Russian Market, a large sprawling undercover market that houses all manner of Cambodian handicrafts, jewellery, t-shirts and all the usual copyright infringing dvd's. After lunch we went to S21, which is a former school in the heart of Phnom Penh which was converted to a prison and torture facility during the time of the Khmer Rouge. Again, pretty full on as they house some of the original beds and implements used by the captors. The saddest part is the hundreds of photos taken by the guards and interrogators before and after torture. A visit to the city museum was well worth it as we saw some amazing artifacts from throughout Cambodia's history (photos of our day will be up soon). Not that were allowed to take any shots of the exhibits, but we did get some excellent ones of the museum building and interior garden. The ponds in the middle garden are stocked with hundreds of carp that follow you about looking for a feed. Last visit of the day was to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. Half of the Royal Palace is the residence of the King, the other half is available for tourists to visit. All of the sites we visited had pretty reasonable admission fees which was good and the Royal Palace was well worth a visit. There is some fantastic traditional architecture there and some lovely gardens. As we'd pretty much seen everything we wanted to in Phnom Penh, we arranged a bus to take us to Siem Reap, home to the temple complex Angkor Wat and then had pretty quiet night in.
Check out this album: Phnom Penh