Phnom Pehn - A Sobering Experience in a Fascinating City

23-25 December 2014

Luckily, after spending 36 hours in bed I woke up on 23 December feeling better.  Today it is time to travel to Phnom Pehn, the capital of Cambodia and home to the infamous Killing Fields.  We boarded one of the nicer buses we have been on in a while:

The trip is supposed to take about 7-8 hours depending on traffic, but the road should be pretty good since it is connecting the two largest cities in Cambodia...right?!?...wrong!  The trip started out OK, but about 1 hour in the construction began and the unfinished road continued to the outskirts of Phnom Pehn where the traffic started over 10 miles out.

Finally, after over 8 hours of traveling we made it to our hotel called One Up Banana Hotel where we had one of the best welcomes with friendly hosts that greeted us with a cold drink that tasted awesome.  After checking in we walked down the street to an area known for pretty good restaurant that are frequented by westerners.  Luckily we got there just in time for happy hours when drinks are 2-for-1:

Drinks beautifully garnished with orchids.

The next morning our tuk-tuk driver from the day before met us in front of our hotel at 9:00 AM to take us on a tour of the Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields), the Russian Market, and Toul Sleng (S-21) Genocide Museum.

With traffic it took about 1 hour to reach Choeung Ek, about 8 miles from Phnom Pehn.  Although there are other "Killing Fields" throughout Cambodia, Choeung Ek is the best know due to it being featured in the film The Killing Fields.  This is where the Khmer Rouge disposed of its enemy (Cambodian men, women, children, infants) who had allegedly betrayed the state from 1975 - 79.  Mass graves of 8,985 bodies were exhumed in 1980, although it is believed that there was more than 17,000 people killed here.  Needless to say, it was not a fun place to visit, however it was well worth the tour that included an audio guide that brought the place to life.

Some of the over 86 burial pits excavated.

Walking over human remains. Every time it rains more and more bones, teeth, and clothes are unearthed.

This stupa was built as a memorial and contains skulls, bones, and clothes found on the grounds.

Tim listening to the audio tour. This part of the tour is stories told by survivors and is quite disturbing.

One of the burial pits where all the remains were headless. It is believed these were Khmar Rouge soldiers who were found to be traitors.

Inside the stupa is 17 tiers of human remains and clothes.

Next we stopped at the Russian Market for lunch.  There was everything from clothing to motorbike parts to fresh eggs to seafood for sale:

Motorbike parts section of market.

Many different eggs.

Dried seafood.

I was hoping to be able to buy lunch from a street vendor, but the market was really geared towards locals and not tourists, so we couldn't find anything that looked good, so we wound up at the KFC across the street.  Here we came across some children dressed up for Christmas Eve:

After lunch we went back to the tuk-tuk and headed to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.  This was originally Toul Svay High School, but from 1975-1979 the Khmer Rouge turned it into a prison called S-21 that up to 20,000 people passed through for interrogation, imprisonment, and finally sent to Choeung Ek for their ultimate death.  One of the more chilling parts of this museum is the thousands of pictures of people that were photographed and logged into the prison, all of which were killed.

Grounds of Toul Sleng. The graves are for those found when the prison was discovered.

After a sobering day we ended with dinner at a noodle shop known for their homemade noodles.  My giant bowl of soup cost $2.00 and the 12 steamed dumplings cost $1.50.

Oh...here are some interesting scenes on the streets of Phnom Pehn:

Small clams of some sort on a cart. We see these vendors all over Cambodia.

The next day we walked to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda.  On the way we passed some nice monuments:

Independence Memorial: Commemorates independence from France in 1953.

Cambodian-Vietnamese Friendship Monument: Commemorates the Vietnamese liberation of Phnom Pehn from the Khmer Rouge in January 1979.

Weird bird-dragon-fish creature.

Finally we made it to the Royal Palace that for some reason didn't excite me so much.  Maybe I'm just "palaced" out.

In the same area was the Silver Pagoda, so named because of the silver-tiled floor inside.  We were looking forward to seeing the silver floor, but all but a few tiles were covered with carpet, so it wasn't too exciting.  Pictures weren't allowed to be taken inside the pagoda you just have to use your imagination.  The most interesting part of visiting the Silver Pagoda is the 2,100 foot long mural painted in 1903-04 that goes around the courtyard telling the story of the Ramayana (one of the great Hindu epics).

Silver Pagoda

Silver Pagoda grounds.

Another interesting thing found in the courtyard of the Silver Pagoda is this monument of a horseman that started out as a gift from Napoleon III depicting himself, but now having the face of Norodom, the king of Cambodia from 1860-1904.

Notice the face was replaced.

We left the grounds and had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant then returned to our hotel to catch a bus south to Kampot, Cambodia.