Cambodia part 1 Phnom Penh

Memorial at Killing Fields

We left Surabaya at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, August  16^th. We flew from there to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Air Asia does not have the ability to transfer there, so when we got off the plane we had to go up and go through immigration, go down and get our bags and go through security. Then out of the airport down a could hundred yards go back in, screen our bags and check the Air Asia counter again. Decided to have lunch before going back though immigration, security, and back down to the same area we entered the airport. We ended up cutting it a little close since the process took longer than we thought it would. Good thing Air Asia never leaves on time (even when they bump the flight to an earlier time).

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

Arrived at Phnom Penh around 5 p.m. something and got checked into the room at the Top Banana. After that, went for a walk around the area. The hostel rooms did not come with towels. Luckily there was a store close by that sold towels. Had dinner at Anise hotel and it was delicious. There was a guy playing like a xylophone. On the walk saw tons of massage places, so after dinner went and had a foot massage. It was great. It was 90 minutes for $8.00USD, so inexpensive. After that called it a night and went back to the room. 

Wat Phnom

The next morning we got up and had breakfast at a café across the street. There were tons of tuk tuk drivers and they all wanted business.  They kind of bugged us during breakfast trying to secure who we was going to use. After breakfast we negotiated with a few tuk tuk drivers for the whole day. First stop was out of Phnom Penh at the Killing Fields. The ride out there was very nice, but tuk tuks don’t go very fast, so it takes quite awhile to get places. I did get to see lots of sights. Lots of little kids running around naked, people in their houses, shops, etc. When we got to the Killing Fields we got electronic tour guides. That way we could go along the path and stops at our own pace and listen to what we wanted to listen to.  It was very sad to hear the story of Pol Pot and how he killed people. I saw some mass graves and a killing tree that they used to bash babies’ heads against. There are still bones and teeth that are coming up from the ground when it rains. At the end of the tour is a huge monument. 

Royal Palace

Inside it is filled with skulls from many of the people who were killed at these fields. It was so sad and depressing. After that we went back into town to the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum and prison. It was also part of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime. I met one of the survivors. He was selling a book that had his story in it. I had my picture taken with him. I naturally wanted to smile since I do that when having my picture taken, but it was so sad about what happened to him even if he did survive. After that we decided to go to the Royal Palace. It was very hot and it is very similar to the Royal Palace that I saw in Bangkok, so I did not spend as much time there. After that I went back to the Top Banana and had a late lunch. After that I went to the Night Market. It was raining at that time. It was unexciting and I did not see anything that I wanted to buy, so went and had another foot massage before returning to the Top Banana for the night.

Royal Palace