The second day in Phnom Penh started off trying to find a tuk tuk driver for the day. After some interesting bargaining we agreed a route with the driver but refused his offer to go to the Killing Fields site outside of Phnom Penh (more on that later). 
The first stop on the tour was a visit to a local market. Cambodia is a poor country but the market seemed well stocked with fresh meat, fish and vegetables. What I don't know though is how many people could afford to shop there despite the bargain prices. Some of the products were brought to market on the back of small motorcycles and mirrored what we had seen in Vietnam!
The latter part of the morning was spent touring the notorious and gruesome S-21 camp - also known as Tuol Sleng. This was a former high school that was adapted by the Pol Pot regime in the 1970's into a detention/torture centre. It was the most sombre place I would visit on the whole tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Over 17,000 men, women and children passed through Tuol Sleng and it is believed less than 10 actually survived. The Pol Pot regime forced confessions out of the poor souls who entered the camp via methods too gruesome to describe here. The site is now a museum and a reminder to all of the horrors of an oppressive and ideologically corrupt system. The torture rooms and tiny cells with shackles were horrific, however, the display of pictures of the occupants (yes,
oppressive 
regimes like to keep records and pictures of their inhuman acts) were the most haunting. Seeing the eyes of some children as young as 5 years old filled with fear and uncertainty was a chilling experience. To imagine that adults would torture and ultimately murder these young souls all because they were the children of some of the camp inmates just defies all comprehension. Tuol Sleng certainly shook me up but I felt compelled to see for myself just how horrific the Pol Pot regime was as it affected all Cambodians in some way and continues to have a profound impact. 1.7 million Cambodians were killed under their own government's regime in the less than 5 years that the Khmer Rouge held total power.
Lunch was a quiet affair and it seemed unreal to be enjoying the surroundings a beautiful cafe garden just 30 yards from buildings that housed unspeakable horrors.
The mood was lightened in the afternoon with a visit to the Central Market (Psar Thmei), housed in one of the grandest market buildings I have ever seen. Again, the market was very well stocked and as busy as the first one. The lady cooking up spiders and scorpions in an oil filled wok refused to let me take a picture of her culinary delights!
The final stop of the day was a visit to the temple that gives Phnom Penh it's name - Wat Phnom. It is an important site for Cambodians and occupies just about the only hill (more of large mound actually) in the city. It is a park with a temple on the top of the hill and it was a relaxing place to be. The short climb to the top (and the ubiquitous foreigners pay ten times more than the locals to get in) was to a rather ramshackle but working temple. The gaudy altars were stacked with fresh flowers and recently lit incense sticks. As with all the temples in Cambodia, there were plenty of people on hand to try and sell you something. The sellers are very persistent and at first their sales efforts to get you to buy things you really don't want need or want get a bit irritating but you soon learn to block them out.
On the way up to the temple I spotted some monkeys wandering around the park. After the look around the temple we went looking for the monkeys and were greeted with an amazing, but a bit sad, sight - an enormously fat monkey. I mean enormous - with a fat, fat belly. It was eating what it could find and even sought out discarded drink cans to drain them of their last drops of sugary liquid. I had never seen such an obese monkey. Given the general poverty if many, it was unlikely that the monkey's welfare would get much
attention. Most of the other monkeys in the park appeared to be in much better shape.
Dinner that night was at the 'Foreign Correspondents Club' which was housed in a nice building but not quite as authentic as it would have you believe. It is part of a chain of bars and cafes in a colonial style and charging prices way beyond the reach of most of the local population. I tried a pizza - my first Western food in nearly three weeks. It was OK but I think I would preferred a local curry and the local prices too.
The end of another busy day in Phnom Penh was spent having a final drink in the friendly bar near the hotel. The staff were sad to hear it was our last night in Phnom Penh but we promised to come and have a final final drink there on our one night in Phnom Penh after our trip to Kep on the south coast.
The first stop on the tour was a visit to a local market. Cambodia is a poor country but the market seemed well stocked with fresh meat, fish and vegetables. What I don't know though is how many people could afford to shop there despite the bargain prices. Some of the products were brought to market on the back of small motorcycles and mirrored what we had seen in Vietnam!
The latter part of the morning was spent touring the notorious and gruesome S-21 camp - also known as Tuol Sleng. This was a former high school that was adapted by the Pol Pot regime in the 1970's into a detention/torture centre. It was the most sombre place I would visit on the whole tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.Over 17,000 men, women and children passed through Tuol Sleng and it is believed less than 10 actually survived. The Pol Pot regime forced confessions out of the poor souls who entered the camp via methods too gruesome to describe here. The site is now a museum and a reminder to all of the horrors of an oppressive and ideologically corrupt system. The torture rooms and tiny cells with shackles were horrific, however, the display of pictures of the occupants (yes,
oppressive 
regimes like to keep records and pictures of their inhuman acts) were the most haunting. Seeing the eyes of some children as young as 5 years old filled with fear and uncertainty was a chilling experience. To imagine that adults would torture and ultimately murder these young souls all because they were the children of some of the camp inmates just defies all comprehension. Tuol Sleng certainly shook me up but I felt compelled to see for myself just how horrific the Pol Pot regime was as it affected all Cambodians in some way and continues to have a profound impact. 1.7 million Cambodians were killed under their own government's regime in the less than 5 years that the Khmer Rouge held total power.Lunch was a quiet affair and it seemed unreal to be enjoying the surroundings a beautiful cafe garden just 30 yards from buildings that housed unspeakable horrors.
The mood was lightened in the afternoon with a visit to the Central Market (Psar Thmei), housed in one of the grandest market buildings I have ever seen. Again, the market was very well stocked and as busy as the first one. The lady cooking up spiders and scorpions in an oil filled wok refused to let me take a picture of her culinary delights!The final stop of the day was a visit to the temple that gives Phnom Penh it's name - Wat Phnom. It is an important site for Cambodians and occupies just about the only hill (more of large mound actually) in the city. It is a park with a temple on the top of the hill and it was a relaxing place to be. The short climb to the top (and the ubiquitous foreigners pay ten times more than the locals to get in) was to a rather ramshackle but working temple. The gaudy altars were stacked with fresh flowers and recently lit incense sticks. As with all the temples in Cambodia, there were plenty of people on hand to try and sell you something. The sellers are very persistent and at first their sales efforts to get you to buy things you really don't want need or want get a bit irritating but you soon learn to block them out.
On the way up to the temple I spotted some monkeys wandering around the park. After the look around the temple we went looking for the monkeys and were greeted with an amazing, but a bit sad, sight - an enormously fat monkey. I mean enormous - with a fat, fat belly. It was eating what it could find and even sought out discarded drink cans to drain them of their last drops of sugary liquid. I had never seen such an obese monkey. Given the general poverty if many, it was unlikely that the monkey's welfare would get much
attention. Most of the other monkeys in the park appeared to be in much better shape.Dinner that night was at the 'Foreign Correspondents Club' which was housed in a nice building but not quite as authentic as it would have you believe. It is part of a chain of bars and cafes in a colonial style and charging prices way beyond the reach of most of the local population. I tried a pizza - my first Western food in nearly three weeks. It was OK but I think I would preferred a local curry and the local prices too.
The end of another busy day in Phnom Penh was spent having a final drink in the friendly bar near the hotel. The staff were sad to hear it was our last night in Phnom Penh but we promised to come and have a final final drink there on our one night in Phnom Penh after our trip to Kep on the south coast.
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