Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So today started pretty well after a good 10 hour sleep. Very much needed. We started off the day after breakfast, which was egg again. Seems to be the standard option.. Anyway, we all jumped in our own private cyclo, which is essentially a man riding a bike with the passenger sitting upfront in a comfy seat. By far the best way to get around the city, though being so close to all the cars is slightly terrifying. Which brings me onto the fact that this city has soooooooo many 4x4's and lexus's for that matter,. There is alot more money here than what I ever expected.....So we headed to the local market which is located in a massive historic like hall,. Very impressive, with old brit looking lampposts but instead of lights they had 3 rotating fans. We had a quick look then headed onto the centre of Phnom Penh, the actual centre where you will find a statue and a large temple type building at the top of a massive hill, which is actually on a roundabout, much better than the 3 pieces of massive red steel found on the the one back home.,. Oh and the scotch eggs.... But anyway we continued our cyclo tour of the city by heading to the Prime Ministers house then onto the Grand Palace. And that palace was grand. As well as the day being the hottest so far on the trip - which was a beautiful treat, actual tan lines!..... But I didn't come away for that. We entered the temple and I was just blown away by the architecture... The details and reasoning for all the individual parts of the buildings are incredible, all have a big significance, spiritually and visually.... We loved it, especially the fact the houses also around the temple also use the same theory's but in a modern way, just by looking at the new roofs you can see where the inspiration came from.... So we continued to be given an in depth history lesson into the royal family and how 26 where killed off by essentially a terrorist group that didn't like to being told what to do... They also took steel needles to the eyes of those that wore glasses as they appeared more intellectual... Shocking yeah!.... We had an hour in the palace then headed to a local charity restaurant, which support the school next door for homeless children,. Which again is an amezen thing,,. It's similar to Jamie Oliver's 15 restaurant, where they take the homeless and give them job opportunities. And they did not fail, the food was absolutely incredible by far the best meal of the trip and exceeded my expectations to an unknown degree. We enjoyed raspberry and vanilla shakes, sweet potato fries and curried mayo, Emma's pumpkin and goats cheese salad, fish cakes and some red pepper spring rolls.. It was that great we bought the cook book, proceeds go to helping the school. Again Amez.,..... So to that point the day was going brilliantly. But that was about to change as we were about to endure a history lesson into the Pol Pots regime. A very very gruesome story of a Hitler rivalling monster that killed millions and million of innocent people and horrific way,. The mood soon changed as this was very heavy to take, to the point that Emma and a few others shed tears. A very upsetting experience. We were taken to the war museum, i.e. the prison where it all happened..... So we got to see images of guys chained to beds left to starve as well as images of all the victims,. Many rooms of that, to surviving artists impressions from what they saw as torturing took place.. We still don't know how people can think and do these things.. But as we left two guys were there, two old guys selling books, it was there story of how they survived the mass slaughter.... So unbelievable, I mean, to have spent so many years there being tortured, so the guards can get the names of more people's locations, so they can go and arrest them,....and then to come back to sell the story,... That is so brave as I understand they need to make a living, as the government doesn't support them whatsoever. We then moved onto the killing fields where the millions were taken to be killed or buried alive,.. Very shocking stuff, especially the fact had it only happened in the late 70's and apparently the UN didn't fully intervene until the late 80's... This part didn't take long as the group I think had seen enough.... So now we've headed back to the hotel and we're off out at 7, for our last supper in Phnom Penh as we are off to Seim Reap first thing, not before getting up at 6 am, so we can see the sun rise over the lake... Highly recommended!..... So will update tomorrow....
Much love,.. Moon
- comments