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Before we arrived here, people said to us that we wouldn't need more than a couple of days here in Phnom Penh. Due to our visas for Vietnam not starting until the 1st, it's meant we've had to spend three. Not all bad but I can't help thinking an extra day on the beaches of Koh Rong or an extra day in the national park at Kampot would have been more fun. It has given us an extra day to plan our entry in Vietnam so it hasn't been a complete waste of time.
Arriving in Phnom Penh was like being fast forward ten years. The first thing I noticed was the traffic lights that, for the most, people actually acknowledged- a contrast to the other places we've been in Cambodia.
I suppose it's similar to other capital cities- it's big, it's busy and it hardly sleeps. There's also a lot of construction work, it's a city that's developing fast. There are skyscrapers here, and more being built, towering above the rest of the city.
On our way into Phnom Penh we passed a Rolls Royce showroom (which was on the same street as Lamborghini, Mercedes, etc. of course there had to be a Land Rover garage as well!). The wealth and sophistication in Phnom Penh is the opposite to the other parts of Cambodia that I've grown to love.
Personally, the main reason for visiting here was to visit the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre, also known as The Killing Fields, and the Tuol Sleng Genocidal Museum, formally the Security Prison 21 (S-21) of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.
I had heard lots about these places before I came to Cambodia but it's it's only since I've visited that I've begun to understand the vast scale on which the mass killings were undertaken and the impact it's had on today's Khmer people.
Choeung Ek was just one of around 20,000 other mass killing sites across Cambodia.
Today, most are unaccessible and therefore have remained untouched. In the middle of the Choeung Ek centre there is a Bhuddist Stupa, in remembrance of the killings, holding around 7,000 skulls of the victims killed in the 70's.
At S-21, of the 30,000 that went, only 7 survived. It was formally a school and the playground was used as an area to torture the victims- professionals, intellectuals, other language speakers, former government officials. Anyone that was thought could threaten the state.
Different studies have produced different statistics but the number killed is estimated at somewhere 1.5 and 3 million people. At the time Cambodia had a population of 8 million. It's hard to believe this was just 40 years ago.
Unfortunately our time in Cambodia is up and we leave for Ho Chi Minh at 0530 tomorrow. I am sad to be leaving and I will always remember my time in Cambodia however I can't help getting excited for the next four weeks in Vietnam. The original plan to sail into Vietnam was discarded and we've chosen to for the quicker and cheaper option of a bus, not as exciting but it might help the bank balance!
- comments
Katy James, I'm surprised your not driving into Vietnam in a Rolls Royce! I'm loving reading your blogs, keep safe and have fun x x x
Jane Jeffery Your time in Cambodia sounds amazing; and by now you must be in HCMC as it is affectionately known! Mervyn and i are really looking forward to seeing all your photos once you get back, and reading your blogs while in Vietnam - the street food is to die for - well not literally that is!!! Have fun xx