Phnom Penh

I've been here for 3 days and have noticed that there is not as much to see here as there is in Siem Reap. The first day, I tried to search for group tours and only found one which had 2 people in it. I found central market. It's a large art deco building being renovated on the inside, so all the vendors are on the outside. Not that many souvenirs here, mostly housewares, jewelry, clothing and groceries.

Then, I found a Khmer cooking class through a brochure at Frizz Restaurant. I think that's what I'll do on my second day!

Cambodian cooking has mostly curry and spices. I learned to make spring rolls, fish amok (yellow curry) steamed in a palm leaf bowl, banana blossom salad (made from the banana flower, before bananas grow from it) and sticky rice and mango. Wow, I was full by lunchtime already and it was a full day course. I met a couple from Toronto and 2 girls from England. Everyone is roaming around Asia as well.

We finished early due to the small class size, so I had time to go to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. The King is currently here, and fed the monks this morning before the Khmer New Year, so closed the palace. Good thing I went in the afternoon. The same thing happened to us in Thailand, when the King's sister died and closed off portions of the Royal Palace. The Silver palace is renowned for the silver tiles, only some of which they display. The rest they keep covered with large rugs for preservation.

I was pooped and went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool, pretty refreshing, but the pool is deep, I couldn't really relax as I couldn't step on the bottom. I ended up getting a full body Thai massage as well as a foot massage. I just about fell asleep and it wasn't even 9pm!

On my 3rd day, I joined an Intrepid city tour.  I saw the S-21 prison, now the Tuol Sleng genocidal museum. The Khmer Rouge (KR) regime led by Pol Pot, sent people here to be interrogated and tortured. There were only 7 survivors when the KR were defeated by the Vietnamese army in 1979 and 2 still living as of today. I met one of them, Chum Mey. It must be so hard to walk around the grounds and see the cell you were imprisoned in. The photos indicate the madness of those times. He has testified in the UN tribunal against one of the leaders. The other, paints the memories of S-21 and has them on display here.

The Cheoung Ek memorial was built at one of the killing fields where they found mass graves in 1980, the year after the regime was over. It was found by the smell. There are 17 tiers of clothing, skulls and bones. Even foreigners died here. I was only a child when this was all happening on the other side of the world from me. It begs the question, is there another genocide happening today? It's hard to believe this happened in modern day, 1975 - 1979.

I went to see the remainder of the main sights, including the Independence Monument (now a war memorial), Wat Phnom hill (the originating area of the city and also the highest part of the city), the Russian market (most of the foreigners after the KR were Russians) and the riverfront. I took a sunset cruise along the Mekong River and met some British ladies and an Aussie guy.

I had a massage from a blind person (it's quite popular here) at Clinic Massage by Blind and boy, he can't see, but he sure can figure out where all my knots were. I like strong massages, but this one hurt in some places. The travelling has really been hard on my body!

I am feeling a bit homesick as I am travelling alone, the country is dirty and hot. I miss my clean condo, the public transportation system, the English speaking people and the cooler temperature. I don't feel safe to walk around. I was told Phnom Penh is not full of friendly Cambodians as the rest of the country, they are more selfish due to the past, as Phnom Penh was the centre for the KR. Kill or be killed. Watch out for yourself. But in the end, Pol Pot killed all his soldiers anyways.

I am getting mosquito bites everywhere and getting prickly heat/heat rash. Well, I'll be in Hong Kong by tomorrow night, so hopefully will be feeling a little more adventurous.