Short boat trip from Don Det to the mainland to catch the bus into Cambodia. As bus journeys go it wasn't too bad, even the border crossing went smoothly, 14 hours later we arrived into Phnom Penh.
After staying in some really basic accommodation in Laos it was time for a treat so booked into a 4 star hotel overlooking the Tonle Sap river with a swimming pool.
Phnom Penh is a huge city but really easy to navigate as the streets are on a grid pattern and all numbered.
Visited the main temple, Wat Phnom, which is set on a 30m hill (the only hill in town) and according to legend was erected in 1373AD to house 4 Buddha statues discovered by a lady named Penh, hence how the city got its name, Phnom Penh. Next it was off to visit The Royal Palace and silver pagoda but that was closed for lunch so it was back to the hotel to chill at the pool with a nice cold beer!
Noodles for dinner from the night market, food always tastes great when it costs less than $1.
After the market it was off to Rainbow bar, owned and run by 2 lovely guys Jit and Sith, every Saturday at 2130 they have a drag show, bloody fantastic!
Was not looking forward to visiting Tuol Sleung genocide museum and The Killing Fields but as its a huge part of history it had to be done.
From 1975 to 1979, through execution, starvation, disease and forced labour, The Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians.
On 17th April 1975 Pol Pot turned Tuol Svay Prey high school into the biggest prison and called it security office 21 (S21) Tuol Sleung.
Several thousands of victims, doctors, teachers, engineers, monks, students. Basically anyone accused of opposing the the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime were imprisoned, gruesomely tortured and executed along with their wife's and children. Their ghostly prison mugshots were on display in the old classrooms. The tiny cells on the upper floors, pictures of torture and death in every room. Not for the squeamish.
15km away lies Choeung Ek village, The Killing Fields, this is just one of many places where Pol Pots followers slaughtered people in their thousands and buried them in shallow mass graves. An extremely moving audio tour takes you round the site. Everyone walked zombie like around the area, listening to their headphones with a look of horror and tears in their eyes.
Still to this day you can see bits of bone, teeth fragments and clothing in the ground.
The picture above is the Memorial Stupa where the remains of Choeungs Ek's victims are preserved and on display!
After a very depressing day it was off to find somewhere showing the rugby Scotland v Ireland, and we couldn't have found a better place, Paddys Rice Irish Bar, they even sold Bulmers cider!!
Good night had by all, well except for all the Irish in the bar, lol.
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