The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21) and Choeung Ek are the city's main attractions and paint a graphic picture of Khmer Rouge's rule.
S-21 is a former high school which was used as a prison and interrogation centre by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. An estimated 20,000 people were imprisoned at S-21, mostly former Khmer Rouge members and soldiers accused of betraying the party, but also many women and children. Only seven survived.
The killing fields at Choeung Ek, a short trip outside of the city, are the most famous killing fields with mass graves containing almost 9,000 bodies, mostly former S-21 inmates. The most sickening sight for me was the tree where Khmer Rouge soldiers would batter children against.
I have not read a novel in the time I've been away, until 'First They Killed My Father' by Loung Ung, which is an autobiography of a young girl whose father was a senior official for the ousted government. It is an excellent portrayal of what is was like during this time for normal Cambodians.
During the day, I spent most of my time hanging out with Viktoria, who I had met at the guesthouse and who claimed to be Hungarian, but had a strong Irish accent. She had applied for an Indian visa and was worried about possible bribery attempts on picking up the passport, so I tagged along for support and avoided the $10 'fee'. We then headed to Elephant Bar in the Raffles Hotel. We were the scruffiest people there, especially as we were both on the back of a moto in the pouring rain. We then went for a Chinese, which turned out to be a lot of fun as the waiters asked us to dance with them despite others enjoying their meals around us.
In the evenings, I chilled with Henrik and Christian, who used to work at the door at CC Club in London in the evenings. On the first night, we headed to Pontoon, which was a club on a riverboat. It was not very busy, but they had cabaret and we all had a laugh, with a couple of gay folk. On my final night, we all ended up at Heart of Darkness. It turned into a very messy affair which ended around 4am.
At this point, I had not been to the stunning Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, but planned to go on my final morning before flying to Hanoi in Vietnam. However, due to flight issues, I spent the entire morning very cheesed off at a travel agent who refused to take responsibilty for the cock-up. I did check out the Royal Palace from the outside though, stunning.
My overall impression of Phnom Penh and Cambodia was not great. Yes, sunset on the Mekong at Kratie was beautiful, Angkor is truly one of the world's greatest treasures and Phnom Penh has some compelling sites, but the people, who make any country, were just not very friendly on the whole. I may have been unlucky, but I don't think so.
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