Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Ashlei on the steps of one of the many stupas

at the grand palace.

some choice eats on the streets of

Phnom Penh

a cell at S-21

a famous prisoner whose last days
were at S-21




us in a tuk-tuk in the city

ah, Cambodia. first stop is the capital city, Phnom Penh. Busy, hot, dusty and full of life we spent three nights here. We were awed by the buildings of the Royal Palace and it's enormous grounds. we spent the better part of the first day on a "walking tour" of the city to orient ourselves a little bit. we watched some children breakdance on the waterfront, ate at a restaurant that trains former street youth as servers and cooks and drank beers on the topfloor, open air cafe at our guesthouse.

The following day we hired a tuk-tuk (explanation in photo form above) to take us to some of the sobering relics of Cambodia's recent and terrible past. In the late 1970's an extremist political party calling itself Khmer Rouge came to power. In its radical extremism was set up "prisons" like the above S-21. Much like the Third Reich these camps/prisons were ultimately death camps. The Khmer Rouge was responsible fro over two millions deaths by direct means as well as by starving the populace. We later visited the "killing fields" where many executions took place and is the site of many mass graves.

In spite of this recent and tragic past the Cambodian people are quicker to smile than any we've met.

We loved this city but were definately excited to see some of the ancient history at our next stop - the city of Siem Reap and the famous Angkor Wat.