We arrived in Phnom Penh at night to torrential rain and flooded streets - you would think 'not a good start' but driving around in flood streets can be quite exciting. The following day we got to see what Phnom Penh really looked like - including the muddy residue all over the road from the flooding and the poor little rat that didn't quite make it.
Phnom Penh is quite a nice city and feels a lot like Thailand. We spent our time exploring the sights including the royal palace and its Silver Pagoda, so named for its impressive silver floor tiles, which were unfortunately mostly covered by carpet. The city has lots of wide open streets with greenery planted around and french style buildings. It seems like every government building looks like a temple. Development is booming with lots of new buildings being constructed. The markets around the city are quite good - we've stocked up on lots of cheap clothing and shoes - due to the western garment factories being on the outskirts of the city.
One of the highlights (?) was visiting the Chueng Ek killing fields and the Toul Sleng Prison where they kept people before sending them off to be brutally killed under the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot. It was estimated that around 2 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge. At the killing fields you can see the sights of the excavated mass graves, clothing and bones of nearly 8000 victims. The prison has been maintained and is virtually the same as when it was abandoned by the Khmer Rouge. See our photos.
From Phnom Penh we headed south to the beach side town of Sihanoukville where we spent a few days lying around on the beach. It's a small town although Kampot where we went next was smaller. It was good to see local life outside of the big city. We finished a loop of these places by coming back to Phnom Penh and have bus tickets booked to head up to the northeast of the country tomorrow.
Check our photos for the picture of the decapitated pigs head.
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