Written by James McDonald

January 23, 2015

Phnom Penh wow. It’s not as frenetic as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh. There aren’t as many bikes and there is less warning honking going on.

The ride from the airport cost 9$ for a tuk tuk or 12$ US for a cab. We took a cab and our friends took a tuk tuk and we both arrived at about the same time.

Our accommodation was at the Queen Grand Boutique Hotel which was lovely. Really clean with good service.

The tuk tuks are a motorized cart towed by a motorbike that can seat 4 adults. Very good way of getting around and it exposes you to the visceral reality of the city.

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View from our hotel room.

I feel that if you are going to go to a country that has suffered a recent war or a genocide you should spend some time learning about it. If you are a westerner you probably have heard of the conflict hit it been passed through the propaganda engine of the western corporation directed press.  So to hear about the story from the locals provides another view and sometimes that departs markedly from what you have heard.

So we visited Tuol Sleng Museum an old high school where they tortured and processed enemies of the Khmer Rogue.

We also visited The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek where they took people from Tuol Sleng (S21) to be killed and buried.

Confronting but worth it. Man’s inhumanity to man. What’s really sad is that the lessons one country learns don’t transfer. So we still see genocides today.

 

 

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