We left Sen Monorom early on a much nicer bus than the 1 we came in on (with twice as many that should have been, the chickens etc!) And we even had our own seat!! We shared a Tuk Tuk with some friends we had made at the elephant valley project who were also coming into Phnom Penh and went straight to our booked guesthouse.
We were pretty knackered and both felt rubbish, so only slept and went out for food in the evening.
The next day we were refreshed and walked to Wat Phnom (hill temple): legend is in 1373 a lady called Penh found 4 floating Buddha statues in the Mekong and had this built to house them, hence the cities name; Phnom Penh.
We also had a visit around the royal palace. It was very well kept with impressive Khmer roofs, temples and stupas, and again, lots of Buddha's.
The following day we set out fairly early, to visit Choeung-Ek (the killing fields) and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, not one of those things you look forward to, but something we felt we should do. First stop was Choeung-Ek, about a 30 minute Tuk Tuk drive away from the city, 1 of the 300 killing fields in Cambodia. We were given our self guided audio tour which was narrated by 1 of the very few survivors and walked around the grave sites/pits where Cambodians (all: men, women, children and babies) were bludgeoned to death by there own people and pushed into mass graves. I was vaguely aware of what had happened, Emma was more informed (standard!) That this was all part of Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime (1975 - 1979), not even that long ago! There is now a tall memorial stupa here with glass walls where 9,000 skulls of the victims are stacked. I can't find words to describe how this all made me feel. We finished our trip at the Genocide Museum: an old school that had been turned into a prison and torture rooms. There were photographs and drawings of victims and events here, again, horrendous.
We went back to the city and spent the rest of the day walking along the riverside with a trip to the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) for a cocktail, before heading back to pack for our early morning bus ride to Sihanoukville - the Sea!
