Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is Cambodia's capitol city and its definitely a hectic place. You can't walk two feet without "helllo, lady, tuk tuk??" the minute you say no..."hello, ladyy"...The city is interesting because you can definitely see the mark of colonialism left-over. many of the streets and building have french building facades and design.

Yesterday was a sobering day going out to the site of the Khmer Rouge killing fields and the horrific S21 Prison from Pol Pots genocide here 1975-1979. The photos taken at the prison turning the khmer rouge occupation were horrific. You can see the skulls and bones are just laid out on display, and at the prison the beds and torture equipment is just sort of strewn about. The history and museum experiences here are so interesting for how differently they are handled than going to say, a holocaust museum in Europe where what you can and cant touch and see and walk is clearly marked. In some ways I think its better, because it looks just as it does and you can walk right into the cell and feel what that must have been like; there are no ropes or directions. But it is definitely odd.

In a few days Cambodia will celebrate their Khmer New Year. Will travel down to the Cambodia coastal town Sihanoukville for that before crossing the border to Vietnam.