Day 3: The Wilds of Phnom Penh

Today was a busy one. Chris, who is struggling a little with jet lag woke up around 5 and proceeded to encourage me to awake as well. So we got up and went to have the complimentary breakfast downstairs. It was a pretty good spread and nothing beat the price. 

It was pretty tasty!

Afterwards we walked a ways, which is no easy feat here, over to the Phnom Wat. On the way there we ran into a monk-led demonstration. Apparently, much like Thailand, there is a movement to remove the prime minister who has been in power for about two decades. 

Phnom Wat is the main temple in Phnom Penh. It was on the smaller side, but was beautiful in its own way. When we got there, they were playing music to guide the religious in their meditations. 

View from the back. 

View from the front. 

The main alter. 

(The various animals living at the Wat.)

Afterwards we took a Tuk Tuk to the national museum. It was, in my opinion, a better way to travel in the city. 

(Us inside the Tuk Tuk and the roof of it.) 

Did I mention that it was raining?  We got to the museum and it was really started to rain. Perfect time to go inside! The artifacts were beautiful. A lot of religious iconography that represented different eras in Cambodian history. The building itself was also really beautiful. 

Afterwards, we were pretty tired from walking around and it was only 11am! We went back to the hotel to rest and plan our next move. Walking back was quite the experience as the heavy rains flooded the streets. It was intense, but actually really interesting to experience. As said before this city is viseral in every way imaginable. The rains made it a little more so. 

We eventually decided to go to Sleng 21, the genocide museum. On our way out, I almost ran into a man leaving another room on our floor. Behind him came out another man and a pretty Cambodian woman. Let me say that this was awkward elevator ride. We had read that our hotel was frequented by prostitutes, but up until that point had not seen any. It was a little disturbing. Not because I am anti-sex work (it's a complicated and multi-faceted issue), but because one of the men just could not stop oggling the woman in the elevator. The other could not look at Chris and I in the eye. 

Anywho, we took another tuk tuk, which was a little difficult because of a language barrier. We got to the building, which was a groups of unassuming buildings hidden among others on a busy street. The prison, which was originally a high school became a location of suffering and death for around 20,000 people during the bloody Khmer Rouge regime. When the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979, they discoverd the prison and a few bodies. Some of the building has been, more or less, untouched through time. I have read a lot about this museum during my research on historical memory and genocide commeration. It was very interesting to actual be there. In the first room we went into, which was part of the torture building, we encountered a female guide who was basically giving testimony to her own experiences during that time. It was extremely intense, personal, and painful to listen to her recount her story of unimaginable suffering and loss. 

 We walked throughout the buildings, looking at thousands of photos of those who had been prisoners that were later executed. We also read some of the false confessions. As a sociologist who studies the politics of memory of post political violence, it was very interesting to see how the regime, the violence, and the liberation of Cambodia were framed. The setup of the museum was very much akin to holocaust museums. This was not surprising as the Vietnamese government sent delegates to Germany to study their genocide museums, but still fascinating to witness in person. I deleted most of the photos I took there. Here's what remains of our photos. 

(Signs telling you not to smile)

 After this extremely depressing trip we went over to the royal palace. This was one of my favorite places in Phnom Penh. It was beautiful. 

For dinner we went to an amazing restaurant called "Romdeng." This restaurant was run by an NGO that worked to train locals into the restaurant business. Chris and I were feeling quite adventurous and ordered the fired tarantulas as an appetizer. I had a bit of a melt down when they arrived! Chris, his usual adventurous self, went right for it. 

For actual food I had an Amok style fish dish, which was AMAZING and Chris had an equally delicious chicken meal.

We finished with a tamarind and banana crepe with coconut ice cream. It is not pictured because we ate it immediately. Overall it was a fantastic time in Phenom Penh. We are currently on route to Siem Reap via bus. More on that later!  

- N