Phnom Penh - beauty and the beast

This is a difficult blog to write, Phnom Penh as a city is beautiful, with wide open boulevards and old French colonial villas but the devastation caused by Pol Pot and his ruthless regime remains. The centre is jaw dropping in it's grandeur but leave the centre behind and the reek of poverty hits you like a brick. This city has very little infra-structure, there is rubbish dumped everywhere, people live in the most dire circumstances you can imagine. I am both pleased, yet repulsed to be travelling independently through here, rather than touring seeing just what the guides want you to see and shielding you from the rest. We have seen the nitty gritty of the city on foot, from a Tuk-Tuk or a taxi.
We visited the Toul Sleng Genocide museum yesterday, a high school building which was converted into Prison S-21 and interrogation centre by the Khmer Rouge when they took power in 1975. A very sobering experience which was very difficult to see, we then went to Choeung Ek memorial at one of the notorious 'killing fields.' The mass graves of thousands of people were found here. In a memorial Stuka there are skulls and clothing. As we walked around we could see bits of cloth in the earth, they surface when storms wash soil away.









Learning more of this countries recent history explained why Phnom Penh has struggled to rebuild and prosper. We have been lucky to talk to several university students who are studying English and helped us find our way around. They are friendly, optimistic young people. We ate in a hostel last night and a friendlier bunch of people you couldn't wish to meet.

Today we have seen the more opulent side of Phnom Penh, we found garages selling top of the range Lexus and Range Rovers, opposite the building housing the Ministry for Corruption! Huge houses are situated behind high walls in wide tree-lined streets. Conversely we also discovered whole families living in parks with their naked children foraging on rubbish dumps. This afternoon we visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, which like their Thai counterparts, are truly exceptional.









Being here has given us more pause for thought then any other country we have ever visited.

There is a certain frenetic feeling to the place, traffic comes from all directions, there are few rules on the road and, even on dual carriageways, traffic travels in both directions. I am so pleased we came to Phnom Penh, hopefully it's government will enter into development with overseas companies for the good of the whole country long term rather than for short term gain. Time will tell.

Tomorrow we are on the Mekong Express at 8.30 am, a coach which will take us in 6 hours, to Siem Reap. Hope to see you there.


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Location:Long Nget,,Cambodia