Phnom Penh

Our first stop after Thailand was in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.  We arrivd late on the night of the 3rd so wee pretty much just walked around to find some place to find dinner.  The city was pretty dirty (garbage everywhere) and poor.  Children were walking around begging for money and trying to sell bracelets for some cash.  Pretty depressing.

The next morning we hit up the cultural museum to try and get some perspective on country.  We then tried to go to th royal palace but it didn't open until 2pm so we took a tuktuk ride to the killing fields.  During the 70s there was a genocide in Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge killed fellow Cambodians.  Mostly the wealthy and educated were killed as the ruling party believed it was better to have serfs.  The killing fields was one of the locations where mass graves were found.  The victims were often tortured before death with various instruments.  Chemicals were put on them to hide the smell or kill any that were buried alive.  Today the place is rather calm and peaceful.  When there are large downpours, additional a bones and clothing often surface.  The mass grave sites now have colorful bracelets adorning the posts to remember the fallen.  After researching this a little further it appears the bracelets are more if a recent addition but no one knows how it started.  The bracelets are also attached to the killing tree where people were killed with various instruments.  The farmer who came across the site (which use to be a Chinese burial ground) found blood and bones still attached to the tree.  The tour was pretty moving and well done.

We returned to the city and went to the royal palace which was much more spread out than the one in Bangkok.  More fancy buildings (but not quite as elaborate) and more Buddhas.

Later that afternoon we got traditional Khmer massages.  Much like Cambodian (Khmer) food, Khmer massages are not quite as intense as Thai massages.  Basically whenever they would try and explain something to us they would say not as spicy as Thai food or not as strong as Thai massages.

On the way back to our hotel that night, little kids came up to us, hugging Taryn, and begging us to purchase bracelets from them.  I felt so bad.  I ended up giving him $5. They followed us back to our hotel with their friends all begging us to buy bracelets from them too. 

By the way they use US dollars in Cambodia but if you get change you get US bills and instead of coins get Cambodian bills.  So basically a mix if currencies.

The next morning we headed off to Siem Reap.