New Star Hotel Phnom Penh

... for the day and he took us to the S-21 Museum.

It was here, in this converted school, that the Khmer Rouge held and tortured prisoners, both adults and children (including babies) before sending them off to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. It is a chilling place, covered in barbed wire. The prisoners were chained to their beds. As the Khmer Rouge fled, they burned 14 remaining prisoners beyond recognition and left them chained to ...

... promptly arranged to visit, with the intention of staying a minimum of three days.

We were warmly welcomed and shown around, and were presented with a room in a newly constructed hut o corrugated iron, a few metres from their self-built classroom. We met the kids, played with them a little, and spent the evening learning more about the organisation from the man at the helm, Mr Samith.

Twenty months earlier, Sath Samith had opened the orphanage, housing a small number of ...

... the urchased balloons for the kids to play with. We entered the school and they were glued to us. They all asked us, what is your name? Where are you from? How old are you? After that they called us teacher. It was really cute. Shira and I blew up the balloons for all 50 students and played games with them. After some time the kids had to go back to learning so we said goodbye. We talked to the administration who told us that this was a free school for kids who ...

... like the displaced people might fall through the cracks. I can only imagine the environmental hazards and problems that will arise as well. I'm glad we had the chance to enjoy our wonderful, relaxing sunset over the river while it's still around.

We dedicated a lot of our time to the atrocities that went on in the mid and late 70's so a big chunk of our day was overwhelming and sad. That said, I'm really glad we got to see everything we did, especially after ...

... for the millions who died from starvation and curable diseases.

So we're back on track and all ready for the next few months adventures (and more interesting blog entries and photos for you!). We also had a lot of time to research the trip, along with lots of other web-based research at Huxleys British pub and Freebird bar and grill. We also watched far too much tv and are now hooked to the following: CSI (Miami& ...

... little pinch of people everywhere and you almost get it.

The city itself
We found a nice colonial style guesthouse, it was quite huge and its name suited our rank: "Her royal highness". Well I'm not sure for "Highness". Sam who is quite tall (1m85) almost wrecked his head everytime he was to cross a door :-) An experience to get is to visit the central covered market. You'll find an amazing miss of everything that might be sold there. From jewelry to fish, from clothes ...

February 21 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phnom Penh lies in flat countryside at the confluence of several important rivers just to the south of the great lake - Tonle Sap. Before arriving at the centre, you first find yourself travelling through suburbs that are half-village and half-city. The roads are a mixture of rough dirt and smooth tarmac and in central areas they take the aspect of wide French boulevards flanked by colonial buildings in various stages of ...