The Almond Hotel Phnom Penh

... have a smile on their face. If I could sum Cambodia in 3 words they would be tragic, remarkable and breath taking.<br><br>Next 3 days we have booked ourselves on a cruise (I use that turn very very loosely) from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Min City, formally known as Saigon, via the Mekong Delta. We are pretty excited for that even if it is a 6:30am start. We will see you all again when we get to an Internet Café in Saigon &#8211; a way cooler name than Ho Chi Min City.

... always close my eyes. We made it safely and you won't be surprised to hear that I found it rather thrilling. These Vietnamese must be great drivers to negotiate the moving dartboard of traffic and manage to stay alive....<br><br>Thereafter it was a calm crossing over the border into Cambodia with the posh bus taking the strain - they handled all the passport bureaucracy including getting my visa and the luggage stayed on board ...

... with Darlene, a sort of mentor/icon for many of the people involved with Peace Corps. I mingled, said my goodbyes to the training staff and LCFs, PCVs on the opposite side of the country that I will most likely not see again for 6 months when we have our in-service training, and rushed off to ta bar with a small group; an older married couple, Warren and Lori that are on their second Peace Corp assignment, along with Darlene. <br><br> After a few ...

... thing is very moving and while it doesn't provide very much information, it's a necessary stop (we read The Killing Fields which was a great background to what happened).<br><br>Toul Sleng Museum (S-21 Museum)-- Based on what I had heard about this school turned prison, I wasn't sure I would be able to handle the exhibits. I had NO clue how big the area was nor how much information is provided. I thought we would need at most an hour to get through everything and after ...

... br><br>That night we wandered down to the town for a quiet quick dinner, we still had to pack and had to be in the airport early the next morning. After dinner we were standing at a book exchange when we heard familiar voices it was Leon and Natalie, the couple we&#8217;d met several times in Vietnam, so then we pretty much had to have a few 50 cent beers with them. Bang goes our quiet night, sure we can always get up early and pack in the morning.

... drank a fair bit that night!! Meet two other dudes staying in my hostel Andrew, American and Seb, Swiss, who had cycled from Switzerland to Cambodia on bike!! started last September, an amazing feat!!<br>That day had lie in and then went for lunch with Andrew and Seb, who are really good people. Andrew is American traveling around for a few months was one of those security dudes out in Afghan! so had a pretty dangerous job. Anyway we arranged to go up to seim reap together on bus to ...

... chambers left as they were discovered just a few decades ago. In each room there is a bed and restraining device, and on the wall, a picture of the body found there, each corpse contorted in agony. These bodies were finally laid to rest in graves in the grounds outside.<br><br>In other buildings there are photographs of all the &#8216;prisoners&#8217; taken to S21, among them women and children. The Khmer Rouge asserted that it was better to imprison 10 innocent ...

What's there to see and do in Phnom Penh? Visit temples, the National Museum, the Royal Palace...Not in one day, though, and not before you've become acquainted with the notorious S21 prison torture place, a primary school building which Pol Pot and his thugs, particularly a guy named 'Dutsch,' or 'Dutch,' from the Khmer Rouge days, used to interrogate suspects they thought were renegades, backsliders, or those in the Communist regime who were considered not fallen into line ...

... new construction, and a vital tourist industry. Mostly, though, I saw happiness, and a fresh attitude. Entire families line the river in Phnom Penh until 9pm, buying and selling, and partying in general. This spills over into surrounding neighborhoods, and includes cultural events such as traditional music and dancing. Phnom Penh now even has an annual film festival. TV is the same, local programming with some interesting content. Things are looking up, way up, something that hasn&#8217 ...

... walls, each person looking terrified as they are photographed before (and sometimes clearly after) being tortured. In addition to these horrifying photographs are a number of paintings by one of the few survivors. These depict the day to day routine brutality meted out by the guards and are executed in graphic detail. One of them depicts guards dashing a babies brains out against a tree trunk whilst the mother is executed with farm instruments. Another shows the ...