Since we each had our assigned cities to look into - and my city was in Vietnam - I did little no research regarding Cambodia. I knew Angkor Wat was there and Laura Croft did some bombass fighting in one of the temples, but that is where my knowledge stopped. And as you can see my knowledge was limited and thoroughly based on hard facts…?
But not knowing what I was going into allowed me to see things with fresh eyes and an open mind. I didn't have Fodor's or Footprint* or Lonely Planet telling me what I "should" look at, while ignoring all the other wonderfully moving elements that were there as well.
I got to see things as I wanted to see them - and it was beautiful! and devastating; due to the harrowing history in Phonm Penh.
We were only there for a short visit (8/13-14), but it was long enough to absorb the tremendous sadness and horror that the country and its people endured during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.
We went out to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (aka the Killing Fields) where millions of people lost their lives and faced hardship of such extremes that unimaginable. It was a numbing place to walk around - the marks of violence still present and ghost strolled silently with you as you observed the places where they were slain.
Afterwards we went to the Tuol Sleng Museum (aka S-21), a former school that was converted by the Khmer Rouge into a torture and interrogation center. It felt as if the monster still remained. Walking into old classrooms that bore the marks of so many untold nightmares; left me with a choking feeling that was difficult to shake, even after we had left.
They whole day seemed tainted by the darkness the Khmer Rouge brought to Cambodia.
The Preah Borom Reach Beang Chatomuk Mongkul (or for short, The Royal Palace) was beautiful and ornately decorated and carved.
The Palace grounds were vast and telling what-was-what got to be a bit difficult, but it was nice to have such a lush and tranquil place to walk around after all the darkness of the other sights.
*Footprint was the guidebook I used for this trip.
But not knowing what I was going into allowed me to see things with fresh eyes and an open mind. I didn't have Fodor's or Footprint* or Lonely Planet telling me what I "should" look at, while ignoring all the other wonderfully moving elements that were there as well.
I got to see things as I wanted to see them - and it was beautiful! and devastating; due to the harrowing history in Phonm Penh.
We were only there for a short visit (8/13-14), but it was long enough to absorb the tremendous sadness and horror that the country and its people endured during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.
We went out to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (aka the Killing Fields) where millions of people lost their lives and faced hardship of such extremes that unimaginable. It was a numbing place to walk around - the marks of violence still present and ghost strolled silently with you as you observed the places where they were slain.
Afterwards we went to the Tuol Sleng Museum (aka S-21), a former school that was converted by the Khmer Rouge into a torture and interrogation center. It felt as if the monster still remained. Walking into old classrooms that bore the marks of so many untold nightmares; left me with a choking feeling that was difficult to shake, even after we had left.
They whole day seemed tainted by the darkness the Khmer Rouge brought to Cambodia.
But there was beauty and charm in Phonm Penh as well.
The Palace grounds were vast and telling what-was-what got to be a bit difficult, but it was nice to have such a lush and tranquil place to walk around after all the darkness of the other sights.
After just two days in Phonm Penh we took our seats on a WiFi air-conditioned bus and headed north to the treasures of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.
*Footprint was the guidebook I used for this trip.
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