Site seeing in Phnom Penh

My friend Alex works for the luxury travel company Cazenove &
Lloyd, so when she asked me if I wanted to join her for a weekend in
Phnom Penh I jumped at the chance. I had never visited Cambodia
before and didn't know what to expect. I arrived mid-afternoon and
made my way to our first hotel the illustrious Raffles Hotel. The hotel
was everything that you would expect from the luxury brand. My
arrival started with a delicious welcome drink in the beautiful
entrance hall and then a rest by the pool. My friend Alex found me
sunbathing by the pool. We spent the first night in the hotels 5*
restaurant, eating delicious food and drinking a bottle of red wine.
On our first full day we were met by our private tour guide and taken
to the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison. This was where the Khmer Rouge
regime tortured innocent educated people under the corrupt leader
Pol Pot. The prison was set in an old school and the atmosphere was
eerie. The rooms were bare except for a single metal bed where the
prisoners were imprisoned. Each room told a story of a person
imprisoned in the room and showed the different torture instruments
and details on how the guards carried out the torture. As we walked around the prison we went into different rooms where hundreds of
people were confined within tiny walled cells and made to stay tied
for weeks. The barbed wire was still covering the walls and it didn't
look like much had changed since it was occupied. There was a room
full of photo's showing the people who had died in the prison - men,
women and children. We were joined by a survivor of the prison. He was in his 80's and showed us where he was kept prisoner and told us

how he was treated. It was incredible that he had the strength to go back to the prison after all those years but he wanted to tell his story
and make people aware of the atrocities that were done to him and
his fellow people. We left the prison shocked and sombre and made our way to the killing fields. The Killing fields were located just outside the city center. As we walked up to the monument in the middle of the field we saw that the glass tower was filled with skulls and leg and arm bones. It was shocking and traumatizing to think of all the lives that were taken and buried in the mass graves. As we walked around the fields we could see where the mass graves lay and where the Khmer Rouge regime bashed children's heads onto the tree to crush their skulls. There was a tree which still showed the blood of the people that died and where people had hung ribbons in remembrance. It was incredible to think that a nation could do this to its people. We finished the tour at the museum where they showed a video of Pol Pot's accomplices being arrested and put in prison. Their prison was more like a confined house and definitely didn't compare to the atrocities that they brought on their people.
After the Killing fields we needed a break! The morning had been
fascinating but emotionally draining. We ate a delicious lunch in the hotel by the pool. After lunch we set off on our second tour of the day
to discover the old colonial architecture of the city by cyclo. Cyclo was the traditional way of traveling round the city and gave us a great
insight into the city. We were met by our tour guide, a young female
student, at the post office. The post office used to be a grand colonial
building but today it had lost most of its charm. Opposite the post
office was an old colonial hotel which was again derelict and
crumbling. We quickly realized how many of the population were
poor when we entered the old colonial hotel and found multiple
families all living within a confined space between cracked walls. The
old hotel rooms had been divided into separate apartments and levels
and you could quite easily find 4 families all living in the space of one

room. Inside we found one resident making a temple offering and lots
of young children playing. The building was unsafe and the walls were crumbling and unstable. We left the old hotel and got into our cyclo.
We sat at the front while our driver cycled through the bustling
streets. We went past the city centre and towards the river Mekong.
On the river bank we visited a temple and then walked down a side alley to another poor neighborhood. The houses were basic huts but the children were smiling and happy to have their picture taken. We
went inside an old chapel that had been converted into separate
apartments and multiple families lived inside on different levels. It
looked like a construction site. We cycled past the main market and
Wat Phnom hill and arrived back at our hotel to rest. In the evening
we went to Romdeng restaurant. The restaurant trained youths from
the street to cook and waiter and was set in a beautiful old colonial
building. The decoration was vibrant and the food was delicious.
Although neither Alex or I wanted to try the delicacy Scorpions!
On our second day we went site seeing again and visited the Royal
palace, Central market, Wat Phnom and National Museum of
Cambodia. We started at the Royal Palace and were told to cover our
shoulders as we walked into the huge complex. The Royal Palace was
made up of multiple pagodas and temples housing gold and emerald
Buddha's. We quickly came to understand the history of the royal
family and the uncertainty of the new young king who had spent less
than half of his life in Cambodia. After visiting the Royal Palace we
stopped off at the National Museum of Cambodia. The museum was
set within a beautiful traditional red building with huge elephant
sculptures either side. Inside housed some of the countries prized art and sculptures and we were given a guided tour of the main significant pieces in Cambodian history. The gallery was set around
an open courtyard where with an open arcade and beautiful garden
with ponds. Once we finished at the National Museum we stopped off
at Phnom Pehn's largest market, Central market. The building was
white and yellow and round. Inside there were multiple sections
divided into jewellery, flowers, leather good, vegetables, meat and
spices. The market was packed with people eating their lunch and
shopping. Alex bought some white and red pepper which is apparently a delicacy of the area. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at hotels as Alex needed to see the range of hotels available for her clients. On our way back to Raffles hotel we stopped off at Wat Phnom, a pagoda on top of a hill. The pagoda was the first built in the city and symbolized the beginning of the city. At the base of the hill there was a lady selling eggs with half grown chicks inside. This was meant to be a local delicacy. Both Alex and I passed!
On our last night in Phnom Penh we stayed at the Sofitel hotel slightly outside of the city centre. The hotel was very different from
the other boutique hotels we had visited previously. The hotel had an
enormous entrance hall and buffet dining hall. It was more of a resort
hotel with multiple restaurants, pools and gym. The hotel did have a
good view of the river though and we ate some delicious sushi.