Cambodia - Phnom Penh

Yay, I have finally arrived in Cambodia! The country with such a horrible past but such happy and wonderful people, it never ceases to amaze me. When I finally arrived in Phnom Penh it was around 6pm. I was in line across from the hotel they dropped us off at waiting for internet because I had a set of two groups of friends I was supposed to possibly meet up with. The first set being Yannick and Matthew (the two guys I traveled with from Hoi An to Nhatrang) and some friends of mine from High School, Katrina and Stephanie, who are traveling at the moment as well. So as I'm waiting for the internet who walks up, Matthew. So I decided to just check email later and go get dinner with him and Yannick. Then on our way to find dinner who do we run into, yup Katrina and Stephanie, so strange (and convenient on my part).

Stephanie and Katrina in the back of a tuk tuk

Yannick and Matthew in the back of a tuk tuk

My first day in the city I went to the national museum which mainly consisted of artifacts found at the temples of Angkor. Then later that day I went to an orphanage with Yannick and Matthew to play with the kids and help them with their English. They were all so cute! I learned traditional Cambodian dance from some of the girls so in return I taught them some ballet and salsa which they enjoyed.

National Museum

Kids at the orphanage learning English

Me and Seng

The next day I met up with Katrina and Stephanie for an intense day of learning about Cambodia's haunting past by seeing. To do a quick history lesson for those who don't know in 1975 Cambodia's government was over thrown by the communist group known as the Khmer Rouge. They evacuated the city of Phnom Penh (population 3 million people at the time) and moved them to the countryside to labor camps. Anyone who was a threat to over throw the government was killed. In the eyes of the Khmer Rouge this meant anyone with an education, people who worked for the former government, even people who wore glasses and not only were they killed but their families as well. As for those at the labor camps, they were fed one meal a day and worked 12 hour days so many people died of starvation as well. In the end after 4 years under the Khmer Rouge regime, approximately 2 million people had died, that was over a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time.

Phnom Penh, the Royal Palace walls

So on my second day in Phnom Penh I went to "the killing fields" where many Cambodians were executed. After that we went to S-21, the main prison during the time of the Khmer Rouge. It used to be a high school but was transformed into a prison where people were tortured in order to get information and ultimately killed as well. Both places were hard to see, they don't try to hide much here, but it was a way of learning about that ugly past that I could not obtain any other way.
That night instead of being depressed from the things I saw that day (which was very tempting) I decided to go out and celebrate life and the country of Cambodia instead. First I went back to the orphanage to volunteer again. After that since it was my last night with Yannick and Matthew, we went out for a delicious Cambodian BBQ dinner where we made friends with our waiter. After a pitcher (or two) of beer we decided we wanted to go dancing so our new Cambodian friend took us to a dance club he knew of. We were the only non-Cambodians there and had a blast.

Out and about with our new friend "The Joker" (he told us to call him that)

On my last day in Phnom Penh I went browsing through the various markets the city had to offer with Katrina and Stephanie. These days I don't really buy much at the markets but I always find them fascinating. The different types of produce on display, the interesting outfits you see on mannequins, and of course the strange cuts of meat you are always surprised by.

Dried shrimp

Chicken anyone? And no they're not rubber....