Asian Adventure (Part V)

The 6 hour bus to Phnom Penh was passed by marvelling at the sheer inadequacy of the roads between Cambodia's capitals old & new. At times there was single track tarmac, at others there was a single lane and a dirt road for traffic in the other direction and sometimes there was even a lane in each direction!  Inside the bus the queerest karaoke-cum-music videos were shown; these appeared to be popular music but with the lyrics subtitled and some rather disturbing scenes (jilted lovers threatening suicide, falling downstairs and young ladies being smothered in their beds...).

As a brief aside, I cannot praise the Kindle enough; I took our family's Kindle 3G to Asia. I had not used it before in anger but knowing my voracious appetite for books when away I decided I opted not to lug a half a ton of dead tree around. The first time I used the Kindle I found after 30 minutes or so  my eyes tired of it but now I find it as comfortable to read from as paper. Furthermore I started the first book in a new series on the trip and as I enjoyed it, I was able to purchase, download and read the second book straight away! When we skipped straight through Nanning and arrived in Guangzhou a day early, I was able to use the free roaming 3G on the Kindle to email our hostel from the bus and arrange accommodation for that night rather than us having to sort it out when we arrive at 9pm.
 TLDR: Get a kindle 3G, they're great.

Louisa and I arrived at the Sunday Guesthouse late in the evening, despite accepting our booking the day before, they were in fact full and we were farmed out to another nearby hostel. Our alternative digs weren't the best, the door lock was dubious and the windows had no screens (so that night I used my mosi net for the only time so far) but the bathroom was clean enough and the beds were comfortable.

The next morning we rose early, checked in to a room actually at the Sunday Guesthouse (still not great but at least there were screens on the window) and headed off to Tuong Sleng. This is the museum at the sight of the infamous Khmer Rouge S21 prison, a school building which was converted to a horrific centre of incarceration and torture for the purged 'educated' people under the Pol Pots despotic regime. Playground gyms remain in front of classroom blocks adorned with barbed wire. To say it's chilling is an understatement.

Feeling a need for a mood boost we headed for a quick look at the independence monument then headed to the decidedly western expat joint Java cafe for lunch.

Afterwards we headed to the Killing Fields, called Chuong Ek in Khmer, the site of mass grades of hundreds of thousands of the Khmer Rouge's victims. These days the site is run by a private company, an unusual arrangement for a place so significant in a country's recent history, but the entry was still a mere couple dollars (cheaper than the $3 the guide book quoted). Nowadays in the middle of the killing fields stands a Stupa containing the skulls of the exhumed victims, the glass and brick tower makes a beautiful and poignant monument to the people who died there. Sadly however some visitors didn't seem to be able to understand an appropriate tone, we were embarrassed by a group of loud British girls who posed and giggled their way round the monument.

Returning to the city we went to the National museum, this was an underwhelming affair hosting many stone statues with little explanation, plenty of no camera signs and a few interesting artefacts. The most enjoyable part were the small gardens in the centre of the museum.

Having spent a day snatching the 'highlights' of Phnom Penh, the next day it was time to return to Siem Reap.