In the morning Pete just about (muted iPod = no alarm) got on a bus to Sihanookville and we were both alone for the first time on the trip so far. Most of the sights in Phnom Penh revolve around the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 70s. In the morning I visited one of the killing fields, used for prisoners who had committed “crimes” such as being literate, where there is a memorial built in memory of the thousands of people who were killed there.
In the afternoon we returned to Phnom Penh to visit S21, a former high school converted into a prison for “offenders” who would later be sent out to the killing fields. I have noticed Pete has started adding more text to some of his blog entries so I’m evening the score by putting an arty photo up here.
To deal with the days depressing tone me and a few people staying in the same hostel went out to get some alcohol and stumbled upon some Cambodian alcohol called simply "White Spirit". It sounded like a terrible idea but at $1.20 it seemed too good to miss. It smelt pretty much exactly the same as paint thinner and got us all incredibly drunk. It was quite a shock to wake up in the morning and discover that I wasn't blind.
The final day I was there we visited the kings palace, which turned out to be a massive disappointment. It cost a lot to get in and the biggest attraction was massively underwhelming. The silver pagoda has a floor made of about 5 tonnes of solid silver. Unfortunately this isn't very impressive when 3 quarters of the floor is hidden under carpets and the bits that are exposed are held down with duck tape. No wonder they won't let you take photos in there!
The last interesting part of Phnom Penh is the synchronised night time dancing that takes place on the riverside and in the parks every night, weird.
I hope u attempted to join in with the synchronized dancing!! :D xxxxxxx
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