Cambodia Day 2

Day 2: Phnom Penh, Cambodia (06/12/06)

We had booked the Killing Fields tour the day before and we spent half an hour getting to Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, located about 17 km south from the city.

Choeung Ek Genocidal Center


Skulls within the memorial


A closer view of the skulls

This memorial is used as a national center for the consecration of the spirits of over 3 million people who had lost their lives in this regime. There are some places with descriptions showing the exact location of mass graves, torturing & murdering tools storage room, killing trees, mass graves with headless bodies, etc. May their souls rest in peace.

A padi field nearby


I love the shape of this tree which is abundant in this country


Mass graves of the victims

We headed to a shooting range nearby as some of the backpackers in our tour minibus wanted to go there. All the 4 of us did not try shooting the rifles, throwing the grenades or the rocket launcher as some of us like Terence and i have been through NS while Derrick and Meibin were not very interested in these metal.

Me and Meibin in front of the armory


Scenery along the way back to our guesthouse

We then headed back to our guesthouse and had our "brunch" at the restaurant. We had hired our friendly tuk tuk driver who fetched us yesterday. Our first stop is the Central Market as we did not get to shop there yesterday when it closed at around 5 pm.

Interior of Central Market (Nice dome with clocktower)

Most of us did not buy anything other than Meibin and we headed over to Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. When we entered the large complex, i was amazed and fascinated by the traditional grandious architecture.

The Royal Palace


4 Musketeers in this grand complex


This building is out-of-bounds to tourists


The only French Colonial building within the complex


Faces on top of the Royal Palace


Me and Terence in front of the intricately carved stone structure


Distant view of the palace, wats and structures


Stone Elephants near the exit

We spent quite some time admiring the carvings, the drawings and the architecture in the large complex and we headed over to Wat Phnom next. It is a temple built on top of a small hill and requires an entrance fee of US$1. Locals can get in free of charge and there were quite a lot of beggars asking tourists for money. We spent only 15 minutes there as there isn't much to see at Wat Phnom.

Wat Phnom

We asked our tuk tuk for some recommendations of good food and he brought us to Friends, a restaurant where students are taught by teachers to prepare traditional Khmer dishes as well as Western dishes.

Colourful paintings decorate the restaurant

After our dinner, we headed to Sisowath Quay and took a walk along the riverside. There are quite a lot of restaurants and pubs by the riverside and we saw the sunset near the Royal Palace. There are a lot of locals and couples dating by the riverside.

Beautiful sunset behind the pagoda

We went to a nearby shopping centre to replenish our supply of water and bought some food at the food court. We then headed back to our guesthouse after that and used the internet for a while. Meibin wanted to register for her exchange electives while i checked my timetable for next semester. We then headed to La Croisette by the riverside for cocktails and beer. The price of liquor there is very cheap (compared to Singapore) even at decent pubs cum restaurant.

Chilling out at La Croisette

Went back to the guesthouse at 10.30 pm and we had to wake up early the next day to catch the 7 am morning bus to Siem Reap.