Not going to beat around the bush here. Phnom Penh completely blew me away! It was a city where I arrived having absolutely no idea what to expect. I can say that it delivered on every level and is well worth a place on any backpackers itinerary.
Getting there…
Getting to Phnom Penh from Ho Chi Minh was fairly painless. We booked transport through 12goasia and ended up on a fairly comfortable minibus with a few other people. Make sure that you have your Visa ready at the border. It just makes your life quicker and easier. Char and I had bought ours online prior to leaving the U.K. so we got through the border pretty quickly with very little hassle.
Where to Stay?
Our little hostel, Pu Rock, was conveniently located close to restaurants, ATMs and the Touel Slong Genocide Museum (or S21 as it is otherwise known). This made our stay a lot easier.
Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda
The first stop on our own tour of the city was the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda Complex. We had read online the pretty standard spiel about being appropriately dressed, so we donned our go to attire from our time temple hopping in Thailand and headed out. Thailand pants combined with a shaul to cover our shoulders had been acceptable in every other place we had been, however it is apparently not okay here!
You must be wearing a shirt where the sleeves reach your elbows. An item of clothing that neither of us hand to hand. Needless to say, we didn’t end up going in. Our time was just too tight and it wouldn’t have fitted in at any other point. Reading other blogs we weren’t too disappointed. It seems that if you have seen the Grand Palace in Bangkok then you may find yourselves underwhelmed by the one in Phnom Penh.
Wat Phnom Cambodia
Following our disappointment at the Royal Palace we headed out in search of nearby pagodas to pass our time. More by luck than judgement we stumbled upon Wat Phnom Cambodia. This temple is stunning inside and out. Set atop a hill in the middle of a roundabout you wouldn’t think it would be peaceful but once inside the noise of the city seems to drift away.
The grounds themselves were just as stunning and peaceful as temple. We sat underneath a band stand and watched as the sun set and the resident family of bats emerged and danced around the trees.
Independence Monument
Heading back to our hostel at night we passed a variety of the city monuments. One of the best to see at night when it’s all lit up is the Independence Monument. Centered in the middle of a roundabout, colourful fountains rise above the traffic coming together with the monument itself to create a fantastic view of the old and new coming together.
The Cambodian Genocide
Our next day in the Cambodian capital turned out to be quite emotional. I am embarrassed to say that I knew next to nothing of the Cambodian Genocide before visiting S21 and the Killing Fields. The education I received over the course of the day truly opened my eyes.
S21
S21 is a former high school that was shut down and converted into a prison when the Khmer Rouge ousted the American leadership in 1975 and the Pol Pot regime took over. The regime inflicted a very vicious form of communism upon the people of Cambodia. Anybody educated or with a certain skill set was seen to be a threat. Excuses were made to arrest people and they were bought to S21 to be tortured until they confessed to their fictional crimes.
The majority of the people bought to this prison were innocent, but nonetheless suffered unbearable pain until they ended up turning their loved ones in too. In the minds of the Khmer Rouge, family were automatically guilty too. Torture devices even included the school jungle gym. It’s hard to think that something once so fun ended up as something so sinister. What really got me was walking through the makeshift cells in what used to be classrooms and looking at the faces of those who had been detained there. The fear and despair in their eyes is just incomprehensible.
We opted to wander around without the audio tour, which was fine because there are numerous signs and pictures to explain everything. Fair warning, this place is eerie. I don’t exactly believe in the paranormal, but it really gave me the chills. Some rooms left the both of us feeling sick whilst others gave us the distinct feeling of being watched.
The Killing Fields
From here we ordered a Grab Tuk Tuk (yes, this app is immense!) to take us to the Killing Fields. This can be found on the app as Choeung Ek. It is the same journey taken by the prisoners of S21 when the powers that be had decided to end their lives. At around 8-9pm every week, prisoners would be moved to the Killing Fields to be executed in the most brutal ways imaginable.
The mass graves at just this site are thought to hold 8,895 bodies, We used the audio guide for this tour as although there are signs, the audio guide provides a far better insight into what went on. Again, the experience was truly harrowing. Most horrifying was the tree the Khmer Rouge used to execute babies in front of their mothers. The stories told by the guide once again bought tears to our eyes.
Despite the highly emotional nature of our day we both agreed it was well worth pushing through the tears. I have a far better understanding now of what occurred between 1975 and 1979, although I have been left questioning that if this went on undetected (or ignored) for so long, what on earth is going on in the world right now? We really need to learn from things like this and move forwards as a society.
Where to eat?
On to slightly less harrowing topics. Where do I recommend to eat? The absolute must go to place is Dine in the Dark. As it sounds, this is a restaurant where you eat your dinner in the pitch black! You can’t even see your hand in front of your face.
Before you go inside you choose a set three course menu but you have no idea what the dishes will be. You then get to enjoy delicious food prepared by a Michelin Star chef for an amazingly reasonable price. Your backpacker budget should easily be able stretch to $18 USD. What an insight into the lives of the partially sighted and the blind. You really notice how the other senses come alive. One of the best parts was trying to guess what we were eating. We took great pleasure in how accurate we were!
Phnom Penh really impressed the both of us, despite its sad past. The quality of things to do will leave you stunned. It ranks very highly on my list of favourite places on my trip!
