Phnom Penh

So long Cambodia! It's been a shorter stop than other countries we've visited, because we have some set dates when we need to be in Vietnam. But we still managed to squeeze in a week here, rounding things out in the capital city, Phnom Penh.

We had no idea what to expect here, except very intense genocide museums. And boy did we get them. We did these sites on day one, so we'd have some time to decompress afterwards. After taking power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge regime attempted to turn Cambodia into an agrarian communist society. They forced millions of people out of the cities to work on brutally punishing farms. The communist leaders had no understanding of agriculture and set impossible targets, which meant they increasingly had to use children as slave labour. At the same time, they rounded up millions of perceived anti-revolutionary enemies (especially educated people, teachers, lawyers, doctors, and anyone wearing glasses), tortured them and their families, and executed them en masse. From 1975-79, the regime murdered three million people—around 40% of the population. We visited the infamous S21 torture prison, now a museum: of 20,000 prisoners, only 12 survived, 4 of them children. Then the Killing Fields at Cheoung Ek, the site of mass graves where the executions took place. They are eerily peaceful now, though cloth and bones continue to surface in the dirt. The two sites are well curated, respectful of the victims and careful in acknowledging that this could happen anywhere.

The Khmer Rouge began their reign of terror less than 50 years ago. What's stunning is how developed urban Cambodia is today, given the devastation of that genocide. Phnom Penh is a modern city, with bustling streets and cool hipster neighbourhoods full of bars and cafes. They have skyscrapers and boutique hotels and a waterfront promenade on the Mekong. People in Cambodia’s two major cities speak better English than anywhere else we've visited in Southeast Asia, except Singapore. After the harrowing history lesson, we spent our remaining time in the capital enjoying all of these things and marvelling at Cambodian resilience.

Chelsea took the rare chance for a proper swim, taking two dips in the national Olympic pool. Cambodia is *not* a swimming superpower like Australia, so the pool was pleasantly uncrowded. She also bought herself a whole camembert as a snack and then felt guilty—she’s reading an excellent book on France’s activities in Indochina (which glommed Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam together). She also visited the Khmer Women’s Food collective (fish amok!) and took in the Independence Monument and the Royal Palace, enjoying zipping around in a tuktuk with the extremely cheerful and patient Ek. They shared a moment of excitement seeing the royal cavalcade passing in the traffic. Meanwhile, Dan took the opportunity to relax in nice cafes and make some progress on his writing. Perhaps inevitable in a city with 'Pen' in the name. In the evening, we caught up with Charlie & Amelia, who we met in Laos (they're traveling through Cambodia and Vietnam in the opposite direction to us).

We only booked two nights here to start with, but ended up extending for a third. We did the same thing in Siem Reap too. That's because... *drum roll*... Cambodia is excellent! The people are lovely, the food is great (although not as spicy as we usually like), the culture feels vibrant, the beer is cheap and tasty (Cambodia draft for ~60p), and the country is clearly developing at a rate of knots. In some ways it's a shame we've had to do such a whistlestop tour, but even with a whole year on the road we still have to make some compromises.

We're currently on the bus to our final southeast Asia destination: Vietnam 🇻🇳もっと詳しく