Beng Trabek Touch

We spent the day exploring Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. This morning we went to the Royal Palace, the official residence of the King. It is still the Royal residence, so many parts are off-limits and the parts that we could see were not well signed - but the buildings included palace, temples and stupas and all were very ornate. It even got a "wow" out of Solana when we first arrived! It was very busy there today, being a weekend it was busy with both Cambodian and international tourists. After the palace we found a kids play park - the first decent one we've found since Playa Hermosa in Cost Rica, over 6 weeks ago, so Solana was ecstatic! She somehow forgot that she doesn't like being out in the hot midday sun and happily played there until we dragged her away for lunch.

This afternoon was a lot more sombre. We went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (aka "S-21"), to learn more about the history of Cambodia. We weren't sure whether or not to go with Solana but, after reading up about the place, we decided to go and we took turns staying with her in the gardens, whilst the other went around the museum (but we decided against going out to the Killing Fields). This was a prison in which thousands of innocent people were detained, tortured and killed during the dark days of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime during 1975-79 (i.e. in the lifetime of most of you who will read this blog....). As you might expect, it was a harrowing visit, with tissues required, but it is appropriate that it stands as a monument to those who lost their lives and to educate future generations in the hope of preventing such atrocity from occurring again.

This evening we were hoping to take James & Lou's advice and head to the FCC for a sundowner but time ran away with us and, after a quick and refreshing dip in the hotel pool, we ended up in an odd local restaurant - where no English was spoken but managed to enlist the help of a 10-year-old boy to translate (son of one of the staff members!), our portions were small and served with no rice, yet there was a small kids play area. Tomorrow, we have a 7-hour bus journey to Siem Reap - not looking forward to the long journey on a bus but needs must....Read more