Pnom Penh and Surrounding Area

One of the most interesting things that occurred when we were visiting Cambodia was the answer to the question we posed to our cab driver/guide. As we were only going to be in Pnom Penh for a few days we asked him what he thought were the most important sites we should visit. At the very top of his list was the genocide museum. Considering that between 1/5 and 1/4 of the population was lost during the Pol Pot civil war I understand his focus. Most families lost members in this most atrocious period. The country is still under siege from undiscovered land mines and at least every month there are more casualties. Many, many people have lost their limbs, their sight or their lives to these wicked devises. 

This tower at the Choeung Ek Genocidal Museum. It contains the boney remains of nearly 10,000 people and it is thought that nearly twice that many were tortured and executed here. There are many mass graves on this property with dental, boney and clothing remains that come to the surface during the rainy season. It's a pretty grim site, but like Auschwitz or Dachau the Cambodians are determined that this horror and the people who were lost will not be forgotten.

Traveling back to Phnom Penh took us through a rural area that was partially flooded and the area where much local produce is grown.

We were told by our driver that this area does produce a lot of the food that eaten in Phnom Penh, however the area is basically a cess-pool and usually stinks. Fortunately we were riding in an air conditioned car and were shielded from that disagreeable experience!

The roads around Phnom Penh look just like the photo below left. There are trucks carrying people and goods. Motorcycles are used for every way you can imagine, with two or three, or a family or four or five.  The tiniest of children hang on for dear life!

These motorbikes can go a long way on very little gas, so you see these "gas stations" selling fuel in Coke bottles!

Of course traveling by foot is the most common way that people move about. And carrying big bundles on one's head is quite common (below right).

I hope you're blowing these thumbnails up and even enlarging them to 125% because getting a gander of what is sold along the road is quite interesting. Everyone likes to photograph the Buddhist monks and we're ;no exception. It seems that nearly everyone has a little business going on in front of their house - and most houses are in a state of repair/building.

It looks to us that most people drink bottled water. Of course, we did too.

The fruit stands look inviting, but when you're staying at a hotel there's no need for more food!

The national museum was quite interesting as it was one of the few institutions that was NOT destroyed during the civil war. During that period hospitals, schools and temples were destroyed in an effort to turn the country into a nation of peasants working in an agrarian society where family, wealth and status did not matter. Many of the treasurers that were held in the museum were taken out and hidden. Some of those treasurers included religious stone tablets from the Siem Reap area. Those tablets included stories of the Buddha that were found in the library of the many temples near Angkor Wat.

This beautiful area is the Royal Palace where the king (who is a monk) meets visiting dignitaries. This area is a highlight of the city of Phnom Penh. Right next door is the Silver Pagoda. Both complexes were spared by the Khymer Rouge civil war. The Royal Palace was built in 1919. There is a tribute to Napoleon on the grounds and a display of royal memorabilia - similar ;to the royal jewels at the Tower of London. Photography was not allowed in several of these areas.

This is just a shot (right) of the grounds in front of the Silver Pagoda. It was a quiet shady little area we enjoyed.

We enjoyed the elephant garden to the south of the complex as much as the historic buildings. There were a couple of reasons for this.

One reason was this incredible flowering tree that embraced both of these beautiful figures (right & left). The name of the flower is "Shorea Robusta Roxb," I think? This tree is only allowed to grow in a temple site. We found this bloom to be captivating as I've never seen anything like it!

The other thing that added to our enjoyment was a Buddhist musical group that was playing as we sat in the shade and sipped a cold soda! Scott got this shot of the boy that was part of the group.

Returning to the hotel we captured a couple of street scenes that we thought represented our visit to Cambodia.

On the left is the big shopping center in Phnom Penh. Interesting architecture we thought.

In Cambodia and well as Thailand there is a tradition of working elephants. We will see that in the bas-reliefs around the temples in Angkor which date in the 1200s.