I think we both knew that this morning was going to be tough. However, I do think it’s so important to educate ourselves and the world about atrocities such as those inflicted by the Khmer Rouge regime. The hope is we would learn by example and it’s unfathomable to think that things like this are still going on in our world today.
I’m not going to talk too much about this portion of the day as its history is so complicated and horrific it couldn’t be done justice in a short blog post. I would highly recommend you find out more for yourselves: I’ve found http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/ to be a good source in the overview of the Cambodian atrocities as well as many others.
After our visit to to both sites this morning, our bus ride back to the city centre was very quiet and pensive. We wanted to see more of the city of Phnom Penh and how it has grown into what we see today, we ventured down to the river which seems to be a hub of activity and a mix of people going about their daily lives.
We stopped at a little place along the riverside for lunch and enjoyed some wonderful local cuisine.
The National Museum was just round the corner from our hotel so we headed over there to see a different aspect of the countries heritage and culture.
Its a beautiful red building full of artefacts, most centuries old. An ever present feature is the stunning peaceful green central garden with fish ponds.
The fish must have been quite accustomed to being fed and flocked to us as soon as we got near the ponds.
The inside of the museum was just as fascinating with statues, stonework, bronze and woodwork.
With the day wearing on and needing a bit of a refuel we made our way back to the hotel via the Central Market, located just round the corner from our hotel.
It was a bit of a race against time as I could tell the rain was coming on and sure enough, as soon as we stepped inside the (thankfully covered) market; the heavens opened.
It’s a beautiful building, built during the French Colonial times and resembles the Art Deco style of the time it was built.
In true Cambodian style it was full to the rafters with stalls, bursting with everything from clothing to tech, to household products to (genuwine) jewellery, to hair and nail salons! It was excellent to walk around and as luck would have it the rain eased off just as it was time for us to head back to the hotel to rest up and get ready for dinner.
Dinner tonight was at a lovely restaurant called Romdeng who work with underprivileged and marginalised young people and train them up and enable them to get a skill set and jobs in hospitality. It’s a brilliant cause and the food was also brilliant.
Tomorrow we leave Phnom Penh to explore more of Cambodia, we’re looking forward to seeing what else this beautiful place holds!
Hatti x
Beautiful red sandstone and topiary plus a culinary delight!