Phnom Penh, Killing fields,

After Siem Reap, which was one of our favorite cities so far on the trip, we headed down to the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. We were a little freaked out when we first arrived on the bus, because someone had a sign with Kristin's name on it waiting at the bus stop. We later found out that our hotel from Siem Reap had called their sister hotel to pick us up. Phnom Penh is a large city located between a river and a lake. We decided to stay by the lake for the first couple of days. Our hostel was right on the lake, literally. It was a nice cheap place for about $6 a night, with a great staff, who even helped me find a place to listen to the Carolina vs. Clemson game that started at midnight here. Bye the way, 34-17!!!!! The hostel had a very nice deck facing sunset, and a free pool table. The first night was thanksgiving, which we have another blog about. The first day in Phnom Penh we walked around the city, and visited the Wat (Temple), Park, and the Royal Palace. The park had a huge grass clock that was pretty cool, and the Royal Palace was very nice as well.

The next day we headed to the Killing fields, and the prison called S-21. The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Vietnam War. At least 200,000 people were executed by the Khmer Rouge (while estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.4 to 2.2 million out of a population of around 7 million. We had both recently read the book "The Killing fields" and seen the movie. Both are good, but the book is great. The killing fields are a crazy site. There is a huge tower right when you walk in that is about 100 feet tall, and filled with 8000 skulls of the victims who were buried in the mass graves at that site.

Around the site you could also see the mass graves all over the place, as well as the torture areas, and the trees where people would be hung, or babies smashed against. It is a very creepy site. After that we went to S-21, a former school, that the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison. Each room would have a picture of torture or dead bodies. This is the site where many of the people in the mass graves were tortured or killed. It was very depressing. After that, we went back to the hostel, picked up some drinks, and started tailgating for the game that night. It was a good night, not sure if I mentioned this or not, but 34-17, and a great birthday present for my mom!!!

The next day we moved hotels, to a place with some A/C that was by the river. During the day we went to check out the market, which was one of the best we have seen. They had a huge selection of meats, and seafood. Kristin got some soup in the market that had just about every internal organ you can name in it. We tried them all, but were not impressed. The broth was great though! The next two days we just took it easy, since we had to wait until the Embassy was open, because we needed extra pages in our passports, and a Vietnam Visa. That was about it for Phnom Penh, next we headed to the beach!