Phnom Penh - Cambodia

We drove 6 1/2 hours from Siem Reap to Phenom Pen, the capital of Cambodia. The drive was difficult for me. Not because I was cramped up in a bus holding on to my bag, but because we passed house after house after house that I could never imagine being able to live in. They were shacks on stilts with four walls and a room. Most didn't have doors, walls were very thin and most looked like they were deteriorating. There were steep stairs up to the house. Most without hand rails. I couldn't imagine raising a child in that environment. I would be scared for his/her life every time they went to go in or out of the house. It is incredibly hot and humid here and im sure the closest thing they may own for some relief is a simple fan. Gosh I admire these peoples tenacity to continue living life in such circumstances.


Did I mention the Cambodia currency is US dollars? Yep. ATMs dispense dollar bills. Crazy. Most families live off of $1 per day $1!! Wow, makes me feel so fortunate for what I have back at home.

One significant observation I noticed once entering the city was that there are actually rich people here. I saw very nice cars driving in the city: Lexus, Mercedes, etc. How is this possible? Why are there a row of shacks down the street and now Mercedes driving by a mile away?! This is SO wrong! This discrepancy angers me. People are suffering left and right. Kids are everywhere begging for money and others have more money then they know what to do with. How does this happen?


We only have one full day in Phnom Pen and it was important for me to learn more about the Khumer Rouge and the genocide. So I spent most my time visiting the killing fields and S21 (security office 21 the largest torture prison out of the 167 that exist). **See a post further down describing the Khmer Rouge if interested.

This was incredibly hard for me. I was only able to take few pictures because I had to step out most of the time. Stories of my grandparents suffering through the holocaust started flooding my mind. Questions bombarded my thoughts asking "how can this happen?" transformed my mood into anger. I was uncontrolled with tears and it felt good to let them out. When I was young I had difficulty crying. I would often supress my feelings of sadness and cope with a smile or laugh. Now, I can cry. Now I can feel it. I sat with it, I cried for the people suffering and now I want to help people even more. Human beings should not suffer. It is inhumane!

If anyone is interested in learning more about this genocide I recommend a documentary called Killing Fields.

Here is the outside of the prison.



Here are some of the cells the victims lived in.


After we visited S21 we drove to the killing fields where we saw piles of skeletons.
This picture below is the stupa that was built as a memorial site for all of those who were killed. In the stupa lie layers and layers of bones and clothes



There was a museum on site that I learned more about this time period. Ironically today is the exact anniversary of the first killing, April 17 1975. I read that it took 35 years later to proseute any of the Khmer rouge leaders and they only got sentenced for 35 years in prison. Is this justice?


Outside each place we visited were beggars who were limbless from stumbling on one of the 10 million land mines still leftover from this time. It doesn't get much worse then this.
You may not be able to tell in this picture, but this man has only one leg and is begging for money. I hate seeing such a thing.


Click on this picture for a few more pics in this album. But I only took a few pictures because it was such a disturbing day.