Sad Phnom Penh

After a brief stop in Siem Reap, we continued to the capital of Cambodia - Phnom Penh - by mini-van. We stayed at the SLA Boutique Hostel in the city center and explored the Riverside area along the Mekong River on foot in the afternoon. The city is much larger, dirtier, and noisier than Siem Reap or the cities in Laos that we visited earlier. To be honest, we were not very impressed at first. The market we strolled through once again shows the food sellers here in Asia. Whether it's appetizing or not, everyone can decide for themselves :)

For the second day, we planned to learn more about Cambodia's recent history and the genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge. So we took a tuk-tuk out of the city first to visit the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Thousands of people were executed and buried in mass graves there from 1975 to 1979. The audio tour was very informative but also very depressing and disheartening.

After a lunch break, we visited the pre-station of the victims at that time - the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21). Here, many of the executed were held in inhumane conditions and tortured before being sent to the Killing Fields.

We didn't know that Cambodia had such a dark chapter in its recent past and who was behind it. It is interesting to learn about such historical aspects of a country but also shocking at the same time.

We mostly refrained from taking photos here...