January 31

The check in at the airport was the smoothest yet.  We must have been the first people there and breezed through security, check in and other functions.  A most pleasant change after the Bangkok experience.  Now we have two weeks before we have to fly again from Hue to Hanoi.  The flight to Phnom Penh was short (35 minutes), just long enough for my shorts to dry after some water spilled when I attempted to open the plastic glass cover.

My first impression of the city was "YUCK".  The roads are terrible and everything is covered in dust.  Everywhere you look is dust, litter and road and bridge construction.  On the outskirts the roads are lined with small cluttered shops of seemingly endless varieties.  Like Siem Reap there are also motorcycles and bicycles everywhere going at breakneck speed.

Because we couldn't check into the hotel right away we proceeded to the Killing Fields.  Not exactly an uplifting way to begin the day with a visit to a building housing hundreds upon hundreds of human skulls, with walks around paths bordered by holes that were mass graves, with pathways strewn with bits of clothing form the victims and signs detailing the history of the atrocities that took place here.  I took very few photos.

We went to a restaurant with a huge buffet for lunch.  Unfortunately for me I wasn't in the mood to partake of a great deal of it and just had a very nice cream of celery soup and two large plates of fresh salad.  Other people said that the spring rolls and noodles were great.

After lunch we visited the prison where people were interrogated and incarcerated for varying periods of time before they were taken to the killing Fields to be executed.  Most depressing to say the least.  The prison is now a museum and has stories of many of the people, photos of the prisoners and paintings by one of the few survivors.  The women's building was completely fronted with barbed wire to prevent escape and suicide.  Their cells were no more than about four feet by six or seven feet and contained absolutely nothing other than a chain cemented into the floor.  No bed, no nothing.  Only one person wanted to stay the extra hour to watch a movie of the history of the place so we proceeded to the hotel.

The hotel is a four star and quite eloquent with prices to match.  Most things here are double the price of elsewhere with few or no amenities to justify the increase.  Granted, the building is luxurious and the rooms are well appointed but my coffee maker doesn't seem to work and the free water is limited to one small bottle instead of the two or more we have received in previous locations.

I read for a while and had a short nap before going to the restaurant for dinner.  It was also a buffet but a good one (price to match $18.80).  Once again I didn't feel like a hot meal so had a lot of cold steamed shrimp, some pasta asparagus salad and some salmon sashimi followed by a brownie, some chocolate mousse and a lime sorbet.  Everything was very good.  I don't know where the rest of the group went but I didn't feel like trucking around looking for a restaurant.

Today we visit the Royal Palace (low on my list of priorities), some sort of children's production and other things.....

Oh yes, I learned that you DO pronounce the initial "P" in Phnom.