I had been quite suay during my recent trips, coz' sotong me always forgot to do something, or I thought I misplaced something. So, even before we left for Cambodia, something went wrong. I forgot to bring my wallet! Damn! I needed my credit card for air tixs verification. Luckily the three girls' tixs were bought from tour agency. Thank goodness I could still reprint my tickets at SIA ticketing counter.
--Silkair M1 602--
The A320 was in good shape, and it's nice to see our local air stewardesses. Our initial departure time was 8.15a.m, but the flight was delayed till 8.45a.m. Well, nothing much to do on board, though there were silent features showed on the tv screen. It's great to have my P3 with me for the 1 hr plus flight.
E.W's vegetarian breakfast...and the curry smelled damn nice la~Made me hungry!
My breakfast, which was Cheese Omelette with potatoes, mushrooms & veges. The omelette was a little to cheesy for me, but I loved the veges and potatoes.
Cambodia~! Here we come~!
Touching down...We reached Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia at 9.19a.m (Cambodia time). We decided to hitch cabs to go to our guesthouses in the city. The taxi costed $9US each, which was not cheap.
Phnom Penh's temperature was about the same as SG, but it was much hotter because there were not enough trees to provide shade! I could feel the sunlight piercing my skin when I was in the taxi. Felt like baked "human". Haha!
--Royal Inn @ Phnom Penh--
Seriously, I thought Royal Inn was a hotel, as I could not see how the guesthouse looked like on its website. Anyway, the guesthouse looked like a small hotel to me, very nice small but modern lobby welcomed us.
This was E.W & Aunt Jo's room. The rooms costed $30US each for twin sharing. It's not cheap for backpackers, but we were not backpackers anyway. Lolz~ I decided to pay a little more for comfort & good bathroom. So I was quite satisfied to see the room la. Hehe!
The bathroom got bathtub & shower. Many guesthouses in Cambodia only have showers, like ours in HDB flats. Also, some do not even provide hot water.We hired a mini van for our two days stay in Phnom Penh through the hotel staff. Basically, they would bring u to the must-see attractions & would recommend places for meals too. We spent $80USD for the van la.
--Lunch @ Khmer Surin--
Our driver drove us to Khmer Surin for lunch! I was so happy because I read about this restaurant in Lonely Planet, and I was hoping to have a chance to dine here! Yeah!
I simply loved this restaurant. The ambience was great & the place was lovely!
The entrance.
See the folks at the table? That's where we had our food. I think their biz was better at night, so we practically "owned" the restaurant. Lolz~
My yummy mixed fruit shake.
This was KH's cool mint shake. KH is one fella who liked to experiment new stuffs. Lolz~
I was glad that E.W could find vegetarian food easily at their local restaurants, though we still need to remind them not to put some stuffs la. E.W's mixed vege soup.
Our vegetable tofu.
One of my favourites, fish amok!!
Khmer Chicken Curry. Their curry was sweet...
Cha Grueng Pork. Tasted like satay to me. Hehe!I think we were surprised that Khmer food tasted so delicious. Enjoyed my meal here. Hehe!
--Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21)--
After our nice lunch, we went to our first destination, and I guessed our mood changed for awhile. I would not say I went in with a heavy heart, as I have not been through any war etc. But well, it was a solemn visit.
An introduction to the museum's past & what events took place here. Basically, Tuol Sleng was the former security office 21 which was created by Pol Pot in 1975. The ex-sch was designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture and killing after confession from the detainees were received and documented.
The classroom blocks looked so peaceful now...could not imagined what had happened here 34 years ago.
The last 14 victims' corpses were buried here.
Building A was used for detaining cadres who were accused of leading the uprising against Pol Pot revolution. Their cages were furnished with a bed, blanket, cushion and mat.
A pic of the cells. There were pics in some of the cells where we saw how the prisoners laid there. It's really bad...
This wooden pole in the yard once used for physical education for students was turned into an interrogation and torture machine. The interrogator tied both hands of the prisoner behind their back and lifted the prisoner upside down. This action was repeated a number of times until the prisoner lost consciousness. Then, the interrogator dipped the prisoner's head into a barrel of filthy water. The victims quickly regained consciousness and the interrogator could continue their questioning.
We moved over to Building B. Lots of dried bloodstains could be seen on the floor.
Check out the lyrics for Democratic Kampuchea's national anthem.
An interesting poem. (Click the pic so that u can read the words clearly)
Wanna check out how they produce medicine during that time? Hold your breath and click on the picture to read the words.
Tourists at the classroom which displayed some exhibits. I think our group was probably the only Asians in Tuol Sleng, and I found that many Asian tourists don't come to Phnom Penh. Also, we saw many pictures of the prisoners - little kids, women & men. Some were chained, some looked like already dead to me, some without hands etc. Out of respect for the prisoners, I did not take any pics of the pictures, coz' I thought it's enough that they became "attractions" now.
The barbed wires prevented desperate prisoners from committing suicide at Building C.
We would be looking at cells made of bricks and wood in Building C.
The cells which were made of bricks.
One of my favourite pictures.
The wooden cell through the window.
Cells made of wood.
The single cell was super crampy.
Building D also has lots of prisoners' pictures and there were maps of population movement or something else during that time. Could not understand what the maps were for as they were written in French. There were also paintings showing how the prisoners were tortured and killed. There were some "ghost pics", where some prisoners' ghosts were found on pics of the museum. I found those pics to be kinda fake somehow though. Above pic was one of the apparatus they used to torture the prisoners.
Another apparatus where they tied the prisoner inside it and poured water in.There were quite a number of skulls placed in the cabinets in Building D. Out of respect, I did not take any pictures of them. There were also photographs from the genocide testimony of young Khmer rouge comrades.
--Independence Monument--
While we were on the van for our 2nd destination, we passed by the Independence Monument at a road intersection.
The monument was inaugurated in 1962 to celebrate Cambodia's independence from foreign rule. The monument now also serves as a monument to Cambodia's war dead.--The Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda--
We waited outside the palace's entrance as the place was closed for lunch. Was disturbed by kids selling travel guides & drinks. That's pretty common in Cambodia though. As usual, we ignored most of them la.
Preah Reach Damnak Chan (administrative offices) & the white building is Napolean III Pavilion.
Preah Tineang Tevea Vinichhay (The Throne Hall).
Preah Tineang Chanchhaya (Chanchhaya Pavilion). It serves as a venue for the royal dancers, as a tribune for the King to address the crowds and as a place to hold state and Royal banquets.
Napolean III Pavilion was really in bad shape. The pavilion was made of iron, so you could see lots of rust and there was a big hole on the ceiling. The Khmer govt should do something to preserve the building.
I am not sure what this building is, but it's probably the library which housed sacred Buddhist texts.
There were wall paintings found on the Ramayana Frescoes, but they were not preserved properly. Many paints had dropped off.
The side view of Wat Preah Keo Morokat, a.k.a "Temple of the Emerald Buddha" & "Silver Pagoda". The temple was not silver in colour, instead it was named for the 5329 silver tiles that covered the floor.
One of the many stupas found near Silver Pagoda.
Lovely Lily~
One of their govt ministries building near Royal Palace.
Sothearos Boulevard, one of their main streets in Phnom Penh, which was just outside the Royal Palace.--National Museum--
The red museum building, very Khmer style of architecture. The museum was dedicated by King Sisowath in 1920. Over 5000 objects are on display, including Angkorian era statures, lingas and other artifacts.
This elephant was interesting...look carefully~
The garden in the museum.Their museum was pretty "open concept" to me & though their range of artifacts were rather limited, they had a good collection of Angkorian statues and post-Angkorian Buddha figures.
--Phsar Thmey (Central Market)--
We dropped off outside Phnom Penh's only shopping mall, Sorya. We decided to walk over to Central Market first, and found that the market was still under renovations. So we visited their temporary market.
The market sold lots of stuffs, but I think the market was more for locals. Did not buy anything there.
Check out their food stall...
Cambodians loved to eat insects.--Sorya Shopping Centre--
The mall had seven storeys and it's pretty modern. There were department stores, a food court and quite a number of fast food & restaurants. Spotted a Swensen's restaurant too.
Our dinner for the day was at "Master Grill". This is KH & my party set. We did not expect the grilled chicken to be so damn tasty!!!! The chicken meat was spicy and tender!!! Loved it! You could imagine how much we missed the grill chicken as we mentioned it throughout our trip. Lolz! How I wish Master Grill can open a branch in SG. Lolz!
View of Phnom Penh from the mall & in the background, you could see Mekong River. (Gotta view the pic in full size)
An ice cream stall outside the supermarket. Looked yummy right?
My ice cream and biscuit costed only $1US. Damn cheap!
Cambodia's sky started to turn dark by 6pm. These are the tuk tuks we took to travel around the place. You've to bargain in order to get a good deal. The ride was a bumpy one, but it's fun la.--Naga World Casino--
Special request by HM, our last destination of the day was Naga World, a 5 stars casino hotel. As 29th Oct & 31st Oct were public holidays (our 1st day was on the 30th), the streets were full of temporary street stalls like our pasar malam, and lots of celebrations were going on near the hotel area. Traffic was heavy too. We managed to chiong in & visited the casinos in 10 mins. Finally saw Asian gamblers in the casino...lolz! Their casinos were kinda open concept too, no doors & walls. One of the casino got a sky ceiling, and chinese pavilions. They did not check our passports too.
The water fountain outside the hotel.
View of the bustling street outside the hotel, near the riverside.
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