{"id":2911,"date":"2026-03-09T14:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T14:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/cr\/?p=2911"},"modified":"2026-03-12T12:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T12:37:25","slug":"monday-9th-march-phenom-penh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/?p=2911","title":{"rendered":"Mon 9th Mar – Phnom Penh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I felt like I saw Phenom Penh at its worst and its best today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Khmer Rouge’s Phenom Penh holding prison and then its associated killing fields are the first scheduled activities of the 2 week tour. It’s hard to think of a more morbid way to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Followed by a free afternoon where I walk 6km of determinedly unwalkable streets to go to a bookshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I admire the artistic vision my budget hotel has for its dining room signage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We have the same bus for the whole two weeks. Old ladies sigh a breath of relief when it’s explained the driver is very accommodative of toilet stops. Topics of conversation on the bus are centred around the closest mall to the hotel to buy underpants, the best smelling mosquito spray (why are menopausal women obsessed with this smell?!) and, the crown jewel, menopause.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The end of the Vietnam War gave communism control over Cambodia. Royals were done. This was a brutal strain that wanted nothing to do with the socialism of Laos and Vietnam. It was inspired by the cultural revolution in China. It’s impossible to imagine. Approximately half the population was murdered or died of starvation. This repurposed school was a prison that held 18,000 detainees over the three years of the Khmer Rouge’s regime. A dozen survived. All the others were shipped to the Killing Fields 15km out of the city. No one escaped from there either. There were nearly 200 of these converted high-school prisons\/Killing Fields across the country. 3 million people are estimated to have died in these three years (1975-Jan 1979) before Vietnam intervened and toppled the Khmer Rouge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The craters at the Killing Fields are the 86 mass graves exhumed. This represents half of the total mass graves in this particular killing field. The other half cannot be properly respected according to Buddhist tradition (in a monument, such as the one pictured, which displays the 1,000 exhumed skeletons) so is left interred. In the rainy season bones and clothes are unearthed as the soil is washed away. I’ll reiterate there were 200 of these fields across the country. It’s sad to think of the death of individuals during a civil war; devastating to consider the rapid loss of a whole culture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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When we get back to the hotel, the group splinters for people to pursue their own afternoons. I get Basil Pork Stir fried lunch at a place called Clay Pot. It’s very tasty. The choice of food in the capital city is fantastic. Meals are exciting again.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Declan, I don’t think being dish pig at this restaurant would suit your strengths.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Eggtreme tuk-tuk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Little street venues and food carts get most of their business from motorcyclists pulling over, grabbing a snack, and gunning back into the traffic. Sure as hell no one’s walking to them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Everyone needs a chewy tea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This riverside pathway is the best part of my walk. There’s a bit of afternoon exercise. There’s a bit of gelato. There’s Ophelia blasting louder than it would be at a Taylor Swift concert. Promenade fun is universal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After a three hour walk of nail-biting, pant-soiling motorway crossings (allowing for a few breaks) the bookshop is, of course, bolted shut. I get a tuk-tuk to the hotel, sulky and hot. Should have done the sunset cruise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Back out for the evening. I watch the sun set over this traffic instructor madly blowing his whistle to the oncoming assault. Does anyone hear? The city moves around him, undeterred.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Get ready.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It’s beautiful. A little lonely. I’ve really enjoyed Phnom Penh. It’s got hustle and bustle and people care about it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atrocity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand-laos-cambodia-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2911"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2951,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911\/revisions\/2951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}