Phnom Penh

Hello from Cambodia!

When I stepped off the plane in Phnom Penh two things happened: 1) I started sweating profusely and 2) I was transported back in time toNepal and India. I'm starting to think that all Asian countries must smell and sound the same -- a combination of spices, sewage, diesel, burning garbage, cigarettes and sweat overwhelm your nostrils while the sounds of loud voices yelling "tuk tuk? tuk tuk lady?", squeaking breaks, car horns do the same for your ears.
I spent the first day lounging in the vicinity of the guesthouse crippled by jetlag. I traveled for over 30 hours and then arrived in Cambodia at 9am. It proved rather difficult to stay awake but I think I lasted until 4pm before falling asleep. Only now am I starting to get back on schedule here.

Our second day in Phnom Penh we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us on a city tour. Development-wise the city reminds me a lot of Kathmandu. Dirt streets surround a few wider, paved boulevards both of which are equally chaotic. Unlike Kathmandu, though, PP doesn't have an old, huge tourist area. Instead there are a few different streets, spread out. We were staying in one of those areas but there weren't huge numbers of tourists and the street was busy with locals as well.

Our city tour took us to three different sites -- the Choeng Ek Killing Fields, S-21 Museum and the Russian Market. Choeng Ek, located about 15 km outside of the main city is the sight of some of the largest mass graves created by the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of bodies have been recovered and only half of the area has been excavated.

The S-21 museum is a school that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge turned into cells and torture chambers. Many of the former classrooms were turned into cells with pretty shoddy wood or brick construction. It is clear that they must have been in a hurry. It is hard to believe in walking through these areas that this happened in the 1970s and that there are many people alive today who lost family members.

Finally, the last stop on our tour was the Russian Market. Roughly the size of a square city block, you entered through one passageway and were transported into a network of paths leading you through little shops/stands/stalls selling everything from touristy shirts, eggs, porcelin spoons, illegal dvds, cow hooves, fruits -- you name it, it's there somewhere. (Ceddy, i did see an illegal copy of the Killer Inside Me!!)

Jade and Kade have been eating street food, and fruit and haven't gotten sick, so I have been happily following suit eating fresh pineapple and mango as much as possible.

We spent most of yesterday on a bus blasting loud cambodian music en route to our current location, Siem Reap. It is a much smaller, much more touristy city almost directly north of Phnom Penh and home to the famous temples of Angkor Wat. We plan to spend four or five days here cruising around the temple complexes and anything else that seems of interest. There is a place next to our guesthouse where we can rent bikes for $1/day so we may take advantage of that. We made the mistake last night of being cheap and getting a room without AC for $8, after last night I believe we are going to splurge and spend $13 for AC. It's freakishly humid.

That's all for now. It appears that the easiest way to upload photos is on facebook, so I will make the link available here when I post some.

(hiiiii kg)

lots of love!