Buildings, Boulevards, and Parks of Phnom Pehn

The buildings and parks of Phnom Penh are a great combination of Khmer architecture and French influence.  Many of the government buildings clearly demonstrate the strong influences of both cultures, such as the Post Office,  Securities Exchange, and the Electricity Bureau.

 Phnom Penh Post Office

 Phnom Penh Securities Exchange

Electricite du Cambodge

Nearby are the National Library and the Raffles Hotel, with great parkways and parks leading from Wat Phnom Temple to the grand buildings.

 Parkway from Wat Phnom

 National Library

 Raffles Hotel

 Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications

As I walk through the city, I enjoy more of the spectacular boulevards, monuments, and buildings.

 More grand statues, parks, and boulevards

Buddhist Institute:  Research and Documentation Centre on Khmer Culture

General Inspectorate for National Buddhist Educatation

of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Supreme Court

I'll close the day and the trip with some lounging around the Pavilion Hotel, relaxing and thinking about where to go next.  I've enjoyed my brief stay in Phnom Penh and look forward to returning one day (perhaps also to some of the famous Cambodian beaches the next time!).

 Pavilion Hotel

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh

The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, took over Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 (the Vietnam War involving Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia ended in 1975) and an estimated two million Cambodians died during that period from starvation, exhaustion, and execution.  In the center of Phnom Penh, a former high school was transformed by the Khmer Rouge into a political prisoner's camp, known as Security Prison 21 (S-21).  The Vietnamese Army liberated Phnom Pehn in 1979 and S-21 was kept as a museum representative of the hundreds of detention and interrogation centers run by the Khmer Rouge across the country.

The entrance to the museum is stark and forbidding.

 Museum wall and entrance

Once inside, the path initially leads through school rooms turned into cells.  The prisoners in this camp were peasants, workers, technicians, engineers, doctors, teachers, students, Buddhist monks, government ministers, soldiers, diplomats, foreigners, and their families, anyone who displeased the regime.

Converted school buildings

Other rooms contain pictures and stories of the people imprisoned here.

 Prisoners and their stories

Near the end of the visit, the interrogation rooms display torture instruments used in the camp by the Khmer Rouge.

 Instruments of torture

After finishing the walk through the buildings, the central courtyard offers a calm environment in which to contemplate what I have just seen.  A monument lists the names of the people who were held here.

 Monument to the victims

Sitting and looking over the buildings, I realize this has been one of the most somber and reflective places I have visited and written about in the blog.  The Cambodian government has kept S-21 as a museum for that reason, so that we will all remember what we have seen and join together to never have that happen again.

S-21 courtyard

I leave, still thinking, and walk back through the streets of Phnom Penh.

Dining in Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh seems to offer street food everywhere.  Especially popular are the fresh satay skewers of meat, often resting in front of the shop or stall, ready to be cooked and eaten on demand.

 Skewers are ready to go

Small restaurants, carts, or stalls gather together on a corner, all serve meals freshly made to order.

 Restaurants, carts, and stalls

 After visiting local markets, I also pass by and stick my head in a modern grocery store and find a lot of intriguing and interesting food products.

 Modern grocery store

I have several fabulous dinners in Phnom Penh, generally based around fish.  In one of the first, I order fish salad to start, followed by fish amok, a white fish in coconut milk seasoned with Khmer herbs.

Fish salad

 Fish amok, with great setting

Another dinner features satay (skewers) of marinated chicken with peanut sauce and fish with Asian pesto.

 Chicken and fish satay

The food in Cambodia is simple and tasty, with lots of Khmer spices that add a truly distinctive flavor, very similar to the flavors I found in Vietnam earlier this year.

A few other dishes along the way also catch my attention.  For lunch in Phnom Penh one day I have fish ball soup, a great mixture of fish in spicy broth with noodles and other tasty accompaniments.

Fish ball soup

In Singapore, on the way back, for lunch I have Lakhsa, a spicy soup of rice noodles in a broth of coconut, dried shrimp and anchovies, topped with laksa leaves, a dollop of [spicy] sambal spices, and half a boiled egg.  It is tasty and filling.

Laksa

And, of course, my last dinner in Asia this trip is at my favorite hawker stall in Singapore, tucking into half a roast duck and a Tiger beer.

 Half roast duck, Tiger beer

I eat well on all these adventures and Cambodia adds more variety and spice to my collection of tastes and experiences (growing larger all the time).