No cycling again today, probably due to the
mayhem and chaos that is traffic here in Phnom Penh. We met in the lobby at 8am
and were bused to the Royal Palace where the most interesting building was the
Silver Pagoda. The floor of the pagoda is tiled with 5329 silver tiles, most of
which were covered with carpet but you could see them on the sides and hear
that they were metal when you walked in them. The Pagoda also housed the
Emerald Buddha and the Gold Buddha made with 90kg of gold and 2086 diamonds,
the biggest of which is 25 carats. But, being the most interesting with all
that bling, no photos were allowed, so we only have one of the outside.
Next stop was the National Museum. We were left to make our own way around and we took the opportunity to take a comfort break and a slow wander as although there was plenty to see it was not particularly interesting. Before getting back on the bus we had mornos of fresh fruit, etc on the footpath!
Next up was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Instead of giving us our own audio guide, our guide gave us a most
unintelligible brief and then let us loose. The complex was once a school and
was transformed into a prison by Pol Pots regime and given the name S.21
(Security Office 21) and was the biggest in Kampuchea. There are four
buildings, all of them used for torturing the prisoners. Building C was used
primarily as a prison with varying degrees of cells. Barbed wire was placed
around the corridors to prevent the desperate prisoners from committing suicide
by jumping off the building. This place has a very similar feeling to Dachau in
Munich.
Lunch was had at the Sna Dai Cafe which was
across the road from the Choeung Ek Genocide Centre, aka "The Killing
Fields". We were able to order our own meals again and we all enjoyed
them. It was then across the road to the place the prisoners from S21 were
taken to be killed and buried. Instead of gassing them like in Germany, they
were shot, had their throats cut, or smacked in the head with something really
hard. Mass graves were used to bury them. A very sad and solemn place. Babies and small children had their heads
smashed up against a tree and the bodies were thrown into a mass grave
pit. Horrible.
It was then back to the hotel for a brief about
tomorrow's ride. We are splitting into two groups and the original group of
eight will be become a smaller group of five. The Germans leave us to go with
the other group and they take a shorter route to HCM City, and Danilo left us
in Siem Reap. There was time for some pers admin before meeting for pre-dinner
drinks prior to dinner at 7pm.
We all agreed that dinner should be at the same
place as last night - Pasta Mania - so off we went. The "owner" was
very surprised and most pleased to see us that he gave us the two for one deal
again despite it not being Friday night! We all came away feeling very
satisfied.
Time for sleep and not much else.
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