Phnom Penh

The capital of Kingdom of Cambodia (Constitutional monarchy) is rolling in dollars. Actually the whole country as well. The US$ is the defacto currency here. Most things are quoted in dollars. So it makes everything expensive. The display of wealth is more evident here than in China and Vietnam. I guess in a communist country one is afraid being to showy that might incur the wrath of the party (such as investigation into possible corruption).

The gap between rich and poor is much more evident here. Many beggers and many people driving with big American and Japanese made cars. The moto bikes here are more crowded. In Vietnam most the bikes have 1 or 2 people, here 2,3,4 are much more common. So are the standup taxi (pickup truck with many peoples cramped in standing up) and people riding on the roof tops (like that of Africa). Streets are also appear to be dirtier and many are full of pot-holes. One thing nice about the motos and cars here is that they are nicer to pedestrians, much less honking and a little more yielding.

The people looks much darker unlike far East Asian (including Vietnam), Cambodia more like that of Thai, Malay, Indonesian I think. I will find out when I get there.

Also the temples (wats) are total different in color and architechure than far East Asian temples.
So far the food here aren't much different than that of Vietnamese.

O, I made some money here! I exchanged US$120 into local currency at rate around 4170. But then at resturant where everything is charged in dollars, but I paid in Riels and they use conversion of 4100. Now that is first in currency conversion.

On day one I went to the the royal palace, a very fancy place! Just think that all those poor people on the streets.

Then I went to the genocide museum, the former detention/torture place. The place was a school before the Khmer Rouge converted into their instrument of terror. The place is pretty much the way it was back in the mid/late 70s. The museum is well incorporated into the place with shocking death photos, stories of the victims and pepertrators, and photos of everyone that were held there. Only one person survived the camp out of 14,000 or so people. What stick to my mind is that the most brutal abuses are carried out by kids between 10-15 years old. I guess at that age, the sense of what's right and wrong is just started to form and if one is expose to the wrong too much, it become the norm. The place is more telling of evil that people can do to each other than the war museum in Saigon. I am sure it is on par with the atrocity committed by the Japanese and the German in WWII.

At night, the two Canadians ladies and the German lady that I was traveling with since the disaster Mekong delta tour, went to the river front for dinner and we walked around for little while after dinner. We then say our good-byes. I am sure I might see one of them at my furture destinations.

Day 2, I started with early morning run to the Palace and river front. I then checkout the price for air flights to Laos and to Bangkok. Very expensive. I'll book a bus ticket to Siem Reap/Angkor, one of the highlight of my trip (I hope).

O, one really need AC here. The room I stayed last night has just fan (no real windows to speak of), and room stayed hot all night, of course there were mosiquitos in the rooms, so with blankets, it was too hot to sleep, so I put on bug spray. Anyway I paid double price to get a room with AC tonight.

Another thing the internet is pretty slow here, so there might be less pictures online, sorry.