The museum is in one of the former prison/detention centres where the Khmer Rouge carried out some of their worst atrocities, so it is a grim place indeed. It was a secondary school before it was converted in the early days of the revolution and it is awful to see what they did to it, as well as learn what they did to the inhabitants. We didn't take any photo's there, it seemed wrong, as though it turned the place into a tourist sideshow, and it is much more important than that to the Cambodian people. It felt like the building had absorbed all the sorrow of those who died there somehow - a chilling place indeed.
Having made it through the museum, we headed for somewhere reassuringly human and modern - the central market. It was a refreshing contrast and the bustle and sights reminded us to look at what Cambodia is now. It is only 31 years since the Vietnamese liberated the country from the Khmer Rouge, and given that Phnom Penh was a ghost town during the revolutionary years, it has developed fast especially during the last ten years apparently. It is certainly very modern now. There is lots of investment here, from small businesses like our own B&B to massive corporations moving in to get an Asian foothold. The central market is being rebuilt at the moment with French investment. In the meantime it is the perfect place for unwary tourists to find themselves in the middle of a building site (guess who?).After the market, we had some lunch on the river front and then headed up to another of the charity-run shops, this time selling goods by people with disabilities. I managed to get two christmas tree ornaments made of silk - one is a reindeer, the other a turtle. Not sure turtles are really festive, but this one is really lovely to look at!
We were whiling away time until we could go to see the Royal Palace, so we wandered down a street and suddenly found ourselves facing Wat Phnom, the central buddhist temple that people go to in order to ask for good luck, especially for events such as exams or a driving test. It is a beautiful temple on top of a hill in the middle of what is essentially a massive roundabout, so it was a bit tricky to walk across to. Once on the island, one of the first things we saw was a monkey - sitting there minding it's business eating something. There were lots more around, and they seem to be "wild" although in reality they are practically domesticated, so used to humans are they. We haven't seen much wildlife on this trip, so we were quite excited and I have too many photo's of monkeys as a result!!After the temple, we were able to wander down to the palace, a long hot sticky walk, not helped by the need to ensure we were covered up with suitable clothing upon arrival at the palace. This is a conservative country and they don't like westerners exposing more than necessary, so I found myself donning my cardigan in 35 degree heat, just to show suitable respect. The things we do as tourists... anyway, in we went to see where the royal family lives.
The royal palace compound is the equivalent of Buckingham Palace, but it is dramatically different in appearance. Just as with Buck Palace, visitors can only see a small fraction of the site, but the fraction is rather impressive even so. The main bits are the throne room and the silver pagoda, and they have a lot of similarity to the Thai style of architecture. Apparently, Cambodians can be a bit snippy about people thinking they copied the Thai's on anything - the Cambodian empire existed first, and a lot of Thai culture was developed afterwards as a result. Still not sure it was worth the sweating though.
After chilling out back at the hotel for a bit, we headed out for dinner, in tuk-tuk again to another of the Friends restaurants, Romdeng. The most memorable part of the evening however, was JP giving Khmer cuisine a go. After a snifter of honeyed rice wine for dutch courage, he embarked on his most adventurous culinary experience ever - deep-fried tarantulas!!! The plate duly arrived with three of the crispy critters on it and JP's face was a picture. He faltered for a moment, before picking the biggest one up and biting into it with gusto. He described the flavour as somewhat nutty, with a hint of chicken, and texture like armadillos - "crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle". I've never been so proud and horrified simultaneously before. Ironically, this was the one occasion we had left the camera at home, so no visual proof available, but I will be keeping the memory for a long time to come.
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