Mostly a travel day to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap. Our bus ride flew by, though the bus was quite hot despite the air conditioning. It is slightly scary to think that we were here during the coldest time of year (reached at least 85 F each day). 

Our tuktuk driver from the bus station to our hotel was named Soonsoon, and was often seen sporting an ear-to-ear grin. He taught us how to pronounce our hotel name (Saravoan = sara-wun, meaning essential). He offered to be our guide for any rides we would need for the rest of our time in PP, and we accepted. I still get occasional messages of songs or funny videos from him! Himself a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, around 20 when it started, we engaged his services for the following day to take us to the Choung Ek Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. 

For dinner, we again turned to our comfort food in south east Asia: south Indian. 

Not a lot of pictures from that day, so here's the moon in Phnom Penh. I think its the same one! 

Soonsoon picked us up at 10, and the supposed 40 minute drive to Choung Ek took over 2 hours to get to due to the many impromptu stops for Soonsoon to enlighten us. Soonsoon's lectures on broad-strokes history of Cambodia ~1950-present, a sprinkling of anecdotal explanations for why Vietnam is wealthier and has prettier women, and a small dose of personal history entertained us at various impromptu stops along the way. As we got closer to the Killing Fields museum, the stories turned more to the darker parts of recent Cambodian history, and he got more detailed about his experience under the Khmer Rouge. I won't go into all the details, but suffice to say it was harrowing to hear not just about the terrors of the Killing Fields, but what it was like to live under such a regime. 

At Choung Ek, we spent an hour walking the grounds, with a solemn audio tour, and some small displays. Afterwards, we headed to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. The onetime school, onetime prison, current museum was filled with mugshots and more devastating imagery of the prisoners. Reeling from the history we had learned that day, we ate a late lunch at Daniel noodles, realized the Vietnamese embassy would be closed on the weekend and we would have to figure out visa a different way, and had dinner on the banks of the river.

Some Khmer Rouge/Cambodia facts: 

• 1975-1979 killed 4 million of 7 million people living in Cambodia 

• Defeated by Vietnam, sent into exile in Thai jungle 

• While in exile, Khmer Rouge was the UN recognized government of Cambodia AND received aid

• Vietnam essentially left Cambodia of its own accord in 1998, it not being worth holding onto 

• First election for leader in 1998: former Khmer Rouge soldier who turned to Vietnam when he realized the way the wind was blowing, Hun Sen, refused the results of him losing the election and was granted an equal seat by the UN overseen election. He then held a coup. He was in power until recently, when his son took over. He now holds a new title in the government.

The Tuol Sleng museum. The onetime school, turned prison, turned museum still matched the architecture of many schools we saw in our time in Cambodia. Most of the guests while we were there appeared to be students, middle school age and some younger, visiting with their classes.