27 December 2011 - the alarm was set for 0600 again as we were scheduled for a full day of sightseeing in Phomn Penh. The boat tied up at about 0700 on the quay right in the centre of the old town.
The day started with a cyclo tour around central Phomn Penh avoiding the traffic - four wheel drive Lexus and the many motor bikes - finally back to the quay for the bus to the Royal Palace.
The Palace itself is a grand affair that has been renovated and the current King still lives in one part. Interestingly it iOS largely a cement affair as it was mostly built after Cambodia became a French 'protectorate' which heralded the introduction of that versatile building material ! The Palace consist of a series of building with a Grand Audience Chamber and a silver floored pagoda. The last two kings of Cambodia are also buried in 2 concrete stupas. Needless to say as a result of the Khmer Rouge rampages many of the original artefacts are missing but somehow some have survived.
The next stop was the National Museum which does house a range of artefacts many dating back to the pre-Angkor period which itself was the 10th century AD. The museum itself although not huge has been renovated well with help from Australia.
We then headed for a short drive around the newer southern part of this 2 million people city before lunch at the Topaz restaurant. A chi chi new place.
The afternoon was to prove to be more sobering as we looked at the dark side of recent Cambodian history under the Khmer Rouge. On the 17th April 1975 the regime led by Pol Pot began the systematic emptying of the cities and the start of an ill fated attempt to return Cambodia to a ''pure agrarian society" whose seeming sole purpose was to produce rice for China. The disastrous experiment resulted in the death of 50% of the population - some 3 million people - through murder, systematic killings, starvation and disease.
In Phom Penh there are two sites - the SL-6 detention centre, housed in a secondary school, in which between 1975 and 1978 some 17000 people were interrogated and tortured before being transported to the 'killing field' some 15 kms outside town at Choeung Ek.
The day started with a cyclo tour around central Phomn Penh avoiding the traffic - four wheel drive Lexus and the many motor bikes - finally back to the quay for the bus to the Royal Palace.
The Palace itself is a grand affair that has been renovated and the current King still lives in one part. Interestingly it iOS largely a cement affair as it was mostly built after Cambodia became a French 'protectorate' which heralded the introduction of that versatile building material ! The Palace consist of a series of building with a Grand Audience Chamber and a silver floored pagoda. The last two kings of Cambodia are also buried in 2 concrete stupas. Needless to say as a result of the Khmer Rouge rampages many of the original artefacts are missing but somehow some have survived.
The next stop was the National Museum which does house a range of artefacts many dating back to the pre-Angkor period which itself was the 10th century AD. The museum itself although not huge has been renovated well with help from Australia.
We then headed for a short drive around the newer southern part of this 2 million people city before lunch at the Topaz restaurant. A chi chi new place.
The afternoon was to prove to be more sobering as we looked at the dark side of recent Cambodian history under the Khmer Rouge. On the 17th April 1975 the regime led by Pol Pot began the systematic emptying of the cities and the start of an ill fated attempt to return Cambodia to a ''pure agrarian society" whose seeming sole purpose was to produce rice for China. The disastrous experiment resulted in the death of 50% of the population - some 3 million people - through murder, systematic killings, starvation and disease.
In Phom Penh there are two sites - the SL-6 detention centre, housed in a secondary school, in which between 1975 and 1978 some 17000 people were interrogated and tortured before being transported to the 'killing field' some 15 kms outside town at Choeung Ek.