Phnom Penh is the capital city of Cambodia and the type of city that most would avoid if they followed what they read in the books and newspapers.  No longer the wild cowboy city while the United Nations controlled it (read Carole Livingston's Gecko Tails) but still with a touch of edginess.  The Khmer Rouge killed 3 million only 25 years ago and yet those we met were friendly and without bitterness.  Chianti was our helpful guide and he took us to the Silver Pagoda (each floor tile was silver), the Royal Palace and the Russian Market (Psar Tuol Tom Pong).

Chianti had told us how his parents moved to a different village were it wasn't known what their profession was.  Like many others that escaped, his father said that he was a 'cyclo' driver. This way they were able to escape Pol Pot's plan to return Cambodia to Year Zero.  This was the Khmer Rouge plan to transform Cambodia to an agrarian society by eliminating all those with education through the 'killing fields'. 

Dinner was at the Foreign Correspondents Club on the river.  Yellow walls were covered in geckos as feral cats ran underfoot feasting on scraps or the unlucky lizard.  We over indulged on Crab Cakes, veggie spring rolls and Nachos.  Here we met an artist from Santa Barbara that was on a six-month trip through Asia & India.  Robert & he discussed various artists and soon discovered that they had a common link.  Twenty-five years ago he had sold one of his first works to Robert's cousin in Los Angeles, which proved that it really is a small world.

 

 

 

Learn more about Cambodia:

• Beauty and Darkness: The Odyssey of the Khmer People
• The Phnom Penh Post
• Asia Observer - Cambodia
• Gecko Tails - A Journey through Cambodia - by Carol Livingston (an enjoyable book!)
• Rent the movie 'The Killing Fields"

bangkok : vientiane : laung prabang :
hanoi : halong bay : hue & hoi an :
saigon : phnom pehn : siem reap