A hard day for the soul...

After breakfast I took a mini tour of the city, taking in the Royal  
Palace and Silver Pagoda, Choeung Ek, and Tuol Sleng Museum.

The Royal Palace is stunning, and serene. Buddhist monks are seen  
everywhere within the palace compound, loitering with religious intent  
no doubt...

The magnificent temples and shrines are what really pull you, none  
more so than the Silver Pagoda. The floor is covered with 5,000 silver  
tiles, most of which are covered up with carpet for protection. The  
building was reconstructed in 1962 to replace the previous wooden  
structure. It survived the years of khmer Rouge, thanks to the ruling  
party's wish to show the world it's "concern for the conservation of  
Cambodia's cultural riches"... Although most of the contents were  
wrecked or looted during this time. The pagoda is home to the Emerald  
Budda , said to be made from Bacarat crystal, as well as a gold  
sculpture of the enlightened one, inset with thousands of diamonds.  
Better accessories than a Maybach Zeppelin eh Unc?

The palace is the official residence of King Sihanoni, so in many  
areas of the grounds access is prohibitted. But what is on show is  
fantastic.

Choeung Ek is home to the Cambodian Genocidal Museum. During the rule  
of Pol Pot, it was a centre for the extermination of tens of tousands  
of Cambodians, many from the notorious S-21 interragation centre in  
Phnom Penh.

This was the killing fields. Men, women and children were brutaly  
killed here, their bodies dumped in unmarked mass graves. The skulls  
of some 7,000 bodies, foreigners as well as Cambodians are on display  
in a memorial stupa. All around you can see pits, where the bodies  
were disinterred.

It is a peaceful place today, but very sad. I left this place with  
bitterness , anger, pity and sorrow. At least I got to leave.

My moto driver asks me if I want to "shoot guns". I shake my head,  
both in the negative and disbelief.

In 1978, two journalists following the Vietnamese march on Phnom Penh  
stumbled across a group of buildings, which they discovered were the  
head offices of the Khmer Rouge Security Department. They found  
instruments of torture, and 14 recently killed people, one of whom was  
female.

The "exhibits" on show at Toul Sleng Museum show what must be the  
darkest side of mankind, ever. This was the sight of a former high  
school, which was turned into a torture and interogation center by the  
Khmer Rouge. What you see here, you will take with you for a long  
time. The attrocities carried out here by Cambodians UPON Cambodians  
beggars belief. It seems the human mind is limitless in it's ingenuity  
to cause pain, suffering, and death. In building 2, there are photos,  
or rather mugshots, of thousands of those poor souls who had the  
misfortune to make this their penultimate stay on this earth. Figures  
are not accurate, as some records were destroyed prior to the  
Vietnamese invasion, but records available show that over 7,000 men,  
women and children came through S-21. The chance of release without  
charge, nearly none. Between 1975 & 1979, just seven Cambodians walked  
out alive.

On near the exit is a stall, selling the usual tourist souvinirs.  
Somehow I just don't feel like buying an "I LOVE CAMBODIA" teeshirt...