Cambodia: Phnom Penh

During my week-long trip in Cambodia, we divided our time pretty equally between Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Wat temples, and Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city. I found PP to be a rather enjoyable SE Asian city - interesting architecture, cheap eats and thrills, extremely kind local people, and far less motorbikes on the road than in Vietnam. ;)

We stayed at Blue Lime hotel, a stylish budget boutique hotel located in a great area near major sights. I can definitely recommend it to anyone going to PP.

1) The first thing we did in PP was actually visiting the Killing Fields outside the city. We traveled by tuk-tuk for 45 minutes and toured the grounds where approximately 3 million Cambodian people were massacred during the Khmer Rouge regime. Admission to the Killing Fields includes headphones, an audio guide, and a map of the area for you to walk around and listen to the history and events that occurred in each area. We also checked out the museum on the premises, which dealt primarily with U.N involvement in Cambodia post-Pol Pot regime and the charging of certain individuals with crimes against humanity.

2) After the Killing Fields, we headed back into town to check out the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a high school-turned-prison where 20,000 people were executed. The grounds are open for casual strolling through the cells and certain rooms showed pictures taken of people by the executioners before their death. I did not take any pictures here because it was too sad and didn't feel right.

3) On our next day we visited the National Museum of Cambodia, which was just a block away from our hotel. The museum was full of ethnographic art pieces from Cambodian history - from primitive Cambodian life up to French colonization.

4) On our last full day in PP, we finally made our way to the Royal Palace. We had tried to visit on a previous day but I wasn't dressed properly (no shorts, no tank tops). The Royal Palace is actually a big group of buildings for Cambodian kings and other royalty. Tourists are able to see only a portion of the buildings.

Other noteable things:

Drink: tried absinthe at L'Abstinthe, went to the club Pontoon 2 nights, enjoyed a gin & tonic at Eclipse Sky Bar on the highest building in Cambodia, drank pitchers of beer in local restaurants for dirt cheap

Eat: had lunch at Daughters - an NGO helping sex-trafficking victims, dinner and lunch at Alley Cat Cafe - a dive Mexican-American bar/restaurant, appetizers and smoothies at Friends - an NGO training restaurant run by former street youth.

Do: watched two movies at The Flicks - a community film house founded by a man who backpacked the world with no money for 2 years!

Phnom Penh, I loved your Asian-boho vibe and all the wonderful social entrepreneurship and community events around the city. Wonderful city/people with a very recent and terrible tragedy.