Cambodia

Day 2

A diverse and somewhat challenging day.

After breakfast, we went to the National Palace, an interesting conglomeration of buildings including the Silver Pagoda.

It is not possible to take pictures in some parts. We did see the famous Emerald Buddha, part of a collection of over 1000 Buddha statues in one building.

There were also some amazing trees and flowers.

Next we visited the Genocide Museum, an old school building where prisoners were held in the days of the Khmer Rouge. It was a place of interrogation and torture. I did not visit the torture part, as I was finding the whole thing overwhelming. No pictures.

This was followed by a visit to the Killing Fielda Memorial a little way out of town. Again, a very sad and moving place.

I will need to do some more reading to understand this whole period of Cambodian history. Suffice it to say that they were starting from a very low base after the Khmer Rouge fell, and have done amazingly well to build back to where they are.

In the early evening, we went on a cruise on the Mekong. Had a few drinks (mine was a blue margarita) and looked at the city from the river. It was cool and pleasant, and was the change of pace we needed.