Travel: Phnom Penh Snapshot

Phnom Penh snapshot – well, this city is the capital of Cambodia and it’s certainly busy! More motorbikes and so many tuk-tuks. I’ll say this, though, the tuk-tuks in Bangkok were cooler. The ones here in Cambodia are almost like a cart that’s attached to the back of a motorbike. Not nearly as fun, nor as fast as the real deal in Thailand.

Phnom Penh Snapshot

The capital, Phnom Penh, is full of government buildings, the Royal Palace and holds two memorial sites for the genocide that occurred in this beautiful country from 1975-1979. We did both of those sites and they were heartbreaking. I find it so strange how humans act sometimes – more than strange, it’s deeply disturbing. I’ll share more about that experience later.

Above is the Buddha from Wat Phnom – the highest religious site in the city. We visited the night we arrived and it was so quite. It’s open until 5pm and we headed up the stairs which look daunting, but they’re not that bad at all, and found that we had the place to ourselves.

There are a lot of religious sites in Cambodia and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Below is a the Royal Palace – where the King of Cambodia lives. It’s quite royal and even closes for lunch! We took a break from sightseeing and headed back to our hotel for lunch and an afternoon swim and then visited the Royal Palace in the afternoon, when the sun was high in the sky. It made for a sweaty, hot and sticky visit, yet the pictures and the colours of the buildings in the sun was worth it.

Well, that’s a quick tid-bit on our visit to Phnom Penh – up next is the beach! Staying on an island, Koh Rong, in the Gulf of Thailand, yet it’s part of Cambodia. It’s a little hut on the beach and we are looking forward to sand in our toes and sun (just a bit) on our faces. Oh, and the ocean. Yes, please bring on the ocean!