CAMBODIA: Phonm Penh (July 15th - 17th)

After Siem Reap we headed southeast to the capital city, Phonm  Penh.  A little larger and a little more hectic than our previous stop, but we still had some outstanding experiences there.  The first night we hit up a small local restaurant with the group, then headed over to the nearby night market so Em could get her shopping fix (I was able to pick up about ten “bootleg” dvds for a dollar each). 

The next day was the most intense and sobering of all our experiences so far.  We spent the morning touring the S-21 (Tueoul Sleng) prison and the Khmer Rouge “Killing Fields”.  Without going into too much of a history lesson, S-21 was a high school that was transformed into a secret prison/interrogation center during the Pol Pot communist regime (this regime was responsible for the genocide of somewhere between 2 to 3 million Cambodian people from 1975 – 1979, shortly after the Vietnam War ended).  We got to meet one of only three survivors , out of approx. 17 thousand prisoners who were eventually either tortured to death or driven by the truckload outside the city to be put to death in the Killing Fields.  A friend from our tour group who is German, compared it to the WWII concentration camps he has visited, but said this was even harder to stomach.  The Killing fields is the largest of 74 other similar burial grounds to be found throughout the country after the Vietnamese army came in to defeat Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

After such an intense morning we needed a lighter activity....so of course for Emily that meant more shopping.  She spent the rest of the afternoon with the other girls exploring the various markets.  I headed out with the fellows to go take in some afternoon fights.  There was an arena nearby that has a combination of Thai/Cambodian style boxing on the weekends.  We had fun making little side bets with eachother and enjoyed the macho, testosterone filled event.

That night we had the privilege of visiting another school and getting to interact with some more kids.  The school was a little smaller and was a school for orphans.  The man who started the school/orphanage was the same man who had been our tour guide earlier that morning.  He has a really unique story as to how the school came into being.  His family of five also shares a home with five other families.  After school was let out we were invited upstairs to their home for dinner that his wife and daughter had prepared.  Emily and I had been a little disappointed with Cambodian food overall....it's very similar to Thai food, but with out the spice and the flavor so it seemed a bit more bland at times.....but this meal absolutley blew all other meals away.  I don't know if it was the homecooked personal touch, but it was the best meal we have had on the entire trip and there was soooo much of it.  At the end of dinner, one of the fathers who lives at the house brought out his "special tea" to share with us.  It was a special home-brewed concoction...the kind that will make a grown man cry....but here's the kicker.....at the bottom of the bottle/jug were a pile of full grown tarantulas.  I never quite understood the reasoning behind it, whether it was to infuse a certain flavor or help in the fermentation process, but they were there none the less.  But of course we couldn't stop there.  After we all finished bullying eachother into partaking in a couple rounds, we finished off after dinner delight by each sampling a tarantula leg.  Hey....when in Ro....I mean Cambodia!

Phonm Penh in all it glory....kinda looks like Vegas

Two of the prisons cells at S-21

One of the survivors of the prison

The monument at the Killing Fields, filled from top to bottom with excavated remains.

In the face....in the FACE!!!!

Freakin DELICIOUS!!!!

Notice the dark color in the bottom.....yep...tarantulas

The tarantula leg I ate.  I really don't look like I'm enjoying this experience.  We would have more photos but Em was too squimish to keeping snapping pics.