By the river (Phnom Penh)

My beautiful tuk tuk driver

The Royal Palace (Phnom Penh)

The Royal Palace serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. The Kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in 1860s, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

There were hundred of school kids there when I visited, all standing outside and they all screamed with delight when a car drove past and into the palace, so I think the king was home but I didn't catch a glimpse of him unfortunately.

That's the King on the right!

I love this.  The rear view is priceless!

Reflections in a puddle of water.  Everyone wondered what I was doing with my camera nearly touching the water.  I think it was worth it.

The Silver Pegola (Phnom Penh)

Within the Royal Palace compound is the extravagant Silver Pagoda, also known as Wat Preah Keo or Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is so named for its floor, which is covered with five tons of gleaming silver.

It was a sweltering and humid day so the highlight for me was finding a tree shaded temple of Buddha statues where I could sit and recover.  Mum, you would definitely struggle with the heat!

I also loved the old murals that stretched along the walls.

Beautiful murals of ancient scenes on the walls.

The shaded temple where I took respite.

Another temple not far from the compound.  I loved the red colour.

S 21 Prison and The Killing Fields

What really got me about S21 was the portraits of the prisoners.  The guards were meticulous about photographing everyone who came into the prison.  All these beautiful faces photographed, and such dignity in their expressions.  None of them survived.  All tortured and executed.  And for what?  A lifeless ideology; sterile concepts.  Its amazing how inhumane we can be when we stop seeing people as sacred beings and conceptualise them as "the enemy."  So much suffering, so terribly sad. 

And here are some portraits of the guards of the prison, and torturers.  Equally beautiful faces.  Also innocent victims of an ideology; a ruthless system that gave them no choice.  Prisoners of a system who often ended up as actual prisoners in the paranoid last years of Pol Pot's rule.

The Killing Fields

All the prisoners at S21, after being interrogated and tortured, were then brought to The Killing Fields, just outside town, to be executed.  As many as 20,000 are buried here.  And this is just one of a multitude of other killing fields all over Cambodia.  As many as 3 million are thought to have died during Pol Pot's ruthless regime.  That's over 25% of Cambodia's population at the time.  It really boggles the mind.  And this all happened in my lifetime: 1975 - 1978.

8000 of the bodies and have been exhumed and their skulls put in a monument.

The infamous "killing tree" and another tree that contained speakers that blared out revolutionary music to drown out any screaming.  

The Killing Fields today is a surprisingly peaceful place with birds singing and a beautiful little lake.  It feels like a place of healing.