Monday 3/31/2008 – Wednesday 4/2/2008
The journey on the boat was rough as the boat only had bench style seating, but our new set of friends made it enjoyable. In Cambodia we got off the boat and then squeezed into a minibus. We thought we were packed tightly until we saw some of the local buses driving by. They were so crammed that passengers resorted to sitting on top of the roof. Nearly two hours later we arrived in Phnom Penh and booked a room at the guesthouse where we were dropped off. Our twelve hours of traveling on buses and boats was finally over. Nathan and Allie also booked a room there, while Ben and Andrea headed off to a place where they already had reservations. After some quick showers we met Nathan and Allie downstairs in the lobby and decided to head out to the FCC restaurant for dinner. It was a bit pricy for Cambodia, but the $20/person dinner was well worth it. We all had pizza with beer and sangria. We traded dating, engagement and wedding stories and laughed our way through most of dinner. We then grabbed a tuk-tuk back to the hotel, said our goodbyes (Nathan and Allie were on their way to Angkor Wat the next morning) before heading to bed.
The next morning we had some granola bars for breakfast and headed out to S-21 for a tour. S-21 was a former high school that was converted into a detention center for the Khmer Rouge under the rule of the notorious Pol Pot. Thousands of Cambodians were abused, tortured and eventually killed in a period of 3 years here. The movie and tour of the compound was very sobering as you saw pictures of despicable violence and torture tactics used by the Khmer Rouge. It is both sad and amazing to think all of this occurred without much notice from the rest of the world. The whole experience was one that was not enjoyable but is definitely a necessary stop for tourists to honor all those lost in this horror. We met Ben and Andrea at the end of the tour and then decided to head out to lunch together. The four of us headed across the street to a restaurant called Bodhi tree. The restaurant was a welcome oasis after viewing S-21. We had some Cambodian food and then decided to head to the Royal Palace. Ben and Andrea headed back to their hotel and we would meet them there. We walked up to Royal Palace and strolled by the Independence Monument, some Wats (Buddha temples) and war memorials on our way. We paid our $6.25 admission to the Royal Palace and then wondered around its confines. The Royal Palace is still a functioning home of the new king, so most of it is off limits to tourists, but we did get to see the major highlights. Dermot’s favorite part was the Emerald Buddha in the Silver Pagoda. It was not very big, but the green color of the Buddha statue was mesmerizing. We met Ben and Andrea in front of the Silver Pagoda and then walked together through what was left to see. It was very hot, so we were partially happy we were limited in what was available to us.
After the Royal Palace we trekked up to the California II Guesthouse in search of some refreshing libations in the brutal heat. We sat at a table outside, enjoyed our beer and watched as an Elephant made his way through traffic. Next we decided to go to the Island Spa for some massages. The massages were a great mix of a deep tissue oil massage with Thai-like stretching. It was well worth our $7 for an hour of relaxation. We then walked to Friends Café for dinner, which is a restaurant run by former street children. It was a tapas-style restaurant, which meant we got to sample lots of different food. We order 8 different tapas to share and had some great drinks. Katie had a Strawberry/Green Peppercorn margarita while Dermot tried the Pineapple/Red Chili margarita. The food was amazing and best of all our dining helped support a good cause. The last stop of the night was at a bar called “Drinks with Strangers” which was somewhat appropriate, because we were meeting people from a “coach-surfing” group. Coachsurfing.com is a website where you can contact people who are willing to let you crash on their coach when you are traveling in their area. It’s a unique online community and Ben and Andrea were meeting some people through it. The group that night consisted of Australians, Irish, Americans and a girl from the Netherlands. Most of them were experienced travelers and it was great exchanging travel stories with everyone. Katie and Dermot were a bit tired, so we headed out before everyone else and got to bed before midnight so we could get up early for our Hong Kong flight.
We woke up at 7 a.m., made some phone calls home to our families and then hired a tuk-tuk to the airport. We checked in for a flight, Dermot went to the internet lounge to check on the Yankees score (they won their home opener 3-2!) and before we knew it we were in the air and on our way to Hong Kong.