cambodia revisited. day 6. the end

day 6

time to pack up and leave phnom penh on this day.

but it was not to be until we had visited the killing fields of choeung ek or also known as the genocide museum. this is the extermination camp where the prisoners from camp s21 were brought to. they were often bludgeoned to death so as not to waste precious bullets. how inhuman. i wonder how those executor could do it. eeeww!!!

it was about 15km from phnom penh and we went in the van we hired to siem reap. the driver was going to drive us to the airport later. so it was a convenient arrangement.

the genocide museum was quite a simple memorial stupa with all skulls assembled in it. there are different tiers and different aged skulls will be located at different tiers. the younger skulls (which belonged to younger victims) were placed at the lower tiers.

surrounding the stupa is land (orchard lands) but filled with mass graves. not all the graves have been dug and those which are discovered are labelled. there are only a number of them so there was not much to see.

dried bones.

after we finished our visit here (which took us about 30 minutes only), we went back to the city to check out from the hotel. then it was to tuol sleng museum again because the rest of my travel group had not gone there yet. so while they were inside the museum, my housemate and i went to the restaurant opposite to wait while ordering our lunch. it was boddhi tree which was recommended by lonely planet and there was quite a crowd there, all westerners.

food was good. someone said to go back to amoc cafe but i said no since the boddhi tree was conveniently located.

i ordered homemade corn cake with mango salad and grilled chicken and pomegranate juice (filled with antioxidants) and creme brulee for dessert. how scrumptious and filling. the rest ordered pork fried rice (again!!!), sandwich, khmer red curry, lemon tart, chocolate mousse, ginger tea, etc.

after that filling lunch, it was off to the airport. it was not a big one and only the passengers could enter the main building. so those who came to send their loved ones off had to waved and said their goodbyes outside. the journey to kl was delayed again by about more than one hour and i started reading the book i brought along (for one more day by mitch albom) at the airport while waiting. i did not get the time to start reading at all since i arrived and this was a good time to start. the delay was a boon i guess. i finished reading the book on the plane. i was glad i chose to bring that book as it was easy reading and quite light to digest.

poor dad had to wait at the airport for quite a while as he left for the airport before my sms arrived. and he did not have any dinner!!! we reached home only at about 12a.m. after sending all my colleagues back. sigh. what a long day it had been and thus came to the end of my trip to cambodia. it was an interesting trip but it could have been better if it was a smaller group. i would prefer a smaller group. more of that in another posting. i need to sort out my photos to be developed now. no more trip for this year (no bonus, no holidays. how sad!). till the next trip then.