Phnom Penh, Cambodia


I'll be totally honest, Cambodia has not made a stellar first impression. No particular reason. Maybe we're burnt out, maybe a little travel apathy here at hand. Overall, our very limited exposure to this country gives us the impression of being a lot dirtier and grittier than its neighbours and much harder to navigate due to the lack of sidewalks and busy traffic.

Our first few days have been spent eating any kind of cuisine you can imagine other than Cambodian. First, it's hard to find anything, at least in our neighbourhood. The food stalls that lined any and every street in Vietnam don't seem to be as prominent here. Also, if we do find anything, it looks questionable. This coming from me, who will eat almost anything.

Instead we've been shut ins, slaves to the air-conditioning, watching English TV and taking long naps. We do get out for runs, but not to walk around and explore. It's hard to do thanks to the lack of sidewalk and busy traffic. Last night we even contemplated flying out to Bali simply for a drastic change in scenery and something a little calmer. It doesn't help that our Airbnb is an amazing penthouse suite with 3 bedroom,s, great views over the city and great air conditioning. After a month of being cooped up in small hotel rooms, I think we are all enjoying our own space. It's a North American affliction I'm sure.



We woke up today and decided the answer was to get out exploring. Topping our list was the killing fields. We decided a trip to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum aka S21 would be a good starting point. We wanted to get the history before heading to the grave site of millions of Cambodians in the late 1970s at the hand of the Khmer Rouge Regime.


The museum is in fact the actual site of a detention facility that operated during the regime. It was the holding and torture site of thousands of Cambodians accused of treason to the regime, many whos only offence was having an education. To say that this site was both heavy hearted and haunting is an understatement. If you can tour through this site and come out the other side unaffected by what occurred here, then I would have serious concern for the state of your soul. I won't go into detail about the crimes committed by the regime, but if you are ever in Phnom Penh, this is a must experience. Also, Netflix has a documentary if you are curious.

After the tour, we couldn't even fathom a trip out to the killing fields. I think my heart may have exploded. Luke visited in the afternoon and came back with the exact same sentiment. We had burgers for dinner and spoke with the owner. He convinced us to grab a quick tuk-tuk ride out to the Riverside and check things out. We are definitely in a poorer area of town. The Riverside is vibrant, all lit up and busy. We wandered around for a little while and let the kids loose. It's been difficult to find them anywhere safe to run, although our large apartment seems to do the job well.

We did walk through the Russian Market a bit aimlessly. The boys managed to charm a couple of sisters and their mother into some bargain priced souvenirs. We spent a while talking to them and the boys got some stuffed animals to take home.


The rest of our time was more of the same, lounging and eating western food, indian, Japanese...anything but Cambodian.
Lot 369's pork belly breakfast stack



We take the bus to Siem Reap tomorrow. We've resolved to embrace Cambodia there. I really hope it shakes us up a bit.


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