Monday 16th July

My last full day in Cambodia's Capital. Spent another leisurely afternoon visiting some of the sights. After stopping briefly at the Independence Monument which celebrates the Vietnamese liberation of the country, I paid a visit to the Genocide Museum. Before being turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge this series of buildings used to be a school. It was used as a detention and interrogation centre while Pol Pot presided over the murder of countless Cambodians. Visiting this place leaves you with some concept of the horrors experienced here in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. I opted not to visit the Killing Fields which is where most of the people detained ended up.

The Central Market in Phnom Penh, housed in an Art Deco building was built on reclaimed land. It houses countless stalls selling all sorts of stuff from jewels & jewellery to clothes, electronics and souvenirs for the tourists. I was tempted to buy a tripod for my camera but realised that despite how good I think my bargaining skills may have become over the last few weeks, I didn't have enough cash on me.

My last stop was Wat Phnom, around which the city of Phnom Penh was founded. The temple here sits on a hill land had a gathering of monkeys around the grounds, being fed fruit by some of the locals.

I'm looking forward to finally seeing the Angkor temples when I move on to Siem Reap tomorrow. Its funny how quickly the time goes by, I'm 3 weeks on the road today. It doesn't seem as long as that!