Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Arrived in Phnom Penh on the afternoon of the 15. Dean and I grabbed the football, strolled down to the Royal Palace and threw the ball around. When we got there we noticed no one was sitting on the grass so we assumed that was a no no. After about 5 minutes we were joined by a Cambodian man who would just whip the ball at Dean. No spiral at all, just threw it as hard as he could. I talked to him a little, and he explained he was just down at the palace to pray and then he was going home. He left after about 10 minutes and within 5 minutes we had one kid join us. It took a little bit of work to get a spiral but by the end he was throwing a solid spiral (better than Dean's). His sister joined in for a few minutes but as it got dark they said they had to go home. We watched them run to a scooter and jumped on the back with their mom and older brother who had been selling things outside the palace. Definitely one of our best experiences of the trip.

The next day we started out pretty early as we were trying to see both the S-21 Prison and the Choeung Ek killing fields. The prison was a high school that had been taken over by the Khmer Rouge and basically turned into a concentration camp. Over 17,000 people went in and only 7 survived. In all, between 3 and 4 million Cambodians were killed under the Khmer Rouge, which was 1/4 of the countries population. We didn't learn all that much while at the prison but we did see some pictures of that were taken of the people who had been tortured and died in the prison along with 2 of the 7 survivors who had written books on their experiences.

A short tuk tuk ride took us to the Choeung Ek killing fields, which was where to most Cambodians were killed. A memorial had been set up and tape recorded guide was provided. This tour provided more information on what happened during the Khmer Rouge rule.

Definitely one of the most intense days of our trip. Earlier in the day our tuk tuk driver had offered to take us to a shooting range. We denied and said maybe we go after, which he said that we probably wouldn't want to. After going to the 2 places we understood what he meant. At the shooting range you go buy one magazine for an M16 or AK-47 for 30-40 dollars or a bazooka for 200-300 dollars. You could also buy a cow to shoot at if you choose. We passed.

The next day we caught a bus to Siem Reap.