Retreat to Phnom Penh
May 28, 2005
Day 8.
The day we'd all been waiting for finally arrived. We were gonna leave the village for 2 days, 1 night.. to go to Phnom Penh for a short retreat. We left the village at 6am.. made a stop at the Russian market. didn't do much shopping there. we lunched at some coffee shop and had some local food, after which we visited some souvenir shops. apparently most of these shops sell things for a good cause.. (e.g. they create jobs for the poor/lower income by letting them hand-make these souvenirs to be sold to tourists).
We then made a stop at the Museum of Genocidal Crimes.. and that was really quite the eye-opener, because the places exposed us to the torturings done on the innocent Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime. They preserved most parts of the museum so we kinda got a feel on how bad the conditions were and how much they went through (of course, it was nothing compared to the REAL thing). The worst part was... our tour guide in the musuem had lost her mom and sister to the Khmer Rouge :( so it was a first hand account for her and she did not hold back when she told us the story.
after our slightly gloomy trip to the museum, we went back to our guesthouse to wash up for dinner. We went to FRIENDS for dinner. okay if you make a trip to phnom penh, please please please go to this restaurant because it is part of a non-profit organization that helps young kids and teenagers get off the street by providing them housing, education and vocational training. On top of that, the food here was so good and affordable, the staff were nice and attentive (most of them were kids picked up from the streets, after which they were trained to work) and the ambience was very pleasant.
After dinner, we had our own free time, so a few friends and i popped by the internet cafe to use the internet and make some calls. we were clearly deprived from civilization after staying in the village for a week. hahaha.
The next day, we made a stop to Central Market for some shopping, because we left Phnom Penh.. back to the good old life at the village.
The day we'd all been waiting for finally arrived. We were gonna leave the village for 2 days, 1 night.. to go to Phnom Penh for a short retreat. We left the village at 6am.. made a stop at the Russian market. didn't do much shopping there. we lunched at some coffee shop and had some local food, after which we visited some souvenir shops. apparently most of these shops sell things for a good cause.. (e.g. they create jobs for the poor/lower income by letting them hand-make these souvenirs to be sold to tourists).
We then made a stop at the Museum of Genocidal Crimes.. and that was really quite the eye-opener, because the places exposed us to the torturings done on the innocent Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime. They preserved most parts of the museum so we kinda got a feel on how bad the conditions were and how much they went through (of course, it was nothing compared to the REAL thing). The worst part was... our tour guide in the musuem had lost her mom and sister to the Khmer Rouge :( so it was a first hand account for her and she did not hold back when she told us the story.
after our slightly gloomy trip to the museum, we went back to our guesthouse to wash up for dinner. We went to FRIENDS for dinner. okay if you make a trip to phnom penh, please please please go to this restaurant because it is part of a non-profit organization that helps young kids and teenagers get off the street by providing them housing, education and vocational training. On top of that, the food here was so good and affordable, the staff were nice and attentive (most of them were kids picked up from the streets, after which they were trained to work) and the ambience was very pleasant.
After dinner, we had our own free time, so a few friends and i popped by the internet cafe to use the internet and make some calls. we were clearly deprived from civilization after staying in the village for a week. hahaha.
The next day, we made a stop to Central Market for some shopping, because we left Phnom Penh.. back to the good old life at the village.
