I woke up early and went out walking again, this time hoping to see some entertaining morning aerobics at the Olympic Stadium (not sure why it is named that). I guess I didn't make it in time, since the stadium was pretty empty and there were only tons of squeezed lime peels on the ground, so I assume lime juice is the drink of choice for post-workouts. The stadium itself is very odd, probably built in the 70s, no-frills, and doesn't seem to be used for anything besides aerobics. I'd guess it seats around 3,000 people. Outside the stadium there are some unused tennis courts, some guys were playing beach volleyball, and there was a small soccer game going on.
I had breakfast at a Chinese place with a bunch of Cambodians and Chinese men. I was seated at a round table with a bunch of other guys, and one man just watched me eat the whole time.
The next stop was the genocide museum, which was as chilling as expected. The museum is at the site of the infamous Khmer Rouge Tuol Sleng prison, a converted high school, where prisoners were kept before being sent to the killing fields. Around 20,000 prisoners passed through this prison, and all but a handful were then sent to the killing fields to be executed. The museum showed what the rooms were like, and each prisoner's picture was displayed. Apparently some Cambodians visiting the museum are still finding the pictures of their loved ones and are finally at least getting closure. It's amazing to think about how recent the genocide was - it ended in 1978 or 1979. It seems that the typical prisoner had been accused of being against the revolution, so they were carted off from their village and landed in Tuol Sleng. There, they were tortured and forced to confess to whatever the torturer wanted to hear - many of the written confessions involve secretly working for the CIA it KGB, even though many of these people had never heard of these organizations. The average length of stay was around 3-4 months, and very few survived.
It is obviously a very sad place, and it is a bit weird that a genocide museum is a top attraction. What is weirder, however, is that all the tuk-tuk drivers try to take tourists out to the killing-fields, where not only do you get to see mass graves, but you can go fire weapons at a shooting range and then drive go-karts. They hold up laminated signs showing giddy tourists holding AK-47s, which seems a little distasteful to me. According to Lonely Planet, there are rumors that you can even fire rocket-propelled grenade launchers and maybe even fire it at a cow or a goat. I passed on that.
Instead, after lunch, I went to the Royal Palace, which includes temples, gardens, and royal buildings. It was about as interesting as a royal palace can get, which isn't very interesting.
I caught a tuk-tuk to the airport in the evening, and checked in for my flight to Yangon. I talked to a Burmese guy on the plane who had been in PP for some sort of training with the government. He was very nice, as was the lady next to him, and they both said "welcome to my country!" when we landed.
I made it through immigraton and breathed a sigh of relief that the Visa On Arrival program is still available in Myanmar. Apparently I was on one of three available flights to Myanmar where VOA is possible.
Photo album: https://picasaweb.google.com/108933817613007660268/20130710PhnomPenh?authuser=0&feat=directlink
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